Water purifiers, good or bad?

[NongKhaiLee]

Some ten years ago I bought a drinking water purifier, but it didn't work out because we were using a well and the water had large amounts of calcium that the system could not filter out. Then last year city water came to our area, so I decided to give a drinking water purifier another go.

I bought a reverse osmosis unit with a uv light and installed it under the sink. At first it seemed to work just fine, but after the first couple of weeks we noticed the water coming from the little tap became less and less, and then it just quit. I pulled the filters and found they were not dirty, but I did notice that the little 12 volt booster pump was hot to the touch and did not stop running like it did before (when it built up pressure). So we talked to the store we bought it from and they told us to bring it back and they would give us another under warranty.

As an insurance policy I installed a large sediment filter and also a check valve when I changed it out, but now I am noticing that the booster pump is running non-stop on this unit too, and the amount of water available is considerably less than when I installed it. The filters are clean, even the pre-filter.

The last thing the person who helped us at the store said was, "if you have problems with this unit again you will have to buy a different system". So I am pretty sure we won't get a lot of help warranty-wise even though it's still under warranty. I realize the unit is not meant for commercial use...but in my mind it should be able to supply enough drinking water for a household of three people.

I researched the booster pump and found one on Lazada that appears to be considerably higher quality, I went ahead and ordered it and will give that a try. This is not a rant, I realize this kind of stuff happens, especially here, but I am interested in hearing the experiences others may have had with these water treatment units?

And to answer a question some may ask, we have been using the large water bottles and water coolers for over ten years, and the reason we are attempting to use the treatment system instead is that we have not been able to find a delivery service that is reliable in our area and we have also noticed stuff floating around in them at times, especially lately.

[kopkei]

i have assembled a reverse osmosis system myself with auto uv lamp , not using a pressure tank , but a 20L plastic tank with ball valve , so a lot more water availability , the system requires some high and low pressure valves to make the pumps start or stop ,also to automate the uv lamp, it is directly connected to the main city water , not after the house pump what would result in frequently on and off jumping pump due to the low pressure when making ro water ...can you post me a schematic of your installation maybe i can help you out ? , remember making good ro water requires a minimum pressure of 50-80 psi on your ro filter element , so my booster pump is connected after the 3 pre filters , PP filter, GAC carbon , and carbon block(CTO) , for city water you do not need a resin filter ..., my filtered water has a 2PPM reading ...

[Doodoo]

Kopkei
Yousay in the end your water has a reading of 2__M.
My question is 2 PPM what?

[kopkei]

PPM , particles per million of fe the pollutants in water , you can test this with a TDS meter ,(however it does not tell you what particles per million ) i have this one https://shopee.co.th/%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%84 ... 4149144e16 , according to the WHO all water under 500PPM is drinkable (?),however the lower the value ,the better , deminarelized water has a value of 1-10 PPM , some claim you will remove all minerals , good and bad and it will shorten your needed dailie mineral intake , but this is rubbish , all other foods also contain enough minerals for this , this meter is handy to test your water before filtering and after so you will know exactly your filter is good or rubbish , (many expensive filters are useless and have expensive replacement cartridges )..or not filtering enough ...or you can test your water bottles or ice delivery ,it is not completely perfect but adequate enough ...the assembly has costed me about 4.000 baht, replacing all 5 filters is not more than 500 baht...

[glalt]

We were using rain water for several years. It ran through a large activated charcoal filter And then through a small three filter unit. Then some Thai "expert" told my wife that rainwater off our tile roof was not safe. Since then we have been buying the large plastic bottles. They are not that expensive and are delivered on a reliable schedule. I considered an RO unit but decided against it because of the very high mineral content of our village water. Had I maintained the rain water system, I think the RO would have worked fine but the wife did not trust water off the tile roof. Only rain water off a metal roof is safe. I could catch water off the garage roof but it is just not worth the hassle of building that system.

[Doodoo]

"A number of contaminants, including arsenic and nitrates, are hidden to the naked eye. In many cases, a single drinking water system will contain more than one hazardous chemical, making it difficult for individuals to evaluate the overall health risk. "

The only way to insure water is safe for drinking is to first have it professionally tested. Then various treatments are needs Filtration is one of them but it is not the only one

The Town Of Walkerton is a prime example of contamination that killed,6 , sickened 2,000 out of a population of 5,000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkerton ... i_outbreak
and
https://www.businessinsider.com/signs-t ... nvisible-9

[Drunk Monkey]

I prefer the water of life .. Aqua Vita .. same as the Dentons who reside on Udons East side i believe.

Must watch to the end , its rather amusing in a weird sort of way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK3LduV4-tg

dm

[kopkei]

this is where the TDS meter is handy , to measure the difference before and after filtration , what i forget to mention is that i also had the problem my booster pump kept running after the tank was full , so i added a solenoid valve that opens when the pump starts and closes when the tank is full (in combination of a low pressure valve on the inlet of the booster pump,and a high pressure valve on the tank supply ), i must have a schematic of my system somewhere ,will post it if i find it ... so if your pump is running and the waste line is also spitting when tank is full ,close it down with a solenoid valve

[kopkei]

so i did find my schematic ...what is not on it is the 4 way valve mounted on the filter unit , so i added a self drawn schematic (primitive , sorry ) ....
https://shopee.co.th/-mq1th-%E0%B9%80%E ... 1930184131
so if we follow the water flow
city water - trough low pressure valve - inlet booster pump - outlet booster pump -inlet filter block (PP,GAC,CTO) -outlet filter block - inlet 4 way valve - outlet 4 way - ro filter inlet - ro outlet - inlet post carbon - outlet post carbon - true high pressure switch - water tank ................
waste water line , ro 2nd outlet - trough the solenoid - flow restrictor - waste water in my case the sink drain ......
so my booster pump is connected directly with the city water before the filter block , not before the ro unit as i stated wrongly ...the manometer after the filter unit is a way to know when the filters need replacement ...
i use a second pump to draw water true a high pressure 24v valve and a 220v switch to open the uv lamp when drawing water en close after ...hopefully this helps ...

[Khun Paul]

We have travelled this route on numerous occasions.
Installing a water purifier in any form MAY clean the water for you , however the cost of installation and subsequent maintenance can be more expensive than actually varying the water you have for ypour use.
Example, rainwater collected, take care of external requirements, garden, washing the car etc
Waster from various sources, Udon Thani, local village, takes care of washing, cleaning clothes etc.
That leaves purchased water, in whatever form turns you one, required for cooking and drinking , none of that requires a vast outlay
Only expense required will be the garden water storage and house storage ( never use directly from the supplier ) . Almost zero maintenance required . Apart from the initial outl;ay of tanks etc, and pumps, almost nothing over 20 years, Just about nothing over the 20 years for garden and Supplied water ( apart from usage bills ).
Approx 400 baht a month will keep me in adequate drinking water , my friend recently updated his water cleaning equipment total cost in excess of 36000 baht ( maintenance on top ).
So it is horses for courses . only stipulation I say use the Stainless steel tanks, more expensive, but can easily be drained to be cleaned and has plenty of space for debris and other rubbish to fall below the output level.

[kopkei]

We have travelled this route on numerous occasions.
Installing a water purifier in any form MAY clean the water for you , however the cost of installation and subsequent maintenance can be more expensive than actually varying the water you have for ypour use.
Example, rainwater collected, take care of external requirements, garden, washing the car etc
Waster from various sources, Udon Thani, local village, takes care of washing, cleaning clothes etc.
That leaves purchased water, in whatever form turns you one, required for cooking and drinking , none of that requires a vast outlay
Only expense required will be the garden water storage and house storage ( never use directly from the supplier ) . Almost zero maintenance required . Apart from the initial outl;ay of tanks etc, and pumps, almost nothing over 20 years, Just about nothing over the 20 years for garden and Supplied water ( apart from usage bills ).
Approx 400 baht a month will keep me in adequate drinking water , my friend recently updated his water cleaning equipment total cost in excess of 36000 baht ( maintenance on top ).
So it is horses for courses . only stipulation I say use the Stainless steel tanks, more expensive, but can easily be drained to be cleaned and has plenty of space for debris and other rubbish to fall below the output level.

i agree with you when it is well based water , but my ro system making the city water drinkable is inexpensive, also filter cartridges change not costing more than 500 baht ....(changing about every 6 months ) , we use a lot of water ..

[glalt]

What would you estimate the amount of waste water compared to the amount of water that goes through the membranes?

[kopkei]

i have checked this in the beginning as i first collected the waste water in a small tank , i think it was a 3:1 ,when have time i will check this again later ...

[Khun Paul]

We have travelled this route on numerous occasions.
Installing a water purifier in any form MAY clean the water for you , however the cost of installation and subsequent maintenance can be more expensive than actually varying the water you have for ypour use.
Example, rainwater collected, take care of external requirements, garden, washing the car etc
Waster from various sources, Udon Thani, local village, takes care of washing, cleaning clothes etc.
That leaves purchased water, in whatever form turns you one, required for cooking and drinking , none of that requires a vast outlay
Only expense required will be the garden water storage and house storage ( never use directly from the supplier ) . Almost zero maintenance required . Apart from the initial outl;ay of tanks etc, and pumps, almost nothing over 20 years, Just about nothing over the 20 years for garden and Supplied water ( apart from usage bills ).
Approx 400 baht a month will keep me in adequate drinking water , my friend recently updated his water cleaning equipment total cost in excess of 36000 baht ( maintenance on top ).
So it is horses for courses . only stipulation I say use the Stainless steel tanks, more expensive, but can easily be drained to be cleaned and has plenty of space for debris and other rubbish to fall below the output level.

i agree with you when it is well based water , but my ro system making the city water drinkable is inexpensive, also filter cartridges change not costing more than 500 baht ....(changing about every 6 months ) , we use a lot of water ..

You spend more changing filters than I do receiving my drinking water and I did not have the expense of installing any system !!!

[kopkei]

i have made a quick check about the waste water amount , it is 3 : 1 ...the system is a 50 GPD , the waste restrictor a 450 ,and i have checked the price it is 400 baht for 5 filters , so ridiculous ...i change them about every 6 months...
and what the delivered big bottle water is concerned ...you could be surprised of the readings if you test with the TDS meter ... driving around uncovered in full sun , also probably parking in the sun during lunch hour ....

[glalt]

I have several small solar electric systems each with its own battery bank. Keeping all those batteries topped up with distilled water was a pain and expensive. I took a sample of the bottled water and boiled it completely down. There were no minerals in the bottom of the pan. Boiling down village water left a large amount of white scum in the pan. From then on, I used the RO bottled water in my batteries. Those batteries lasted nearly ten years so the bottled water obviously didn't harm them. I did replace the old deep cycle batteries with sealed deep cycle and that was certainly worth the added cost.

[bluejets]

Where I grew up, we always boasted that everything was better in our suburb compared with the others.
Water quality was no exception.
However, there had to be a good reason why ordinary tap water there allowed one to get 30 years plus out of storage hot water systems, 10 years from a car battery and in the Celica, 30 years from a radiator.
Wife's brother has a water purifier in front of the shop which one can get a 2 litre bottle filled for 5 baht.
Had a peek inside once, full of solenoids, timers, filters of varying types, uv units etc. etc.
About twice the size of a large refrigerator.

[NongKhaiLee]

Thanks for all of the info and insights.

I will have to make a schematic for my system before I can post it on here because the owners guide included with the system was for a completely different system than the one we purchased.

I am still working on the RO purifier system, but am about ready to throw it out of the door. I found that the waste water line was capped off by the manufacturer, so I uncapped it and hooked a line to it to no avail.

I replaced the booster pump which ran continually without building pressure, no help there.

I found that the reverse Osmosis storage tank did not have any bladder pressure, so adjusted that up to the 7 psi spec., that did not help either.

The strange thing about this system is that when I compare it to other systems, I see that the booster pump is not installed in the usual place. There are three filters hooked on the inlet line and the booster pump is installed after these filters on my system, but I see that on other systems it is usually installed before the filters or after the pre-filter but before the purification filters.
I am thinking of reworking it so that the pump is before the filters but am afraid that the filters may not be designed to withstand the pressure. I am of the mind that the way it is now set up once the filters become even the slightest bit restricted the pump is unable to create enough suction to overcome that restriction.

I might just change the booster pump location and then make sure I stand back when I turn it on!

[kopkei]

can you post a picture of your system ? it is not unusual that the booster pump is connected after the 3 filters just before the ro membrane inlet .... what is the water supply ? is it direct city water or is it through a pump coming from a tank ? ...

[NongKhaiLee]