Can't help with your question #3, but this thread does appear to explain why my ASOV never turned off the waste water flow! I don't have a pressure tank on my system either. Thanks!
I removed my ASOV some time ago & for my set up it was a good thing. Less pressure drop between the sediment/carbon stages & the RO membrane, which should help output performance. I don't miss the ASOV at all since I never let the system run unattended. Too many minor floods & potentially worse floods for me to trust Auto anything when it comes to water production.
I monitor water pressure with 2 gauges & TDS with 2 dual TDS meters. House pressure is good, no need for a booster pump. With an incoming TDS in the 170 range (except on the rare occasion the city switches me to the Duteau Creek water source), it's best for me not to run the system in short "top off" type bursts. It takes a good 2-4 minutes after opening the source water valve for the RO output to drop down to 1. On initial start the RO output TDS is pretty close to source water TDS (over 100) for at least half a minute. This would really do a number on my DI media, so the first half gallon of RO water goes into a waste bucket, then I make about 5 gallons of RO water before I even think about sending anything through my DI stage.
This has worked very well for me, may not work for everyone, especially those with less time on their hands to keep an eye on things. May also be unnecessary for folks with very low source TDS, say 10 or less, like you lucky folks in most of the greater Vancouver area.
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