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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 6 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 found the following review helpful:
 A must have for RO systems to reduce water waste (and achieve better rejection as well) Aug 26, 2009
By Chun Li
I use this with my Watts RO system. The permeate pump has John Guest type connections, which is easy for connecting tubes. The connector size is 1/4 inch. Since my Watts system uses 3/8 inch tubes for the filtered water, I also bought 1/4 to 3/8 adapters (which will be included if you buy the permeate pump from Watts' site directly). The Watts manifold system has two 3/8" outputs to fork the filtered water to tank and faucet. I had to end one of them and add a 3/8 tee as a fork after the permeate pump. While I am writing this, I think I could have instead used a 3/8x3/8x1/4 tee between the manifold and the pump (no need to end an output and also save an adapter).
RO systems rely on water pressure difference on the two sides of membrane: the lower the pressure difference, the more wasted water. The often cited 4:1 waste water ratio is for when the tank is empty. As the tank fills, the pressure difference is smaller and more wasted water is generated and longer time is needed to produce the same amount of filtered water. This is why people who tested the ratio at home found higher ratios than the published one. In reality the waste ratio may be even higher as the tank is rarely empty before the system resumes to work again. This pump separates the tank from the membrane, making the pressure on the tank side of the membrane always low. As explained above, this will greatly reduce the amount of waste water.
When pressure difference on a membrane is low, the rejection rate (percentage of contaminants rejected) is also low, resulting in more TDS (total dissolved solids) in the filtered water. So, this pump will also increase rejection rate. High pressure difference also makes it faster to fill the tank, and a 24 GPD (gallons-per-day) membrane may be enough for a system that needed 50 GPD. In addition, the hydraulic pressure of the pump will push more water into the tank, resulting in a higher tank pressure when filled than without the pump.
An RO system has a shutoff valve, which shuts off the water when the pressure difference is low and reopens when the pressure difference increases to a certain level. This stops the system from wasting too much water. When this pump is used, it may render the shutoff valve useless. This is true especially for manifold systems like the Watts because the shutoff valve is built into the manifold and cannot see the tank pressure after the permeate pump is installed. As a result, the input water is never shut off. In this situation, the pump will act like a pseudo-shutoff valve and will shut off the system when tank pressure reaches a high level. But when the tank pressure is reduced a little (say by drawing a small cup of water), it immediately resumes to work. This increases the chance of TDS creep: even when the system stops, the membrane still sits in water, and the TDS on the tap water side will gradually creep through the membrane into the filtered water side. The more frequently the tap water is "refreshed" (as in the above scenario), the more TDS creeps into tank. I alleviated this problem by adding an auto shutoff valve externally between the tank line and the input water line. I used a regular shutoff valve (which shuts off at 60% pressure), but a 90% valve probably is better (see the comment by Waterdrinker).
The pump will generate a click sound every few seconds when it is working. This is normal and the sound is nothing compared to the hissing noise from the air gap of the RO system.
Compared to not using the pump, I probably save 4-5 gallons water for each gallon of filtered water. We use about 3 gallons per day for cooking and drinking. So our annual saving is about 5000 gallons, or about 15-20 bucks a year.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
If you have a RO water unit Dec 28, 2010
By Mr P
This will save you lots and lots of water. It will also fill your tank much faster. I would never use an RO unit without it. The only downside is it can be loud, especially if located near a bedroom. This thing can be so loud in the dead silence of the night. It is even louder if you have a sleeping baby. If I did it again I would get ERP500 instead of the ERP1000. The ERP1000 is for 100 gallons per day max and the ERP500 is 50 gallons per day. The ERP500 is made for residential and is silent. 50 gallons a day is more than enough for most people.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Great, but ERP-500 is better Apr 03, 2011
By A. B. Trevor
"Wyndover"
Too bad neither Amazon nor Watts carry the ERP-500, which is much quieter than the ERP1000 yet has plenty of capacity for an under-sink RO-system. I installed one on a Watts RO-Pure and it improved pressure at the faucet, cut waste water. It is not silent, but the clicks are quite soft. I had to call Watts to get specific installation instructions - the ones on their website do not cover the PURE-RO model. The following John Guest polypro fittings were required: 1/4" plug, two 1/4" unions, a 1/4" union tee, four 1/4"x1/4" stem elbows (for pump in tight installation). Add another T, union, shut-off valve and some 1/4" poly tubing to connect an ice maker.
 Great when they work, but only last a couple of years Mar 27, 2011
By Al Krusemark
"chip"
Seems the warranty is 25 months, but very soon after mine completely stops working. Would be nice if there were a way for me to repair it, but looks pretty well sealed....
Looking for other solutions...
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Works but it's LOUD! Jul 29, 2010
By J. Rice
"Computer Geek"
I have been using a Whirlpool WHER25 Reverse Osmosis system in my home for about 2 years to filter our well water (which is high in nitrates). We recently purchased a new fridge with a built in ice maker and I wanted to hook the feed line up to both the R.O. faucet and the ice maker. I was concerned about the water pressure being enough for the ice maker to function. Because we are on a well, we have barely 50PSI. After some searching, I found this pump, which seemed like the perfect fix.
Pump was shipped quickly and arrived in excellent condition. Installation was relatively straight forward. If you have a "manifold" type R.O. system (like I do) the installation becomes a little more tricky, but not impossible. In my case (using the whirlpool WHER25), I installed the pump in the yellow water line coming from the manifold leading to the storage tank. I also had to ad a bypass tube so the faucet would work. The diagram I used can be found here: [...]. The bypass on the permeate in/out side is critical for operation.
All in all, the pump does exactly what it said it would do. My water pressure is much better and my total dissolved solids reading has actually gone down slightly (From 24ppm to 19ppm). I also noticed that I have steady water pressure up until the pressure tank is almost completely empty, which was not the case before I installed this pump. My ice maker works perfectly and we still have great pressure at the R.O. faucet.
My only gripe (and reason for three stars) THIS THING IS LOUD. It makes a "tick-tock" type of noise when it is running. My kitchen sink is about 15 feet from where we sit and watch TV each night, so it is becoming annoying. If your kitchen is right next to the living area, or you just plain like quiet, I wouldn't mount this under your sink.
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