RO/DI Unit - Help Please

[Saltcreep]

First, this is not a 'For Sale' post. I'm not looking for offers at this time. If I decide to sell this, or give it away later, it will be posted in the appropriate board. Just looking for some info, for now.

Can anyone tell me exactly what I have in the attached picture, and maybe, and idea of its 'worth'? It looks to me like a complete RO/DI unit, but I truly have no idea. It came to me in a box of  goodies from someone  getting out of the hobby. You see it exactly the way I got it; everything was dismantled in a bit of a hurry, I think. I'm pretty sure I've got all the parts together. Do you see anything missing? I don't see a brand name on it anywhere.

Thanks.

[redbelly]

Its an RO unit, no DI though.

The three vertical cylinders are the prefilters.

The larger white horizontal cylinder is the actual RO

The other 2 look like they are carbon filters, not 100% sure but thats what they look like.
The big tank is the presurized tank for storing drinking water.

For drinking water you want an RO unit, not ro/di and thats what it looks like. But its easy to add a DI unit to this.
Or you could use this for making excellent tap water!

Now whats it worth?
For a used unit you would always assume all the filters are toast.
Full filter change on that unit will cost about $110 for the proper filters for Ottawa water plus you still need a DI for this which would be about $50 for the filter and housing so thats $160.
New these units are $200 and will include a pressure guage.
You could go for the cheap chinese filters but then the price of the unit would decrease a fair amount too... so the diff would probably be similar

[Saltcreep]

Its an RO unit, no DI though.

The three vertical cylinders are the prefilters.

The larger white horizontal cylinder is the actual RO

The other 2 look like they are carbon filters, not 100% sure but thats what they look like.
The big tank is the presurized tank for storing drinking water.

For drinking water you want an RO unit, not ro/di and thats what it looks like. But its easy to add a DI unit to this.
Or you could use this for making excellent tap water!

Now whats it worth?
For a used unit you would always assume all the filters are toast.
Full filter change on that unit will cost about $110 for the proper filters for Ottawa water plus you still need a DI for this which would be about $50 for the filter and housing so thats $160.
New these units are $200 and will include a pressure guage.
You could go for the cheap chinese filters but then the price of the unit would decrease a fair amount too... so the diff would probably be similar

Many thanks, redbelly. Somehow, I knew where the difinitive answer would come from. I guess I'll just keep this. I can see a possible use for this unit at the cottage.

[Malyon18]

Probably perfect for the cottage since you would not want DI

[Brent Shaver]

I was actually looking for something simular for our trailer.  We dont have running water and considered using a 55 gallon drum (food grade plastic) to capture rain water then run it through the RO into a closed 55 for on demand storage.

Would like it for water to boil, just not sure it would be clean enough.

Sorry didnt mean to highjack the thread.

[Saltcreep]

I was actually looking for something simular for our trailer.  We dont have running water and considered using a 55 gallon drum (food grade plastic) to capture rain water then run it through the RO into a closed 55 for on demand storage.

Would like it for water to boil, just not sure it would be clean enough.

Sorry didnt mean to highjack the thread.

Well, I'll be trying this out on lakewater, hopefully to bring it to drinking water quality. Our lake already tests as 'safe' for drinking, but I can tell you from experience, 'safe' water can definitely affect one person's ? differently than another. I plan to take a sample of lakewater from the tap and have it tested. Still a free service, as far as I know. At the same time, I'll take a sample from this unit, and have that tested. Should be interesting to see the differences. I know of at least one family near us that does treat the lakewater for consumption, but I have no idea what kind of system they use.

Even with the atmospheric pollutants we find in rainwater, I can see a unit like this as a possible solution in your situation, especially if you're going to boil it anyway.

Don'y worry about a threadjack; I got what I needed out of this thread very quickly.

[Brent Shaver]

Let me know how you make out with the water tests I would be curious how it turns out.  I am installing two windmills this year, well DIY ones and I can always go that route as well with a pump.  I was just going to let gravity do the work for what I originally thought of.

We do have alot of boats and it is attached to a dam so not sure the lake is an option.  I will have to research the water test reports if I can get them.

[redbelly]

If you are planning on using this unit on lake water you will want to add an inline UV steralizer to kill bacteria as they as small enough to go through the RO membrane and this is what is affecting ones person

On the flip side for lake water you could run slightly different filters which wouldnt be $110, they would probably be $95.
For drinking water you may or may not want the additional carbon filters after the resevoir tank. They are just there for the taste that is put back in from the resevoir.

Also for either the cottage or the trailer there you might want a pressure guage on the unit. If the pressure is very low a booster pump would be a great asset for increasing the output and reducing the rejection rate (although the rejection rate is really not a concern when you are pulling lake water...)

[dan2x38]

As I read this I was thinking bacteria all the way totally agree with RedBelly. For sure use an UV sterilizer on the lake water and maybe rain water too.

I worked in the mountains where the water was very pure it came from melting ice & snow at higher elevations plus rain fall - this was in BC above 5000'. Any ways after we finished for the season I received a letter from the health department. It stated a worker came down with a bad bacteria infection in their colon from drinking the water. We boiled it but he likely drew some water from the small lake and drank it untreated and unboiled. All of us had to supply a certain sample  to test for the bacteria. I was lucky unlike 1/2 dozen others who had to take a month long antibiotic treatment that caused many side affects some quite unpleasant keeping them close to a washroom for most of the time  Just something to think about.

[Saltcreep]

This will probably turn out to be more work than it's worth. We have a community well that tests 'perfect', and I usually bring tapwater with me in 5gal bottles for the dispenser anyway. The water in the well actually originates 96' below grade, and the aquafer has enough supply that the pressure pushes the water up the casing to within about 6' of the surface. Cold, beautiful water for over 40 years now.