Flooding with RO units - Lets be honest

[vetteguy53081]

It's happened to many us and even myself - The Dreaded flooding using an RO unit because we walked away for a minute and promised ourselves to keep an eye on it.
Its avoidable yet it gets the best of us and if not . . . . sooner or later it does.

What is the worst disaster you endured with an RO unit and what did you have to do to clean it up?
Have you come up with a plan to avoid a repeat event with your unit ?

For me, At my previous house, it was walking away from laundry room and forgetting I was filling bottles. Bottles were on my washing machine and ran down machine into drain which thankfully my laundry had. I now use mixing station with a float which shuts off water flow.

 

[PotatoPig]

Mines in the garage. If I forget to check back there’s just a slow trickle of water making its way down into the driveway.

/obviously not an option for everyone

 

[robanister]

It's happened to many us and even myself - The Dreaded flooding using an RO unit because we walked away for a minute and promised ourselves to keep an eye on it.
Its avoidable yet it gets the best of us and if not . . . . sooner or later it does.

What is the worst disaster you endured with an RO unit and what did you have to do to clean it up?
Have you come up with a plan to avoid a repeat event with your unit ?

For me, At my previous house, it was walking away from laundry room and forgetting I was filling bottles. Bottles were on my washing machine and ran down machine into drain which thankfully my laundry had. I now use mixing station with a float which shuts off water flow.

moved my ro to where my sump pump is so if it does overflow it just goes in there. Also used to use my mop sink in basement.

 

[RedoubtReef]

Yep, left it on and ended up with water flooding half the kitchen once..or maybe twice. No more, I only fill a bucket that sits in the sink now.

 

[kenchilada]

I flooded my garage once about 30 years ago. Now I use float switch in trash can.

If you’re filling up jugs with no float, use a hose timer on the tap water input. They sell them at Home Depot.

https://a.co/d/3k9Qu1t

 

[vetteguy53081]

I flooded my garage once about 30 years ago. Now I use float switch in trash can.

If you’re filling up jugs with no float, use a hose timer on the tap water input. They sell them at Home Depot.

https://a.co/d/3k9Qu1t

Good tip!

 

[threebuoys]

I have the ro/di equipment in an outdoor closet on my covered deck, BUT, I ran the lines from the unit through holes in the wall out to the deck where my mixing trash can is located. Float valve there. Fortunately, this limits the likelihood of problems, and should they occur, they are outside.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I've got mine in my bathroom cabinet. Whenever I need water I start a timer, that way I know to check come back and make sure to turn the valve off

 

[BZOFIQ]

I automated the dang thing with bunch of safeties, no floods so far.

 

[exnisstech]

I've had my share of floods but from my freshwater days when getting distracted when refilling tanks so the floods were much worse than an RO trickle. Think 1 inch of water in the room with a steady flow through the floor heating duct down into the basement
I've not had a flood from my rodi but I installed a float switch on my brute container when I installed the unit. I couldn't imagine filling jugs and having to keep an eye on them. That would be worse than watching water while waiting for it to boil. At least as slow as my unit is it would be.

 

[Dburr1014]

Apex with a float switch.
If, for some reason, the float switch fails, I have the "when on" statement to shut it off.
Pro tip, time how long it takes to fill up your ato container and add a few minuets to it for the when on statement to work.
My 32 gallon brute is just shy of 12 hours to get to the float. The float is a few inches from the top. So my statement looks like this:

WHEN ON > 750:00 THEN OFF

I haven't overflowed since.
(finding a piece of wood to knock on now)

 

[PhishMonger84]

I've had my share of floods but from my freshwater days when getting distracted when refilling tanks so the floods were much worse than an RO trickle. Think 1 inch of water in the room with a steady flow through the floor heating duct down into the basement
I've not had a flood from my rodi but I installed a float switch on my brute container when I installed the unit. I couldn't imagine filling jugs and having to keep an eye on them. That would be worse than watching water while waiting for it to boil. At least as slow as my unit is it would be.

Had a 180 down to 2” of water when the intake hose came off my big eheim 2262. House was built in 1914 so the basement wasn’t level and barely anything got to the houses sump but it was a basement fishroom

 

[zoomonster]

Well just once which was enough and wiped a tank. Back sometime in the 90's I bought my first RODI and one of the first ATO's (pressure switch). I had a 90g tank upstairs and a homemade sump and probably 44g ATO in the basement. Worked great until it didn't when it stuck in the on position. Think I was away at work and came home to a dead tank. The ATO pressure valve had stuck, and it completely replaced all the saltwater with fresh and of course flooded the basement area which fortunately was unfinished, and the water just ran off to the sump pump. Now use a Tunze 3155 w/o issue. In my current FL house, my RODI and 44g container are outdoors and use a mechanical float switch on the container.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Apex with a float switch.
If, for some reason, the float switch fails, I have the "when on" statement to shut it off.
Pro tip, time how long it takes to fill up your ato container and add a few minuets to it for the when on statement to work.
My 32 gallon brute is just shy of 12 hours to get to the float. The float is a few inches from the top. So my statement looks like this:

WHEN ON > 750:00 THEN OFF

I haven't overflowed since.
(finding a piece of wood to knock on now)

Add a float valve at the end of the line and even if your apex fails the water flow will be cut off.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Although I consider myself still relatively new (1 year now), I have never flooded with an RO unit. I'm super paranoid of it, and very diligent about always setting a timer / shutting it off immediately when the timer goes off. Also, even if it were to flood my RO reservoir is located right above my sump pit.

 

[bakbay]

I have the ro/di equipment in an outdoor closet on my covered deck, BUT, I ran the lines from the unit through holes in the wall out to the deck where my mixing trash can is located. Float valve there. Fortunately, this limits the likelihood of problems, and should they occur, they are outside.

I have two units for two different systems - yes, both are outside the house. I run a 1/4” tubing inside the house and terminate with a Johnny Guest valve, followed by a float valve.

 

[Dburr1014]

Add a float valve at the end of the line and even if your apex fails the water flow will be cut off.

I guess I should have added that I have a normally closed water valve. When the power is cut, it's off. It's an industrial one that my grandfather had when we cleaned out his stuff.
I've been using it for 20 years on and off.

 

[Rp8]

Flooded in my laundry room on second floor. Drained thru the ceiling in the kitchen of the 1st floor. It was a long nite.

 

[GARRIGA]

These stories why I plan to place a portable unit outside although all I need is mostly top off.

 

[BZOFIQ]

I guess I should have added that I have a normally closed water valve. When the power is cut, it's off. It's an industrial one that my grandfather had when we cleaned out his stuff.
I've been using it for 20 years on and off.

I wasn't worried about that, it's the apex equipment that has its days