[BigLar]

Why does an RO filter waste so much water? Can the waste water be refiltered?

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-BigLar

[Ltspd]

I read a post were some guy gave it to his dog. The waste is still cleaner than you tap water.

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Paul C
Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.
Einstein

[golfish]

I don't do this but I always thought it would be a good idea to run the waste water line into the toilet tank, Between my wife, two daughters and BEER the toilet downstairs get flushed a whole lot [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Mark

[petpoor]

Start an African Cichlid tank I have heard that ro waste water is great for them because of all the minerals in it.
Tom

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Toms Reef

[srgtkoons]

I have my RO waste line run into a 35 gallon trash can and use it to water house plants, and outdoor gardens.

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I have the mind of a 5 year old and own a fire extinquisher you cant imagine the things i do.

[skipm]

An RO unit works on the principle of a selective membrane, it only allows particles smaller than a certain size to pass with the undesirable stuff being too large to pass through it. The unit passes these large particles along with some water out of the waste line, it may also pass some extra water out of this line in an attempt to clean the solids off of the RO membrane. Skip

[Joe]

Originally posted by Ltspd:
I read a post were some guy gave it to his dog. The waste is still cleaner than you tap water.

An R/O filter does three things.
1. It removes large particulate matter (large being a relative term, most people don't have rocks in there water).
2. It has a carbon filter which is nothing special it only does what carbon does.
3. It has usually a five micron membrane which removes all dissolved matter larger than five microns in size.

The waste water (usually somewhere between three to five times the volume of the finished water) will be slightly better than the tap water with regard to particulate matter and toxins. It is however not by any streach of the imagination better than the tap water. It contains more of the disolved minerals and chemicals than the original tap water. All of the good, the bad and the ugly that are removed by the membrane have to go somewhere. Granted some is captured in the membrane, that is why the membrane does not last forever. Your waste water may be clearer than your tap water but it is far from being better.

Stepping down off my soap box now.

Joe




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"The President is aware of what is going on. That's not to say there is something going on."