RO Unit on a well

[Doug]

Originally Posted by bassman

I am stilll confused. If your water comes from the well, then to the water softener and finally to your RO unit all your water has been softened. Right? That was the very first thing that happened to the water.

The softening process removes all the hard minerals from the water so somewhere along the line those minerals would have to be put back in the water in order for it to no longer be soft.
Perhaps softeners do that? Maybe they put exceptable levels back in the water. I wouldn't think so as water straight from a softener is not recommended for consumption. This is due to the low mineral levels.

The RO unit won't put anything back in the water, it's nothing but a pre-filter, RO membrane (super tight filter) and carbon.

So by my figuring you end up with super filtered soft water, that has been treated with carbon.

Like I said I am no expert though. LOL

Ok I see what you're concern is. I thought it was regarding drinking soft water itself.

Its the lack of minerals then. Is that not taken out by rodi? Would that not make it unhealthy then also? I though read a thread on that someplace and it was stated that the minerals lost can be compensated for elsewhere? Most people purchase store ro water to drink. I see on the dispenser where one can add minerals. Doubt many use it ? I dont know.

[bassman]

Originally Posted by Doug

Ok I see what you're concern is. I thought it was regarding drinking soft water itself.

Its the lack of minerals then. Is that not taken out by rodi? Would that not make it unhealthy then also? I though read a thread on that someplace and it was stated that the minerals lost can be compensated for elsewhere? Most people purchase store ro water to drink. I see on the dispenser where one can add minerals. Doubt many use it ? I dont know.

Well both really. Your drinking water is now soft too. So you are not getting the proper minerals there either.

No, the RO unit does not remove the all the minerals, RO units are only filters, nothing more.

Yes minerals can be put back into your water, why bother though? Just don't remove them in the first place.

From what I have been told/read what a person is supposed to do in the home is to take the line from the well and filter it with a in-line canister filter. From there you tee the line. One goes to your softener. The other goes to your cold water tap in the kitchen and to your outside taps. You would use this for drinking, watering flowers, lawn, etc. and to feed your R/O unit.

[Slick Fork]

Originally Posted by bassman

Well both really. Your drinking water is now soft too. So you are not getting the proper minerals there either.

No, the RO unit does not remove the all the minerals, RO units are only filters, nothing more.

Yes minerals can be put back into your water, why bother though? Just don't remove them in the first place.

From what I have been told/read what a person is supposed to do in the home is to take the line from the well and filter it with a in-line canister filter. From there you tee the line. One goes to your softener. The other goes to your cold water tap in the kitchen and to your outside taps. You would use this for drinking, watering flowers, lawn, etc. and to feed your R/O unit.

The RO/DI unit should bring the TDS down to zero, meaning it strips all the dissolved solids including minerals out of the water. Theoretically the output from RO/DI should be pure h2o. It sounds like running the water through the cannister and then the softener just does some of the work before the water even gets to the RO unit.

The reason we want RO units for our tanks is because we want to know EXACTLY what's added to the water. So we pull everything out and add in what we need. As far as drinking water goes, maybe a glass of gatorade every day is enough.

Hillbilly: So by jacking up the PSI on your pressure system, you haven't found any adverse effects on the well. How about the house and drinkers, etc. My big fear with that is having joints that can't handle the pressure and springing leaks where I can't find them until there's major damage done.

[bassman]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

The RO/DI unit should bring the TDS down to zero, meaning it strips all the dissolved solids including minerals out of the water. Theoretically the output from RO/DI should be pure h2o.

Well there ya go, I learned something new today.

I guess a water softener does the exact same thing as RO then? or does it leave some minerals in? Is the need for a softener just to treat larger amounts of water?

[Slick Fork]

My understanding of a softener is that it just replaces some minerals with others to make the water "feel" less hard, but I'm not 100% on that one

[bassman]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

My understanding of a softener is that it just replaces some minerals with others to make the water "feel" less hard, but I'm not 100% on that one

Just read up on it, softeners mainly remove calcium and magnesium ions.

When an ion exchanger is applied for water softening, it will replace the calcium and magnesium ions in the water with other ions, for instance sodium or potassium.

[hillbillyreefer]

Slickfork: Haven't had any trouble blowing joints or anything. System has been running that high since before I took over and that was 15 years ago. My old waterers rusted out and have been replaced with large tire waterers the valves on them are heavy duty. The old ones were Ritchie's with the plastic valves no problems until the bowls rusted out. Bowl waterers in the horse stalls with floats no troubles. Plastic pipe no problem. Nipple waterers for the old pig barn never a problem.

HTH
Brad