Water pressure gauge for kitchen tap?

[Avatar]

Found an adjunct for sale for my RO unit that will allegedly double output and cut down on waste water. Says I need 65psi for it to work - anyone have a gauge I can borrow or a recommendation on how I might test my water pressure that doesn't involve spending money I could otherwise fritter away on fish/hardware?

 

[Jay]

Water Pressure

Water pressure from most water companies runs around 50 psi. If you are on a city or town water system, you should call the water company that supplies your water to find out how much pressure is in your incoming lines. If you are on well water, I have no idea how to check it with our some type of in line gauge that you likely will need a plumber to install. Most of them require welding.

Jay

 

[mscichlid]

I have one Sam. I'll be in Silver Spring tomorrow evening.

 

[killakacti]

Does this device request a certain volume as well as PSI? Because you can have higher pressure and low volume thus will not double your output.

Its like closing a ball valve 50% closed you will create back pressure, thus increasing pressure but reduce flow.

In some applications you have to use a (BPRV) back pressure relief valve in order to ramp up volume and PSI.

sorry if this comes off kinda no it allish, just wanted you to be aware before hand, if you had to increase your pressure, you would have to increase by adding more water volume.

 

[Avatar]

Beats me

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Booster-Pump-Aquatec-8800-Transformer-100-gpd-RO-DI-Water-Filter-Reverse-osmosis-/230681808014?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b5b50c8e

Your take?

 

[killakacti]

Claims to have the highest flow rate at even extremly low inlet pressures, It will let you adjust and fine tune your outlet pressure which is a big plus so you can control volume to the membrane.

I would go for it, the more flow the better the RO works. The manual says it needs an sediment filter inline before the booster pump. I fully agree, it will also help with your R.O. membranes as well.



Here is the installation and operations manual

http://www.watergroup.com/pdf-folder/manuals/install-aquatec-8800-RO-booster-pump.pdf

 

[Avatar]

I need a filter for my pump for my filter?

Right. Maybe I ought to get a second pump as well and another filter and...

It's all good. If I had more space I'd likely have at least ten more tanks (some day I will have a rack of 40 breeders) than I do at present and all my 10s would be 15s or 20s.

 

[leisure_man]

Dont waste money on a booster pump. There are much better ways to boost output of the RO water.

I use a permeate pump to reduce the amount of waste water up to 80%. The pump is not cheap and is rated for so many cycles before it breaks down.

You can also buy another RO unit and connect them in series where the waste water from the 1st unit feeds the supply line of the 2nd unit. Then put a permeate pump on each RO unit. I tried this idea before years ago and the 2nd unit's membrane ended up with much shorter life.

One cheaper trick is to wrap heat tape around the supply water line. Output of RO unit is temperature dependence. Higher the temperature, better the output. Hence higher output during the summer months and lower during the winter months as water temperature will change from 60s to 50s. The drawback is now you need to replace the prefilter more frequently as bacteria grows faster in warmer water.

Another investment is a backpressure flush valve that can 'flush' the RO membrane to maintain its efficiency.

To sum it all up. My 50gal per day RO unit is equiped with a permeate pump (to reduce waste water), backpressure flush valve (to periodically flush the RO membrane), heat tape at the supply line (to maintain higher temperature) all year round.

 

[Buckcich]

To sum it all up. My 50gal per day RO unit is equiped with a permeate pump (to reduce waste water), backpressure flush valve (to periodically flush the RO membrane), heat tape at the supply line (to maintain higher temperature) all year round.

My question:
If you equate the costs of added equipment, what are my savings VS. cost of water. Or it's just a matter of reducing water waste?
Sorry for the questions, but I never operated a RO unit.

 

[leisure_man]

It is all to reduce the waste water amount. A typical RO unit has a rejection rate of 1 to 10. This mean for every 1 gallon of RO water you get, you have 10 gallons of waste water. The cost of waste water is an operating cost. To reduce the amount of waste water by as much as 80% an initial investment on the permeate pump ($50), backpressure flush kit ($10), and heat tape ($20) is well worth the money for the life of your RO unit. Your consummables are the prefilters and the RO membrane.
To factor your cost of water, you will need to take in both the cost of water and the cost of sewage (since the city assumes you send all the water you use to the sewage even the water you use to water your lawn).

 

[Buckcich]

Thank you Albert. Yeah I can see spending the extra $80 to save 80% of water everytime you operate your RO. Probably recoup the extra costs in a couple years.

 

[Buckcich]

I made this tread a sticky, in the eventuality that I get into soft water species

 

[Avatar]

According to Bulk Reef Supply...

...a permeate pump only works if you're feeding into a pressurized tank (as opposed to a rain barrel) since it works on back pressure of the waste water to drive a piston. As my system has no back pressure, it would be a useless adjunct. I can pick up a booster pump and transformer for $125 but I'm going to check my line pressure to see if I can go the low-tech route for half the money for the BRS system upgrade that purports to boost the system from 75 to 150 gallons output/day and a corresponding decrease in waste water. Will post again when I sort it out.

 

[Buckcich]

Looking forward to it Sam

 

[leisure_man]

Would it be cheaper to get a small pressurized tank and an adjustable pressure relief valve to discharge the RO water into a rain barrel? Where do you get a booster pump with transformer for $125? Most I see are several hundreds a piece and bring the line pressure up by 30psi.