Misleading Asda Water!

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Rookie question - how do you know when the membrane has worn out? I am guessing they don't last forever!

EDIT: - cross posted that with your comment above!

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

It's all fascinating!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Rookie question - how do you know when the membrane has worn out? I am guessing they don't last forever!

EDIT: - cross posted that with your comment above!

Best way is to keep an eye on the mineral levels in the filtered water - which you can do with a TDS meter (cost about £7 e.g. YAKAMOZ LCD Digital TDS-3 Meter Temp PPM Tester Pen for Testing Water Quality : Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors)
when it starts to creep up then it's time to think about changing the membrane.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Excellent - many thanks. I've seen Martin Keen using those on YouTube.

 

[YeastFace]

Had this with Sainsbury's Scottish Still Water. On the website it looks like decent, low mineral content water. What they fail to say is they don't use standard mg/l but mg/100ml. When I challenged them on this, their response was that "it's unlikely that someone will drink 1l in a single sitting". Laughable

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Had this with Sainsbury's Scottish Still Water. On the website it looks like decent, low mineral content water. What they fail to say is they don't use standard mg/l but mg/100ml. When I challenged them on this, their response was that "it's unlikely that someone will drink 1l in a single sitting". Laughable

I once went in to check their water and I think the bicarbonates were over 300! I'm sure they're doing a del boy and getting it out the tap!

Or was it Morrisons? Can't remember now! Anyway, best to go in store is what I've found.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I use this one @Tess Tickle - as supplied it's a bit slow, but it's fine so long as you're not in a hurry (it produces about 4 litres per hour).
I think that @Hazelwood Brewery uses a similar one but has added a pump to increase the water pressure in order to up his rate to about 14 litres per hour.

Note that as well as producing purified (RO) water, these filters also produce a larger quantity of 'bypass' water which is totally clean water but has a very slightly higher level of minerals in it.

View attachment 65996

I use the four-stage version which has a de-ionising chamber on the end.

I do use a pump and get between 12 and 14 litres per hour depending I guess on the mains pressure feeding the pump.

There’s no plumbing, the kit comes with the push-fit pipework and adapters for your outdoor tap.

I found that there is less waste when using the pump but as TETB says, it *may* require more frequent replacement of the RO membrane. I measured the waste water coming out of the unit compared to RO water and was getting a little under 4 x waste without the pump and a little over 2 x waste when using the pump.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Had this with Sainsbury's Scottish Still Water. On the website it looks like decent, low mineral content water. What they fail to say is they don't use standard mg/l but mg/100ml. When I challenged them on this, their response was that "it's unlikely that someone will drink 1l in a single sitting". Laughable

TBH I think most of the supermarkets just use some kind of RO filter on their "bottled spring water" and the amount of minerals you get in it reflects how much bypass they use.
Personally I don't like the idea of unchlorinated water sitting around in a supermarket warehouse, and I worry about it absorbing plasticiser from the bottles - but that's just me :-)

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

I use the four-stage version which has a de-ionising chamber on the end.

I do use a pump and get between 12 and 14 litres per hour depending I guess on the mains pressure feeding the pump.

There’s no plumbing, the kit comes with the push-fit pipework and adapters for your outdoor tap.

I found that there is less waste when using the pump but as TETB says, it *may* require more frequent replacement of the RO membrane. I measured the waste water coming out of the unit compared to RO water and was getting a little under 4 x waste without the pump and a little over 2 x waste when using the pump.

Arghhhh I don't have an outdoor tap! Can I connect it indoors?

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

TBH I think most of the supermarkets just use some kind of RO filter on their "bottled spring water" and the amount of minerals you get in it reflects how much bypass they use.
Personally I don't like the idea of unchlorinated water sitting around in a supermarket warehouse, and I worry about it absorbing plasticiser from the bottles - but that's just me :-)

I take your point - haven't had a problem so far though.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Just to rob a picture from another thread, here is a pic of @Benfleet Brewery using his ... as you can see, the kit comes with an adaptor you can screw onto an outdoor tap (or washing machine feed etc) if you don't want to plumb it in permanently.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Ahhhh I don't have an outdoor tap! Can I connect it indoors?

Yes, although depending on what you’re fitting it to you might need an adapter. If your washing machine cold feed is easily accessible and mains-fed, that’s the same thread and you could use that.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Ahhhh I don't have an outdoor tap! Can I connect it indoors?

Yes - you can either use the doodah it comes with that will cut a hole into one of your water pipes - sort of like a 'vampire' thing - or you could screw it onto one of the (cold) taps you might have under the kitchen or utility room sink to connect a washing machine / dishwasher to. If you've already got a washing machine connected to it then you can get a 'Y' adapter easy enough.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Are there any other options for me to connect it to my kitchen tap instead of having to move my washing machine?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I also measured the “purity” of the waste water coming out of the RO machine vs straight from my tap using a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter.

From the tap 388 ppm dissolved solids
Waste from the RO machine 412 ppm

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

And this is about the time where I give up - it's all too complicated for me

Why can't they have click together connections?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

And this is about the time where I give up - it's all too complicated for me

Why can't they have click together connections?

Don’t worry. Everything is easy and supplied apart from the adapter if you want to connect to your sink tap - but there are adapters for that too.

Show us a picture of the tap you’d like to use.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

And this is about the time where I give up - it's all too complicated for me
Why can't they have click together connections?

Chill out :-)
Can you post a pic of what it looks like where the water pipe to your washing machine is connected ? (unless you would have to move it to see that)

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

This is what my kitchen tap looks like. At the moment I have this yellow thing on it that connects to my hose so I can chill the beer. The tap is very old and in horrendous condition. Needs replacing asap.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Chill out :-)
Can you post a pic of what it looks like where the water pipe to your washing machine is connected ? (unless you would have to move it to see that)

Yes I'd have to move it.