Scooterman
Well-known member
Eric you can add another Pre-filter to help with that, should be replaced more frequently but they are cheap. Test, Test test!
RO/DI why am I testing Phosphates?
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the6goat6man6
Well-known member
so I should look into adding more DI stages? My water pressure is 90, so I valved it down to 75-78 (it fluctuates a little, I think it is line loss). All of my filters are only about a month old, am I really gonna have to change them this often?
I don't have a TDS meter yet, but i will be ordering one tomarrow.
I don't have a TDS meter yet, but i will be ordering one tomarrow.
the6goat6man6
Well-known member
Eric
PVC is cheap if you decide to replumb your house(I did mine for about $200), and if you can easily get to your main feed. I would come help you with it but it would be a long ride, LOL.
PVC is cheap if you decide to replumb your house(I did mine for about $200), and if you can easily get to your main feed. I would come help you with it but it would be a long ride, LOL.
While pvc is indeed cheap, it's also not approved for water supply material, here in Washington, except from the water supply, to the home. Once inside other, more expensive, materials must be used.
Scooterman
Well-known member
I found PEX to be as cheap as running PVC, no glue, little cutting and crimping etc but very durable for water supply. When you add up the extra cost of labor vrs PVC you'll see what I mean by cost.
PEX is good stuff, given a few cautions. All "joints" must be "accessible." In order to do this, you run all your lines to a manifold system, that has an access panel. All the joints are made, in this access panel.
Now for the bad news. There's a reason all joints must be accessible. It's because they're prone to failure. Any time you're mixing two different materials (PEX Plastic and Metal O Ring crimps), you have the possibility of failure. This is because the different materials shrink and expand at different rates, as temperatures fluctuate. In the 80s, there was a class action lawsuit, regarding this product, though it carried a different brand name, back then. This lawsuit resulted in the product being disallowed, in several states and changes in code enforcement, in states where it was still allowed. My ex Father in law, owned a plumbing business, during this time and I worked for him. Later, I managed a building supply store, after specifically managing the plumbing department. During this time, I was quite aware of the product and it's subsequent lawsuit. During this time, the product was mainly being used in manufactured homes, but was starting to become popular in newer non manufactured built homes, as well.
The other obvious problem, with replumbing your entire home, is the aspect of having to tear out walls, floors and ceilings, to gain access to plumbing...lol
Now for the bad news. There's a reason all joints must be accessible. It's because they're prone to failure. Any time you're mixing two different materials (PEX Plastic and Metal O Ring crimps), you have the possibility of failure. This is because the different materials shrink and expand at different rates, as temperatures fluctuate. In the 80s, there was a class action lawsuit, regarding this product, though it carried a different brand name, back then. This lawsuit resulted in the product being disallowed, in several states and changes in code enforcement, in states where it was still allowed. My ex Father in law, owned a plumbing business, during this time and I worked for him. Later, I managed a building supply store, after specifically managing the plumbing department. During this time, I was quite aware of the product and it's subsequent lawsuit. During this time, the product was mainly being used in manufactured homes, but was starting to become popular in newer non manufactured built homes, as well.
The other obvious problem, with replumbing your entire home, is the aspect of having to tear out walls, floors and ceilings, to gain access to plumbing...lol
Scooterman
Well-known member
I used brass fitting with stainless fittings, these days those issues have been resolved and you buy a 100ft roll of 1/2" around $50 bucks. You don't have to make many connections but as long as you have access ie. under the sink your fine. I know codes may vary but this product has been used over 30 years now and is very reliable and easy to run. When it freezes it is less likely to bursting compared to copper or PVC. I'd certainly would use all local codes but as far as reliability and cost it is mute these days.
DonW
R.I.P.
You need to understand each stage and replace accordingly. To save yourself money on throwing out filters early, invest in a few pressure gauges. Use pressure to determine if you need filters. Measure your tds in, out the membrane and out the di resin. Use all these number to determine the need.
Don
The real benefit of PEX is the lack of fittings, as Scooty mentions! Because it's so flexible, it easily bends around corners and such, where fittings would be needed, with any other type of plumbing. Also, as Scooty mentioned, the expansion it undergoes, if it freezes, would cause other materials to break. It'll actually expand a lot more than you'd expect, so rarely breaks from freezing. Speaking of freezing, I'll bring up heating... PEX is approved for Cold OR HOT water, where PVC is only approved for cold water, with CPVC needing to be used for hot water. PVC needs the extra Chlorinated property, which makes it CPVC, to withstand hot water.
All in all, it is a great product and has gotten much better, since the lawsuit. It used to use just a stainless O-ring and insert. This was changed to the copper/stainless combination, which greatly reduced the failure rate.
All in all, it is a great product and has gotten much better, since the lawsuit. It used to use just a stainless O-ring and insert. This was changed to the copper/stainless combination, which greatly reduced the failure rate.
DonW
R.I.P.
Until an opossum gets under your house. Racoons squirrels opossum's love munching on pex.
Until an opossum gets under your house. Racoons squirrels opossum's love munching on pex.
Or you use a hair dryer, to thaw out frozen PEX, as my mother did, years ago, and actually melt it...lol. That one ended up kind of scary. The ice thawed, the PEX melted and water shot directly into her hair dryer! Can't blame that one on the PEX though. That one was my mom's ummm...let's call it "ignorance."
Okay, now that we've completely got this thread off topic, from Phosphates out of RO/DI, to remodeling your home, to replump, to PEX munching varmints, to exploding hair dryers...lol
the6goat6man6
Well-known member
So, now Iam cofused as to what I need to do. Haven't had a chance yet but I will be getting a TDS meter (dual, in and out). I was also looking at an add-on DI unit, has 2 housings, TDS meter(same as the one I will be getting) and the DI cartrages (Max Cap DI & Silica buster DI). Not really sure what I am looking for?
I also read that airating the supply water will help, how is this done?
NC2WA
Well-known member
IMO, do nothing until you get your TDS meter and have your tap water and out water from the RO unit tested.
the6goat6man6
Well-known member
sorry took so long to get back, but I have a different unit now. got a Typhoon extreme III and added 2 DI, TDS meters: 1 tap in, 1 RO out, 1 @ #2 DI out, and 1 pure out. plus I have a hand held . Tap is 250 TDS, give or take. after RO it is about 4 TDS. Since getting the new unit with add ons, water quality out is better. I will use it for a little while longer to see how i do, seems to better though, got more than 30 days, knock on drift wood
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