RO / DI waste water

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

What does everyone do with the waste water? I only get 1 good gallon for every 4 the unit makes. I got the water and sewage bill and the hubby is going to kill me. I've been doing some major water changes because of my high nitrates, and I'm dumping 200 gal of waste water into the sump pump every 7-10 days. I can't use the wast water in the tank at all since the nitrates in that are over 60ppm.

So what do you do with it? (besides fill 2 tubs in the basement 1 with the "good" water and one with the bad. I dump the bad when the hubby isn't around. He would have fits if he seen me dumping 200 gallons out and only keeping the 50 gallons of "good water)


There has to be a better way to save some of that water.

[dakar]

I've been wondering what everyone else does with it as well, while making large batches of water I save the waste water in 50 gallon containers and use it in the downstairs washing machine. Don't guess it's hurt anything.

But then again we are fortunate enough not to have to actually pay for our water, 'cept the electricity to run the well pump :D

[peregrinus]

some ppl just run the waste line to a garden or flower bed.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

My washer is upstairs and my RO unit is in the basement. Can I just use a longer length of hose from the ro unit and bring it up to the washer? Or I could do it the easy way and move the RO unit upstairs to the Laundry Room. I have plenty of room in there to keep my storage containers too. Probably a good idea now that winter is here and my basement isn't heated. With two daughters, I could use all of the waster water and then some for laundry. Yeah!!! I'll actually be saving water. Hubby will love that and I don't have to dump it all when he's not looking :razz:

Thanks.
Angie

[dakar]

Or just wait a couple more weeks and you can take buckets of it outside and fling it at the roofline of the house and make icicles, that'll store it until spring then it will water your lawn.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Oh sure Dakar. I can just see it now. Hubby comes home from work, and I'm outside with buckets of water. "What ya doing honey?" "I'm making icicles" "Why?" "Because DAKAR TOLD ME TO!" Expect a very inquisitive telephone call from a very confused husband.


But I could make an ice skating rink in the back yard for the kids. That would be cool. I think I'm going to have to do that.


Angie

[dakar]

Go ahead and blame me.... being in dutch for something I've actually said or done is the least of my worries.... its when I get in trouble allthe time for things I haven't even done *yet* that I worry about. Just wait till Susan reads this post in the morning, I'll get watched like a hawk all winter any time I'm toting a water bucket around.

But really think about the skating rink idea.... simple math tells me
ice + skating = yet another run to the ER.

That's why I have training wheels on my truck, helps keep me outta trouble when the ice and snow starts flying, big gravity changes during the winter, makes the skinny pedal very heavy :D

[Limpit]

I use my waste water for doing laundry, been doing so for quite a while. Never had any problems in doing so.

[dakar]

Hey Angie, how's your 0% waste water experiment coming along? Still making usable water with the second DI unit on the waste water side?

Given our RO/DI runs at least 72 hours a week, our DI resin is now shot so it's time to order some more....wondering if a second DI chamber should be added to the list to try and eliminate the waste water completely.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Sorry I forgot to update this. The 2nd DI resin chamber worked pretty well for about 2 months. Now the resin needs to be replaced on both DI chambers.

Dakar.... you have well water so it would probably last you a lot longer. My water supply is terrible out of the tap. Higher nitrates and TDS than most places.

As of right now (since the resin is shot here too) My tds is about 10 in the waste water, so I'm not using it for the tank. It is being used in the washing machine. I just use a small powerhead attached to a python hose to pump the water into the washer. Lucky for me that my washer holds about 30 gallons in the fill cycle, lol.

1container waste water = 1 load of laundry.