Anyone build their own water de-ionizer?

[DENALI]

Hate spending more than I have to on things so if I can build a better mouse trap cheaper then that's what I like to do. So I am curious if anyone has built there own that lasts as long or longer for less money than buying a built unit. THanks

[QuickCln]

I haven't.

I lucked out and bought the dic 20 from a guy off craigslist (came with 1 cubic foot of resin). It came already depleted, so my first task is to replace the cartridges, which is almost impossible because the housing feels like its stuck. I had to order this metal wrench Superb Wrench Metal Water Filter Housing Wrench for Big Blue Housing-SPBW#2 - The Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Superb-Wrench-Metal-Water-Filter-Housing-Wrench-for-Big-Blue-Housing-SPBW-2/204597837) (which is on its way) and hopefully ill be able to test the unit this weekend.

In terms of building one yourself I think you can. BUT I'll forewarn you, cost and difficulty of doing so out weighs the benefit of money saved. You could get a generic water softener tank and fill it with di resin, this might be cheaper upfront, But there's comfort in knowing you can call customer support from a manufacturer when you encounter weird problems.

But I think the biggest cost in DI is the resin, I have 450 ppm water which means ill probably burn thru a lot of resin, same with u if u live somewhere that is 400 and up.

Some thoughts:

1. Use a pressure washer to conserve water usage, thereby conserving resin. Hippies will thank you, your wallet will thank you.

2. Only use DI water as the final rinse. Once again to save resin. you might be able to rinse a small coupe with only a couple gallons or less.

3. Buy a series of y valves and short hoses so that you can easily switch between di water and tap water.

4. Make up your mind as to whether you will be buying your resin or chemically recharging them. Seeing as how you're concerned with money, maybe recharging the resin is for you. I am currently tossing the idea around in my mind.

To buy more resin is 160 for a cubic ft at the cheapest (shipped anywhere in us, windows101.com) but to chemically recharge your used resin, and reuse them again and again should cost less than 20 bucks. The problem with recharging the resin is that its time consuming the first time since you will have to separate the mixed bed resin and recharge the anions and cations with different solutions. Once you separate them, recharging SHOULD be quicker, simpler, and easier IF you keep the resin beads separated in different cartridges. Something I definitely will be doing if I go down this route. If I do this, I will also probably do a huge batch at once and vacuum seal the rest.

Another possibility is to by the ON-the-GO dual tank system that comes pre-seperated resin Deionizers | On The Go® (http://www.portablewaterdi.com/deionizers.php#otg2ddi) (its like 450 on amazon) so recharging that should be easier than the cr spotless dic-20.

Either way you slice it, doing DI is either time consuming or expensive or both.

Another option is Reverse Osmosis which is cheaper all the way around but requires a tank to hold a reservoir of water for on demand use. You will also need a Pressure washer that has a self-priming pump, or use any PW of your choice and have an electric pump to pump the water to the PW.

I think there could be a market for DI resin recharging services. Should be an easy thing to streamline. Would make spotless rinses for everyone much less of a hassle, and should bring the price of virgin resin down.

anyways those are my thoughts on the matter. I myself will just use what I have until I am out of resin, and by then I will know if its worth recharging or just buying.