RO/DI Disaster

[jamesbump78063]

Well.....

I live in an apartment and my RO/DI unit is in my laundry room Plumbed into the water coming from my washing machine. I usually just fill a 5 gallon bucket at a time by just letting it run closely watching it every couple of minutes. This morning around 2 am I had maintenance knocking on my door. I had left the filter on and fell asleep, the water had over flowed the bucket filled my laundry room with about an inch of water and the lady down stairs had water dripping all over her kitchen and living room.

Should I just put a float switch on the bucket? Or do i have any other options? Im limited to space so I cant have a nice water station setup.*

[BSJF]

http://www.marinedepot.com/Eshopps_Float_Valve_Auto_Top_Gravity_Feed_Dosing_P umps_Top_Off-Eshopps-QH03531-FIDPGT-vi.html

Sorry, been there done that. Check this out. It is portable and hangs on the edge of a bucket.

[alton]

I think everybody has done it at least twice. The wife gets really angry too. I fill up my barrel in the garage now. If I am only filling a bucket I leave it in the sink so if it over flows, it goes down the drain not on the floor

[Kristy]

Yeah... +1, +1! This hobby is all about redundancy. If we are just filling a bucket, it sits inside a Tuperware tote for spillover. Then we put a leak frog water alarm sitting in the tote.

Our big Brute trash can finally has a float switch on it but we try to use a froggie water alarm next to that too!

For a while there we were getting water on the floor ALL the time!

[Scream311]

Ouch sorry James. And yea ++++ we have all been there shoot I'm still there my wife is always getting mad at me. Our kitchen cabinets are now coming apart at the bottoms because I overfill on the regular. I like Alton and Kristys method and think I will be giving that a try. It just takes forever on my ro/di setup. Its around5 drips a second so figure it takes a few hrs to fill 5 gallons lol

[jroescher]

I tape a sheet of paper over my alarm clock BEFORE I turn the water on so at least I won't forget and go to bed at night with the water still on. Also set an alarm on my phone as a reminder.

[Europhyllia]

I have a dedicated RO bucket and it has a float valve mounted in it just like the big rubbermaid has. I also use the water alarms

[allan]

I tape a sheet of paper over my alarm clock BEFORE I turn the water on so at least I won't forget and go to bed at night with the water still on. Also set an alarm on my phone as a reminder.

I do a similar thing. I have a piece of paper with large indelible marker "ALLAN, Water is on!!!", then I leave my closet light on. Then when I head upstairs to bed if I see the light on, or the note that's actually attached to the front of my tank (by way of magnet scrubber), I go into the restroom and flip the switch.

Even with that method I've padded through water in the library to start the process of mopping up water after leaving it on all night. That and I've got a 20 gallon top off that fills first, surplus water is routed to a 32 gallon brute can. When I do overfill the brute it implies a series of water changes over the next few days. :)

[Big_Pun]

here's a trick I learned from same situation if you put the bucket on top of washing machine the water will flow in side when it spills over( if it's a top loader). i filled mine to almost the top one time.

[Bill S]

I second the water alarms. We have 4 or 5, and I use them for everything. I back up ALL float switches with alarms.

Still have the occasional spill...

[jc]

I've done the same thing, twice. I moved my r/o to the garage. Since you are in an apartment I would go with the bucket in a pail. Throw a leak alarm in the there and set your clock alarm as backup. It should work fine unless you leave the house, which I did once. So I put a sign on the door "Don't forget the R/O."

[jlh81]

Like alton said put the bucket in the sink or tub you can get the extra hose you need from Home Depot and its really cheap. Then you can just roll it up and pull it back out when you need it maybe the cheapest and quickest fix.

[Europhyllia]

here:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/auto-shut-off-kit-for-reverse-osmosis-systems.html

20 bucks. Can't hardly get any cheaper than this.
We're getting together a group order for BRS right now. Perfect timing to get one

[Big_Pun]

thats the same kit i use, i have mine on a 55g barrel

[Europhyllia]

I'll post a pic of my complete set up later.
I have a little hose sticking out on the end and a ball valve on the end of the one coming from the RO unit so I can just easily slide it onto the bucket or the Rubbermain container. Couldn't be more convenient.
And no more nagging from the husband about wasting water and flooding the laundry room...

[kkiel02]

here's a trick I learned from same situation if you put the bucket on top of washing machine the water will flow in side when it spills over( if it's a top loader). i filled mine to almost the top one time.

That is a great idea! I do mine in the garage but if I was in an apartment that would be my choice.

[Europhyllia]

Okey doke. Here it is:

normally you would screw the RO outlet hose straight into the float valve assembly. But sometimes I want to make saltwater and sometimes I just want RO water so I just screwed a short piece of tubing into the end:

44g Rubbermaid for saltwater
http://www.dominopads.com/RO1.jpg

RO bucket:
http://www.dominopads.com/RO2.jpg

Of course the outlet hose from the RO/DI now needs a connector so I placed one of the quick connect ball valves on the end of it:
http://www.dominopads.com/RO3.jpg

and it connects to both in a jiffy:
http://www.dominopads.com/RO4.jpg

and the bucket:
http://www.dominopads.com/RO5.jpg

So I swap them however I want them without having to take anything on or off or reinstall. Easy Peasy and no spills :)

[allan]

You know I had an epiphany yesterday after reading your post Karin.

I can get one of those top off float valves for my top of water bucket and my salt mixing station. Then connect the two to my RODI line. If they T just left of the inputs for both the Top Off bucket and the salt mixing station then I should always have enough water to perform several waterchanges.

Then after reading that last post, I can add shut off valves to limit long standing water in my salt mixing station.

You're a genius... all I need is two floats.

[BuckeyeHydro]

If you use these sorts of float valves, there are two general types to think about. We've sold these valves for years and years and had very good luck with them.

The two types differ in how precisely you can control the water level that shuts the valve. One type has a straight are that holds the float, and the water level that shuts off the valve is contolled by the location of the hole you drilled in the container to mount the float.

The other type has an arm with a pivot - so you can raise of lower the float to fine tune the final water level.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd293/BuckeyeFS/adjfloatvalvewgraph.jpg

Russ

[vman181]

here's a trick I learned from same situation if you put the bucket on top of washing machine the water will flow in side when it spills over( if it's a top loader). i filled mine to almost the top one time.

This is how I do it however sometimes the water will leak from the washing machine if I don't hit the drain cycle fast enough.

[jeittreim]

quick fix I found was to put the bucket in one of those water heater catch pans with a drain spout on it, two options you would have is to have it up higher than the drainline for the washer and then have it drain through a hose into there, or run the hose outside somewhere safe. worked great for me when I had a float valve stick on me in my garage......the plants outside were really happy about the extra watering they got over the weekend :-)

[vman181]

Where do you get the water alarms here in SA? I'm on the north side near 281 and 1604.

[Bill S]

Home Depot at Evans & 281 has some. I have not tried them before, so YMMV. Back left corner of the store, where the timers are.