RODI open Loop system

[BroccoliFarmer]

Question for you plumbers. I don't want to go through the process of hard plumbing my RODI system and prefer to have it on my sink if I need it. This question might be a general RODI system..no idea.

If I set up an RODI system so that the water source is my sink (with a ball valve switch) and I run the clean water line to my reservoir with a water float to turn it off...does the water continue to run through the filters and out the dirty water tube down the drain? Trying to figure out how to potentially plumb my system to my tank..i just would hate to burn through filters and well water if there is no way to stop the filtering process when the reservoir is full.

My home RODI system may always be on..but because the waste water is plumbed to my sewer line..I just don't see it. So maybe a dumb question.

Thanks

Sign - Not a plumber

 

[alysak6075]

most RODI units come with a version of this:

1/4" Auto Shut Off Valve

Installation Instructions 1/4" Automatic shut off valves are used with float valves or pressurized tanks to shut off an RO system. It utilizes the back pressure created by the float valve or pressurized tank to shut off the water supply to the membrane. Without an automatic shut off valve...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Which shuts the filter down if there is backpressure on the CLEAN water line. So the ball valve creates back pressure and that shuts the RODI unit down.

Another issue is if you pull little water out of your clean water container, this will mean the RODI unit will run for short periods of time but more often, that will burn through DI faster.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

most RODI units come with a version of this:

1/4" Auto Shut Off Valve

Installation Instructions 1/4" Automatic shut off valves are used with float valves or pressurized tanks to shut off an RO system. It utilizes the back pressure created by the float valve or pressurized tank to shut off the water supply to the membrane. Without an automatic shut off valve...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Which shuts the filter down if there is backpressure on the CLEAN water line. So the ball valve creates back pressure and that shuts the RODI unit down.

Another issue is if you pull little water out of your clean water container, this will mean the RODI unit will run for short periods of time but more often, that will burn through DI faster.

Interesting..I have that on the system i bought from BRS (5 stage 75 GPH PLUS system) but does not appear to be working when I put my finger over the clean water outport.

And thanks for the heads up. Ultimately, I am just trying to find an answer for when I go on vacation given I only have a 5 gallon reservoir that I chew through every 3 days.

 

[alysak6075]

Interesting..I have that on the system i bought from BRS (5 stage 75 GPH PLUS system) but does not appear to be working when I put my finger over the clean water outport.

And thanks for the heads up. Ultimately, I am just trying to find an answer for when I go on vacation given I only have a 5 gallon reservoir that I chew through every 3 days.

I have the same one, works perfectly here.... could be a dead valve, bummer

 

[alysak6075]

Interesting..I have that on the system i bought from BRS (5 stage 75 GPH PLUS system) but does not appear to be working when I put my finger over the clean water outport.

And thanks for the heads up. Ultimately, I am just trying to find an answer for when I go on vacation given I only have a 5 gallon reservoir that I chew through every 3 days.

just a sanity check: you block the BLUE line correct? and when you BLOCK it, NO water comes out?

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

just a sanity check: you block the BLUE line correct? and when you BLOCK it, NO water comes out?

I blocked the blue line but water kept coming out of the black discharge

 

[alysak6075]

I blocked the blue line but water kept coming out of the black discharge

Hmmm... seems like that pressure valve is malfunctioning. I would:
1. inspect it and make sure its plumbed right and isnt backwards.
2. if 1 looks correct i would order another one.

 

[anemoi]

I am going to jump in here before starting another thread because I have a very similar question.

I have recently added the BRS Drinking water kit to my set up. This T's off before the DI filter and fills a pressurized tank for drinking. I installed the three way valve/T in the blue line feeding the DI. The third leg not runs through a check valve and into the drinking tank. I am having the same issue that water is continuously trickling from the waste line. Could the check valve be preventing sufficient back pressure to shut off the unit?

Water bill doubled last month so I am assuming its been going non stop.

 

[alysak6075]

I am going to jump in here before starting another thread because I have a very similar question.

I have recently added the BRS Drinking water kit to my set up. This T's off before the DI filter and fills a pressurized tank for drinking. I installed the three way valve/T in the blue line feeding the DI. The third leg not runs through a check valve and into the drinking tank. I am having the same issue that water is continuously trickling from the waste line. Could the check valve be preventing sufficient back pressure to shut off the unit?

Water bill doubled last month so I am assuming its been going no

Hmm this is a tricky one.... i will assume BRS had a batch of crap back pressure shutoff valves. Check valve would leak into the DI canister and you would at first burn through the DI.

So what is probably happening is: water fills in the pressure tank, your DI is also closed. The back pressure builds and is supposed to shut off the water, but the back pressure valve is malfunctioning. Same advice as above:
check its all plumbed correctly, if it is, replace the valve. If that doesn't help, idk, there is some black magic happening.

 

[anemoi]

Hmm this is a tricky one.... i will assume BRS had a batch of crap back pressure shutoff valves. Check valve would leak into the DI canister and you would at first burn through the DI.

So what is probably happening is: water fills in the pressure tank, your DI is also closed. The back pressure builds and is supposed to shut off the water, but the back pressure valve is malfunctioning. Same advice as above:
check its all plumbed correctly, if it is, replace the valve. If that doesn't help, idk, there is some black magic happening.

The odd thing is that before adding the drinking water kit I set up the float valve on my RODI tank and it seemed to work fine. Although in hindsight I usually manually killed the water supply once the tank was filled. I'll order another back pressure switch and see what happens.

 

[A;exr54]

This does not answer your question but I will explain how i have my RODI/ATO, maybe for ideas for others.
The RODI sits outside my house in a shed, its hard plumbed directly to the main water source. Before the RODI I have a rainbird zone valve (made for irrigation systems).
The zone valve is plugged into the Apex 24VDC instead of a PMUP for the ATK.
When water is needed the zone valve opens, soon as water is topped off (about 10 minutes 2x a day) the zone valve closes.
No need for a reservoir. And i haven't had a failure yet. I've run it this way for years. Before i had the Apex i was using a reefangel with a tsunami ato. The Apex gives a extra layer of security with the float kink.
Just sharing Good luck!

 

[anemoi]

This does not answer your question but I will explain how i have my RODI/ATO, maybe for ideas for others.
The RODI sits outside my house in a shed, its hard plumbed directly to the main water source. Before the RODI I have a rainbird zone valve (made for irrigation systems).
The zone valve is plugged into the Apex 24VDC instead of a PMUP for the ATK.
When water is needed the zone valve opens, soon as water is topped off (about 10 minutes 2x a day) the zone valve closes.
No need for a reservoir. And i haven't had a failure yet. I've run it this way for years. Before i had the Apex i was using a reefangel with a tsunami ato. The Apex gives a extra layer of security with the float kink.
Just sharing Good luck!

As a home automation enthusiast I like the idea of using the rain bird to shut on/off the water supply.

 

[A;exr54]

As a home automation enthusiast I like the idea of using the rain bird to shut on/off the water supply.

I am all about automation and making things easier.
Before I had the Apex with the 24VDC plugs, I was using a 24VDC transformer to a regular 120V plug. I was able to toss the large transformer thanks to the Apex. The rainbird i use is the 3/4" one with an adapter down to the 1/4" tubing for the RODI.
This setup has been great for me.
My waste water goes to my pool so nothing really gets wasted. Since the pool usually needs to be topped off as well anyway. And the pool is a salt water pool with a salt cell. So I'm not too worried about TDS in there

 

[anemoi]

Just going to update this with my results. My replacement pressure switch came in and after installing it nothing had changed. All along I have had a sneaking suspicion that the check valve that the instructions said to install on the line running to the pressure tank was the problem. Lo and behold when I removed it everything worked.

So I am not sure if this is going to cause some other problem because the instructions were clear that it needed to be installed but at least now I'm not constantly running the thing.

 

[A;exr54]

Just going to update this with my results. My replacement pressure switch came in and after installing it nothing had changed. All along I have had a sneaking suspicion that the check valve that the instructions said to install on the line running to the pressure tank was the problem. Lo and behold when I removed it everything worked.

So I am not sure if this is going to cause some other problem because the instructions were clear that it needed to be installed but at least now I'm not constantly running the thing.

So after you removed the check valve is started working fine?
Are you sure you had the check valve in the correct direction?

 

[anemoi]

So after you removed the check valve is started working fine?
Are you sure you had the check valve in the correct direction?

Yea after I pulled the check valve it then would stop producing any waste once the pressure tank filled. I installed shut off valves on both branches of the tee (running to DI and drinking tank) so that I could shut one down for testing. Right away I confirmed the DI branch shut down fine and it was the drinking branch that was causing issues. I triple checked I had the check valve arrow facing the direction of water flow.

My understanding of the check valve is that it allows water to pass through towards the pressure tank but does not allow it to back up towards the unit once it passes through. My only guess is that this is for some reason not allowing enough pressure to build up to trigger the pressure switch. This doesn't really make sense but its the best I could come up with.

I can also confirm there were 100% no slow leaks allowing pressure to drop.

 

[A;exr54]

That’s weird. Not sure what type of check valve you are using but most don’t need pressure to open. The pressure would be on backfeed side.
maybe it’s a faulty check valve?