2015-08-10
Please see update below. We live in the Dominican Republic where even the city water is not so good so we had a whole house (+2 apts.) and animals using a filter and UV system for over 15 years. We have not had any city water for over 18 months now and in severe drought. We also have rain water systems to collect but with no rain, no water. Water trucks have over tripled their costs and the water that they deliver is from one of the most polluted rivers around. You DON'T want to know what we found when we cleaned it. We finally put in a well and hit water at 30 feet. We are on the Ocean so expected some salt but hit good water above sea level. The aquifer is mainly in petrified coral so very high in calcium. Everyone here has 3rd world septic systems so that also added to concern. But the water was OK for the lawns (aka extra pasture), gardens and horses. Word got around about my well and in 2 months, at least 20 wells drilled within 1/4 mile. The well water became unusable for anything as many went too deep and let the sea water inter as the fresher water was sucked up. We also noticed a very bad algae/bacteria problem in our pools and 2 cisterns. After much research and questions to Helen @ iSpring, we bought this unit. (THANK YOU HELEN!) We concentrated on what we had and what we needed to accomplish. Electric is also very dirty here so we are 90% solar with a good inverter and battery systems. Importing anything is expensive to ship and the custom taxes are outrageous. We needed to get this right the first time. Not worth shipping it back. Since most of our water systems are in a dedicated room, it was fairly easy to get up and running in a few hours with no real expertise needed. Advanced planning may be very important. 1. A couple of changes so that the well is dedicated to this RO system. 2. Well water goes through a de-scalar. (we already had so we just moved it.) 3. to an old sand filter that we cleaned up. 4. to a UV sanitizer that we already had. (I didn't want the bacteria and algae getting into the rest of the system. Though the RO will handle some/much/?? it may not be able to kill and separate all.) 5. 30 gallon pressure tank equipped with gauge, well pump on/off pressure switch, tank drain and connection to the RO. 6. Followed or figured out the RO system and hung it on the wall. (instructions are very poor so it took awhile) 7. New elec. serge protector mounted. Shelf for filters. 8. The RO fresh water line goes directly into our non-pressurized cistern. No other pump needed. 9. Waste water run into PVC drip pipes into the gardens. No other pump needed. 10. Prior to the unit arriving, we transferred around 7,500 gallons from this cistern into our second one to go in and scrub/sanitize it. Lot's of algae (and other stuff that you don't want to know about.). 11. Turn on well pump, fix a couple of leaks and open valve to RO and plugged it in. 12. Being that our cistern my have other contaminants leach in or I need trucked water added, that independent system also has it's own filters and UV. Observations: 1. Our 1 hp well pump will only give us around 65 psi while the best production would be at 75psi. (or higher?) I set my well pump controller at 42/62. 2. At that pump settings, I was getting 540 gallons per day. 3. Though I have not had the water tested yet, It is clear, no smell and tastes great. 4. The motor is very quite. 5. I have had NO issues in the week that I have had it running; 24 hours every day. 6. Electric usage is not a problem with our systems. 7. Waste water is doing great with my plants and even that is a lot cleaner. 8. Filters are available and good prices. I have read the Q&As and comments and thank those that have posted and most I agree with. Again to Helen.... THANKS for your support @ iSpring. After just a few days, we are very satisfied with this unit. We will give it a couple more weeks but I've already picked a spot for a second unit to be mounted right next to this one. (the name that appears as the author is my wife... lol) 9/22/15 UPDATE: Our 1st unit has worked at just about full production running 24/7 since we put it in. We just installed 2 more and up in running within a couple of hours of getting them and had everything planned so it was real easy for us being that we had worked through the instructions that are just very poorly done. Most of the info that the distributor states is OK BUT, let's take a look. I'm NOT going point out the differences between the distributors statements vs the instructions. My observations are my own. 1. This is a 110 volt unit and NOT a 220 V as the manual says. The manual states that it MUST be grounded but the unit comes with a 2 prong 110 V plug. The unit has a down-step from AC to 36 V DC that feeds the booster pump that helps the system but not by much. 2. The manual uses all sorts of different measurements and is not consistent. A. Water pressure in the manual is in MPa. Gauge is in PSI. Different figures for "operating pressure" and "suitable water pressure".? I converted and figured that the best PSI is between 72.5 and 101.5 in order to get close to the 500 gpd. I does work below that but output is going to be lower. B. Most homes have water pressure at around 45 PSI for city water. Well systems can be adjusted, like I did, but be very careful that you don't start blowing up your plumbing if you boost too high. Our new 1.5 hp well pump is dedicated to and directly to other filters/UV and our RO system and the first unit did not leak when pressure was at 120 PSI for a couple of weeks. We did have to repair other leaks. With the 3 units running we average 90 PSI for each unit with the gauge a little higher before the units. (some fluctuations due to our dirty power that effects the well pump.) C. The manual states that this unit is for less the 1000 PPM and does not include nor address biological problems. We have pre-filters and UV since our well water is closer to 2000 PPM and we know that we have all sorts of bacteria and stuff in the well water. Our processed water is around 57 PPM that goes into our water cistern. That water is treated AGAIN with filters and another UV since our cistern most likely has outside infiltration via leaching. D. DUCK... INCOMING? Consumables/filter replacement. (This is gonna hurt.) You will see filter packages that will last you a year. True IF you follow the manual and use their water usage rates. D1. average family of 3 uses 10L per day. (Drinking water only?) That's 3.3 L per day per person. That's less then a gallon per day per person. D2. According to other sources; the low average is 80 gallons per person per day that equals 303 L per day per person. This includes drinking water, cooking, bathing and toilet. D3. Using the RO unit 24/7 the filters, without pre-filters, will need to be replaced every 3 to 5 days. Now the manual starts using "Tons" but I don't know if these are US or Metric tons. Let's use US. D3a: 1st and 2nd filter is good for 7.5 tons of water. = 2,018 gallons. @ 500 gpd need to change these filers every 4 days. (Without pre-filters. We have an older flushable filter that we back flush twice a week and a larger filter that we change every 2 months so we replace the 1st RO filter once a month.) Monitoring the well water incoming gauge and comparing gauges on the RO units is very helpful to determine when filters might need changing. D3b: Filters 3 and 4, every 3 to 5 days. D3c: RO membrane is an unknown but it stated that it is good for 2 to 3 years. ??? That brings us to... E. "Flushing" the RO membrane? It states that it should be flushed but never gets close to telling you how to do this. @ US $150.00 for a membrane, I'd sure like to know how to extend the life of these. All 3 of them. Edit 9/25. We asked this question and received a quick reply from iSpring ; thank you. This unit has an automatic flush so I don't need to do anything. Nice. F. This unit can be installed under sink as an On Demand unit. It does have a unit high pressure shut down sensor so when the sink faucet is shut off the unit shuts off. Open the faucet and the low pressure sensor turns it on. This would work well with refrigerator ice makers/water units and several other dedicated facets. It depends on your layout, needs, and what you have to work with. Ours is a full time water production into a 8000 gallon cistern. G. Buying filters and the RO membrane can be confusing with the way that they are described. Be careful so that you are buying the correct items. CONCLUSION: I've looked at a lot of systems. To import a system costs us around 38% more then the purchase price. Either we have a water solution that works or? Please feel free to ask questions or post comments.
