RO water

GeneMiller

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Gene,
What do you want to know about that system?
I have been running RO over 10 years now...

What problems have you seen with it. Ro is an aggressive water and is not supposed to come into contact with brass. How does it compare to larrys system.

Gene
 

Lance Golden

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What problems have you seen with it. Ro is an aggressive water and is not supposed to come into contact with brass. How does it compare to larrys system.

Gene

I have 1k hours on my 870 now... no problems what so ever with any of the brass. The general pump was taken apart per Sapphire, and found to be perfect like new...

I use a wand trigger valve on a water fed [pole, and have used it over 2 years now, with out a rebuild, or replace...

I don't know anything about Larry's system.

The one on JRacensteins site was my idea... which is why the part name is "Gold". The pump on it is capable of 5.3 GPM We use 'Low energy' membranes... and 40" of carbon for pre filtration.

The way the system is setup is based on the bypass valve... all systems are. It is the way it is set. and how much goes bypass...
 
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@Mike Draper was a RO cleaner then switched to running an Emulsifier...........

@LanceInAz Do you need a holding tank to make that system work? I have a 3gallon mix tank that my pump pulls from.... I hook up to water on every job..... I don't like carrying water due to the wear and tear on the van....
 

AshleyMckendree

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I have a large DI tank I rent from Culligan for $40/ month and pay $60 every 4-5 weeks once the resin needs to be charged.
The end result is exactly the same as RO, pure water with nothing in it.

I weighed the cost benefits of an RO system with the cost of replacing membranes, and DI was going to take years to catch up with the cost of RO, with the large initial investment and the continued membrane replacment, along with the pump needed to push the water through the membranes possibly needed replacement.

BUT the costs are eclipsed by the savings in cleaning agents. I use roughly HALF the chemical I used to. I also use DI water when Padcapping, which saves me a crap ton in chems.

The downside of running pure water:

If you have an older truckmount in an area with crazy amounts of hardness in the water, and start using pure water, it will begin descaling your machine, loosening up all sorts of ungodly things in your heat ex-changers etc, you will be CONSTANTLY cleaning out the inline filters on your tools for the first week or two.
 

Lance Golden

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@Nate The Great , I use a 'Static tank' 35 gallon. reason: as the membranes 'filter', they slow in production over time. Just enough, that if you were to go direct to the water box, it can become a problem.

@AshleyMckendree I Run RO, then thru DI ... My costs are significantly lower than yours. and I own the system.
The best way to figure out if RO is for you, is to know your 'local TDS', go to Zerowater.com and put in your zip code, hopefully someone has entered a number.
If your area is near 100, RO may not be worth the offset cost as Ashley stated.

@Mikey P Yes, I took it in to another dealer and found a 'broken wire' wedged between the pad and rotor, along with a broken anti-rattle clip also wedged.
causing a variety of noises.Fixed that, and it has been greatly improved...
I just got the call yesterday, that they have officially released the 'new designed' pads.... it goes in next week, for repair...
 

Scott S.

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i have a Ro/DI system for glass cleaning that produces pure water maye i should try this out. gotta see what sapphire says about using it with their truckmounts first though.
 

Scott S.

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my system is plug and play ready. i might just use the ro and not the di
 
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@Nate The Great , I use a 'Static tank' 35 gallon. reason: as the membranes 'filter', they slow in production over time. Just enough, that if you were to go direct to the water box, it can become a problem.

@AshleyMckendree I Run RO, then thru DI ... My costs are significantly lower than yours. and I own the system.
The best way to figure out if RO is for you, is to know your 'local TDS', go to Zerowater.com and put in your zip code, hopefully someone has entered a number.
If your area is near 100, RO may not be worth the offset cost as Ashley stated.

@Mikey P Yes, I took it in to another dealer and found a 'broken wire' wedged between the pad and rotor, along with a broken anti-rattle clip also wedged.
causing a variety of noises.Fixed that, and it has been greatly improved...
I just got the call yesterday, that they have officially released the 'new designed' pads.... it goes in next week, for repair...

It shows my area is 136tds.... When my pops and I checked the PH of the tap water, it read 7.... It was with the probe meter, not the PH pen or paper... Our water is one of the purest coming out the tap water, so they say....

With my TDS, how much will I benefit from it? When we take a shower, our soaps lather like a MF.....

The only downside of running RO water means I'd need to pack water on portable jobs if we advertise it... I'd like to not do portable work, but it's inevitable here... Some jobs are $4k in a day...
 
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GeneMiller

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It shows my area is 136tds.... When my pops and I checked the PH of the tap water, it read 7.... It was with the probe meter, not the PH pen or paper... Our water is one of the purest coming out the tap water, so they say....

With my TDS, how much will I benefit from it? When we take a shower, our soaps lather like a MF.....

The only downside of running RO water means I'd need to pack water on portable jobs if we advertise it... I'd like to not do portable work, but it's inevitable here... Some jobs are $4k in a day...

7 doesn't indicate pure, if it did the tds would be closer to 0. Ro will drop that number to between 7-11. It will also drop the ph a little if they add chlorine to your tap water. My tap water is Ro and its 6. What your using to shower with is probably detergent as most commercial bars are no longer soap. They add surfactants to make them sudsy.

Gene
 
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Lance Golden

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It shows my area is 136tds.... When my pops and I checked the PH of the tap water, it read 7.... It was with the probe meter, not the PH pen or paper... Our water is one of the purest coming out the tap water, so they say....

With my TDS, how much will I benefit from it? When we take a shower, our soaps lather like a MF.....

The only downside of running RO water means I'd need to pack water on portable jobs if we advertise it... I'd like to not do portable work, but it's inevitable here... Some jobs are $4k in a day...

@Nate The Great I would suggest starting with straight up DI 1st, you could always add RO later if needed. You will notice IMHO a better flush and rinse.

I would rather clean with DI with RO coming in a close 2nd. DI is more aggressive than RO and closer to neutral. And contrary to popular belief, it takes years and years to see any noticeable damage to any metal. You could start by getting the small DI setup I posted in a previous post.

I daily see the benefits of running DI, The 1st being washing my van, NO toweling required, NO soap... just scrub and rinse... When the water is this pure, it is a cleaner, just not a degreaser.
 
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7 doesn't indicate pure, if it did the tds would be closer to 0. Ro will drop that number to between 7-11. It will also drop the ph a little if they add chlorine to your tap water. My tap water is Ro and its 6. What your using to shower with is probably detergent as most commercial bars are no longer soap. They add surfactants to make them sudsy.

Gene

All I know is taking a shower in Cali and Nevada is the pits..... Even trying to drink it is worse than trying to shower with it.....

@Nate The Great I would suggest starting with straight up DI 1st, you could always add RO later if needed. You will notice IMHO a better flush and rinse.

I would rather clean with DI with RO coming in a close 2nd. DI is more aggressive than RO and closer to neutral. And contrary to popular belief, it takes years and years to see any noticeable damage to any metal. You could start by getting the small DI setup I posted in a previous post.

I daily see the benefits of running DI, The 1st being washing my van, NO toweling required, NO soap... just scrub and rinse... When the water is this pure, it is a cleaner, just not a degreaser.


Which post was the small DI setup in?
 

AshleyMckendree

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@LanceInAz Our water hardness & TDS is off the charts high here, it averages around 27 in my town, and ive tested it over 30. We've had a ton of rain to dilute the water, and its still sitting around 25.
 

davegillfishing

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Sode by side measurable?

yea on several occasions actually..i had to prove to the guys the importance of our system not because they didnt believe it but because
to truly be passionate about something and excited and to truly understand it you have to see it first hand..so we did just that several times..its crazy to be honest
 
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Mike Draper

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This is just my personal opinion. RO water is great and I used it for years, but I got really tired of the water wasted throught the filtration process. I just recently moved out of a house where I let my kids destroy the carpet many times over and then I used it as my science lab. My carpet was a 20 year old indestructbale 80-oz. nylon cut pile.
I cleaned it with a 9.5 ph pre-spray and then hard water rinse. It looked like total shit. At minimum within 2 days there were 2o+ wickbacks.
Then I used RO water for many years to clean it with. Always looked great when finished and maybe 1 0r 2 wickbacks at most. Carpet was soft to the touch and stayed clean a long time.
Then I finally said enough with the maintanence of RO water. Ran soft water and used a last step rinse (all fiber rinse -4.5ph. Carpet looked great whe finished, no difference in apparence, carpet was soft, and stayed clean for an equal amount of time. Same thing, 1 or 2 wickbacks (daughter spill huge mug of soda).
Bottom line is, for me soft water and a rinse cleaned just as effectively as RO. less maintance, cost is slightly less and that also equals more time with the family and less work time for maintanence.
 

Larry Cobb

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RO technology has advanced a lot in the last few years due wider usage in many applications. . . .

Membranes are more durable, have less waste water, and last longer.

Lance has stated his last 3 years or so.

Only maintenance is to change the prefilter (~ every 3 months in our water quality).
 
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Lance Golden

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Lance Golden

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@LanceInAz Our water hardness & TDS is off the charts high here, it averages around 27 in my town, and ive tested it over 30. We've had a ton of rain to dilute the water, and its still sitting around 25.

I checked your area, I am seeing around 200 TDS? Thats decent... most areas around Phoenix are in the high 500's
On todays job my RO was getting 500 down to 028 going into DI
 

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