R/O Flow Problem

[Chef]

I have put together a Frankenstein R/O system that has 6 stages. 2 prefilters and 2 carbon block filters, then the ro membrane and another carbon post filter. I have installed a auto shut off valve and a flow restrictor. The problem is when I finally turned it on and fixed all of the leaks, I found a problem with the flow of the ro. The waste line even with the flow restrictor was letting a lot of water go to waste while I was getting just a small trickle from the ro line. I have heard of a permeate pump that can be used if the water coming into the ro system is below 75psi. Does anyone know what pressure Houston water comes into the at house is? Also, does anyone have a similar issue with their ro system?

[Sea-agg09]

waste to usable water ratio is usually 3:1. I haven't dealt with 6-stage units, so it might even be 4:1 with the additional cartridge. Unless you are using a commercial size unit, most 4 and 5 stages are around 50-75 gallons per day, which means about 2-3 gallons per hour. Is your "trickle" in that range, or is it even lower?

[Darbex]

Usually waste will be a steady flow while the good water will be a trickle. Like Sea-agg said its usually a 3:1 ratio of bad to good water. Not sure that the last carbon block is really worth it your RO should be putting out TDS levels between 0-10. I would make the last block a DI canister which will improve the water quality better IMO.

[Chef]

Now that I've got leaks so I can't even gauge my trickle. I've shut off the r/o in an attempt to fix the leak but the brine water really was a steady stream while the filtered water is at a steady trickle. What I would like to do is plumb it like the zero waste r/o and just plumb the waste line back to the r/o. I foresee a big *** water bill in the near future if I don't resolve the waste water issue. I've got breeding discus so I hope all this headache is worth it.

[Darbex]

My water bill is consistently at about $55 a month because of my R/O unit.

[soymilk]

I have put together a Frankenstein R/O system that has 6 stages. 2 prefilters and 2 carbon block filters, then the ro membrane and another carbon post filter. I have installed a auto shut off valve and a flow restrictor. The problem is when I finally turned it on and fixed all of the leaks, I found a problem with the flow of the ro. The waste line even with the flow restrictor was letting a lot of water go to waste while I was getting just a small trickle from the ro line. I have heard of a permeate pump that can be used if the water coming into the ro system is below 75psi. Does anyone know what pressure Houston water comes into the at house is? Also, does anyone have a similar issue with their ro system?

hmm... thats a monster ro system you got there. But you shouldn't add the carbon block at the end.

The prefilters and carbon blocks need pressure behind it to push the water thru. This is why we put these before the RO membrane. The RO removes the majority of the stuff anyways. Adding a carbon block at the end isn't going to do much, its just going to back up your water. It could put back pressure on the membrane and make it not work as good. Think of it like this... we try to clean the water as best as possible for the RO membrane. The RO membrane is main work horse.

All you need is 1 prefilter, 2 carbon blocks ( 5micron, and 1micron ), then RO membrane...

For those of you wanted to make your RO unit more efficient and waste less water. Just add another RO membrane.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/reverse-osmosis-filters-and-systems/ro-di-accessories/150-gpd-water-saving-upgrade-kit.html

Basically it runs your waste water thru another RO membrane, so you should get close to about 150 gpd and 1:1 product to waste ratio. But make sure you got enough water pressure.... if not.. then get this

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/reverse-osmosis-filters-and-systems/ro-di-accessories/aquatec-8800-booster-pump-kit.html