Good ways to monitor amount of waste water produced by reverse osmosis filter?

NeverDie

NeverDie

Senior Member
Good ways to monitor the amount of effluent being dumped by a reverse osmosis filter?  The problem is: out of sight, out of mind.  On a short term basis I could just drain it into a bucket to gauge the volume being produced, but for longer-term maybe there's something inexpensive that's good for monitoring?  The flow rate is slow enough, but it can add up.  Yes, I could start a brand new search using Google or the like, but if someone else here has already done it and is happy with what they have, I'd appreciate a link or a pointer of some kind rather than start from square 1, get ripped off, or be left holding junk that doesn't last, etc.
 
If it has a working auto shutoff valve, and it is fairly standard it uses 3 to 4 gallons for every gallon you use.  If you give some details on the membrane, you can determine exactly how much it uses.  You can buy pretty inexpensive in-line guages on usage, so you know when to replace the filter, just take that value and multiply by 4.
 
They do make "zero waste" models which just pump the waste water into the cold or hot water line, so in theory the water is reused.
 
Just measure the amount of water flow being used. RO membranes have known waste flow rates that can be looked up depending on the membrane you have. If you know what you're using, you know what's going down the drain as waste byproducts.
 
Maybe, but I don't want to just assume everything's working right.  I'm thinking more along the lines of something like the following, but more sensitive to lower flow rates:
 
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http://www.amazon.com/0-1-3L-1-2Mpa-Water-Sensor-Coffer/dp/B00QC6LI6Q/ref=pd_cp_147_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1W8PBSRB8G60BQD5ZWD3&dpID=41tj1HR%2BEPL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL70_SR70%2C70_
 
I think I'll just use a simple photoeye slot sensor at the exit point to detect drips.  I care less about measuring absolute volumes than ensuring that it eventually shuts off.  Also, this way there will be no increase in head pressure.  Actually, reflective sensors seem a lot cheaper, so I just now ordered those instead: they're 98 cents for quantity 10 with free delivery from aliexpress.  Here's the datasheet:  http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/427/tcrt5000-240273.pdf
 
Due to drought, water prices have nearly doubled where I live over the last year.  So, anything that might leak continuously but escape notice is now getting a closer look.  I'll hook it up to a $2 ESP8266 and send the sensor results directly to the cloud for free plotting.  IoT is finally affordable!
 
Why even bother? The amount a home uses total relative to how much you drink is insignificant. We have 7 in our family so we may drink a couple gallons a day at home from the RO but wet use 350 gallons a day overall. We're in Texas in a severe drought as well but measuring RO waste is not worth it. Unless you're doing whole house RO that is.
 
I suppose you could say "Why even bother?" about just about any leak detector.  To make a crude analogy, why bother putting a leak detector near a hot water heater?  When you put it there, it's not leaking anything, so why even bother?
 
In theory, most consumer-grade RO systems should shut themselves off once they've filled up the tank, but what if it doesn't?  How would you even know?  There would be no visible sign.  How many gallons might that failure tally to over literally years?  I recently replaced the Watts RO system that had been under our kitchen sink, when I happened to notice it wasn't shutting off.  Probably it was shutting off 6 years ago when I first installed it brand new.  I have no idea how many years it had not been shutting off.   If I hadn't experienced it first hand I probably would never have thought about it.
 
I suppose as an alternative you could manually inspect it on a regular basis to verify that it's shutting off, but honestly, who does that?  I don't think the recommended maintenance procedures even call for that.  IIRC, the only recommended maintenance was changing filters.
 
Well measuring a leak isn't what you're title or original post was about. You specifically said measuring waste water. Yeah I guess measuring a leak is sensible.
 
Big difference between measuring it and just detecting it.
 
In that case a simple leak detector, like Insteon has, could detect a small pool of moisture. I use four of them in my house to shut down water supplies and appliances.
Code: 
http://www.costco.com/Insteon-Leak-Sensor-4-Pack.product.100234296.html
 
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