Zero Waste RO

[RuGlu6]

Originally Posted by sphelps

OK well the idea here is reuse your waste water from your RO units. To say that it's better to waste the water since it has potential to help out sewage issues is somewhat ridiculous in my mind. If this were the case, then for the same reasons we shouldn't bother to fix leaking faucets and running toilets. The average household wastes more than enough water to help with those issues already, and if a problem did exist with water treatment I don't think the solution would involve wasting more water.

Saving water is a good idea, and really this is something everyone should be interested in regardless if water is cheap or not. From a green point of view it's as simple as reducing your consumption, that's it. It doesn't involve politics and I see little relevance between the two. Yes power companies promote energy saving for other reasons than to save you money but so what? That doesn't mean you should leave the lights on 24/7, it's a simple system that both parties benefit from, you save money and the power company makes more money. Is it perfect? Absolutely not but it doesn't mean we should be wasteful.

So then why exactly is it a good idea to save/conserve water?
I can see it in a desert or an area where there isn't enough, but here when it rains 27 days out of 30?
Our reservoirs cant keep it any way and it overflows to the sewer/storm

[Fish Head]

maybe 10 g. Every night when i get home. Go to put maybe 1 g into water change bucket and have next to nothing left. Boil water for youngest daughter, dog drinks alot but in a 50gpd system it shouldnt take that long for a 3g tank to fill. Booster pump runs almost non stop. Maybe i should have bought a bigger resevoir tank. or the 100gpd system but for 1000 bux it should have water whenever i need it. Im gonna call Aztek and ask some questions.

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

So then why exactly is it a good idea to save/conserve water?
I can see it in a desert or an area where there isn't enough, but here when it rains 27 days out of 30?
Our reservoirs cant keep it any way and it overflows to the sewer/storm

yep here in the capital people conserved so much the water meter rates had to be increased...they arnt making enough money...

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

So then why exactly is it a good idea to save/conserve water?
I can see it in a desert or an area where there isn't enough, but here when it rains 27 days out of 30?
Our reservoirs cant keep it any way and it overflows to the sewer/storm

Well we do pay for water, maybe the saving potential isn't that high but it's there. But the main purpose is to simply save water, perhaps you feel that you have an unlimited supply so you can be wasteful but I can assure you first of all this is not the case and there are many people who do not have such a supply or are looking for ways to reduce waste. Reducing water usage is not a new idea, all shower heads and toilets these days use water saving techniques, this is no different.

Water should not be regarded as an unlimited resource. The continuing growth in global temperatures and population puts a huge strain on all water supply. Even if reservoirs are full it doesn't mean the treatment plants can keep up with the demand and in most places water reservoirs are not full. It's a well known and obvious fact that water conservation practices have already started and need to be continued.

[hillegom]

Originally Posted by Fish Head

maybe 10 g. Every night when i get home. Go to put maybe 1 g into water change bucket and have next to nothing left. Boil water for youngest daughter, dog drinks alot but in a 50gpd system it shouldnt take that long for a 3g tank to fill. Booster pump runs almost non stop. Maybe i should have bought a bigger resevoir tank. or the 100gpd system but for 1000 bux it should have water whenever i need it. Im gonna call Aztek and ask some questions.

I do not know what system you have. Lets say part of your system has 1 particle and then two carbon filters. How long has it been since you have changed these filters?
Turn off the water and bleed the system of pressure. Then disconnect the line to the particle filter and see how much volume you get there. Then reconnect and check how much volume you have after the two carbon filters.
I would think you will have a lot less. If so, change the filters.
After 6 months, I change out the particle filter, and after a year, I change all 3. But here in the lower mainland our water is pretty good.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by don.ald

yep here in the capital people conserved so much the water meter rates had to be increased...they arnt making enough money...

Sure about that?? Sounds more like an additional initiative to make people conserve water as a result of them not conserving enough.

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Sure about that?? Sounds more like an additional initiative to make people conserve water as a result of them not conserving enough.

well, here the resivour is overflowing and the conservation is still in place.
overall, yes i agree that water should be conserved. i hate watching the waste water go down the drain from my ro unit! i actually collect it in rainbarells and use it on the garden in the summer months.

i guess my point is going green doesn't mean saving money..there is always a cost factor and that cost of going green has to be put into the equasion.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by don.ald

well, here the resivour is overflowing and the conservation is still in place.
overall, yes i agree that water should be conserved. i hate watching the waste water go down the drain from my ro unit! i actually collect it in rainbarells and use it on the garden in the summer months.

i guess my point is going green doesn't mean saving money..there is always a cost factor and that cost of going green has to be put into the equasion.

Agreed, the main purpose of this is certainly not to save money, it's to save water but saving water usually has a side effect of saving you money but the payback period on something like this may not be realistic for everyone.

Obviously if you're already saving your waste water then a system like this should spark your interest a little, we're talking about the same thing but I'm looking for something more efficient and with less hassle. One could easily send waste water to the hot water line as a primary setup and then have an auxiliary by-pass for things like rain barrels when possible.

[mark]

Just wondering within Codes to be plumbing what is basically waste water back into the potable supply?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by mark

Within Codes to be plumbing what is basically waste water back into the potable supply?

I've assumed that this kind of thing is up to code since systems are already available but I'm no expert. It would be nice if a plumber was around to offer some insight.