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IS THIS WORTH IT IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL OPINION??

Before buying anything you need to know the tds of your tap water.

This is a di system, hence why it appears to be cheap. If you live in a hard water area you need to consider an r/o.

 
Before buying anything you need to know the tds of your tap water.
This is a di system, hence why it appears to be cheap. If you live in a hard water area you need to consider an r/o.
Oh I see, my reading is 72 ppm

 
A 4040 r/o costs around £600.00.

If you have 2 operators then using us as an example we use about 2000 litres of pure a week, weather dependent. Calculate to 8000 per month. (Today we would have used around 600 liters between the 2 of us. 9.30am to 4.45pm with 1/2 an hour break at lunch time.) Tap tds of 72 will cost you £84 per month on resin (resin cost calculated at £80 per 25 liter bag) di only.

With r/o 20" prefilters at £40.00 every 3 months (Fiberdyne Carbon Block and sediment).

Every 3 years a replacement r/o membrane = £275.00

 
You don't need an RO @ 72PPM tap water, I wouldn't bother with one either. You would be better off with Two 11 Ltr DI vessels rather than One 25 Ltr vessel though as this would give you better resin economy.

 
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You don't need an RO @ 72PPM tap water, I wouldn't bother with one either. You would be better off with Two 11 Ltr DI vessels rather than One 25 Ltr vessel though as this would give you better resin economy.

You are right, you don't need an r/o with 72ppm tap water supply, but in Paddy's case, do the running costs add up?

Resin could cost £1000 by the end of the first year using our example. Even with the r/o's initial purchase price he will have reached break-even before the first year is out.

If Paddy was on a meter then this would be a different story as the cost of water has to be considered. Again using our example and our r/o setup, he would use 192000 liters of water a year with a 50/50 pure to waste ratio. On a meter that's a fair bit of water to pay for. But he isn't on a water meter.

If he was filling up from customer's taps then di on the van is the way to go, but not all people with outside taps leave the supply on to them, especially over winter.

Customers taps are also sometimes not in the most convenient place either, so a long hose would be needed.

The perception from onlookers could be that the window cleaner is stealing, even if he has his customer's permission to help himself to water..

 
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You are right, you don't need an r/o with 72ppm tap water supply, but in Paddy's case, do the running costs add up?
Resin could cost £1000 by the end of the first year using our example. Even with the r/o's initial purchase price he will have reached break-even before the first year is out.

If Paddy was on a meter then this would be a different story as the cost of water has to be considered. Again using our example and our r/o setup, he would use 192000 liters of water a year with a 50/50 pure to waste ratio. On a meter that's a fair bit of water to pay for. But he isn't on a water meter.

If he was filling up from customer's taps then di on the van is the way to go, but not all people with outside taps leave the supply on to them, especially over winter.

Customers taps are also sometimes not in the most convenient place either, so a long hose would be needed.

The perception from onlookers could be that the window cleaner is stealing, even if he has his customer's permission to help himself to water..
I've been DI only for 12 years & never come even close to spending £1000 on resin per year. Running a 500 ltr van mount & with a tap TDS of 90 PPM the maximum I use in a year is 5 bags.

Don't make the mistake of just looking at the financial side of this, a DI only set up is simplicity & convenience at it's best. No storage of water required, no freezing RO's etc in winter, no membranes to buy, no RO to maintain, no water transfer et etc. Add to that the ability to top up from anywhere, fill tank in minutes, decant tank at any time without wasting any pure etc etc.

At the maximum, it costs me £375 per year in resin, given the initial cost of a descent RO, then the hassle of it & room for water storage + everything else that comes along with that, then minus the cost of membrane replacement & there is no way on earth I would advise anybody to go down the RO route with such soft source water. This is what my next day preparation consists of each day. Pull up home, plug hose into tank, after 20 minutes or so (once the float valve has activated & shut the flow off) unplug hose, close van door- job done, nothing else!!/emoticons/biggrin.png

 
paddy where are you. i come under southern water and every one under southern water will be on a meter by the end of 2015
Hi Andy I'm in Newcastle upon Tyne area, were with Northumbrian water btw

 
Hi Andy I'm in Newcastle upon Tyne area, were with Northumbrian water btw
Our water on Teesside is also Northumbrian water from Kielder.

Today our water is 96ppm. A couple of weeks ago it was 127ppm so does fluctuate a bit.

 
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