RO/DI Unit installation

What is an RO/DI unit? It stands for Reverse Osmosis and De-ionization. It's about the best water filtration device you can use. It filters out 99.9% of everything that's NOT pure H20. The model I got is the Kent Marine Maxxima Hi-S 4-Stage RO/DI unit rated at 60gpd (gallons per day).

An RO/DI unit works by forcing the water through various stages of filtration. Each one designed to remove different things from the water (Essentially removing bigger chunks of impurities than the next stage).

Stage 1 has a 1 micron sediment filter than only allows impurities smaller than 1 micron to pass through. Stage 2 has a carbon filter that removes chemicals like chlorine. Stage 3 removes other harder to remove chemicals like phosphates. The final consists of a membrane that is similar to skin, and only allows the purest of water to pass through. Any impure water is forced out the waste water line.

Roughly 4 gallons of water are wasted for every 1 gallon of pure water created.

Installation was as simple as hooking up a new refrigerator's Ice Make machine. Just run a line from your water line to the unit (input water). Run a line from the unit to a container (output water). And run another line from the unit to a drain or other waste source (waste water).

First thing to do, is locate your main water line, and turn off the water. Now that you've found where the main line, comes into the house. Follow it, and look for any available hook ups. If you're lucky, like me, you'll have an available output that's just plugged.

If you don't have an available hook-up, you can simply purchase a Self-tap Saddle Valve from Lowes or something. This just wraps around the water line, and when tightened far enough, it will pierce the line and give you an output to hook up to.

If you DO have an available hook up, all you'll need is an adapter to convert the line from the usual large (not sure the size...I think it's 3/4") pipe line to a smaller 1/4" line that you can hook the included tubing up to.

I don't trust automatic top off devices to stop the water pressure coming into my house (should be around 60-70ppi) so I installed a ball valve prior to the conversion piece. This allows me to turn on/off water pressure directly to the RO/DI unit

When installing, it is extremely important to make sure ALL connections are very tight! For the copper connections, wrap Teflon tape around the groves(wrap around at least 4 or 5 whole times).

For tubing connections, make sure the tube is pushed in as far as it will go, and after tightening, give a good tug or two to make sure it is securely connected.

Once I've got an output from my main line that I can hook up 1/4" hose to, I ran this hose over to where my RO/DI unit was mounted (Simply put 3 screws into the wall, and hung the unit on the screws). I then plug this input water hose into the appropriate hose on the RO/DI unit (see your instructions).

Now, the problem with my hook-up was, the place where I wanted my RO/DI unit secured, was too far from the main water line (the one that comes with the unit is usually only 6 feet), so I had to buy extra hose, and a 1/4" hose extension adapter. notice the clear hose is now connected to the yellow hose(same line).

If you mount your unit close enough, you won't need to do this.

In the next picture, you can see that the yellow line goes into the RO/DI unit in the upper left hand corner (I'll get into the red/white and blue/white wires later). Relax, most units come with most of this put together ...just had to run the input/output/waste lines (3 tubes).

From here on out, it's very simple. Run the waste water line (orange in my pic) coming out of the unit to a drain, or out your window. Again, keep in mind that for every gallon of RO/DI water you get, about 4 gallons of water will be wasted through this line...so run it somewhere where flooding's not an issue. I just ran mine to a drain pipe.

The blue line is the output, it goes to a big empty bucket or whatever storage device you choose to keep your pure water in.

The red/white and blue/white wires I talked about before are for the TDS (total dissolved solids) meter. If you're unit comes with (or you purchase one) a TDS meter, this is also easy to install.

A TDS (or Total Dissolved Solids) meter measures the amount of junk in the water. Average tap water will read anywhere from 200-300 TDS. The water coming OUT of your unit will be 0. The unit should come with a switch to go from reading one to the other.

These are VERY easy to install. The TDS meter should come with a pair of 3 way splitters (otherwise known as a John G fitting. Simply cut your line, plug each end into the opposite ends of the fitting, and plug the meter sensor into the perpendicular hole. That's it. Do this for both the input water line, and the RO/DI output water line. And that's it. Done!

Here you can see the whole set-up, finished and complete! Simply turn on the Ball valve at the source, and watch your ultra pure water flow!