What to do with RODI waste???

[Gaffer]

So I installed my new RODI system this week and currently I have it draining into the floor drain in my basment.

Seeing as I have deep pockets and short arms, I dont like the thought that I am wasting all that water.

I am looking for suggestions for what to do with that water besides putting down the drain.

I had thought of sending outside to my rainbarrels to be used in the yard, but that wont work in the winter.

What does everyone else do?

Andrew

[mike31154]

Garden summer, toilets winter. I have several large plastic barrels in the basement for keeping it during the winter. Some folks also use it in their washers, but I have front loading which use very little water, so not feasible for me.

[lorenz0]

if you have plants, water them with your waste. but we used it for our washer.

[tlo]

i use my waste water for the washing machine

[mseepman]

Garden summer, toilets winter. I have several large plastic barrels in the basement for keeping it during the winter. Some folks also use it in their washers, but I have front loading which use very little water, so not feasible for me.

How do you use it for toilets

[Duffer2]

I run a small black 3/4" line outside to my trees for the summer. I move the line every week to a different tree. In the winter I can't find an easy feasible solution yet, except as an occasional top-up for my hot-tub.

[littlesilvermax]

I am too lazy to use in winter, but in the summer I have it going outside to a big 45 gallon drum.

Perfect to water the garden with water that has already run through carbon, and doesn't have chlorine in it!

[PoonTang]

I use it for topping off my hot tub. But I also let it go down the drain, I am on a pressurized septic field so in effect i am watering my lawn with it.

[Gaffer]

Thanks for the ideas.

We have a front loader so the washing machine idea is a no go.

I do like the idea of some drip irrigation set up for the plants since we have plenty outside.

I recall seeing someone who tapped it into thier hotwater tank, but have yet to figure out how it would not overflow it.

Andrew

[gobytron]

1 word...

Bong.

[Gaffer]

1 word...

Bong.

Of course, from the guy in Vancouver.

I figure made about 100gallons of waste this weekend, that is a damn big bong.

a

[Milad]

wow you guys must have some crappy water. My waste is like zero, it would take 30days of non stop water to fill my 180g

or... i may have something hooked up wrong! LOL

[Gaffer]

wow you guys must have some crappy water. My waste is like zero, it would take 30days of non stop water to fill my 180g

or... i may have something hooked up wrong! LOL

My RODI has a rejection rate of 3:1 so there is 3L of waste for every 1L of RODI.

I would like to buy another pressure tank and send the waste to that and then hook it up to the supply line of the toilets of my house. It may take longer to fill up the toilet, but would be an elegant way to use the waste.

Andrew

[kien]

There is a system out there that will allow you to run your waste line into the feed line of your hot water tank.

I've always thought that there was a pretty big rejection rate for RO/DI so if you're not getting very much waste water out of your RO/DI I would investigate :-)

[mike31154]

How do you use it for toilets

Ha, ha, didn't want to get into too much detail, but basically it's 'bucket brigade'. Certainly not for everyone, haul the bucket upstairs & dump the bucket into the toilet to flush after you do your thing.

Gaffer actually has hit the nail on the head. These days our homes should be fitted with a grey water system that reuses things like dishwater, RODI waste, old saltwater etc. in a separate pressurized system to service the toilets. It's a total waste to use fresh drinking water to flush. Especially here in the North Okanagan where we're dealing with Stage 2 water restrictions.

[Doug]

Yep. My wife makes my ro water and uses most all waste for her washing machine.

Thats funny about bucketing to the toilet. Its how we flushed our basement toilet at my grandparents house.

[mark]

realize there more to being green than saving money, but at a dollar something for cubic meter (plus sewer cost as based on water in) my waste just goes down the drain.

Had thought about sending to the rain barrel for summer but since it's stays pretty full just with the rain, effectively I'd just be dumping the waste anyways.

Related question though, how for can you run the 1/4" OD waste water line without causing back pressure problems to the ro unit?

[littlesilvermax]

realize there more to being green than saving money, but at a dollar something for cubic meter (plus sewer cost as based on water in) my waste just goes down the drain.

Had thought about sending to the rain barrel for summer but since it's stays pretty full just with the rain, effectively I'd just be dumping the waste anyways.

Related question though, how for can you run the 1/4" OD waste water line without causing back pressure problems to the ro unit?

Back pressure really shouldn't be a problem, as there is a restrictor on the waste line anyways.

If you were concerned about it, then run 3/8 hose vs 1/4.

[whatcaneyedo]

One of these systems will pump the waste water into your hot water tank. http://bwiplumbing.com/index.php/aquariums-systems/add-on-kits/zero-waste-reverse-osmosis-retro-kit.html

[jzz30tt]

Waste water runs into a 70+ Gallon Retention tank. Shur-flo pump to a small pressure tank plumbed as an expansion tank tee'd into the supply for the main toilet in the house. Valves on both feeds to isolate the toilet from either the house supply or the RO waste supply when the other is in use. Also plumb a high level overflow to the drain in the case of the waste water filling the retention tank. Can also be used to run other things but the more usage needed the bigger pump and therefore more expense in supplying the water for those uses from the retention tank.

Scott

[mike31154]

Waste water runs into a 70+ Gallon Retention tank. Shur-flo pump to a small pressure tank plumbed as an expansion tank tee'd into the supply for the main toilet in the house. Valves on both feeds to isolate the toilet from either the house supply or the RO waste supply when the other is in use. Also plumb a high level overflow to the drain in the case of the waste water filling the retention tank. Can also be used to run other things but the more usage needed the bigger pump and therefore more expense in supplying the water for those uses from the retention tank.

Scott

Welcome to the forum. That's a pretty slick solution you've summarized. Any more specifics on the parts required? Would the 'expansion tank' be able to overcome the head pressure from basement to floor above? This sounds quite doable for the average DIYer.

[jzz30tt]

Very doable for a DIY'er. Head pressure isn't going to factor the same way as a constant flow pumping situation since you'll be using a pressure tank to generate the pressure during flow.

The shur-flo pumps that i'm referring to are going to be similar to the pump that would be used in a small RV for water supply. They come with an internal pressure switch that will deactivate the pump at typical line pressure. Something along the lines of 40-70 psi.

The pump isn't able to supply the 1/2 inch line at the same flow as a house supply so we also tee in a small captive bladder pressure tank (1-2 gallon or enough to supply just more than one flush).

The toilet gets flushed and the pressurized storage from the tank supplies the replacement water for the back of the toilet tank. At the lowering of pressure the pump turns on refilling the pressure tank. Pressure builds back up to the set point of the pressure switch on the pump.

Toilet's are a good consumption point for this waste water since it will be high in mineral content and they aren't too finicky. Nor do they tend to suffer from mineral build up.

Enjoy!

[jzz30tt]

Oh and another tip for anyone using a RO or RO/DI system. Adding a booster pump to the feed of the unit will increase the efficiency and increase the product by a large degree. It can be a far more attractive option than spending the big bucks for a larger RO/DI system.

[mike31154]

Thanks for the info, very helpful. I may be saying goodbye to lugging buckets next winter.

[jzz30tt]

No worries, glad to help.

[mike31154]

Oh and another tip for anyone using a RO or RO/DI system. Adding a booster pump to the feed of the unit will increase the efficiency and increase the product by a large degree. It can be a far more attractive option than spending the big bucks for a larger RO/DI system.

Good advice. Also a good idea to check your home plumbing for a PRV (pressure reducing valve). These are required by code in most areas with city water pressure to protect the home plumbing from pressure spikes. Should be installed fairly close to your main water shutoff or water meter. I believe the default setting is 50 psi, but this may be adjusted to a higher setting, so there's the potential for improving RO output without the requirement of a booster pump.

[Gaffer]

Nice. I really like some of the solutions you have.

I think for the time being I am going to use the 55gal rain barrel that I have in my basement to store the waste and then use a sump pump that I also have to feed either a rain barrel outside or a drip irrigation set up for my shrub beds in the front of my house.

We have probably 25+ small shrubs plus trees, ornamental grasses and annuals that can use some watering.

The current idea is to run 1/4" drip lines to the plants under the mulch and then put the sump pump on a timer to water them. Since the rainbarrel in the basement has a overflow near the top I will just put that into the drian in the basement for the time being.

We already have dual flush toilet as our house is certified Built Green already and I cant be bother to haul buckets up to manually flush the toilets.

I may also look into the hotwater option too.

Andrew

[mike31154]

I may also look into the hotwater option too.

Andrew

Not sure about this, but the hot water option may only function properly if your system uses a conventional hot water tank. You mention a green home, so I suspect you may have a 'tankless' or on demand hot water heater? If so, I'd research that a little more before purchasing the 'hot water option'. Besides, that involves another bit of additional plumbing and possibly another booster pump, pressure switch, etc.

[jzz30tt]

Additionally you may want to consider the implications of running high mineral content water into a tankless water heater given the scaling issues. Same scaling would occur in a hot water tank but there is a larger margin for scale buildup before it becomes a problem in a hot water tank.

[Gaffer]

Sadly, I dont have a tankless system. They were too far along into the building process to put one in. I dont understand why they didnt put one in to begin with.

Now I am wondering if the higly mineralized RODI waste may be bad for the hotwater tank. Also, I prefer soft water for showering etc., so adding harder water may not be to my liking.

Flushing toilets on the other hand, I dont really care what the water is as long as it gets the job done.

Hmmmm...

Andrew

[jzz30tt]

Tis exactly the point i was trying to convey. The issues with the high mineral content water is that the mineral scales in the hot water tank creating an insulating layer. Raises the cost to heat a tank of water along with shortening the life of the hot water tank due to the additional heating required throughout of it's lifespan. Toilets however don't suffer from the same issues making them perfect!!

[Gaffer]

Tis exactly the point i was trying to convey. The issues with the high mineral content water is that the mineral scales in the hot water tank creating an insulating layer. Raises the cost to heat a tank of water along with shortening the life of the hot water tank due to the additional heating required throughout of it's lifespan. Toilets however don't suffer from the same issues making them perfect!!

Yes, I dont know what Edmonton water is like, but Calgary's is very hard making scale a problem.

I went out of my way to rum RO water to my furnace humidifiers to avoid scale problems, it does not make much sense to dump it into my hot water tank.

I am going to run it outside to mix it wil stored rain water and the drip irrigate with it. That shoudl give me the summer to come up with a system to use it on the toilets.

Andrew