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View Full Version : My RODI just KILLED my hydro bill!


PoonTang
03-01-2011, 03:06 AM
I have my RODI unit mounted to my basement wall above a sink and the water is fed from the fawcett. I usually just leave the tap turned on and the temp set for around 70 so that the membrane runs most efficently and my waste water just runs down the drain and the good water runs into a bucket with a float valve. Normally the bucket fills, the float closes and the backpressure causes the auto shut off device to stop the water flow to the membrane, and i then always have a bucket of water ready for use. Well i guess at some point the auto valve failed and the fawcett stayed running and was just feeding waste water, WARM waste water, :sad: down the drain for days? weeks? at a rate of at least 10 G per hour. Got my hydro bill today and it is more than double its normal rate and my usage is twice what it was last month and this month last year by comparison. I cannot for the life of me think of anything else that it could be, every other big power consumer in the house seems to be functioning properly. God I hate water.

lastlight
03-01-2011, 03:08 AM
Ouch that sucks man.

outacontrol
03-01-2011, 03:11 AM
You heat your water with electric power?

PoonTang
03-01-2011, 03:13 AM
You heat your water with electric power?

Ya we havnt met any Albertans yet that will sell us any really cheap natural gas. :wink:

Lance
03-01-2011, 03:16 AM
Bummer! That sucks Darren: As if us reefers hydro bills aren't bad enough.

outacontrol
03-01-2011, 03:17 AM
I trade you some cheap gas for some warm weather and no snow. It is -30 here right now and the snow in the yard is waste deep, just fallen snow not from shoveling the driveway.

PoonTang
03-01-2011, 03:20 AM
Ya the sunshine and 4 deg weather just got rid of the last of our 2" of snow today. I might even have to mow my lawn tomorrow. :p

Wayne
03-01-2011, 03:21 AM
OWCH that sucks! In a way I am lucky because I am in a condo and water is included in my condo fees :lol:

Coleus
03-01-2011, 03:21 AM
ah that sucks. Well my gas + water + electric bill this month is $523 and i live in a single home. This month is up more than 50 dollars because of couple cold days

PoonTang
03-01-2011, 03:22 AM
Bummer! That sucks Darren: As if us reefers hydro bills aren't bad enough.

Ya this one really hurt. $450 and i dont even run those wicked 400w halides like you serious reefers do lol

Lance
03-01-2011, 03:29 AM
Yup, the hydro bills are a bit of a sore point with the Missus.

PoonTang
03-01-2011, 03:35 AM
Im not going to tell mine. It would probably cost me a trip to mexico.

Borderjumper
03-01-2011, 03:41 AM
Ya this one really hurt. $450 and i dont even run those wicked 400w halides like you serious reefers do lol
OMFG!!! My boo pays our hydro bill and he biatches when it gets close to a hun. Pssss I run double 400's:mrgreen:

Delphinus
03-01-2011, 04:51 AM
Ouch. Sorry to hear man.

Norstar
03-01-2011, 05:06 AM
Watch out for the grow-op police!!!! :biggrin:

PoonTang
03-01-2011, 05:40 AM
Ya seriously lol

apex82
03-01-2011, 07:52 AM
Looks like I need to buy some more frags from ya

sphelps
03-01-2011, 01:24 PM
How often do you get actual meter readings? Some places I've lived in the past would always estimate my usage, sometimes for many months in a row, and then I'd get stuck with a huge bill when they did an actual reading.

Capt_kulafu
03-01-2011, 02:09 PM
try put on a AUTO SHUT OFF VALVE...

I have my RODI unit mounted to my basement wall above a sink and the water is fed from the fawcett. I usually just leave the tap turned on and the temp set for around 70 so that the membrane runs most efficently and my waste water just runs down the drain and the good water runs into a bucket with a float valve. Normally the bucket fills, the float closes and the backpressure causes the auto shut off device to stop the water flow to the membrane, and i then always have a bucket of water ready for use. Well i guess at some point the auto valve failed and the fawcett stayed running and was just feeding waste water, WARM waste water, :sad: down the drain for days? weeks? at a rate of at least 10 G per hour. Got my hydro bill today and it is more than double its normal rate and my usage is twice what it was last month and this month last year by comparison. I cannot for the life of me think of anything else that it could be, every other big power consumer in the house seems to be functioning properly. God I hate water.

Parker
03-01-2011, 02:54 PM
I had the same problem when I first hooked up my auto shutoff, I hooked it up incorrectly. I don't know what the bill ended up being though. My wife pays the bills and she didn't mention or complain about the bill size. :D

PoonTang
03-01-2011, 03:05 PM
How often do you get actual meter readings? Some places I've lived in the past would always estimate my usage, sometimes for many months in a row, and then I'd get stuck with a huge bill when they did an actual reading.

They read ours every month and our bill has bar graphs that shows our usage from month to month as well as our reading from the year before. My auto shut off valve has worked fine for 4 years and then seems to have just suddenly failed, first time that i have ever heard of that happening.

KevinK
03-01-2011, 06:00 PM
we had once a outdoor water line blow when we where not home, I think it was running for 2 days, uhhhh. a bill of $ 1600 in water los, darn, and then you get the sewer guys that bill you based on the water use, so another
$ 1000 (the sewer guis where fair, and voided the invoice)

interesting the insurans tells you that you are even not insures when you leave the house for 5 days (thy tell you to have a plumber drain your house.

at least in Victoria, whome drains there entire plumbing ?

in your case, be glad that the bucket was not overflowing on the floor, becouse the it was not only the aditional hydro to pay, your insuranse would tell you TO BA FOR YOU

always soor when aun expeted bill is in the mail !!

Haloreef
03-01-2011, 07:26 PM
I run 3 400 wats on my 300 gallon reef and i do not want to know what the bill cost. Not to mention the 30 gallon R/O water change every Sunday.
Or the heat lamps for my tortoise and dragons.
At least the eleven Dart frog tanks only use T5's.
The water loss sucks man.
I set the 5 gallon bucket in the laundry tub while it is filling and set an egg timer to remind me to change the bucket!
Keith.

cwatkins
03-01-2011, 09:28 PM
I have a manual ball valve on my RO/DI. Sometimes it overflows down the drain for an hour if I forget, but it's the safest way.

Alternatively get one of those electric timed solenoid valves with a jacuzzi timer.