quick RO/DI question from a new guy

[Kybol]

I live out of town and am sick of packing jugs of water home with me. How good do RO/DI units work for well water, and how long will the filters last? Also where is the best place to get one, and what should I be looking for in a system?

Thanks

[makana]

I can't say how they work on well water but I ordered a vertex from j&l and I'm happy with it.

As far as what to look for it depends on what you want it to do and how much water you need. If you have a big tank then you need a lot of water for water changes so you would want one that produces more water. They are rated in gallons per hour so you can figure out how long it will take you to make the water you need.

The one I bought has a built in TDS meter to verify the water quality. It has a booster pump that reduces the waste water. It auto backflushes the RO filter to increase the lifespan, (some have manual or no backflush). It also has a preasure shut off so you can connect it to mechanical float switch for resevoir. These are all optional things depending on how you want to set it up.

I use mine for drinking water as well so I just installed a T fitting before the DI filter and a shutoff valve for RO water and one for DI. If I felt like it I could have both connected to reseviors but I just fill containters manually.

[ScubaSteve]

If you know the TDS of your well water I could probably help you pick one out but, as a rule of thumb, if your input TDS is high you will want a unit with more stages. For well water I'd recommend a 5 stage probably.

[mike31154]

Another issue to be cognizant of with a well system is your pressure. Most RODI systems require upwards of 40 psi to work efficiently. You may need a booster pump if your pressure is near or lower than that.