Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: stuart webster on March 19, 2006, 07:14:03 pm
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I'd be better off if there was only one WFP, no problem.
I need a system that can produce water on demand. (I dont want a system on overnight)
I live in an area that is soft 50-70 ppm, so my first thoughts were DI unit only.
The cost of refilling DI makes it an expensive route, so that makes RO more tempting.
Then were back to producing enough in an hour or so.
Merlin? £300 It can produce enough for half a day quickly, I can refill over dinner where needed.
Still need a polisher. £30 + resin £80
Delivery system?
Trolly? Back pack?
Remember i work from a car for now, but will prob get van at some point, so whatever I get I want to upgrade.
I like the idea of a backpack and a granny trolly, I could get 6 25L water carriers, produce water straight into these, and transfer into backpack as needed. £30
However will trolly system I could carry more water, less filling up. Not as flexable as backpack though.
However, I f I upgrade to van mount a backpack will be handy.
Backpack looks favourite. £300 inc granny trolly
Pole?
Need 24' to reach job we really need WFP for. Need gooseneck for another comercial job.
Cheapest genuine WFP, (not plastic unger pole) £125
How do you regulate the flow, do you need to regulate as much with Merlin?
Hose? If backpack then dont need too much hose. £40
Have I forgotten anything?
Total £900.00
This is probably only going to be therapy for me, but I would like some thoughts.
Bear
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I'd be better off if there was only one WFP, no problem.
I need a system that can produce water on demand. (I dont want a system on overnight)
Bear
Why is this? Is it because of geographical reasons? (IE, you haven't got a garden or live in a flat or terraced house or something?)
What about family; could they help here?
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I just dont want the hassle of having a system running overnight.
We have a good size garden (45x15m)
I could build one near the house and box it in, but I really want water when I want it, rather than have a tank in the garden, and have water being produced 24/7
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I just dont want the hassle of having a system running overnight.
We have a good size garden (30x15m)
I could build one near the house and box it in, but I really want water when I want it, rather than have a tank in the garden, and have water being produced 24/7
Bear,
Your thinking isn't logical.
If you have a van with a large tank and your work is local, then it's best to make your water at a static site (ie your home) and transport it to your local jobs.
If you have a van with a large tank, and you have to travel some distance to various jobs, it's better to make your water 'on site', since it's safer and you've less wear and tear on your vehicle. Or if you have a small(ish) tank, you can replenish on site.
If you've a mainly local-residential round such as I have, and do 'tops only; mainly', it just makes sense to produce your pure-water at home.
Doing tops only, with a backpack, you'll only use 150 litres (six barrells) on an extremely busy day. Probably around the 100 litres mark usually.
I spent about half-an-hour today filling up 12 x 25 litre barrells from my two x 200 litre water butts and that'll do me the best part of the week.
My water-butts are re-filling now. It's no hassle at all. The only thing I have to remember is to turn the tap off in the morning, and if I forget; so what?
My lawn gets a watering!!
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Hi Bear
i used to work out of an estate car i could easily get a backpack or my freedom trolley in it with about 7- 25ltr barrels of water. I could get more barrels in but i didnt want to overload the car as the car is only a few months old so i got a small cheap van to work out of the wife was well pleased as she got the car all day.
And it saves me going shopping
I like the idea of a merlin producing water a lot quicker, i think this will be benefical to me for the nights you get frosts and you have to bring it in. You can get a stock of water
regards
Brett.
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My missus hates leaving the water on overnight, so I'm not allowed to :-\
Fill up your storage tank over the weekend, fill up your containers when required.
Leave sytem running throught the day and evening refilling your tank.
I've coped 2 years like this without any problems.
There is no way you would want to fill up your 25l containers one at a time from an R/O unit :o
You might start that way, but before you have finished a single week you will have changed to a static tank ::)
Ian
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I don't have a van yet. Still using my car till it dies.
Most of my work is like yours, Tosh, and I imagine i will make it at home, and ,like you, transport it in barrels.
I'm confused because I havn't decided what to do, and as yet, havn't convinced the other half.
What RO do you have?
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http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=9840.0
Now i'm getting a headache, this was my first solution.
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I use a 200 Gallon per day RO, which is capable of producing far more water than I could ever use at the moment.
It'll easily produce over 200 litres in an eight hour period.
I like it because I don't have a garage, so bring it in when frost is threatened.
But I reckon I could get-away with using a 50 Gallon per day RO/DI and leave it running all the time.
I'd just have to put a little bit of thought into some frost protection.
In my barrells and water butts, at present, I've got around 700 litres and that'll easily cover a busy week's work.
Tonight, if frost is threatened, I'll bring in the RO/DI unit into a small plastic crate, shove it under the stairs and forget about it till next weekend.
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Oh, I also gather the following from reading various posts on this site...
When people talk about a 50 Gallon per day RO or a 200 Gallon per day RO, remember the following:
It's measured in US Gallons, which are bigger than UK Gallons.
A UK Gallon is around 4 litres.
An RO/DI unit will only produce it's optimum amount of pure water in the correct conditions; which I presume means the correct water pressure, which I think is around 65 psi.
My water pressure is low, 45 psi, so it wouldn't ever produce 200 US gallons per day.
DISCLAIMER
As I say, the above is just from what I've read on this site and may or may not be totally correct.
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Bear,
One of my mates works like you.
He has a small van with a 250litre tank, (could be a 125litre for you), he has a merlin. He has set jobs where he knows the pressure is good and fills up as he goes, usually managing to fill up just before the end of the day so he doesn't have to worry about it in the morning.
Like most of us he started with a trolley and jerrycans, soon realised that it was very hard work so went over to the merlin/single tank combo. He uses a 100metre reel of microbore hose which is light and easy to get round his work. He has flow control valves fitted to his poles so that he doesn't waste a drop of water.
He is chuffed to bits with this set up, works well for him.
I on the other hand have a very large commercial round and could not guarantee water outlets at these places, so I have a static tank at home with a shut-off, 2 small ro units producing into it, 3 full-time operatives work off of this set-up. But I do have to carry large tanks with me (vehicle and trailer). My system works well and is easy to run and costs very little to maintain. I too started from a trolley, until my back threatened to sue me over mis-use!!
Either works well, it's up to you
Alex
Give the 'how to get started using a pole system' section on our website a read, it might help.
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i like the idea of it running for 8 hours, are we looking at £160 + vat
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Fit an auto cut-off for your RO and all you have to do is turn the tap on.
Couldn't be simpler. Doing it this way you can use a smaller,cheaper and probably much more efficient RO than a Merlin. I run 3 men from a 200 gpd RO. We always have 2000 ltrs to start the week with and just top up as and when needed.
Andrew
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Would a 125L tank fit into an estate boot safely? Or would it need to be fixed in a van?
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It's measured in US Gallons, which are bigger than UK Gallons.
A UK Gallon is around 4 litres.
Tosh
Excuse me pointing it out, but a US Gallon is 3.785 litres, while a UK gallon is 4.546 litres.
I used to have to work out petrol sheets in a previous life and still have 4.546 litres/gallon etched in my brain 25 years later. I had to look up the 3.785 though, but I know it's 3.8 litres on the side of a GG3 canister. I tipped my first one into a gallon container with one of those pumps on it, because the pump wouldn't work with the GG3 canister and wondered how I'd been short-measured.
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Yes it will probably fit. BUT. You are also going to have to carry a Merlin in it as well. Along with all the hose connections for the merlin. Then you have the issue of the merlin's waste to product ratio which.. unless the pressure is VERY good is very high. Then you have to carry all the rest of the paraphinalia as well.
It would work in a decent size van but in an estate car.. not for me. I had 2 estate cars working until very recently and it would have been a nighmare.
The merlin is a good piece of kit. But only if the water pressure is very good like Alex's mate has. If not it definatley needs a booster pump.
Andrew
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I started off thinking of a Di unit a pole and a backpack.
Now I need a van and tanks and all sorts!!
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http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=17721.0
Sarah
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Bear with a sore head
weve all been in this situation or similar
looks like the best thing is to just produce water in the day in to a tank or water butt put it in to 25ltr barrels and use a backpack or trolley
If you leave it over night which i know you dont want to dont do what ive done let it over flow or forget to put outlet pipe in the water butt, wouldnt fancy having a tank in the back of an estate car
Brett.
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BEAR :YOU LIVE IN DERBYSHIRE? WELL WE LIVE IN NOTTM THATS ME AND BRETT
IM SURE WE COULD HELP YOU OUT,MAKING YOUR MIND UP.IVE 3 SYSTEMS FOR PURIFING WATER DI,RO AND AN ELGA SYSTEM.
Ive a 1000 litre ibc tank with one system running into it,and 2 di resin vessels to polish it from the ro.
BRETT has an ro system running into a water butt then fills up 25 litre tanks
both are our ways of doing things but both work well,just build your supply up at the weekend.
you live next to a big supplier of resin check out Derwent in Matlock im sure they would give you a lot of help.
if you want a 1000 ibc can get one for about £45 and 25 litre barrels for 50p each.
there you are problem solved,bury the 1000 litre next to you mrs iin the garden and you can use a submersiable pump to pump your water to the tank in your car as well as no more nagging from your wiffy ;)
BEAR GIVE US A RING IF YOU NEED HELP OR TO COME OVER TO NOTTM TO HAVE A LOOK AT WFP IN ITS PRODUCTION STATE,WE BOTH LIVE NEAR THE M1
GAZA
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Brett,
Did you get a system from Andrew ?
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Bear
started off with a ro from ro-man and a backpack and an ionics multipole then bought Andrews trolley and pole both are great to use
Outside tap connect to ro pure water in to water butt straight in to 25ltr containers
Youre quite welcome to come and have a look live just off junc 26 m1
Brett
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Bear,
Your water is 50-70 ppm
My opinion is, forget about RO.
This is easily soft enough to get away with DI only. I think you'll find this is the most economical route. Also DI will fill very quickly, does not waste any water and (cherry on the cake) is cheaper to purchase.
Also, it being so much simpler, there's less to go wrong.
-Philip
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That puts the spanner in the works.
Must say i'm suprised to hear it from Philip
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Philip, (or anyone else),
What would you rate the cut-off TDS reading is for going DI only and making it economically benificial?
We get a TDS of 140 here and a local guy told me when he first started WFP he went DI only, and was using a big bag of resin per month. (This is purely anecdotal I know).
Also, does anyone know the TDS to resin calculation, as in how much water you produce DI only given a certain TDS reading?
Purely out of interest.
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TDS DIVIDE INTO 50,000 = OUT PUT
GAZA I HAVE MY MOMENTS
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TDS DIVIDE INTO 50,000 = OUT PUT
GAZA I HAVE MY MOMENTS
I read on another post 500000 divide by tds
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Ermmmmm sorry Gaza that is a senior moment mate :)
Its.. 500000 divided by TDS in and it is based on a 25ltr bag of resin. So.. for example 50 TDS in should give you 10000 ltrs of pure.
Andrew
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Brett or Gaza
Where do you get those 50p 25 litre water containers from?
I could do with some and my other half is often on the M1. It would be great if he could pick some up for me.
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SORRY: JUST LIKE MY BANK BALANCE A NOUGHT MISSING :'(
GAZA
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Hi Sesutton
just looked on your profile but not filled in like most on here
Give me a couple of days and i will get you the address its at Basford nottingham
The 25ltr barrels are only 50p each and just washing out
Where are you based
regards
Brett.
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Cheers Brett.
If its easier for you I'm happy for you to email me when you find out the details.
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SUTTON YOU HAVE EMAIL
GAZA
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TDS DIVIDE INTO 50,000 = OUT PUT
GAZA I HAVE MY MOMENTS
Not one of your brighter moments ;D ;D ;D
kindest regards
Brett
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Less of a sore head now, the fog is lifting!!
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I can see clearly now the
rain WFP has gone ;D