Do RO units produce as much water as they say they do?

LordJoshaeus

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Hi everyone! Under normal conditions, can one expect RODI units to produce as much water as advertised (EG will a 50 GPD unit really produce 50, or more like 10-25)? What can be done to improve production? Thanks :)
 

Reef.

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Yes they do, as long as you have decent pressure of around 60-70 you can expect the stated out put, I use a booster pump as my pressure was low at around 30psi, now it’s 90 and I get more than the stated output.
 

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It's not hard to disprove their output so that would backfire on the manufacturer if they advertise a ridiculous number (no waste water, seen that... I don't think that would be RO water then. LoL)
They mostly said your water pressure need to be above certain psi to have it as advertise.

Water pressure is usually the main issue in a regular house for RO production. So booster pump is the answer.

Another option is to add another RO membrane. Some will say this is not recommended though. I have it on mine and its been working fine for me. 1:1 water:waste ratio
 
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Reef.

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Just be careful you are comparing like for like, one manufacturer may state they recommend the water pressure to be 60psi another could recommend 80psi for the same membrane, which would give you two different gpd output amounts. But you would get the same output from both systems. Temperature is another factor but not so much, if your tap water is warmer that will increase output, and again watch the recommendation, if they are stating 75gpd but the recommendation for temp is unrealistic don’t expect to get that output...buy from a reputable place and you shouldn’t have this issue tho.
 
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LordJoshaeus

LordJoshaeus

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Just be careful you are comparing like for like, one manufacturer may state they recommend the water pressure to be 60psi another could recommend 80psi for the same membrane, which would give you two different gpd output amounts. Temperature is another factor but not so much, if your tap water is warmer that will increase output, and again watch the recommendation, if they are stating 75ghd but the recommendation for temp is unrealistic don’t expect to get that output...buy from a reputable place and you should have this issue tho.
So I would set the faucet near the middle for temperature and not on the cold end? (I understand that hot water will fry RO membranes).
 

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So I would set the faucet near the middle for temperature and not on the cold end? (I understand that hot water will fry RO membranes).

Yeah, no. Don't use hot water at all.
What happen when someone flush the toilet? Then your RO Membrane will be fried
 
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Reef.

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So I would set the faucet near the middle for temperature and not on the cold end? (I understand that hot water will fry RO membranes).

yeah don’t use hot water at all, hot water goes through elements etc which could come into contact with copper etc and also hot water probably has more TDS so your system will be working much harder and need changing sooner.
 

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So just set the temperature on the faucet on cold when using the RO unit, regardless of the loss in output?

there is a loss but as long as your pressure is good the loss in temp is not worth worrying about.I was just making the point that temp can be misleading on the packet of some rodi systems to make the output look higher than it really is.
 
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