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Going under-sink rodi

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
Troubleshooting my RODI today and found my in water to be 147tds. Further investigation regarding town water showed it to be in a pretty sad state.
Decided to run a new RODI for drinking water under the kitchen sink with an 8g upgraded holding tank.
Figure this will supply enough drinking water and give me the ability to fill a 5g ato bucket when needed.

Looking at this system (it looks all colored but takes normal cartridges as well)...

Going to push the button in a few hours after a bit more research. If anyone has any experience or recommendations they would be most appreciated.
 

motortrendz

NJRC Member
My only concern would be the lifespan of the filters, they look fairly small compared to a typical RODI we would use... would a bigger unit say from spectrapure or brs fit under there? You can still tee off the unit right before the DI chamber for drinking water..the filter would last alot longer or think(I could totally be wrong) also what are the replacement filter costs compared to a traditional unit?
 

DEL

Vice President
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
Moderator
all 3 of my RODI units have always been from airwaterice. great customer support and easy parts replacement.
 

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
So, I picked up a unit from Express Water, on Amazon, for $170.
6 stage filtration - chem filter, sediment, granular carbon, RO, DI, activated carbon.
Unit is nice and labelled for dummies.
Set up, again, labelled for dummies.
Simple instructions.
Size is that of a normal RODI and it takes universal cartridges.
Comes with a TON of extra inserts, gaskets, clips, etc...
Also a 4 gallon pressurized under sink storage drum (steel) and a nice, metal, side tap for the sink.

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Installation is quoted as 45 minutes.
Simply involved adding a valve into the main cold water line, and a 1/4" drill hole into the sink drainage pipe for waste water produced by the system.
There is an auto-stop pressure controller as well, its hidden behind the PAC and ROM cartridges. IT shuts off the system if the RO water tap is off and the storage container is full.

Of course, as with any 45 minute no problem installation, we found a leak in the main faucet.
I now know how to disassemble faucets, insert new cartridges, spend lots of money, and use new colorful ways to utilize the F bomb...

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This, of course, wasn't the fault of the manufacturer, though the poorly drilled outflow connection for the unit to the tap was...

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I called the manufacturer and, to their credit, they sent me an entirely new canister unit (3 main canister mounted on the rail) and new connecitions, which arrived on the third day.

ATM unit is set.
Had I not had the plumbing leaks it may well have taken under an hour to set up.
The tap is nice, as if I need a cup of RODI for thawing food, or 3-4 gallons for a top up or small WC its available immediately.
The tank (4g) refills in about 2 hours. So, over a casual day I should have access to 10g of RODI easily from the kitchen sink with plenty left over for drinking.
If I really needed it, I could collect 20g by evening with a stop by the tap every few hours.

TDS meter in this morning - 138
TDS on last 10g taken today - 0
General testing ammonia/phosphate/nitrate(it) - all groovie :)

Replacement filter kits are available at a great price - under $100 for a 3 year pack including 6 each of chem filter, sediment filter, granular carbon filter, RO filter, activated carbon filter.
The deionization can be purchased as single units at $29 or can be refiilled manually.

Glad I purchased it for household use, will get some great use from it for the nanos as well.

Here it is installed but not tucked away under the cabinet yet...

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So far this is nothing but great.

Will keep updating on life of cartirdges and reaction of tanks.
 
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