Eliminate RO Waste water idea

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
West1

West1

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Sep 27, 2007
5,512
140
120
114
I recently setup a drinking water system in my home. It's an Alkaline ro unit and it produces a lot of waste water. I've read and seen a lot of creative ideas to use the waste water.

I had a thought, why cant I send the waste water back to my plumbing? This would eliminate my waste water given the drought California is in and let us drink/cook with healthier water.

Is there something that would restrict the water to go one way if I tapped into my cold water?

Any ideas, comments, pros or cons??
 
The waste water from your RO system contains a high level of TDS (total disolved solids) that were removed from the RO water. You don't want to put that back into your system. The purpose of the RO unit is to remove those impurities.
 
Best thing you can do with RO waste water is collect it and use it to water the garden and household plants. Because of all the junk that is in it if you recirculated it through the house your RO filters would wear out faster as they are removing the "waste" multiple times. This subject has been brought up many times as to what to do with the waste water. The conclusion always comes down to the garden. Don't wash your cars with though! Lol
 
What Evan said.^

You'd need some type of collection tank and a means to pump it back up higher than your water supply pressure if you wanted to admit the concentrate water into your tap water. Restrict the proper concentrate flow out of the system in any way and you'll just clog your RO bundles.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I have read and seen some creative wastewater setups. I do understand the water has more TDS but figured since I would only use it to wash dishes, it couldn't hurt. I was thinking about putting it after the RO split so the water goes out the faucet.

Now that I think about this as I type, the water needs to run and if the faucet is shutoff... dang it! I thought I was on to something haha.

I guess I'll split the waste water to 3 sections of the yard with 3 shutoff valves under the sink. Open a different one each week to water the plants.
 
It possibly can be used as you are thinking but it's won't be as simple as tying your RO waste water output into your cold water piping at all.

You will have to collect the RO waste water separately probably in a water storage tank; throw a submersible pump in there, hook up a water pressure tank and a 40-60 psi pump controller and a separate line for it. Plus a couple of float controllers, one for sure so it cuts off power to the submersible pump when the storage tank empties. And you will be done!!

The waste water output AFAIU must be unrestricted flow past the flow restrictor which creates the right pressure across the RO membrane. If you tie it into your cold water pressurized line, it will ruin everything in your RO my understanding is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: West1
thebiggerthebetter said:
It possibly can be used as you are thinking but it's won't be as simple as tying your RO waste water output into your cold water piping at all.

You will have to collect the RO waste water separately probably in a water storage tank; throw a submersible pump in there, hook up a water pressure tank and a 40-60 psi pump controller and a separate line for it. Plus a couple of float controllers, one for sure so it cuts off power to the submersible pump when the storage tank empties. And you will be done!!

The waste water output AFAIU must be unrestricted flow past the flow restrictor which creates the right pressure across the RO membrane. If you tie it into your cold water pressurized line, it will ruin everything in your RO my understanding is.
Click to expand...

Great idea! What I will do is pop another hole in the sink and use this water first before using the city water :)

The plan is to drop a small pump in a 4gl sparklets container and add a switch for the pump.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom