[John Gasston]

I have just bought a Merlin RO kit but am on a septic tank, ie. no mains drainage.
I think the waste ratio is around 4:1 so trying to lose 1400 litres a day is not really feasable.
Can I recycle the waste and what would be the cost?
Any suggestions

thanks John

[sparklebright]

A booster pump might reduce your wastage a bit...

The waste water will be too impure to use for windows obviously, unless you use DI on it. But if you do that it will cost more than using ro on fresh tap water. Therefore the ro would be pointless.
I would suggest if you are on septic tank you are going to have problems, because all ro units dump lots of water. Even the best lose 2 to 1 I think

[Nick Wareham]

dont put it down the drain, water the garden with it

[Nathanael Jones]

Your rainwater system should be sent to a separate soak pit to your septic tank, so put the wast pipe down a rain gulley and you'll be fine.

[John Gasston]

not sure that putting 1400 litres a day into the soak away of a semi detached house would work when working 5 days a week, 7000 litres per week every week, that 1500 gallons a week.
Any better ideas?

John

[dmlservices]

did you not think about this before you bought the merlin?

what is your input tds ?

could you di only?


daz

[John Gasston]

Hi Daz
input TDS around 170 at the moment, have been using DI only but thought it would be cheaper to set up an RO system without realising the massive waste implications.

Nobody advertises the down side.

[Frankybadboy]

Hi Daz
input TDS around 170 at the moment, have been using DI only but thought it would be cheaper to set up an RO system without realising the massive waste implications.

Nobody advertises the down side.

more like you havent done enough reading about the merlin then chap,cause everywhere merlin topic is it say about waste. :

[Paul Coleman]

Yes, if you are on a meter or have difficulty disposing of waste water, a merlin is just about the worst RO you can get.  You may be able to do damage limitation by restricting the waste flow by putting a flow controller on the waste pipe.  However, this will cause increased TDS after the RO (meaning using more resin) and it may also mean a slight reduction in membrane life.  That is not really the solution to your problem though.  Is it possible to run a very long waste pipe into a ditch or a road drain?  Is it possible to set up storage tank(s) to use the water for non drinking purposes?  Is it possible to harvest rain water from your roof to minimise RO usage (it should be possible to filter rain water with DI only).

[Dave Willis]

Where does your water go from the roof?

I have two wheely bins connected to my downpipe, My Ro waste feeds them and the excess goes down the drain. My garden gets a good watering most nights.

[Neil Williams]

Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.
I presume you must live in the countryside/rural area, so you're surrounded by fields which will easily absorb what is really a small quantity of water, and I say that because when it rains a lot more than 1400L falls out of the sky within your near area.
Down the soak away, straight onto the garden, run a waste line to the woods whatever.

[dave0123]

You must have some sort of drain for your sink in the house? could you not tap into that pipe?

or your washing machine one 

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

The drain that handles the storm water should be able to handle it.  Some one on this forum posted a video on yoytube a while back of ibc containers connected to his guttering.  He was filling them (1000Ltrs) every couple of hours if the drains can handle that then they should be able to handle the waste from a merlin.

Simon.

[e newlands]

Your foul will be connected to the septic tank dont use this as your pump out charges will go thro the roof
Your storm ie water from roof will go elsewhere ie into a soakaway probably somewehere in your back garden or into the surface water drainage system ie back into the surface water pipe runs in the road
Is it a new house or old if new soakaway design are highly oversized and should be capable of taking that qty of water particually in the summer if it old again there shouldnt be a issue just keep a eye on the garden for puddling or soft spots
Basically just tap into a downpipe and as someone else said a water butt or 2 and water the garden with it

[John Gasston]

thanks for that. it's a 1920's house in middle of a row of semi's all with own septic tanks.
The area has now been built up all round over the past 10 years boxing us in so no fields or woods to run off into.

Will work on combination of tanks, booster pump, rainwater collection and DI to minimise waste.

Thanks again.


 

[e newlands]

right up to the 80s soakaways were just a big hole filled with rubble and a pipe run into it linking to your downpipe if youve had no problems with dichsrging your surface water fron the roof when it rains there should not be a issue

[karygate]

mine has always gone over the garden and you do not even notice it.

[John Gasston]

Thanks for all the advice,
Increased water pressure reduced the waste water. I am now using the RO and keeping my eye on the ground.
I am also hoping to harvest rainwater anyway to help the situation.

John

[Smudger]

John,

i fill a 400 ltr tank every day using a Merlin - the last 2 weeks all waste has gone straight onto the garden and by the next morning the ground is pretty well dry

i move the waste pipe approx 4 ft every few days so the grass and flowers get a fair share.

come winter run the hose to the road/nearest storm drain

Darran

[Jack Wallace]

Do any of you guys who water the garden regularly with ro waste have any problems with the plants?

I have been thinking of doing this in the summer but was worried about the very high lime content of the water.

Obviously certain lime hating plants will have to be avoided such as azaleas but I figured the rest would be ok.