R/O Installation

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Carmela

Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
7
Location
Spokane
Hi!
I just purchased a Reverse Osmosis Water System and need to know who in Spokane installs these things?
Thank you!
Carmela
 
Some questions for you. The unit should/might have come with a fitting that allows it to be screwed onto the end of an outside faucet? Do you have a faucet nearby that you can hook up to the unit? Are you going to run the unit continuously or intermitent? Home depot sells a fitting that goes onto the end of the faucet that turns it into an outside hose fitting, then you can just screw the end on the RO line onto the faucet. Or easier still, they sell a fitting, I think it is for dishwashers, that is a quick connect fitting that again just screws on to the facuet, then you can just connect when you want to run your RO unit, if you are using it to fill up a garbage can you might only need to run it for a couple of hours every few days or once a week. Does that help any????

Thanks for the encouragement but--Believe me- I need to hire someone to do this- I am not mechanically inclined!
 
Some questions for you. The unit should/might have come with a fitting that allows it to be screwed onto the end of an outside faucet? Do you have a faucet nearby that you can hook up to the unit? Are you going to run the unit continuously or intermitent? Home depot sells a fitting that goes onto the end of the faucet that turns it into an outside hose fitting, then you can just screw the end on the RO line onto the faucet. Or easier still, they sell a fitting, I think it is for dishwashers, that is a quick connect fitting that again just screws on to the facuet, then you can just connect when you want to run your RO unit, if you are using it to fill up a garbage can you might only need to run it for a couple of hours every few days or once a week. Does that help any????

That is a HUGE help! Thank you! I will go to home depot and see if I can get the fitting you are talking about after I look at the at the additional parts bag the RO came with. Right now, I would be happy to use it intermitently to do water changes!
 
It should have come with the "hose bib fitting" like the black part shown in this link, provided by estanoche.

http://www.melevsreef.com/rodi_install.html

Take that part to home depot with you and tell them you want a quick connect fitting that screws into a standard indoor faucet on one end and converts to an outside hose bib fitting on the other. The part you get at home depot will fit on your faucet, and the black hose bib fitting will hook on to the end of that part. The home depot part should quick connect in the middle making it possible to pull apart very easy when not in use. I will take a look at what I have tonight when I get home and can maybe tell you a little better exactly what it is, I am running off of memory right now. That is what I have setup right now, I just quick connect it about once a week and let it run for a few hours. Make sure you keep tabs on it or have an auto shutoff hooked up so you don't flood anything!
 
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It should have come with the "hose bib fitting" like the black part shown in this link, provided by estanoche.

http://www.melevsreef.com/rodi_install.html

Take that part to home depot with you and tell them you want a quick connect fitting that screws into a standard indoor faucet on one end and converts to an outside hose bib fitting on the other. The part you get at home depot will fit on your faucet, and the black hose bib fitting will hook on to the end of that part. The home depot part should quick connect in the middle making it possible to pull apart very easy when not in use. I will take a look at what I have tonight when I get home and can maybe tell you a little better exactly what it is, I am running off of memory right now. That is what I have setup right now, I just quick connect it about once a week and let it run for a few hours. Make sure you keep tabs on it or have an auto shutoff hooked up so you don't flood anything!

Thank you! I will look for a hose bib when I get home. In all honesty, the only thing that looks familar is the Housing Wrench and the saddle piercing kit!!
 
Just got done looking at my connection. It basically is a quick connect coupling, I think made for portable dishwashers. The upper half screws onto the outside of the "indoor" faucet threads, or could also screw onto the inside of a larger faucet, it is hard to explain but it basically has threads on the outside and inside. Then in the middle is the quick connect. The end has "outdoor" faucet threads on it, so you can just screw a "hose bib" fitting directly onto it. A hose bib fitting is one that would screw right onto an outdoor faucet. Home depot sells the blue 1/4" hard water line, and they also sell the elbows, shutoffs, and tees that the blue line just pushes into and forms a compression fitting. It would not surprise me if they also sold a fitting that is outdoor hose threading on one end with a 1/4" compression fitting for the blue water line on the other, just like the black piece in the link. I hope this makes sense. If not I will PM you my number, I have to run by Home depot either Thursday or Friday and I could see what they have and tell you the item numbers if you want me to. I guess I am also assuming that the RODI unit you has is using the hard blue water lines? This might also be hard to explain without a phone call but.....if you have an auto shutoff of some sort, then when the RODI unit shuts off you will have a pressurized system, even when the tap water is turned off. Therefore I have a tee with a valve that I can release the pressure, this makes it easy to undo the quick connect valve, otherwise it is almost impossible to get off and if you do you get wet!
 
Welcome to Reef Frontiers...and Welcome to the Spokane group of addicts!!! Joanne and Tony gave you great advice!! If you're still unable to figure it out, I'm sure there's plenty of us members who would be willing to help you out. Don't spend the money to hire anyone. That's what all us "Reef Nerds" are here for!!
 
Thank you everyone! Tony, thanks for the tip on the hose bib- I went down to Kevin's and picked one up. Home Depot didn't know how to do the quick connect- and I looked in the dishwasher area for a portable dishwasher part- I took the hose bib down there. But at least I was able to carry it to my outdoor faucet and get 2 5 gallon buckets of water- Wow it is such a slow drip-- is that normal??? Looked like more flow going out the waste end and it was just dripping on the water side. And yes, I did have the blue line on.
 
I will check next time I am in there, should be tomorrow. I think the drip rate will depend on how much pressure you have in your water lines, what is the pressure reading on the RODI unit? I will call you if I find the part, I know they have since I bought mine there, unless they no longer carry the part???

Thank you everyone! Tony, thanks for the tip on the hose bib- I went down to Kevin's and picked one up. Home Depot didn't know how to do the quick connect- and I looked in the dishwasher area for a portable dishwasher part- I took the hose bib down there. But at least I was able to carry it to my outdoor faucet and get 2 5 gallon buckets of water- Wow it is such a slow drip-- is that normal??? Looked like more flow going out the waste end and it was just dripping on the water side. And yes, I did have the blue line on.
 
can come out pretty slow... warmer water goes through faster and one can purchase a booster pump it up the pressure and it'll be more effective and faster. is your a 25 GPD unit then? if it is then it would be more of a drip.
and welcome to reeffrontiers
 
Until the RO/DI unit "breaks in," you'll have a very slow drip. Once it's broke in, you'll still have about 3-4 gallons of waste water for every 1 gallon of good water. Pressure and water temperature will effect the RO/DI unit. I'd recommend at least 60PSI of pressure and a luke warm temperature. Some home plumbing systems won't put out enough water pressure for an RO/DI unit to be effective. If you aren't getting 60PSI at the RO/DI unit, you may need to install a booster pump.
 
I have 60PSI in my house. A friend of mine did install it under the kitchen sink for me, so it is connected to the cold water pipe. Don't know how I could get the water to be warmer. I bought it on Craigs list and it is 6 months old-- would that make a difference as to it being broke in? The directions did say, I would have 4 gallons of waste water for every one gallon of good water.
 
Any luck with the clean water drip rate???

I have 60PSI in my house. A friend of mine did install it under the kitchen sink for me, so it is connected to the cold water pipe. Don't know how I could get the water to be warmer. I bought it on Craigs list and it is 6 months old-- would that make a difference as to it being broke in? The directions did say, I would have 4 gallons of waste water for every one gallon of good water.
 
Carmela, one way to warm up the water, and increase the flow is to take a big coil of 1/4" ID tubing and place it in a bucket of water with a heater in it. This warms up the water coming out of your cold water pipe before it gets to the RO unit.
 

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