wife not happy

[OceansWonders]

Originally Posted by travis32

Not to mention, if you're buying Water, that means you are buying Water exported from another location (think about exporting rivers, lakes, aquifers.) Once the water makes it to a store, it can no longer ever be put back in the ground it came from. At least with waste water in your drains, it has a chance of making it back into some aquifer or river. Maybe a small one, but better chances than that shipped to a store.


PLUS now you're increasing the carboon foot print by supporting the use of gas / oil to transport the water from a production facility to a ware house, from a warehouse to a distribution center, from a distribution center to a local retailer. From a local retailer to your house.

The amount of gas/ oil used to transport the water, plus the amount of water used to produce the gas / oil, plus all the emissions one is supporting.... Not only are you paying a premium, but, now one is supporting the carbon foot print of water exports. All to avoid the production of your own wastewater? Which in the end the production company is going to have as much waste water as you. So essentially, this doesn't accomplish anything, but increase the greenhouse emissions and increase oil / gas usage.

Which we all do, I guess if it ends the arguement...

SPOT ON
on another note
I never understood the reason why people think that buying bottled drinking water at the store is such a good idea, what a wast of money. Lugging cases of water home from the grocery store when you can produce your own water much much cheaper with little to no impact on the environment. Not to mention most of the bottled water at the store is less pure than what you can make at home with a simple $30 filter at your sink. The plastic bottles, trucking it to the store, marketing, trucking it home, throwing the bottle in the trash and having it end up in a landfill for the next 100 years (or hopefully recycling it which still adds to unnecessary pollution and refining of plastics) just seems like such a irresponsible way to get a drink of water. The only time I ever by a bottle of water is when I am on the road. I"m just glad our vehicles don't run on bottled water, now that would get expensive at the pump.

[Indymann99]

Here in Indy our water has a lot of chlorine and doesnt taste very good. We used to buy a LOT of bottled water =$$$

I plumbed the RO system to the fridge water / ice maker and now we dont purchase bottled water anymore. The savings of NOT buying bottled water (for human and pet drinking) more than offsets the waste water from the RO system.

note I ONLY have a RO system, if you do this and you have RO/DI you want to tap your drinking water output AFTER the RO and BEFORE the DI.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...9/ROsystem.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...n99/QTTank.jpg

Hope this helps with the peace

[travis32]

If you have netflix, it might still be in the documentary section. It's a very powerful streaming documentary called: "Blue Gold: World Water Wars"

I'm not wanting to debate anything, get informed. The simple act of buying water from a store is a huge huge huge huge global issue, way beyond what we can discuss here. Just get informed.

Unfortunately for me, a fridge or faucet purifier wouldn't cut it for us. We have a TDS of 620 - 700. After water softner, then 4 chamber RO filtration the TDS is down to 25. There's no way a faucet purifier could do that. We paid a lot for the RO faucet from Culligan, but, it was worth it. We were spending over $20 to $40 a month on bottled water. In 1 to 2 years at the most We paid for the RO system. Not to mention the savings the Softner has for saving our appliances burning out. Our brand new hot water heater rusted out in under 1 year. The heating elements and thermostats all had to be replaced. They said this will be an annual process unless we get a softner.

Something so simple as water.

[James77]

At least wher I live, the amount of RO water I use does not add up to much money at all. You are using far more for showers, toilets, and laundry. Get a rough estimate of how much you use total for gallons. See how much the water company charges you for water, as well as sewer if you get charged.

Mine is about $2.50 for 750 gallons, which is probably what I use a month. If the conservation of it is bugging her, thats another story.

I would also have no problem having my cat drink it, I have low TDS water to begin with. The waste water will obviously be a bit higher in TDS, but it has also been run through carbon and sediment blocks- so I'd argue its better in that case

[jmking33]

Originally Posted by OceansWonders

Seriously why would you do that? The LFS is going to produce just as much wast water making the RO water as well. Now you are paying a premium on top of it when you could make your own for pennies a gallon.

Because it stopped the fighting with my wife. Plus, water isnt exactly cheap here in Florida. I also dont have to do any upkeep on a RO unit. So no membrane changes or resin swaps. It costs me about 9 bucks a week for my water. It works well for my situation.

[67Duster]

You have to hide everything better than that,The wife is evil when it comes to Reef keeping. I always tell her everything is ten dollars at my house. Think of everything you could do without the oldlady meddling with the fish business.

[Cloudburst2000]

I usually use the waste water for plants. Never thought about the washing machine idea. I'll have to give that a shot.

[noahm]

Originally Posted by jmking33

Because it stopped the fighting with my wife. Plus, water isnt exactly cheap here in Florida. I also dont have to do any upkeep on a RO unit. So no membrane changes or resin swaps. It costs me about 9 bucks a week for my water. It works well for my situation.

funny. $500 a year for a 40 gal tank works better for your wife. Seriously though, you won't ever catch grief for an RO overfill, or the ugly cartridges strapped to the wall etc. Small price to pay in some situations.

[hardiel]

Funny things women complain about. When my lady is out of town, water consumption goes drastically down. The time she takes to shower, I'm already on my way to work. Not to mention the washer. And yet...

The pets will be perfectly fine with the discarded water. My dog, if I'm not watching will eat a random turd every other day.

[Yogre]

This thread is kinda funny.

Here's something the OP could try: "Hey honey, here's a nice hot cup of STHU, I'll manage the fish tank, you go get me a sammich and a beer."









Notice I said the OP could try that, no way I could do it and live to tell the tale.

[Uncle Salty 05]

Originally Posted by docstomper

Dang. I paid 4k dollars for my 2 english bulldogs and they drink hose water.

I refuse to drink tap water, so I refuse to give it to my dogs.
Got a two stage filter from home depot under the kitchen sink, change cartridges every three months.

My RO waste goes down the drain.
I do wish they could come up with a zero waste system.

[hardiel]

Originally Posted by Yogre

This thread is kinda funny.

Here's something the OP could try: "Hey honey, here's a nice hot cup of STHU, I'll manage the fish tank, you go get me a sammich and a beer."


Notice I said the OP could try that, no way I could do it and live to tell the tale.

LOL. I didn't want to say that way but I concur.

[deathmatch782]

Showed this thread to my wife last night.
Her exact words were:
"If he didn't flood anything, she has nothing to complain about"


I've flooded our utility room a couple of times...


My waste water goes down the drain.

[mdb_talon]

Originally Posted by travis32

Not to mention, if you're buying Water, that means you are buying Water exported from another location (think about exporting rivers, lakes, aquifers.) Once the water makes it to a store, it can no longer ever be put back in the ground it came from. At least with waste water in your drains, it has a chance of making it back into some aquifer or river. Maybe a small one, but better chances than that shipped to a store.


PLUS now you're increasing the carboon foot print by supporting the use of gas / oil to transport the water from a production facility to a ware house, from a warehouse to a distribution center, from a distribution center to a local retailer. From a local retailer to your house.

The amount of gas/ oil used to transport the water, plus the amount of water used to produce the gas / oil, plus all the emissions one is supporting.... Not only are you paying a premium, but, now one is supporting the carbon foot print of water exports. All to avoid the production of your own wastewater? Which in the end the production company is going to have as much waste water as you. So essentially, this doesn't accomplish anything, but increase the greenhouse emissions and increase oil / gas usage.

Which we all do, I guess if it ends the arguement...

Seems like an exaggerated cycle there maybe? I dont know a single marine store in my area that "imports" water to create their ro/di that they sell. They just do the same as the rest of us and hook up an ro/di to the tap. In some cases though it can be cost effective for them to pay for the more efficient systems that produce less wastewater than your average hobbyist ro/di. From that perspective it could be more "green" to buy it from the store. Either way your long drawn out supply chain I am sure is far from accurate at the stores in my area. I cant be sure of it but doubt it is much different in other areas.

Either way I personally use my own ro/di for convenience and cost factors, but if I just had a single small tank I would feel just as "green" buying it from the store.

[lordofthereef]

Originally Posted by khaosinc

My dogs eat 'kitty roca' out of the litter box, I'm fine with them drinking the waste water on my rodi. Occationally I fill up the washing machine or something but I'm usually not that motivated.

That is very different from concentrating wastes into their water. You run into the increased possibility of bladder stones that way. To each his/her own though.

[tankjunky]

if someone is washing a car down the street and my 7lbs dog sees the water running down the street she will drink soapy dirt filled oily and who knows what else water and be perfectly fine and my dog can get sick very very easy because of her small size. And my bigger dog loves to swim in the creek behind my home and all the citys water from the street drains into the creek plus whatever people dump in ther. im sure waste water will be perfectly fine for animals who dont realy care about the purity of their water

[Uncle Salty 05]

Originally Posted by tankjunky

if someone is washing a car down the street and my 7lbs dog sees the water running down the street she will drink soapy dirt filled oily and who knows what else water and be perfectly fine and my dog can get sick very very easy because of her small size. And my bigger dog loves to swim in the creek behind my home and all the citys water from the street drains into the creek plus whatever people dump in ther. im sure waste water will be perfectly fine for animals who dont realy care about the purity of their water

Your dog would also happily drink a bowl of anti-freeze, that doesn't mean you should let/make them.

[Yogre]

With regard to giving the reject water to your terrestrial pets, it really does depend on the starting TDS of your tap water, and what's in your tap water.

Gawain1974 is exactly right, the RO membrane will increase the TDS of your water by about 25 %. A properly set-up RO will reject water at a 4:1 ratio, IE for every ounce of product water you will have 4 oz. of reject water.

My house water is crappy, I start out at about 400ppm TDS with lots of nitrate in the water. We drink RO water ourselves, and that's what we give our dog as well. But, as others have noted that's a personal choice.

[Buckeye Hydro]

There is a misconception in this hobby that adding a second membrane plumbed in series (waste from first membrane feeding the second membrane) is a good way to reduce the proportion of waste water to purified water. This is only the case if the improper flow restrictor is used. That is, its only the case if you over-restrict the system.

In the vast majority of cases, this will lead to premature failure of the membrane(s).

Additionally - there is a much much less expensive way to over-restrict the system - just buy and install a different flow restrictor (about $4).

Russ

[dixiedog]

Originally Posted by Yogre

This thread is kinda funny.

Here's something the OP could try: "Hey honey, here's a nice hot cup of STHU, I'll manage the fish tank, you go get me a sammich and a beer."

:

And then, after I finished my sandwich and my beer, I'd go set her car on fire just to give her some perspective.

[serpentman]

Originally Posted by HippieSmell

Don't give it to your pets, geez. Plants and clothes are good.

My dog just finished drinking out of the toilet. My guess is the waste water will be completely fine for him, lol.

I make 80+ gals of RO/DI water per week so I imagine my waste water is astronomical. I am personally considering a large retaining vat to store water for household use. The biggest challenge will be how I get the water back upstairs.

[zeusfc]

Dogs and cats have evolved to drink whatever they can... humans have bred it out of themselves in just a few generations... I'm yet to find a cat or dog that doesn't drink pool water out of choice!

We're lucky enough to be shortly moving into a property where the "soak-away" has hit an underground stream! anyone know if I should be discharging RO waste straight into it?
the way i look at it, if i let it go down the drain, it only goes into a soakaway from the septic tank, and if i water the plants, it still finds it's way to that stream...

[serpentman]

Originally Posted by zeusfc

Dogs and cats have evolved to drink whatever they can... humans have bred it out of themselves in just a few generations... I'm yet to find a cat or dog that doesn't drink pool water out of choice!

We're lucky enough to be shortly moving into a property where the "soak-away" has hit an underground stream! anyone know if I should be discharging RO waste straight into it?
the way i look at it, if i let it go down the drain, it only goes into a soakaway from the septic tank, and if i water the plants, it still finds it's way to that stream...

You will be fine. Assuming your source water is potable, RO waste water isn't really waste in a traditional sense. It basically has a higher concentration of dissolved ions which will not adversely effect your septic system.

[Fishdisease]

Originally Posted by serpentman

I make 80+ gals of RO/DI water per week so I imagine my waste water is astronomical. I am personally considering a large retaining vat to store water for household use. The biggest challenge will be how I get the water back upstairs.

I'm thinking about the same thing, but I want to store the water outside for watering my gardens...I'm thinking a pumped ATO system..if you can use it for the tank, why not the garden?

[romanr]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeFS

There is a misconception in this hobby that adding a second membrane plumbed in series (waste from first membrane feeding the second membrane) is a good way to reduce the proportion of waste water to purified water. This is only the case if the improper flow restrictor is used. That is, its only the case if you over-restrict the system.

In the vast majority of cases, this will lead to premature failure of the membrane(s).

Additionally - there is a much much less expensive way to over-restrict the system - just buy and install a different flow restrictor (about $4).

Russ

Alright, so please explain this for those who are not RO experts. Are you saying that getting a 50 gph restrictor vs the 75 I have installed will yield less waste?