Dang it...

I noticed the other day the pressure gauge on my RO unit was registering pressure when it shouldn't have been, all the reservoirs were full. I shut the lines off just before the reservoir floats but it didn't make any difference. I decided to ignore the reading which probably turned out to be a mistake. Tonight I went down to the basement to discover water on the back floor. Followed the trail of water from the floor drain back and of course it was coming from the RO unit. The dang line into the back of the pressure gauge, which is a solid connection, was snapped off and I had water merrily spraying out all over the top of the RO unit. Guess I'll be making a call for a new automatic shut off valve and pressure gauge in the morning. Like I said, dang it.

And dang it.... These are my fears as im looking into a new ro unit. Sorry to hear this happened. How much wound up floor bound? Not too much i hope.

I trust a float, solenoid valve much more so than those plastic automatic shutoff valves......

Hopefully it wasn't too big a mess.

-Rick

Hard to say how much water I put on the floor. No telling when the pressure gauge snapped and with the floor drain downhill about 10 feet away the water eventually started flowing that way. I may have to talk to you Rick about how those solenoid valves work. I got relatively lucky this time.

Keith, you might check post #3 here

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...l-RO-Reservoir

I'm thinking about adding this to what I have now, which is an ordinary float switch. The way it works now, when the barrel is full the house pressure remains in the RO, which is an invitation for the kind of flood you just had.

With the electronic float/solenoid, what would happen if the power goes off? Would the solenoid open while the electronic float valve stayed shut?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DJW

Keith, you might check post #3 here

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...l-RO-Reservoir

I'm thinking about adding this to what I have now, which is an ordinary float switch. The way it works now, when the barrel is full the house pressure remains in the RO, which is an invitation for the kind of flood you just had.

With the electronic float/solenoid, what would happen if the power goes off? Would the solenoid open while the electronic float valve stayed shut?

---

You get a normally closed solenoid valve for this reason (most are normally closed). In the absence of power, it shuts off the water supply, at the source, not at the backend of the RO unit.

So you take a float switch (also normally closed-this is important, most float switches are normally open) and plug it into the wall outlet, then you plug the solenoid valve into it. when your barrel/reservoir is empty, the float is down, and power is passed on to the solenoid valve, which then opens the water supply allowing water to flow to the RO unit. as the barrel fills, the float rises and when it hits the point you set it at, the float switch will open, cutting power to the solenoid valve and thus shutting off water to the entire system. Same in the vent of a power failure, solenoid shuts off, no water gets to ro unit.

NO system is perfect however, and Keith's failure is a bit different then most. Depending on how he positions his RO unit in relation to his reservoir a busted line might prevent the barrel from filling, thus never shutting the system down. Positioning the RO unit over the barrel would remedy this somewhat.

Making the unit completely fool proof would require adding a 12v dc water alarm and a relay. This would cut power to the unit in the event of any water leak.

solenoid valve

http://www.ebay.com/itm/U-S-Solid-3-...oAAOSwzgRW1PhB

float switch

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TEMCo-Liquid...oAAOxyJ-FRjV2y

Okay, thanks. I'm ordering the parts. I might wire it so there is a dedicated, switched 2-outlet receptacle for the booster pump as well - it would turn off the pump at the same time.

I had to sort through my confusion... in your earlier post linked above you said 'normally open' solenoid valve but linked to a normally-closed one. It would not compute..lol

As a fail-safe, I found the lowest point in the floor of the fish room and drilled a big hole in the floor where a flood will drain into the crawlspace... before it gets to the expensive hardwood flooring in the adjacent rooms.

I spoke with the RO manufacturer today and ordered replacement parts. The guy had worked there 4 years and had never heard of a pressure gauge breaking like mine did. Aren't I the lucky one. Ah well, could have been a lot worse...my wife could have found the problem. :)

I'm feeling a lot better about having to spend $40 to fix the RO unit now that the refrigerator has died. :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keith Perkins

I'm feeling a lot better about having to spend $40 to fix the RO unit now that the refrigerator has died. :(

---

Glad to hear that you've overcome the problem on your RO unit for $40.00....but l think the repairs on your fridge is going to cost you lots more...always something

The frig was 16 years old, we're talking replacing, not repairing. $$$'s