Zero Waste RO

[Fish Head]

Im interested in zero waste or next to zero waste because it drives me to make a gallon of water i waste 4. Cant afford to drill a new well every three years. Nobody knows how long a well will last, i draw water from the tableland formation and im told that people have had these wells for years. As for diluting sewage water it doesnt matter. Once its gone its never the same. They use fresh water for fraccing oil wells and we're talking 320 m3 (320,000 L ) of water ( usually not that much) and once its used it gets disposed of in waste facilities. Its gone for good. Id like to make a gallon of water and have next to nothing for waste. My pump out runs every 2 days. Boooooo

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Fish Head

Im interested in zero waste or next to zero waste because it drives me to make a gallon of water i waste 4. Cant afford to drill a new well every three years. Nobody knows how long a well will last, i draw water from the tableland formation and im told that people have had these wells for years. As for diluting sewage water it doesnt matter. Once its gone its never the same. They use fresh water for fraccing oil wells and we're talking 320 m3 (320,000 L ) of water ( usually not that much) and once its used it gets disposed of in waste facilities. Its gone for good. Id like to make a gallon of water and have next to nothing for waste. My pump out runs every 2 days. Boooooo

How much RO water do you use on an daily average?

[mark]

Just wondering within Codes to be plumbing what is basically waste water back into the potable supply?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by mark

Within Codes to be plumbing what is basically waste water back into the potable supply?

I've assumed that this kind of thing is up to code since systems are already available but I'm no expert. It would be nice if a plumber was around to offer some insight.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by mark

Just wondering within Codes to be plumbing what is basically waste water back into the potable supply?

It's not that the waste water form a RO is bad, it's exactly the same water as your tap, because thats where it comes from. It's just called waste as the RO unit doesnt use it, and it is usually wasted down the drain.

You can drink the water coming form the "waste" line of your RO and you probibally wouldn't taste the difference from out of your tap

[sphelps]

Looking at some statistics this is how the average household water usage is distributed:

It would be nice to supply toilets with RO waste water since contaminants would be of least concern. Perhaps one could again use an accumulator and a check valve to send RO waste to cold water supply but only in bathroom(s).
Laundry is another good use but perhaps in a lower concentration to prevent water stains. I'm not sure how much of an issue this is so perhaps people who have used waste RO water in laundry could share there experiences.

[mark]

just because something is sold doesn't mean meets code

and no RO waste is not the same as source, has at least a higher TDS

[banditpowdercoat]

Ya but pretty much the same. Not like it's bad for you, and if blended back with the source water..

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by mark

just because something is sold doesn't mean meets code

and no RO waste is not the same as source, has at least a higher TDS

True but more than likely it does.

Of course it's not the same but RO waste water for some people will have a lower TDS than other peoples supply. For example if someone has a supply of 100ppm and a 4-1 waste ratio the waste water should be around 125ppm which isn't that much higher and once diluted into a highly used supply it's not much of a concern but ideally the waste water should only go to supplies that don't really matter so the user isn't forced to sacrifice water quality.

[mike31154]

In the not so distant future I plan on replacing my hot water tank with a 'tankless' or 'on demand' hot water appliance. Hot water tanks themselves are not the greenest technology these days since much of the time you are storing the water and keeping it warm or hot when it's not actually being used, wasting energy in the process. I'm pretty sure the system we're talking about here won't work with tankless hot water heaters, so for me it's already a non starter. I also have concerns about sending water that has been through the prefilters, thereby dechlorinated, back into the home's plumbing. TDS might not be a problem, but by removing the chlorine you've opened yourself up to possible bacteria issues, particularly when sending this waste water into a 'warm' environment. Finally, running RO systems for short bursts (as in only when the hot water tap is opened) is pretty well known to not be the best for your system. TDS creep is an issue since it generally takes a few minutes for the numbers to get down to acceptable levels after the system is pressurized.

My current procedure is pretty unsophisticated but it works fine for me and would say it is 'effectively' zero waste. I usually run the RODI to make at least 14 gallons for my top up containers, more for water changes. I have several large plastic barrels that I collect the RODI waste water in. In the summer it goes in the garden, in the winter I haul buckets to the bathroom and use it to flush the toilets. A bit of work yes, but simple without the issues I've mentioned above. Can't really use it in the washer since I have a newer front loader and they don't use very much water. May not work for everyone due to space constraints.