Re using waste water from ro system

[Deleted member 84]

Is it possible to put the waste water into a tank of its own then pump it through the system again to save waste and money? 

 

[Part Timer]

It probably depends on your original water TDS. If it's 300+, like mine, the waste water TDS will be very high, I'm sure I've read somewhere that the R/O filters we use aren't meant for a TDS above 400. 

 

[Deleted member 84]

But surely the tds doesnt matter. Just thinking get a pump connect to the inlet on ro and pump from the waste tank through the ro then produce decent whilst the waste goes back into the waste tank. 

 

[willy windows]

I've been scratching my head on this one as well.Came across the Osmosicts site which claims to have ECO friendly  R/O systems that will reduce wastage by 75% and increase production rates !

https://www.osmotics.co.uk/products/6-Stage-450-Gallon-Per-Day-Reverse-Osmosis-System.html#reviews

I'm considering this system myself as a way of producing water with all in 1 system .

 

[willy windows]

Forgot to say. Brilliant video on a Osmotics System and gives a lot of informative info  . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPdzLJWb4R8

 

[paulben]

Been recycling my waste from R/O for years no problem.Waste to tank then 12v pump via controller back through system bypassing sediment and chlorine filter .

 

[Deleted member 84]

Thanks mate im guessing this helps save money could you send me some pictures off your set up please mate 

 

[Pjj]

Waist water is exactly that waist , it is heavily contaminated with all kinds of impurity’s why would you want to put that  back through your filters what are you gaining ??? All it will do is either block up your filters faster or go straight down the drain again as waist that won’t pass through the membrane 

 

[Deleted member 84]

Just trying to see if its do able. Doesn't massively effect me as I'm not on a water meter just feels a waste putting it down the drain when it could be re used

 

[spruce]

Just trying to see if its do able. Doesn't massively effect me as I'm not on a water meter just feels a waste putting it down the drain when it could be re used

There's nothing stopping you doing it and reporting back on your findings. However, this would be a long term experiment and I guess you would need to run 2 identical r/o systems side by side so you get a fair comparison and test until failure.

I wouldn't bother to be honest. You can easily get so involved with micro detail that you loose focus on the job at hand - cleaning windows with pure water.

I believe that Ionics does a unit that recaptures some of the waste water from the r/o and reintroduces it into the inlet side. But I haven't heard many reporting that its the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[paulben]

Sorry took pictures but cannot find connection from camera to laptop . If I wasn't on a meter I wouldn't bother but as my r/o is at bottom of garden and i don't get through a huge amount of water it works for me .If your worried about the environment collect waste and wash van ,water the garden with it .If you let it run off onto the garden it will work its way back to water table and in a few hundred years get back to under ground resoviours .

 

[Pjj]

There's nothing stopping you doing it and reporting back on your findings. However, this would be a long term experiment and I guess you would need to run 2 identical r/o systems side by side so you get a fair comparison and test until failure.

I wouldn't bother to be honest. You can easily get so involved with micro detail that you loose focus on the job at hand - cleaning windows with pure water.

I believe that Ionics does a unit that recaptures some of the waste water from the r/o and reintroduces it into the inlet side. But I haven't heard many reporting that its the best thing since sliced bread.

Yes ionics did do the pro 6 with this putting some waist water back through the system , not surprisingly they didn’t produce or sell very many and it was discontinued 

 

[doug atkinson]

With some 450 GPD systems some suppliers feed the waste of 1st, 2nd membrane to the 2nd, 3rd membrane to save on waste water. This effects the outlet ppm as well as membrane 2 & 3 not lasting that long.

You can direct some waste back into a 4040/4021 membrane but you have to refer to the manufacturers software as there is a maximum amount that can be fed back in. Feeding too much will clog the membrane.

I do know some how feed up to 6 x 150gpd membranes to reduce his waste but now has given up on the idea as was paying too much for membranes.

 

[CleanEze]

I put my waste into garden watering tank ! plants look great !! 

 

[spruce]

Yes ionics did do the pro 6 with this putting some waist water back through the system , not surprisingly they didn’t produce or sell very many and it was discontinued 

Wasn't it called a Robac or something similar to this?

 

[Pjj]

Wasn't it called a Robac or something similar to this?

  Yes it was another filter added , but never really took off I had a friend who worked at ionics at the time they didn’t sell many and the roback filter didn’t last long and was £100 per go evan back then I think ionics said it needed changing every 3 months or so , so what you saved in water costs you spent the same or more on filters so was a non starter .

 

[spruce]

Sorry took pictures but cannot find connection from camera to laptop . If I wasn't on a meter I wouldn't bother but as my r/o is at bottom of garden and i don't get through a huge amount of water it works for me .If your worried about the environment collect waste and wash van ,water the garden with it .If you let it run off onto the garden it will work its way back to water table and in a few hundred years get back to under ground resoviours .

I believe you can never waste water for this very reason. ?

Of course the water board will tell you that wasting water is bad for the environment, but they are only saying not to 'waste' water so they have enough to sell it to everyone. As the nation's population grows they want to be able to continue to supply everyone with the same dated resources.

 

[Pjj]

I believe you can never waste water for this very reason. ?

Of course the water board will tell you that wasting water is bad for the environment, but they are only saying not to 'waste' water so they have enough to sell it to everyone. As the nation's population grows they want to be able to continue to supply everyone with the same dated resources.

Exactly water doesn’t increase or de crease we have the same amount on the planet now as in the beginning of time , it’s 100% recycled and never runs out ???. The water table will go up and down depending on rainfall and evaporation but still the same amount in total . 

 

[spruce]

Exactly water doesn’t increase or de crease we have the same amount on the planet now as in the beginning of time , it’s 100% recycled and never runs out ???. The water table will go up and down depending on rainfall and evaporation but still the same amount in total . 

I appreciate that demand and distribution can be an issue in some places. The Hoover dam is a typical example where man is making more and more demands on the water resources in that particular area. But Las Vegas continues to grow and people continue to use water like there is no tomorrow. 

They aren't wasting water; they are just using up the resources faster than it can be replenished. It will come to an end one day when the glass is empty. Rather than taking the situation seriously, they are busy arranging bus loads of tourists to visit the 'low on water' dam. See it before there is no water left in it!