Measuring Water Quality

pnichols wrote:

TechWriter wrote:
Not for an RV -- RO waste can just be plumbed into the water holding tank. Zero waste

What water holding tank?

If one is living on limited drycamping water, how is any water wasted from your RV's fresh water tank just to make a portion of the water you use from your RV's fresh water tank better ... OK?

The above is our current stick house situation ... limited water supply. Other filtration approaches that throw none of our fresh water away is the way to go - the same as in an RV when drycamping.

"Water holding tank" was a bad term.

I have an under sink RO unit in the RV. Water from the water tank feeds the RO unit and waste water from the RO goes back into the water tank.

No wasted water.

TechWriter wrote:
Not for an RV -- RO waste can just be plumbed into the water holding tank. Zero waste

What water holding tank?

If one is living on limited drycamping water, how is any water wasted from your RV's fresh water tank just to make a portion of the water you use from your RV's fresh water tank better ... OK?

The above is our current stick house situation ... limited water supply. Other filtration approaches that throw none of our fresh water away is the way to go - the same as in an RV when drycamping.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
But ozone kills 100.000% of all water borne life.

Enough ozone in the water does ... just like enough elemental chlorine is extremely dangerous and poisonous for all living organisms.

Problem is, the run of the mill ozone units sold for everyday water tank use risk getting enough water treated with enough ozone fast enough - plus there is maintenace associated with them that must be kept up with. I saved $1000 on up for a maybe marginal tank ozone system and have been going with good old chlorine instead. We don't get iron rings in the house, but our neighbor with an ozone system in his tank fed from the same well as us ... does. :h

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Would a gallon per gallon ratio be suitable to store the effluent in a container (like a 55 gallon drum) and use the effluent for dishwashing and bathing? By design I -must- store service waster and it works out well. This doesn't address water heater minieralization but for drinking water it can't be beat.

I think you're talking about a household RO system, but I'll answer this as an RV issue since this is an RV forum.

Vagabond makes whole-RV RO systems so that all the water used in your RV would be treated, not just the drinking water.

However, a couple of issues with a whole-RV RO system:

-- Time required to fill holding tank: even with a special pump, it could takes hours to fill a typical Class A holding tank.

-- Waste water: because you're filling the entire water holding tank, RO waste water would end up on the ground since there's no place for it to go.

pnichols wrote:
RO units waste water, which I can't afford to do in CA. About the best RO there is wastes around a gallon per gallon yielded.

Not for an RV -- RO waste can just be plumbed into the water holding tank. Zero waste.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Single cell animals bathe in UV and get a tan. This includes giardia.

That's why there's an activated carbon filter in front of the UV filter.

Would a gallon per gallon ratio be suitable to store the effluent in a container (like a 55 gallon drum) and use the effluent for dishwashing and bathing? By design I -must- store service waster and it works out well. This doesn't address water heater minieralization but for drinking water it can't be beat.

I'm going to the steriline site! Rapidly :)

Thank you for the head's up!


EDIT EDIT EDIT

OZONE GENERATOR LINK

Caveat: For duty in excess of ten minutes I definitely recommend the use of a 50 CFM computer muffin fan.

This is a HIGH VOLTAGE unit that should be mounted in an enclosure with lots of holes. Pure sine AC only. Shore power filtered AC input. NOT FOR USE in areas with relative humidity in excess of 60%. Not for use in proximity with goods that are sensitive to O3 The caveat is from the school of hard knocks.

But ozone kills 100.000% of all water borne life. Freshly Ozonated water is so much a disinfectant that I use it to sterilize cuts and abrasions and it works BETTER, like way way better than triple antibiotic salve. The water must me used no later than 15 minutes after generation. When bottled with a tight cap the shelf life of freshly ozonated water is phenomenal. Water purification plants down here regularly GUARANTEE their sealed bottles of water to remain sterile for one year.

Ozone can be murder on rubber products. The generator cannot tolerate getting wet or even slightly damp.

RO units waste water, which I can't afford to do in CA. About the best RO there is wastes around a gallon per gallon yielded. I'm considering going to an ultra low waste regenerated ion exchange system for our home to get pristine low TDS readings from our well water for drinking and the ice maker. However, both RO systems and regenerated ion exchange systems should have sterilized water coming into them - whether it be accomplished via UV light or chemicals. One of the under-sink ion exchange systems might be great for RV use too, depending upon their electrical power requirements in small form factors.

Ozone systems, sealed or otherwise, do not produce enough free chlorine to make iron into what I need it to be. Around 2.5 oz. per 1000 gallons of store-bought Chlorox works has worked for us for years. For our RV, I use about 6 oz. of Chlorox per each 40 gallon fill into the onboard tank. For our well situation, straight chlorine dioxide would be better, if I could conveniently and inexpensively get it. Next year some time I'm considering sterilizing the well with Sterilene, which is around 200 times more effective than standard chlorine.

P.S. #1: We're ultra careful with what we or the dog drink. Swelled hands and high vet bills are in the same category .... verboten.

P.S. #2: This outstanding hose would be excellent for RV use - rated for potable water, ultra rugged, and just about the world's lightest and most compact to store (not counting the rollup-on-a-real hoses) for RV use. We use one on our deck and it's the best ever for older hands with arthritis. 1/2 inch, I.D., hoses are all that's needed for 95% of home/RV applications and I finally got fed up with lugging the common hardware store 5/8 and 3/4 inch hoses around:

http://www.waterrightinc.com/

Single cell animals bathe in UV and get a tan. This includes giardia.

Where I learned about water quality was firing a pair of B&W boilers while going to college. Diatomaceous earth, ion exchange, etc. We filched all of the books out of the abandoned Platformer unit and they became our library. In between maintenance, blowdowns, taking readings, and worrying what that noise was, we studied.

Mendocino County CA. Three instances, two hundred miles apart, drinking well water for a month or longer, my hands swelled to double size. Medical community was baffled. No change in diet, or habits. The third time, I went to the store and purchased distilled water. Hands returned to normal size with a lot of peeling skin. Friend got angry when I suggested it may be something in the water. Indignant as hell as a matter of fact. Went back to drinking (good tasting) well water and hands swelled back up. The odds against all this being coincidental is laughable. Remember, three locations. Three wells. Two hundred road miles separated the wells. A person tends to get touchy about water quality after experiencing "catcher's mitt" size hands. No, it hasn't happened before or since.

I drink from a rubber garden hose so I'm not to concerned with sterilized water

I spent 30 yrs making pure water for high pressure boilers (NAVY & Commercial)......evaporators, demineralized cation/anion systems, RO units etc.

I use a portable water softener for my RV when needed so water heater/faucets etc. don't scale up.

But I still drink from a rubber garden hose cause I'm not concerned with sterilizing my water.