RO Systems?

[Beavis]

Does anyone know anything and also where online I can look at and get a Reverse Osmosis system for the house that produces around 150 to 300 gallons a day?
I am a mobile detailer and wanting to install this system at my house to get spot free drying. I have 125 gal tank in my van. I have done some google search for it and lots of stuff shows, but jut wondering if anyone had more info on a place to get them from.

Thanks
Shawn

[waelwell]

You asked for specific recommendations on what and where to buy and, I'm sorry I don't have that. I do have some experience with water filtration and I'll share my thoughts. If you've been doing research and looking at products, then you've already noticed that a lot of these products look like they were built with an Erector Set. There's no rocket science here. Just about everyone out there is simply buying off the shelf filter canisters and pumps and slapping together a metal frame to hold it all. It's so easy to get into this business that most of the companies you find will be here today and gone tomorrow. So the first thing you need to make sure is that the filter cartridges are widely available from vendors other than the one you bought your filter system from. The next thing to think about is how much you want to spend. 300GPD puts you in the light commercial range and there is a wide range of products available. On the cheap end you have stuff that is as cheap as the mid $250 range. It's that cheap because they used the smallest filters possible, used cheap PARGRIP style fittings (or worse yet, press fit fittings), and the support/mounting hardware is minimal. That system will be taxed to keep up with its 300GPD rating and you'll be changing filters frequently. At the other end of the spectrum there are systems that cost $1,100 or more. They have larger filter cartridges, solid threaded fittings and tubing, a robust frame, and extensive pressure monitoring. Maybe the sweet spot is in the middle somewhere.

Remember, at this level, the systems typically don't include a tank. For what you're trying to do you're going to need a BIG tank. A 300GPD system will kick out about 12 GPH. So you'll need around 10 hours to fill the tank in your van. Systems like this are typically paired with a 15 - 20 gallon tank which does you no good at all. You would probably be best served by plumbing the RO directly to the tank in your van. In theory, a 300GPD system would roughly fill your 125 gallon tank over night.

I don't know how much you know about RO systems so I'll throw in this next bit just in case you aren't familiar. A well designed RO system will send about 4 gallons of "waste water" down the drain for every gallon it produces. So if you're currently burning through 100 gallons of water each day, the RO system will take that up to 500 gallons of water per day. Only you can tell if that's going to have a big impact on your water bill.

That last thought brings me to an area that I don't have a lot of experience with. Your application will have the filter running somewhere between a 50% and 100% duty cycle. These systems aren't designed with that sort of use in mind. Like I said before, they are typically paired with 20 gallon tanks so that assumes about 2 hours of operation to fill the tank and then some extended period before the filter restarts. The filter cartridges shouldn't care. But the life span of any pump will be shortened if they are run at high duty cycles. That's a subject you would take up with the manufacturer.

I'm curious why you want to go the RO route instead of using an ion exchange softener which, depending on your water content, would yield the spotless results you desire with likely lower operation costs.

Bill

[Setec Astronomy]

Yeah, IME RO is better suited to drinking water systems, this is an "industrial" use which would indicate a DI system.

[Beavis]

I had looked at one system that was a 1 to 1 system for waste water. I have another tank that is 250 gal and will use that as a holding tank with a float in it to turn the RO off and on. I was just trying to get more input about these types of system from others. One I was looking at is about $850. Don't mind spending it if it worth it. I have a few other detailers that go to a place to fill there tanks up with RO water and pay 23 cents a gallon, but for me that is 30min away and a system would pay for itself after awhile. I would also be filling it out of a well that already has a softener system so not to worried about a big water bill. Is the ION exchange softener pretty much the same as a water softener?

[Setec Astronomy]

I would also be filling it out of a well that already has a softener system so not to worried about a big water bill.

I'm not sure whether you really want to be using softened water for the RO; I'll defer to others on that--but it certainly will be a waste to DI the soft water, as it has essentially the same TDS as the water that went in.

Is the ION exchange softener pretty much the same as a water softener?

No. Well, yes. A water softener is doing ion exchange, where you exchange the hardness ions (calcium or magnesium usually) for sodium or potassium ions. Since you are simply exchanging ions, the TDS of the water remains about the same. A DI, or deionization system, is removing the hardness ions. The resin regeneration for a DI system is a lot more complicated than for an ion-exchange system.

If I were you I would look into renting a DI tank from a local water conditioning company, it may be surprisingly affordable (or not).

[FUNX650]

The water coming out of a softener
will contain ~ the same amount of
"spotting minerals" that you started with.

The difference being that the softened
water will leave "easier to wipe off
sodium water-spots"...(easier to wipe off
than unsoftened, hard water minerals'
water-spots)...but, nonetheless, there'll
still be water-spotting.

•Go RO!


Bob

[hammer7151]

I used to use massive amounts of RO water in breeding tropical fish. My system was 1 part RO to 4 parts waste. Water was straight from well. I had a 75 gal per day filter.

My business partner in fish had his filter (exactly the same unit) run through a water softener and while house filter. It made his RO filters last longer but killed his water softener in 2 years.

I thought about using this for detailing but could only justify it for a spot free rinse or chemical dilution. But honestly it's not worth it, deionized exchange is faster and has no waste. If you're breeding fish that requires soft acidic water get RO, if not it's not worth it.

Sent from my C6725 using Tapatalk

[FUNX650]

I used to use massive amounts of
RO water in breeding tropical fish.

I thought about using this for detailing
but could only justify it for a spot free
rinse or chemical dilution.

But honestly it's not worth it, deionized
exchange is faster and has no waste.

Deionized water will wind-up etching
the surface of any unprotected metal.

IMO:
-Great for window-washing tasks;
but not really ideal for use on other
vehicle materials/surfaces.


Bob

[Beavis]

Well finally picked up my RO spot free water system for washing all my customers cars with. Excited about using this thing. Going to help out alot.

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[Beavis]

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