ATO question

[jc130b]

I'm thinking of making a manual ATO system, but haven't heard of anyone doing that (I looked and didn't see any threads on it). I want to run the ro/di water straight to the sump with a manual on/off float valve. Is anyone doing this and what kind on on/off valve are you using?

 

[Bored4ever86]

Lots of people have the rodi hooked up to just dump straight into the sump, or even better, into a tank/container next to the sump. The problem with it is if the valve gets stuck open, your tank's salinity will drop and continue dropping and you'll overflow the tank.

The biggest problem with a manual ATO is its no longer an ATO as its not Auto, its just a top off. A lot of people use a float switch to turn on and off their rodi so they don't have to remember to turn it off.

 

[roscoe]

You don't want to run your RODI strait into your sump. The reason for this is that it is always best to purge your RODI for the 1st few gallons of water produced as it will most likely will not be pure RODI and also for the reason above. If the float switch get stuck and you are away for an extended period time you will come home to a fresh water tank.

 

[jc130b]

You don't want to run your RODI strait into your sump. The reason for this is that it is always best to purge your RODI for the 1st few gallons of water produced as it will most likely will not be pure RODI and also for the reason above. If the float switch get stuck and you are away for an extended period time you will come home to a fresh water tank.

"purge your RODI for the 1st few gallons of water produced"
Are you talking about purging the 1st few gallons when the RODI is new or every day?
I understand the valve could get stuck open, but the same could happen to electrical driven systems also (althrought not likely but the risk is still there).

 

[roblou]

+1 on not running RO/DI straight to the sump. As already mentioned, if the valve gets stuck open it's going to be bad. Also, roscoe is correct that when RO/DI sits idle, there is some TDS creep that occurs within the membrane/filters. For that reason, it is recommended to purge the water in the membrane/filters if possible (flush kit works great for this). Another reason not to run straight to the sump is your RO/DI unit will be on & off in small short burst, which I understand will degrade your filters faster than if you run it less often but producing more water during each run (for same reasons of TDS creep).

HTH,

Rob

 

[Scooterman]

"purge your RODI for the 1st few gallons of water produced"
Are you talking about purging the 1st few gallons when the RODI is new or every day?
I understand the valve could get stuck open, but the same could happen to electrical driven systems also (althrought not likely but the risk is still there).

TDS creep is what he is talking about, every time you start making water you'll get some TDS spike for a few seconds, so it is always good practice to discard some at first.

Search TDS creep for more information.