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New RO unit, dumb question


P.J.

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There are a lot of differing views on this subject. Some say its safe to drink others dont. I drink RO water but not the RODI water, but thats how my unit is set up. Its funny, I bought a tds meter and have tested tap and bottled water and the tap in indy was over 300 ppm. The bottled water is usually around 50ppm. My RO is 10 ppm and the RODI is usually around 1 ppm.

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If you google it there are lists of the worst and Indianapolis is at the top of the list. I love when they seem to add chlorine, you can actually smell it. Thankfully we have a sofener now but when we lived in broadripple we had to add a filter to the shower because the water would dry our skin out so bad.

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I just recently bough an RO unit, can I use it for drinking water as well, maybe make great coffee with it?

 

 

Yes you can. I have heard that RO/DI water does not taste all that great, but I have never tried it. In my old house, I actally got my water for top off and water changes directly from the RO spicket in my kitchen.

 

Depending on where your RO unit is located, and if it's RO or RO/DI, you have a couple of options. Instead of listing them out, can you tell us if your unit is RO or RO/DI and where you have it installed?

 

Thanks.

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  • 1 year later...

I have heard drinking RO/DI water isn't good for you. I don't remember the logic.

 

I can tell you this, many studies have been done and those who drink purified water have FAR weaker immune systems. Succumbing your system to "dirtier" water is good for your health in the long-run, essentially. And after years of clean water you are left vulnerable. Same is the case for people who chronically wash their hands. You lose immunity to germs, and create types of infections that modern medicine cannot cure by washing your hands so often.

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I have heard drinking RO/DI water isn't good for you. I don't remember the logic.

 

I can tell you this, many studies have been done and those who drink purified water have FAR weaker immune systems. Succumbing your system to "dirtier" water is good for your health in the long-run, essentially. And after years of clean water you are left vulnerable. Same is the case for people who chronically wash their hands. You lose immunity to germs, and create types of infections that modern medicine cannot cure by washing your hands so often.

 

and all the hand sanitizer, miss Florida when I could just add salt to tap water

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I have heard drinking RO/DI water isn't good for you. I don't remember the logic.

 

I can tell you this, many studies have been done and those who drink purified water have FAR weaker immune systems. Succumbing your system to "dirtier" water is good for your health in the long-run, essentially. And after years of clean water you are left vulnerable. Same is the case for people who chronically wash their hands. You lose immunity to germs, and create types of infections that modern medicine cannot cure by washing your hands so often.

 

 

rodi water might not be good but ro it is good im connecting my ro to the fridge to get ice/water already filter that way i dont have to use the filter on the fridge,and if dirty water is good for you im using those 10g buckests from dave to get water from the whiteriver because im sure indy tap water and the whiteriver water have the same tds,our baby nursery water tds is around 12tds i think the ro water from my filter is about the same the only reason we dont use ro to make her bottles is because the wife say no

 

i would say yes ro water is good

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Really good RO/DI water will eat through copper pipe. I have seen it happen.

The water is so pure it will actually draw elements from the walls that contain it.

1/2" copper pipe, +/- 50psi for about 5 years and it started to leak from the walls of the pipe beeing eaten away.

The TDS readings of this water never went above 12ppm and usually ran a lot less.

 

There are some that say its possible do the same to your body, draw the vitamins and minerals out of you over time.

:huh::blink:

 

I have never studied the subject. I think we do need some TDS "stuff" in the water though. The dog and I drink my well water and love it (26+ years on this well, i forget the TDS reading), the GF and the baby pull from the RO tap BEFORE the DI filter. I use a coconut fiber filter and I do taste the sweetness it adds. (personal stuff)

 

Back on topic,... It is perfectly ok to drink either RO or RO/DI. Its up to you how much of the latter but the RO part is fine, perfect, great, no issue blah blah blah IF you keep water moving through the filters, leading to questions about bacteria building up in the system if not in use for long periods of time.

 

There are "sanitation" steps to be taken when setting up these things if they are used or have been inactive, consider this if using one thats been down for a minute. You can ask about that with AWI when ya get filters :)

 

Your coffee should be better and you wont deal with lime build up, same goes for icemakers.

B)

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RO is fine and as others have said RO/DI is a highly debated subject. Someone above mentioned that it is so pure it draws nutrients out of your body..Who knows... I have read that you would have to drink a serious amount of RO/DI for it to do that.. I don;t drink a lot of water so it doesnt matter either way. you CAN make coffee, tea kool-aid or whatever from RO and RO/DI...You will love the taste. Tap water is very bitter and you would be better off eating dirt than drinking tap water :D

 

Not to call anyone a liar but if there is NOTHING in the water how could it draw out or react with copper pipes?

 

After re reading your post, 12ppm is not really good RO/DI water at 12ppm there is something still in the water. Really good RO/DI has 0 TDS .. If your TDS is over 0 your DI cartridges are in need of replacement..

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Yes, Its the cleanest water there is. RO/DI is what bottled water is. Drink away

Bottled water is at best filtered with a carbon filter. Some may actually pass through an RO membrane but I would guess that none of it is RO/DI

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not to push the thread off topic....

 

When water has had all the heavy metals removed, in its purest form, its H20, nothing more. At this point it wont even conduct electricity- there are no metals in there and thats what the current would use to travel.

 

When water is this pure it can absorb or allow things to be leached onto it very easily. Allowing really pure water to have contact with certain metals (like copper pipe) creates this situation.

 

Even the best RO/DI systems can only remove something like 98% of all TDS readings.

There are some variables to those ratings too.

Temp, pressure, filter life, and the amount of TDS your are starting with really play a huge role in the end result.

 

*my experience with this has been working for your local ice company.

Getting water clean was a pretty big deal to them.

 

Part of my job was to maintain the RO/DI system and work with the Seimens company in keeping that $10k unit working right. The test water was only "allowed" to be 9ppm - it (usually) tested at 3ppm but by the time it got to the freezing plates it was up to 12ppm. Maybe that 12ppm was what was responsible for the leaking pipes but I was told it was the RO water that litteraly ate the copper because the water was so pure.

 

The company I was working for wasnt the only one faced with this problem. There are only really two types of industrial ice makers today. One called "Turbo" is the newer, more popular. These ice makers use lots of coper pipes for parts like the defrost manifold trees and they are all starting to develop common leaks. It is being blamed on the ro/di and copper combo.

 

Sorry to de-rail this thread, again.

 

Still the answer to the question is yep... RO water makes everything groovy.

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not to push the thread off topic....

 

When water has had all the heavy metals removed, in its purest form, its H20, nothing more. At this point it wont even conduct electricity- there are no metals in there and thats what the current would use to travel.

 

When water is this pure it can absorb or allow things to be leached onto it very easily. Allowing really pure water to have contact with certain metals (like copper pipe) creates this situation.

 

Even the best RO/DI systems can only remove something like 98% of all TDS readings.

There are some variables to those ratings too.

Temp, pressure, filter life, and the amount of TDS your are starting with really play a huge role in the end result.

 

*my experience with this has been working for your local ice company.

Getting water clean was a pretty big deal to them.

 

Part of my job was to maintain the RO/DI system and work with the Seimens company in keeping that $10k unit working right. The test water was only "allowed" to be 9ppm - it (usually) tested at 3ppm but by the time it got to the freezing plates it was up to 12ppm. Maybe that 12ppm was what was responsible for the leaking pipes but I was told it was the RO water that litteraly ate the copper because the water was so pure.

 

The company I was working for wasnt the only one faced with this problem. There are only really two types of industrial ice makers today. One called "Turbo" is the newer, more popular. These ice makers use lots of coper pipes for parts like the defrost manifold trees and they are all starting to develop common leaks. It is being blamed on the ro/di and copper combo.

 

Sorry to de-rail this thread, again.

 

Still the answer to the question is yep... RO water makes everything groovy.

 

Very interesting..thanks for the info!!

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...helpful tip with these units in our application, directed more to the DI side of the filter...

 

It is better to make lots of DI water in one "session" vs trying to get a gallon or two at a time.

 

I do try to use all 55gallons of my top off water before I refill it.

I dont usually burn off the first couple gallons when I start making water either.

*Some say the first few gallons could have higher TDS readings due to TDS creep and should be purged. You can google TDS creep and test to decide for yourself but I do reccomend getting a storage container for your make-up water going to the tank.

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  • 11 months later...

Interesting read.

 

I had always used DI water in my engines where there were dissimilar metals (i.e. ally head on iron block) the theory being that the ignition process grounds through the block therefore using DI limited the potential for electorlysis corrosion (usually of the head).

 

Now you have got me thinking that the DI water might actually be sucking the metal out of the head when the engine isn't running!

 

For human consumption I would advise against drinking DI for the same reason. De-ionisation means that certain electorlytes that the body needs are not present, through whatever atomic bond process that applies to ionised particles (covalent or whatever this one is) the water will draw these electrolytes from the body into the water. Thus be bad for you.

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