[paul mather]

What's the best way to produce more water? I currently have a RO-MAN 200 gallon per day system but because my water pressure is poor I only produce 400 litres in a 24 hour period.

My wife is seriously considering coming out  a couple of days a week so I will need to produce more water.

I was told I have 2 options,

1. Get a pump to improve my water pressure

2. Upgrade the filters to a 300 gallon per day.

Which alternative is best & which is most cost effective?

[pjulk]

I have the 200gpd Ro Man unit also but went for the pumped version.
I get 700 ltrs a day from mine so i may be best to get a pump.

Paul

[paul mather]

I have the 200gpd Ro Man unit also but went for the pumped version.
I get 700 ltrs a day from mine so i may be best to get a pump.

Paul

Paul, I hope you dont mind me asking how much did you pay for your pump & where did you get it from?

[JM123]

and by the time you buy your pump you will have spent about £275, a merlin costs another £30 and would give you at least 1500ltrs per day - I know what I would have gone for.

[Tim Morton]

and by the time you buy your pump you will have spent about £275, a merlin costs another £30 and would give you at least 1500ltrs per day - I know what I would have gone for.

True, but I had a pumped 200gpd ro-man and upgraded it to a 300 gpd, I get  0.8 liters per min and the tds of the pure is 000-001, and my tapwater tds is 190-186.  I doubt if the merlin could match that. True, the roman will not match the capacity of the merlin, but the waste ratio is better on the roman, I have a 1-1 waste ratio, so if you're concerned about how much water you use that's another thing to take into consideration.

Tim

[JM123]

our tap water reads 300/350ppm, pressure is only 48psi, after merlin water reads 5ppm at 1.4lpm, we then pass the ro'd water through an 11ltr di vessel.

no pump to break down and only one prefilter to change every 3 months or so, with saying that we do pass the tap water through a 5 micron prefilter before the merlin but this is more to do with the high amount of sediment in our water.

with the ro-man setup you have a prefilter and carbon filter to change every month plus the pumps are problematic, if it works for then then fine but having had a 200gpd ro mysel I can say it could never compare to the merlin for all round practicality and production.  Hence the reason why we do not build the smaller ro units anymore as like Alex Gardiner says - you have to believe in a product to sell it.

[freshwater]

paul,

I would just buy another 200gpd RO and run along side your existing one, then you’re not messing about with pipes or pumps. As JM123 says RO pumps are not the most reliable things, the cheap ones we all use to keep the price of ROs down are not the best and most reliable. We use various qualities of pump and the best we have found is the Aquatec 8800, we have had it running on systems for 20 hours a day for just over 2 years before it gave up, with less use they have gone on for over 4 years. Cost differences are standard Aquapro pump & transformer £80 inc vat & carriage, Aquatec 8800 and transformer £170 inc vat and carriage which is the same price as our 200gpd RO system.

PLEASE NOTE DO NOT MISTAKE "AQUATEC" FOR ANY UK BASED FIRM OF A SIMILAR NAME "AQUATEC" IS A COMPANY BASED IN THE USA SPECIALISING IN RO PUMPS.

steve@freshwatersystems.co.uk

[paul mather]

Freshwater,

Surely if I run another 200GPD RO-MAN off the same mains water supply all it will do is cut my water pressure down even further, so I am no better off.

[petski2]

Hi Paul,I was in the same boat as you a year ago.After much much much persuading to part with my money I forked out on a Merlin.
Before the Merlin I was having to stay up silly hours to make sure my tank was full for the next day.
Now I hook up the merlin to my van tank (400ltrs) at about 5pm and by about 10 pm its full.
I know its hard if you havent got the readies but believe me its worth going for it.

[JM123]

steve@freshwater is right in what he says about aquatec pumps - we supply them as standard pumps (delivery) for some of our systems, some ask for shurflo/flojet but have supplied quite a number of aquatec pumps and actually run 2 of them ourselves - very very good pump, have not had one come back yet, at all.

the 8800 model was designed for the merlin and really does the job well, well worth the money.

Paul mate, I know you have forked out a bit lately for your kit but the one best piece of advice I can give you is this - always go for MORE than you need, you may need it someday.

[Tim Morton]

with the ro-man setup you have a prefilter and carbon filter to change every month

Well that's not quite true, the pre-filters dont need changed every month, they last for a specific amount of liters, and for me that means changing the prefilters about 5-6 months.

But like I said, if you need to produce more than about 0.8 to 1 liter a min then the ro-man system isnt the best, the merlin would be better suited or even a 4x40 Ro, they are pretty good.

Tim

[freshwater]

Paul,

PRESSURE.

If you fit two small ROs like the 200gpd on the same water line there will be very little difference in the pressure to each system, is certainly wont be cut by half.

Pressure is the force behind the water not the amount (volume) of water that comes out of the pipe.

steve@freshwatersystems.co.uk