Creating your own filtered water setup?

E

efnfast

New member
I have a CR Spotless DIC10 and it does work (spotless rinsing). However, because my water is so hard I kill the resin after 2 rinses (rinses, not washings).



I've been contemplating making my own - in a nutshell, welding together an aluminum silo (say, 4ft tall, but that's workable) and having resin inside. I figure with something that tall/bulky/etc... it should last a long time.



However, I can't think of how one would make it. In my mind, what I'm visualizing (simply) is:



A box



At the bottom, you weld on a port for the garden hose. The port uses a valve that is filtered to keep resin in and prevent water fomr backwashing out



Box fills with water and mixes with resin. At the top there's a hole for water to exit (Again, with a filter to prevent resin from leaving)





Am I onto something here? Or is this panning out to be a really bad idea?
 
A cheaper alternative would be to rent a DI tank. Call some of the local companies in your area that sell water purification system and see if they rent tanks.



Building your own tank wouldn't be cost effective because you still have to buy the raw materials for the tank itself as well as the materials for the filtration of the water. Plus the cost of the welding materials and not to mention your time.

Not only does it sound like a lot of work, but what will you do with the resin once it's exhausted? Will you regenerate it yourself? If so, what will you do with the waste?



I've looked in to tank rentals and found a company that will install a tank and change it several times a year for less than $150 a year. Not a bad deal IMO. I rent the equipment, if there's a problem the company replaces the tank, they come to me (from a different city 130 miles away) and I don't have to spend money on buying replacement cartridges plus shipping costs.
 
RustyBumper said:
A cheaper alternative would be to rent a DI tank...

I've looked in to tank rentals and found a company that will install a tank and change it several times a year for less than $150 a year. Not a bad deal IMO..
Click to expand...



Wow, that would be a pretty sweet deal...unless I'm missing something :think:
 
Seems too good to be true, I know. Let's not forget that we get what we pay for. At this price it's going to be one of their smaller tanks. Since I only do this as a hobby, I have no use for a large one. If I remember correctly, the salesman stated that I should see about 150-200 gallons of water out of this unit.



I'm looking for my notes from my phone conversation with them, as we speak.:hairpull
 
take a look at this site they have some good ideas for what you are trying to do. Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Products and answers for your water treatment needs. You could probably use a small system say 100gpd put into a storage tank w/a demand pump so when you need ro/di water for washing/rinsing you use the tank and pump. I use ro/di filter system for my saltwater fish tank. My new house now has the space I should set up a tank and pump system for ro/di. In the mean time I've been using this for the last couple of years Water Softener System|Water Filter System . Bought this for washing and fill my RV water tank, not sure whats in it (don't really care) but it does work well. It can be regenerated and comes with test strips and the salt(resin) to regenerate when the time comes. Have used it on the RV all round the country for thousands of gallons of water over the last several years. Haven't really tracked how many gallons between regenerations but it is alot more than i would have thought.
 
wascallyrabbit said:
take a look at this site they have some good ideas for what you are trying to do. Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Products and answers for your water treatment needs. You could probably use a small system say 100gpd put into a storage tank w/a demand pump so when you need ro/di water for washing/rinsing you use the tank and pump. I use ro/di filter system for my saltwater fish tank. My new house now has the space I should set up a tank and pump system for ro/di. In the mean time I've been using this for the last couple of years Water Softener System|Water Filter System . Bought this for washing and fill my RV water tank, not sure whats in it (don't really care) but it does work well. It can be regenerated and comes with test strips and the salt(resin) to regenerate when the time comes. Have used it on the RV all round the country for thousands of gallons of water over the last several years. Haven't really tracked how many gallons between regenerations but it is alot more than i would have thought.
Click to expand...



If I were to buy that one (for example), why wouldn't I just hook it up to my pressure washer when I needed it? It flows 6.5gpm, my pressure washer flows 2.2gpm, so it should theoretically be fine? (as opposed to hooking it into a tank, letting the tank fill, then drawing from the tank)
 
it should work just fine. if you only draw 2.2gpm than it should be able to keep up with your demand. for a ro/di system most wouldn't be able to get up with the demand and would need a holding tank. i use the spot free for washing without a tank.
 
I made my own DI filter by buying two $35 aquarium DI filters then separating the resins into each filter. After the resins are used up, you recharge them with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. Cost is about 20 cents per 100 gallons.



After I wash and rinse my car with the garden hose, I pour 4 gallons of DI water over it and it dries spotless
 
efnfast - it seems to be spot free, but i usually dry the car so the water doesn't stay there long. jupiter's method works well but the resins need to be rejuvenated frequently. There are many ways to make spot free water some inexpensive and skies the limits on the other end. you just have to figure out how much space you're willing to give to it and how much you want to spend.
 
I'd check out chemical supply houses for 250 gallon totes. Might need a good cleaning but I used to get as many as I would want from the orange grove owners and chemical places here in FL.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top