Reverse Osmosis and Tankless water heater

[catzuki]

So recently we have been looking at all of this stuff for our acreage. Now we got a iron filter and softner, but your not suppose to drink softened water and our well water is so hard its not really drinkable. So i have been looking around and and i see so many brands. Now a few people have told me to watch out how much water they use to "purify" that water. Now i see the kenmore one from sears take 12L to make 1L of RO water. Now there are some lower than that and the best i found was the Culligan one. It only uses 1L to make 1L of RO water. Now the ones that use more water cost alot less,but the culligan one is more efficent. Now im just wondering what you would choose or what you have. The kenmore one is around 700 but the culligan one is 1600(installed). Just want your thoughts.

Now about tankless water heaters. So i dont have access to natural gas, i dont have propane either. Our current heater is Electric and i would like to keep it that way. Now im just wondering if anyone else has any of these electric units. I see some of the new Trailers and campers are going to them cause they are cost effective and space saving. I have looked around and they really range from 200-900 dollars. I only know of one guy that has one and he really likes his(his is installed in his house, its a TITAN 210 i think) and he said his power bill went down cause it doesnt have to sit there and perkulate the water all of the time. Let me know if and what you have. Im gonna replace our hot water tank this year(its 7 years old and i dont really want to chance it while im redoing plumbing) and i just want to know some feedback from others.

thanks

 

[Ryeser]

So recently we have been looking at all of this stuff for our acreage. Now we got a iron filter and softner, but your not suppose to drink softened water and our well water is so hard its not really drinkable. So i have been looking around and and i see so many brands. Now a few people have told me to watch out how much water they use to "purify" that water. Now i see the kenmore one from sears take 12L to make 1L of RO water. Now there are some lower than that and the best i found was the Culligan one. It only uses 1L to make 1L of RO water. Now the ones that use more water cost alot less,but the culligan one is more efficent. Now im just wondering what you would choose or what you have. The kenmore one is around 700 but the culligan one is 1600(installed). Just want your thoughts.

Now about tankless water heaters. So i dont have access to natural gas, i dont have propane either. Our current heater is Electric and i would like to keep it that way. Now im just wondering if anyone else has any of these electric units. I see some of the new Trailers and campers are going to them cause they are cost effective and space saving. I have looked around and they really range from 200-900 dollars. I only know of one guy that has one and he really likes his(his is installed in his house, its a TITAN 210 i think) and he said his power bill went down cause it doesnt have to sit there and perkulate the water all of the time. Let me know if and what you have. Im gonna replace our hot water tank this year(its 7 years old and i dont really want to chance it while im redoing plumbing) and i just want to know some feedback from others.

thanks

I've heard lots of good things about them. Most people in Europe use them. You may need more than one, if you have a big household.

 

[mach123]

Just ask for Kevin at culligan he did our filter system in the shop and is good to deal with.

Tankless, there is only one that I would use because all others are either to small or no good. The one I would go and have installed is the commercial unit by John Wood but would use a filter system ahaed of it to catch any junk in the water becuase units are really finicky. They are 11 gallons per minute and work well but not the cheapest out there. I don't know if they are ellectric or not. You can go to high eff. hwt but cost alot more also. Good luck in your search..

 

[Murminator]

I know a lot of guys that run The aquasafe one on their aquariums they say around 100GPD but closer to 80. There is a way to hook up the waste water to a cistern can be used with a pressure pump and used in the toilets, washer, dishwasher etc.

Aquasafe Canada - Water Filter, Drinking Water, water purification

you can find lots on ebay as well

 

[Steve D]

I'll throw a vote towards a distiller if your well doesn't have huge volumes of water available to it. My parents have had one of these for over 20 years now. It's possible to plumb it into a seperate tap because it's got it's own pump. The nice thing is if the power goes out, you still have a tank of drinking water (you just have to go to the machine to get it.) Just don't run softened water into a distiller, the sodium carbonate will build up bad.

When the distiller broke down a couple years ago, they decided to try a reverse osmosis system, or some fancy filter doohickey system. Between having low water pressure at the house itself to begin with (which only got worse with the system) and having to replace the filters, my dad just fixed the distiller and they've been happy since.

Edit: A side note about brands, I'm sure the Polar Bear unit that they've had in their basement all this time looks identical to the ones on that site linked above. I know that if it does break, you can fix it, it's not some throwaway plastic junk.

 

[sledn]

Most tankless electric hot water heaters draw alot of power (80+ amps @ 240v).Too much load for a typical 100 amp electrical service.

 

[Taminator]

Good post catsuki! In the same boat here.
Lots of iron, hard water, need new hot water tank and want to find a good way to treat our water so we can drink it! Just started researching and don't know anyone who runs an electric tankless hw, just propane...we, like you, need electric.

Sounds like the thing to look for in the hw tank, like you said, is how much water is used to make the RO water, and we certainly don't want to lose pressure. I know for me the extra cost of one that uses less water is worth it just for that reason. I certainly don't want to use 10x more water just to make it hot!

I'll post anything I find in my search and look forward to seeing what peeps have to say

 

[catzuki]

Good post catsuki! In the same boat here.
Lots of iron, hard water, need new hot water tank and want to find a good way to treat our water so we can drink it! Just started researching and don't know anyone who runs an electric tankless hw, just propane...we, like you, need electric.

Sounds like the thing to look for in the hw tank, like you said, is how much water is used to make the RO water, and we certainly don't want to lose pressure. I know for me the extra cost of one that uses less water is worth it just for that reason. I certainly don't want to use 10x more water just to make it hot!

I'll post anything I find in my search and look forward to seeing what peeps have to say

Well it seems like they are a new and up coming thing. I had our water tested about 1 year ago and it was about 90 grn hardness to it. We also have high iron hense the iron filter. The well water is drinkable as is, but we prefer RO water. Now i know a few locals have the culligan system cause they are compact and they have the best warranty(lifetime unlike some others) and they also have the cheaper filters except the RO filter and They now have a 4th filter for filtering out chemicals. The 4th filter is extra $150 which is what makes the kit $1600 or 1450 without. Now our well will flow water all day long with no draw down. Our pump is at 75' and the water line is at 40' in a 6" caseing. I was told that it will flow 10-15 GPM no problem. I know instant hot water is becoming a popular thing, and i know the electric draws alot of power, but i have a new 200 amp pannel with room and if a person thinks, its not like the heater is running constantly. I would run Natural gas, but they want $3000 to run it to my shop, then another $3500 to the house, then they want more to run it into both buildings and then the heater and venting and such. This is why i installed Pellet/Grain stoves for heat instead of natural gas or propane cause of price. My buddy that had one installed said it lowered his power bill by almost $30 a month which is pretty good considering Saskpower is raising our rates another 7.5% this year. Thanks for the input and keep it coming, Any advice is good advice.

 

[catzuki]

Most tankless electric hot water heaters draw alot of power (80+ amps @ 240v).Too much load for a typical 100 amp electrical service.

Ya i looked into that, but most places have 125 or 200 amp serivce. I replaced our pannel last year when we installed our underground power to a 200 amp pannel. Now i realize they draw alot of power, but its not like a person is running it all of the time. Now we have 3 in our house(2 woman and me) and my buddy has 3(him, his wife, and his New born) and he said his power bill went down Aprox $30 month. So right there that is a savings for a person especially over 5 years or more in which a water heater lasts.