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Difference between lowe's r/o setup for $169 and the merlin r/o setups?

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Stealthy

Member
R/O is R/O...some systems come with UV sterilizers and DI and extras like that. What you need to look for is how many GPD each unit puts out and decide how much water you'll be needing (can the unit keep up with your needs). Compare the GPD and cost between the two systems your looking at and see which one is a better deal. I'd go with Ebay (read below).
The runoff will vary with each and every system cause you'll have more and more runoff the dirtier your filters get.
I'm telling you what man...I got a 100 GPD system from Aqua Safe Systems on Ebay years ago along with one box of replacement filters (5 of each filter) at a total cost of $170.00. I just got my ole lady a gallon of drinking water from this system today and decided to test it.
It tests at 7 PPM and the filters have not been changed in almost a year :headbange
Go with the aquasafesystem unit from Ebay. You won't be sorry!
 
S

stke_fingas

Member
sup buddy... that looks like one hell of a RO system for the price. paid $200+ for a 100g/day 2 filter system that gave 3-4 ppm h2o. pretty much any RO system will work just how much you need it to work is the question. that system looks to be good for a small op but maybe not enough for something requiring huge amounts of water.

oh, fuck that little res it comes with, get you one twice the size of your res and you'll have plenty of perfect water. you could put a float valve like on the toilet. or time a 5 gal, set your alarm and don't forget. lol

you'll love that RO water just as much as your plants do. i would drink a gallon a day easily. it's just so damn good. for tea, coffee, coolaid, powder haterade... ect will be a whole new experience. CLEAN is all i gotta say.

good luck!
 
P

PharmaCan

Active member
Veteran
For what it's worth... I bought the Lowe's unit and it was a piece of junk. I ended up replacing it a month later with a $200 unit that works great.

PC
 
W

wafflehouselove

Member
i dont know i never used any other RO system before, but im so glad i got the merlin, i can't imagine how slow that shit runs for the lower GPD model. merlin puts out 700gpd, others put out 100-200gpd. Even if i dont need that much, i hate see slow running water, its really irritating.
 
DIGITALHIPPY

DIGITALHIPPY

Active member
Veteran
wafflehouselove said:
i think your over cali or something dude, but merlin doesn't cost anywhere near 229
Click to expand...
he said that was the hydro shops price. talk them down to 200.....
 
S

Stealthy

Member
wafflehouselove said:
i dont know i never used any other RO system before, but im so glad i got the merlin, i can't imagine how slow that shit runs for the lower GPD model. merlin puts out 700gpd, others put out 100-200gpd. Even if i dont need that much, i hate see slow running water, its really irritating.
Click to expand...


How the hell do you get 700 GPD? How much water pressure does it take to push 700GPD?
I talked to a guy at WormsWay and he was telling me about the latest, greatest 800 gpd system that they had just installed for the business...then he told me about all the BS that they went through to get it to actually produce 800gpd. He said something about needing to install a lift pump (I think that's what he called it) because it just wouldn't produce without it.
Anyway...point is could you go into a lil more detail about how you get that GPD? What do you use for holding...connected 55 gal drums with float shut off or something like that? I'm gonna be needin some large amounts of water myself soon.


-EDIT-
Just did a bit of research on the Merlin. Tankless and puts out 700gpd on a residential water line?? No shit?
 
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wafflehouselove

Member
Hey Stealthy, if your in need of alot of RO water then i am here to help. Just so you know i need alot of RO because i have alot of res to deal with because i use flood and drain, and flood and drain system uses the most water out of all hydro system. Anyway first of all for it to produce what they claim it produces which is 700gpd(30galx24hr=720) you need atleast 60psi out of your tap, that ussually comes from your laundry water hose outlet. If you don't have 60psi then you need a "booster" pump which increase your water psi. The Merlin uses 2 huge ass RO membrane which probably is each rated at 360gpd or so thus you get 720gpd out of a RO unit.

For storage tank i dont know where to get a monster storage tank so i went to lowes and grab that huge ass 96gal toter which is heavy duty. i needed more water because 96gal isn't enough for me to drain and refill my ress with fresh nute so i copied the DWC concept and i connected another toter and let gravity do its thing. But if you can find some huge reses then good for you. I then have a pump from one of my toter to pump to wherever i need it to pump to like another res that i mix nutes then into my system.
 
S

Stealthy

Member
I will be getting one of these! Guess I haven't been doing my homework lately...been outta the game to long LOL
 
W

wafflehouselove

Member
yea the merlin is really nice dude, let me know what price you find them for because 200 is really cheap, the cheapest one i found was 400 on ebay. If you look for one find one from a cali because the guy that sold me one before told me someshit about cali pass a law that cali can't sell tankless RO system to cali residents which merlin falls into that category.
 
R

rr14

Member
I could be wrong about it being the merlin. I just checked the catalog and I don't think that it was the merlin after all but rather theh hydro logic system.
 
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brie

Member
sorry I didnot include this in previous post for storage tanks I build a 4by 4by1 box line it with a 10by10 pond liner put a top on it and you got a 120 gal storage tank or res be sure to use 3/4inch plywood
 
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wafflehouselove

Member
Hey mike, basicly hydrologic took the merlin system and call it its own by adding the necessary part to make it suitable for a garden grower instead of someone wanting drinkable RO water. So when you buy the merlin system from Hydrologic it comes with a garden hose connector which connects to any garden holes for your input water.
 
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mikecar312

Member
wafflehouselove said:
Hey mike, basicly hydrologic took the merlin system and call it its own by adding the necessary part to make it suitable for a garden grower instead of someone wanting drinkable RO water. So when you buy the merlin system from Hydrologic it comes with a garden hose connector which connects to any garden holes for your input water.
Click to expand...

so the garden hose connection is the only difference? i thought ro filters are suppose to drip into a reservoir using the ro line? even at 30 gal/hr, it doesn't seem like the garden hose connection would be needed. maybe i'm missing something.
 
P

PharmaCan

Active member
Veteran
mikecar312 said:
so the garden hose connection is the only difference? i thought ro filters are suppose to drip into a reservoir using the ro line? even at 30 gal/hr, it doesn't seem like the garden hose connection would be needed. maybe i'm missing something.
Click to expand...

ROFL Yeah, you are missing something - the last four words of the post. The garden hose connection is for the INPUT water (tap water going INTO the ro unit.)

PC
 
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