Which type of water to use

[OilFieldTrash]

TorturedSoul, know where you are coming from, my formative years were in construction. I am fortunate and cursed that I have an old house, built in the 40's. All the plumbing is easy to get to but insulation is lacking.

 

[Setting Sun]

We use RO and get it for like a quarter for a huge container... I think it's like 5 gallon size. We have crappy water here. I won't drink it, so the girls aren't gonna be subjected to it either.

That's an excellent solution for a personal grow.

I've heard though, that they rarely check or replace the filters on those quarter machines though, so if you have a CE or PPM meter, it might be interesting to check.

 

[notrax420]

rain water is the way to go if you have a steady supply. I just take off the horizontal part at the base and set a five gallon bucket or a rubbermaid under. then i fill my milk jugs.

 

[Setting Sun]

a 60-gallon rain barrel is on my list of stuff I want.

I'm sure my RO system's expensive membrane is going to need replacement way sooner than if it was just doing kitchen duty.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I've lived in a house with wonderful well-water but I also lived in one that had a well that became contaminated and made us sick. At one time I lived in another state and thought nothing of watering my garden with rainwater (that house actually had an old cistern that was fed by a set of gutters and although city-water had been connected to the indoor plumbing, had I at some point had my service interrupted for some reason I might well have just gotten my drinking-water from the hand-pump on the back porch instead of driving to the store for bottled). But where I live now the industrial & chemical plants put so much pollution into the air (and groundwater) that raindrops on a clean car will dry leaving a dirty spot - and the rain is so acidic that when you clean the dirt off you can see a tiny place where the clearcoat has been etched. I've read here in the forums of people actually having municipal water that reads 15-25 PPM on their TDS meters, while if you freeze a bottle of what we've got and allow it to melt you can shake it & hold it up to the light and it reminds you of those globes that people set out around Christmas that have the fake snow in them.

I guess I'm trying to say that everyone's water is going to be just a little bit different (if they don't have a reverse-osmosis or distillation device) no matter what their source - and that it's really important to find out all they can about it.

I'm sure my RO system's expensive membrane is going to need replacement way sooner than if it was just doing kitchen duty.

Suggestion: Get a regular cartridge-style whole-house water filter with one or better yet two filters in it like they sell at Lowes or Home Depot. It won't give you RO-quality water by any stretch of the imagination but it will remove a lot of crap from your incoming water, which can only help the life of your RO membrane since there will be less contaminate matter reaching the RO device. Such filters are cheaper than the RO device and shouldn't restrict flow too much because they aren't likely to have such small pore-size in them that they try to stop 100% of the contaminates. Not to mention that your hot water tank, water lines, faucet stems, coffee pot, et cetera will all thank you by lasting much longer and requiring much less decalcification.

 

[Setting Sun]

That's an excellent suggestion Tor.

I'm going to Home Depot this weekend and will check them out.

thank you!

 

[nachoman]

What about boiling water then cooling it

 

[TorturedSoul]

A 'Still is Still De Still

What about boiling water then cooling it

If boiling at sea level (high altitudes, boiling point of H2O is less):
Kills organisms that will die in temperatures of 212F or below.
Removes contaminates that evaporate at less than 212F.

Other than those possible benefits, nothing that I can imagine.

Distillation is not simply boiling water; it is boiling water in a semi-closed system, in which the boiling container is "capped" with a steam collection & condensation device. IOW, place a tight-fitting lid on a kettle, connect line to lid for the steam to go through, run line into a container of cold water with line having multiple coils in it for maximum contact with cold water, have end of line going into collection container. Place kettle over fire.

AKA "The 'still hidden in the woods behind grandpa's house."

Traditionally used to distill fermented liquids into strong spirits by boiling off the alcohol content (which boils at 173F?) and condensing it. Pour into jugs, seal with a cork, and draw XXX on the outside ('cause not every hillbilly can read right and write right - right? lol) but could also be used to distill water in much the same fashion.

'shine looks like water, tastes like heaven, hits like... Well, saw the top of your skull open, scoop out about half of its contents, replace with a hand grenade, pull the pin and quickly replace the top of your skull. Take two and don't bother calling the doctor in the morning - the general cure was called "hair of the dog" and it could be found... in the next jug.

 

[Vasdef]

Likewise, my tap water is only 37ppm and all I do is use some de chlorinator from the pet shop (used in aquariums).

You can get a water report simply be googling your city+water system.

DD

I read somewhere that if you're using tap water, let it sit for 3 days and any chlorine will dissipate.