RODI for fridge drinking water

[nmbeg]

I'd like to hook up an RODI unit to my fridge's water line for drinking, but i have got a couple of questions:

1. How do I get pressure to the output line? if I want a glass of water, I don't wanna wait 30 minutes for it.

2. If I leave the system's input water "on" all the time, doesn't that create a perpetual waste-water output?

thanks for any info

[AZDesertRat]

You need an add on drinking water kit. This kit will include a 3.3 to 5 gallon bladder or pressure tank, an autoshutoff valve which stops the flow of both the good and waste water when it senses a full tank or backpressure, a small drinking water faucet usually mounted at the sink and all the necessary hardware to hook it up. One thing you may need to add is a tee, ball valve and check valve to isolate the DI portion so it only goes for aquarium use and you send RO only to the fridge. All the RC Sponsors who deal in RO systems sell drinking water kits.
I have had RO to my kitchen and laundry sinks and my old icemaker for years. I recently added a new fridge with water and ice in the door and it was a snap to hook it up.

[Rysam]

i have my fridge hooked up to the outlet line from the pressure tank i believe, it works very well.

[Harry_Fish]

It is OK to drink RO but not RODI

[nmbeg]

really? what's wrong with DI?

[Harry_Fish]

From my understanding it is to pure and
It causes a mineral imbalance in your body.

Here is a lil reading on it: http://watershed.net/purified.aspx

[AZDesertRat]

It is physically impossible for a human to drink enough DI water to possibly cause any harm. There are no proven documented scientific studies to the contrary. You would have to exist solely on DI water, in large amounts, with no other form or food or drink to be able to even attemt an accurate study. Eat even one potato chip and you have thrown the study off and consumed more minerals than what is in normal drinking water.

The reason most of us don't drink DI water is one, its expensive to make considering the cost of DI resin and two, it does not taste good. It has a very blah, bland taste and is not appealing or refreshing. Lots of places use RO/DI water to make coffe and drinks but most find it better to at least partially remineralize the water for a better more platable taste.

Lots of organizations have attempted studies but none has proven anything.

[Harry_Fish]

Yes I too have tried it and it is pretty bland

[boviac]

Funny, when I was in the Navy I actually saw an MSDS for DI Water. If DI water was the ONLY source of water you consumed, yes it would become detrimental over time. But alas, we get fluids from so many other sources too.

Yes skip the DI part for drinking. Keep in mind even for FW you should use 'RO Right' type of additive and for SW we add Salt.

HTHs

[sus]

I was wanting to do the same thing (hook the ro bypass line to my fridge line), but after talking to a guy at Buckeye Field Supply, he said that the fridge requires too much pressure to do this.

[AZDesertRat]

Not if you have a bladder tank and ASOV. He is correct you cannot hook directly but the addition of the bladder/pressure tank makes the system operate at house pressure, whatever that may be in your case. Mine is 68 psi.

[mc-cro]

AZ, kinda off topic, but I have my RO unit hooked up to for drinking water at the sink and a line for the ice maker. (no DI for human consumption)

The water tastes fine, but the ice cubes that come from the icemaker tastes bad, almost like freezer burn or a metallic taste.
We have tried baking soda in the freezer, and rinsing the water lines in the ice maker, but nothing helps.

any ideas?

[AZDesertRat]

Do you have an inline taste and odor granular activated carbon filter on it? If not you should. They need to be changed every 6 months or so too so they function as designed.

[mc-cro]

Yes, I do have an inline GAC filter after the RO unit on the way to the water tank. No improvement after replacing that.

I really think it has something to do with this fridge. when I had it hooked up to the fridge at the other house, we did not have the taste issue.

[AZDesertRat]

Mount the GAC filter after the pressure tank, between it and the frig/faucet. You are probably picking up the taste of the rubber bladder in the tank.

[reefnetworth]

i just diconnect the RO line from my RO/DI unit via John Guess fittings and run a 1/4" line in a 2.5G water bottle purchased at the grocery store. i drilled a 9/32" hole on the top side opposit of the nozzle so there would be no vacuum. i just pull out the nozzle and fill a glass in about 6-8 sec. or so i guess, ive never timed it.
i have exellent water pressure where i live, it takes about 40 minutes to make just shy of 2.5G on a 75G per day unit.

[USAquatics]

one of the problems with RO water in a fridge is that many compounds naturally bond with pure H2o. When you strip all of the ions that are in water, pure water sitting in a copper, (metal) supply line will pick up allot of things to replace what has been stripped. RO water sitting in copper will certainly gather some things and taste funny. My explaination is a little crude, but the principle is sound. Perhaps someone from an RO company will chime in.

[AZDesertRat]

True, RO water should not be run through a copper line. Its not as agresive as DI but still is trying to attract the ions that have been stripped out so it can get back to its natural "dirty" state. Use 1/4" poly lines just like the RO unit itself uses.

[zimmyfan]

dont do it, the DI messes up your body.

[AZDesertRat]

DI doesn't do a thing to your body. You could not possibly drink enough to cause harm, you would drown internally way before any ill effects from osmosis.

[boviac]

yeah but DI water simply tastes bad too.

[Chago09]

ok I guess I'll chime in, since I ask a lot of questions about reef's this is my area of expertise so I guess I should give back LOL

RO water is 100% perfectly safe to drink, not only is it safe I recomend it over any other type of filtration/purification. RO removes a lot of heavy metals that as you all know effect our reef animals, well don't think were any diiferent. All those heavy metals that are removed by the RO membrane are removed by your kidneys. So I would rather let a replaceable membrane take it out so my kidneys don't need to. A few people have mentioned the issue with important minerals in water. Yes you are correct RO removes that as well. Although minerals in today's water are in excess due to us beating the hell out of the planet. There is a lot more run off etc then there used to be. Cities are designed to always drain toward water ways, hence crazy run off. Your better off drinking RO and eating a proper diet, then trying to get enough minerals from 8 glasses of water.

As per DI water. DI is also perfectly safe. It is no different then drinking distilled (which people have been for thousands of years, literally!!!) Distilled is boiled water that is sealed, which will force the steam into a cooling station which then causes it to condense. The condensation is what your actually drinking. Now I know DI and Distilled are two completly different methods although the arguement is that "too pure" water is bad for you. Well both methods produce TDS less than 1, making them the exact same. I personally do not prefer the taste of DI and I don't think its neccesary. Get yourself a good RO system and you will be happy. I wish I could sell it to you although my systems are RO units that are inside a cooler which is basically used in homes/offices to replace the bottled water cooler. Then I also sell units that can do WC on some of large your tanks in like 10 minutes LOL Industrial strength.

[AZDesertRat]

I'll let you in on a little secret. One of the largest coffee house chains in the world uses RO/DI water to make all their coffee and drinks, not RO only but RO/DI. You have probably drank some of their coffee yourself! They do remineralize the DI so just enough minerals are replaced for taste but not to excess.

[mc-cro]

good stuff to know.

[therealfatman]

Standard commercial practice is to mix 10% to 15% untreated tapwater with RODI water so as to give taste to the water and to provide a good foam/head on espresso. Some RO water can have high levels of carbon dioxide. The DI filter will remove the carbon dioxide.

I personally do not like the tase of coffee made with pure RODI water, or even RO water.