New to purifying water

Hi I bought a tds meter the other day to test my tap water and I am getting a reading of 160 ppm. I understand this is indicating I live in a hard water area. I am new to the process of purfying water can someone tell me what I will need and how much it will cost to produce my own pure water. Any help much appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

It depends on how much water you need per day and if you've got an area free to produce and store it.

Hi @Josh Foster

160ppm ain’t too bad, I’m in a 275ppm area. But yeh there’s some crazy high 350-450ppm areas out there. 

You’ll need a R.O(Reverse Osmosis system). That does most of the work, before polishing off the last of the ppm with ‘Resin’

Depending on your budget, you can get a small, slow one for £160ish, OR a super big, fast And more efficient R.O for £2,500ish 

I use this one: https://www.varitech.systems/product-category/reverse-osmosis-and-static-systems/reverse-osmosis-systems/

£361+ vat for the 600gpd one.

Had it nearly 3 years, it produces me more than enough (with a extra booster pump for £200ish aswell though as I have very low water pressure in this area)

Its easy to set up & maintain. Pre filters need changing every 16 weeks for me, they cost about £14.00. The main ‘membranes’ I think were £120ish I think, can’t quite remember, but they only need changing every 18 months.

This all based on me, someone who produces anywhere from 1100-2000 litres a week of pure water, Obviously if you’re starting out and not much work it’ll last even longer. 

If i change the pre filters and give it a good flush out, then it will get my 275ppm down to around 10ppm. When I first bought it, it’s was coming out at 7ppm! I was very impressed! but can’t seem to get it that low anymore.

Then I just have a 7L di vessel, which is full of the rein, that takes it down to 000ppm. I change the resin every 5/6 months.

Part Timer said:

It depends on how much water you need per day and if you've got an area free to produce and store it.

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Yes as @Part Timer asks, if you don’t have anywhere to store it then quite a few but their water from either another local cleaner, or from Spotlless water filling stations. But they’re quite spread out. 

Thanks for reply. Rwcleaning its more space than budget and with just starting out i may be better with a smaller one initially.

Josh Foster said:

Thanks for reply. Rwcleaning its more space than budget and with just starting out i may be better with a smaller one initially.

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I started out with 2 outside waterbutts 210 litres each it was fine till more work came rolling in 

I'm new to WFP too but just bought Gardiner 25ft SLX, on to making pure water now. 

Few of my local window cleaners say that I won't need an RO, and that they're a waste of time because of all water wastage. (i'm on a meter)

Then I've seen some video the other day saying that RO is not a good option compared to DI.

Fed up of waiting for Spotless to come to an area near me so going to have to make it myself. 

If anyone is in Leeds/Bradford area who I can buy pure water off let me know please!  

Hi cottonlung can i ask what ro system you was using and what else you was using in your setup when you was using outside water butts thanks

Josh Foster said:

Hi cottonlung can i ask what ro system you was using and what else you was using in your setup when you was using outside water butts thanks

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I was using a twin DI vessel setup, i bought a submerisble pump to transfer the water from the butts to my van tank and barrels for a trolley system. Space was at a premium at my last property.

I have always found https://daqua.co.uk/ro_systems.htm to more competitively priced on systems than other suppliers a 450gpd R/O is £223 with the vat and delivery also his customer service is first class, @Joshyouare this may answer your question in part https://windowcleaningforums.co.uk/topic/28404-water-billing-question/  using a 15 litre DI vessel with your tds of 160ppm will cost you £46.00 a month if you were using 2000 litres a month to start with, it will be cheaper to start with but as you go and use more water you will need an R/O 

I'm inclined to follow the advice of @Iron Giant initially until you get onto your feet @Josh Foster. But space and vehicle are going to impact on how well you manage.

You say that space is an issue. In a case like this we would look at a van mount with an onboard r/o unit processing water directly into the van's tank. Doing it this way is a consideration but normally cleaners use 4040 or a 4021 r/o for fast water processing. A good days cleaning will consume between 350 and 500 liters of pure. Have you an outside tap?  When you use an r/o there is a certain amount of waste associated with the purification process. So if you use 300 liters of water a day cleaning windows you will probably take 600 - 700 liters from the tap as 300 - 400 is waste water used to flush filtered impurities away.

The other issue is that of your vehicle. If you are going to use a Corsa then you are rather limited in what you can do imho. There are a couple of cleaners in our locale who pull a trailer with plastic drums of water on the back. If you haven't an outside storage tank then filling these becomes a problem. I know as I used to carry 4 extra drums on the back of the van which I used to fill using the r/o directly. It was a small r/o and I could spend the best part of the evening monitoring the filling of them.

As has been noted on other threads, a Gardiner backpack is possibily a good consideration with some some backup 25 liter plastic drums for water.

When you say space is a problem, please explain. If you live in a block of flats with a communial tap then you could well run into issues with neighbours, especially if you all share the water bill.

I live at home and have a a couple of sheds for storage but they are full. So I would like to know the best way to set up a system. Can I set one up outside when the risk of freezing is over. And should i start with a ro system or a di vessel thanks

Josh Foster said:

I live at home and have a a couple of sheds for storage but they are full. So I would like to know the best way to set up a system. Can I set one up outside when the risk of freezing is over. And should i start with a ro system or a di vessel thanks

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I very much doubt you will have a storage tank freeze solid outside in the winter. You might get a thin layer of ice on top but the water won't freeze all the way to the bottom. I've never heard Windies who have tanks outside in the open complain about water freezing up. What they complain about is the growth of algae. That is largely prevented with a black tank that blocks sun light. 

What you do need to do is protect your r/o from freezing.

Yeah thanks @Iron Giant

Seen as this is very relevant to this topic - just got a TDS meter and i'm getting readings of 60 TDS. From what I can make out i'm sure that'll just be DI, but what size DI will I need? Thankyouuu

how would i protect the ro from freezing.

Josh Foster said:

how would i protect the ro from freezing.

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Tube heater or oil filled radiator.

Word filler, word filler, word filler

Josh Foster said:

how would i protect the ro from freezing.

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Store the r/o inside when its not processing water. I used to leave mine by the back tap overnight when I was processing water into my wfp trailer. Once the trailer was full I unplugged the unit and stored it out of the way in the bath. Water coming in from the tap isn't freezing cold so whilst its running, the r/o is kept from freezing up by the water passing through it.

Some old friends have an outside storage tank and r/o at his Dad's house. He has the r/o mounted on the wall of the downstairs toilet above the cistern. The water to the tanks exits through a small hole drilled in the wall and the waste goes to the drain outside through another small hole.

Have a look at this

Joshyouare said:

Yeah thanks @Iron Giant

Seen as this is very relevant to this topic - just got a TDS meter and i'm getting readings of 60 TDS. From what I can make out i'm sure that'll just be DI, but what size DI will I need? Thankyouuu

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You would be better off with 2 di vessels @THL4KEL could be better to advise as he uses a di and our tds is similar to yours 

Joshyouare said:

I'm new to WFP too but just bought Gardiner 25ft SLX, on to making pure water now. 

Few of my local window cleaners say that I won't need an RO, and that they're a waste of time because of all water wastage. (i'm on a meter)

Then I've seen some video the other day saying that RO is not a good option compared to DI.

Fed up of waiting for Spotless to come to an area near me so going to have to make it myself. 

If anyone is in Leeds/Bradford area who I can buy pure water off let me know please! ?

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Just get yourself 25 litres Unger Premium  Resin and a 12.5 litre DI  Vessel. Once you start getting a reading g over 0 from the DI buy another 12.5 litre DI and double DI.

Connect water source to the first DI Vessel then connect into the new DI Vessel and go from there.

THL4KEL said:

Just get yourself 25 litres Unger Premium  Resin and a 12.5 litre DI  Vessel. Once you start getting a reading g over 0 from the DI buy another 12.5 litre DI and double DI.

Connect water source to the first DI Vessel then connect into the new DI Vessel and go from there.

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Perfect, pretty sure I understand everything now other than the fittings. Like from my outdoor tap to the first DI will it just be a standard fitting or?

Oh and can that vessel be a 11l one or will the 12.5 make a lot of difference? Thanks

Yeah the 11 litre one will be fine. Once you get it you just need to get some hozelock  connections