Aquarium plumbing overhaul: my replumbing experience today

[bettaMagenta]

I'm really happy with my RO unit in my aquarium work area, behind the tanks, but I've been dealing with a couple of issues. It runs a lot of water and last summer it made my copper lines for the house sweat - not what I wanted. I insulated all the house pipes about six months ago, so that problem's been taken care of. Now, I'm going through softer salt like crazy, which got me thinking - our water's so hard that the whole house is set up to go through the softener, so my RO unit's fed with soft water and all the filter rinse water is soft too. I've decided to try something new - I've installed a 1/4 inch saddle valve on the water line coming in, before the softener, and I've got two big rolls of plastic tubing, one 1/4 inch for the water line and 1 roll of 3/8 inch for wear protection. I'm hoping that'll create a small air gap to protect this line from sweating. I've also got some push lock fittings and the line's currently going to a tank on the opposite side of the house - it's a hard water tank with live bearers and rainbows. Today I'll start bending in less sodium hard water, and next week, when my in-line shut off valves come in, I'll start feeding my RO unit with unsoftened hard water. If the double line works to control the pipe sweating, I'll finally be happy with my water. Once I've got hard water going to my RO unit, I'll have good unsoftened well water to blend into the RO for my shrimp tanks and any live bearing breeding tanks I set up in my work area - I can almost taste that would Ron and calcium well water.

[infold]

Are you on city water or a well, that's the part I missed. I've heard well water can have really high mineral content, which puts a big strain on your R/O membrane if it's too high.

[bettaMagenta]

It's well water. When I set up the RO unit, it had a booster pump for our lower well pressures. The recommendation was to change the filters every 6 months, I assume that's when the output starts slowing down. Running house-softened water through the RO has definitely made the filters last longer, but that's come at the cost of going through hundreds of pounds of softener salt.

[infold]

I just stumbled upon wateranywhere.com, they've got a wide range of RO units for all sorts of setups. You might find something that sparks an idea or two for your own situation.

[muddywave]

I'm still a bit perplexed - pipes sweating, is it solely due to temperature differences and the air's moisture levels, or does the water's parameters also play a role? I'm guessing there's some sort of thermal dynamics happening with the softener, but I'm not entirely sure. Our water is pretty soft, so I don't have much experience with these issues.

Your DIY skills, though, are seriously impressive. I, on the other hand, have learned to accept my limitations - if my wife catches me with a hammer or saw, she's on the phone with a professional in no time. I've come to realize that sometimes it's just easier, and saner, to outsource the handyman work.

[bettaMagenta]

The pipes sweat due to the constant flow of cold water through them, particularly in the summer or when the air is more humid. But here's the thing, when the filter's done its job and my holding barrel is full, the water flow through the pipes stops. My well water comes from pretty deep down, which makes it colder than the water you'd typically find in residential pipes, just below the frost line.