Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration and Misting System

[dodolah]

Elisa!!!!!!
That is a gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous green house.
One of this days, when I have a house of my own and space upon space for chameleons..

How effective is the swamp cooler during summer?
I think from this year forward, we only going to have hotter and hotter summer each year.
If the temp reach 103 F (like last 2 year or so), is the swamp cooler able to bring it down to 80F?
Or do you end up bringing your chams to your house?

 

[de cam]

I don't know what you mean about the spray pattern? More of a droplet type of spray? I think you might control this with pressure because when the pump is turned off but the valves are kept open, a heavier slow spray comes out of the nozzles. I have to turn the valves off to stop water from coming out of the misters.

I am pretty sure that MistKing sells different types of nozzles. The PVC lines were brought down to 1/4" openings in the Ts so the Mist King nozzles just click right in.

Hope that helps.

yea thats what I was lookn 4. I can allways buy the double jointed heads & adjust with my time THANKS

 

[chamelisa]

That greenhouse looks awesome! I love how neat and professional it looks. Hopefully Chad and I will be able to get one up here one of these days!

Thanks Darci! And Chad too!

If I can help by sharing any of my experiences, please let me know. There was one guy who gave me some great advice in the beginning and he saved me some money by doing so.

 

[chamelisa]

Elisa!!!!!!
That is a gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous green house.
One of this days, when I have a house of my own and space upon space for chameleons..

How effective is the swamp cooler during summer?
I think from this year forward, we only going to have hotter and hotter summer each year.
If the temp reach 103 F (like last 2 year or so), is the swamp cooler able to bring it down to 80F?
Or do you end up bringing your chams to your house?

Hahaha! Thanks!

When it's very hot out, the swamp cooler, a high velocity fan, misters and shadecloth are very helpful. I think it will take less of everything once I install the exhaust fan. There are roof vents that open when the temperature rises.

I am learning a lot as the seasons come and go. Recently, my issue was with heating the greenhouse when temps drop to the low 30s at night. Maybe even cooler in March.

 

[summoner12]

WOW..........
Does anyone know if you can dial down on the fog maybe to closer to the grocery stores spray pattern? Also what size tubing does the Mistking head push on to?

The Mistking nozzles are 1/4" connections. The pump we have is the 115VAC version, it uses 3/8" push to conect fittings. As Elisa said, we used 1/2" PVC T's. Two of the connections are slip and the third connection 1/2" NPT female. Then we used a 1/2" NPT male to 1/4" 'push to connect'.

To get larger droplets just regulate the pressure. The Mistking nozzles use a internal check valve that takes about (correct me if im wrong Marty) 25-30PSI to overcome. As Elisa said there is a dribble from the nozzles when the pump is off and valves are open. The dribble comes from the pressure in the reserve tank and passes through the pump. The tank is pressured at 35PSI if I remember correctly, just enough to allow water through the nozzles.

The pump we are useing (mentioned above) puts out a steady 160PSI. It gives a very nice fine mist.

 

[Marty]

Can't really regulate the droplets. The more pressure you have the finer the droplets, so I guess by putting in more nozzles you'll drop the pressure and therefore make the droplets larger. That's not really regulating it though. If you only run 1 nozzle there is no way to make the droplets smaller or larger, unless you restrict it with a flow control valve at each nozzle or nozzle run...the whole idea is to have fine mist though, that's why I don't stock the regulators.

 

[summoner12]

Can't really regulate the droplets. The more pressure you have the finer the droplets, so I guess by putting in more nozzles you'll drop the pressure and therefore make the droplets larger. That's not really regulating it though. If you only run 1 nozzle there is no way to make the droplets smaller or larger, unless you restrict it with a flow control valve at each nozzle or nozzle run...the whole idea is to have fine mist though, that's why I don't stock the regulators.

Couldn't a pressure regulator simulate more nozzles by lowering the pressure and creating larger droplets?

I like the finer mist that your system makes, it works perfect for Elisa's application. I am not sure what my FloJet pump is set to at this moment, but I don't get nice mist like she does. Then again I don't even think I am creating 1/3rd the pressure she is with your pump

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Fantastic! I love projects like this. I've been planning to do something similar for my reptile room for years and this post just gave me that final push to get started!

Thanks for the schematics and explanations, it looks really great, well done both of you.

 

[chamelisa]

Fantastic! I love projects like this. I've been planning to do something similar for my reptile room for years and this post just gave me that final push to get started!

Thanks for the schematics and explanations, it looks really great, well done both of you.

Wow, I didn't expect that! Come on now, be critical so we can make it better. LOL

It has been working great. No problems so far that I can tell. Kevin wants me to buy another storage tank so the hose can be hooked up to it since I do a lot of misting by hand with a garden hose.

Thanks for the compliments!!!

 

[summoner12]

...need second tank....

Wow, I didn't expect that! Come on now, be critical so we can make it better. LOL

It has been working great. No problems so far that I can tell. Kevin wants me to buy another storage tank so the hose can be hooked up to it since I do a lot of misting by hand with a garden hose.

Thanks for the compliments!!!

Yes, I do want you to buy the tank

You could also step up to a second RO membrane to get more production. This will allow you to operate that hose with no fear of running out of water

Edit: This is the finished plan

 

[chamelisa]

Yes, I do want you to buy the tank

You could also step up to a second RO membrane to get more production. This will allow you to operate that hose with no fear of running out of water

Ugh!!! Kevin needs friends with money.

 

[Pure]

Ugh!!! Kevin needs friends with money.

Seriously, one of the largest expenses of a project like this is the RO unit. Next time do yourself a favor and buy your unit from ebay. I know how that sounds, but it's more than worth it. I've literally bred thousands of Fresh Water fish and have been through the mill with RO units. The ones on ebay for about 100 bucks are every bit as good (usually 100 GPD or more) as the unit you purchased and any one you can find at Home Depot.

I envy your set up. Very nice indeed.

 

[summoner12]

Seriously, one of the largest expenses of a project like this is the RO unit. Next time do yourself a favor and buy your unit from ebay. I know how that sounds, but it's more than worth it. I've literally bred thousands of Fresh Water fish and have been through the mill with RO units. The ones on ebay for about 100 bucks are every bit as good (usually 100 GPD or more) as the unit you purchased and any one you can find at Home Depot.

I envy your set up. Very nice indeed.

The filters are where it is at. Yes you can buy the eBay system... but the filters aren't always so great.

I am working on my own system right now and am getting my equipment from Buckeye Field Supply.

Edit: You can get a basic under the sink unit from BFS for about the same as an ebay unit.... ebay hypes the systems they sell but you really need to look at the stuff closely. You can tell when a system is cutting corners by looking at the components.

 

[Pure]

Sorry for the thread resurrection. But I missed your reply the first time round.

I've purchased 5 of them from Ebay and honestly only 1 wasn't worth a crap. I'm still on my 5th one. You just have to look at what they are selling.

4 of the five produced as advertised give or take. The one worked fine it just didn't produce the GPD as advertised. I bought all 100 GPD units and that one only gave me about 60. There are many variables to what they can produce. And all of them reduced my TDS to 3-5 given the original mineral content on that day, before going into the DI. It was 0 after the DI. Our TDS ranged from 450-500. I don't know why the fluctuations.

I went through so many because at one time I needed about 1500 gals of RO a day.

The only reason I don't have the others is because my Ex got them in the divorce. But I used them for about 2 yrs with very little effects on the membrane. You just have to remember to flush them before each use.

I'm not saying there isn't crap being sold on Ebay. You just have to be careful. That's all.

The one I still have still works great. It doesn't produce what it did because I am now on a well and don't have the pressure I used to have on city water.

edit: I should note that the systems I bought, all but 2 of them came from different sellers.

 

[chamelisa]

To get ready for some modifications for my R.O. system, I am thinking of purchasing a 40 gallon structural water tank. I believe it's the tall skinny one in the photo:

Time to automate... we have to leave home this summer forcing me to look into automating my misting system. So far it has been manual. I turn the power switch on and open a valve. Come back out a while later and turn both off.

Last time I had to leave home for an emergency, my daughter turned the valve off and forgot to turn the power off to the pump. It blew a whole in the supply line and drained the tank. She called me in a panic that the misting system wasn't working. That was really frustrating. She had to spend a lot of time spraying down the cages in the greenhouse until I got back to fix the problem. It was an easy fix but it caused a big panic.

 

[Todnedo]

To get ready for some modifications for my R.O. system, I am thinking of purchasing a 40 gallon structural water tank. I believe it's the tall skinny one in the photo:

Time to automate... we have to leave home this summer forcing me to look into automating my misting system. So far it has been manual. I turn the power switch on and open a valve. Come back out a while later and turn both off.

Last time I had to leave home for an emergency, my daughter turned the valve off and forgot to turn the power off to the pump. It blew a whole in the supply line and drained the tank. She called me in a panic that the misting system wasn't working. That was really frustrating. She had to spend a lot of time spraying down the cages in the greenhouse until I got back to fix the problem. It was an easy fix but it caused a big panic.

I would go with a plastic or fiberglass tank, also I see Kevin used brass fittings on some of the plumbing Here is something to consider http://www.edstrom.com/products.cfm?doc_id=193

 

[summoner12]

I would go with a plastic or fiberglass tank, also I see Kevin used brass fittings on some of the plumbing Here is something to consider http://www.edstrom.com/products.cfm?doc_id=193

It doesn't explain why, maybe you have the answer?

Being limited to Home Depot as a plumbing supply... options can be limiting.

This thread has been up for a while and you haven't said anything, did you just learn that copper is a bad idea?

 

[chamelisa]

I'm all for improvement but I have to say, Kevin did a lot to make this happen and I know I couldn't have done it all without his input. Maybe you're just jabbing at him, but he was the guy who came over and invested hours learning about reverse osmosis to help me get misting set up in my greenhouse.

So if brass is bad and metal RO storage tanks are bad, I need more than a link that says so. I need to know why. I guess I could start looking around for answers.

This misting system has been in operation since February 2009. I have not had any problems with the RO, the Zero Waste, the Mist King pump or nozzles. If changing out the fittings helps my chameleons in the long run and if using a plastic storage tank is safer, then I will go that route. I just need to know why before changing something that seems to be working fine right now.

Thank you for your input, it is appreciated.

 

[chamelisa]

Maybe this is why:

"For example, trace amounts of copper found in drinking water fed to rabbit models developed for highly refined applications throughout Alzheimer¹s research study* induced the affects of Alzheimer disease...

*"Trace amounts of copper in water induce B-amyloid plaques and learning deficits in a rabbit model of Alzheimer¹s disease", D. Larry Sparks and Bernard G. Schreurs, PNAS September 16, 2003, vol. 100, no. 19, pgs 11065-11069."

 

[summoner12]

The main purpose of using RO in the greenhouse was to remove the stuff in tap water that stains the cages like calcium build up and any chemicals added by the city... I can't imagine copper adding anything significant enough to harm the animals.

When it's time to upgrade other components I am sure you can get all of that replaced with plastic, Elisa.