Flooding with RO units - Lets be honest

[secret_reefer337]

Just a month ago I flooded our dining room while filling the ATO reservoir. My tank is in our dining room and I run a long tube from my RODI. I always set a timer based on my estimates on how much water I need to refill. I miss calculated the time and I’ve got so engrossed watching tv. When my instinct suddenly snapped to check, there’s already a puddle close to the tank. Maybe it has been overflowing for about five minutes.

 

[randomfishdude]

Mine floods a small section of my back padio every time I run it.
I have a red trash can and a green trash can. The waste goes in the green and the good goes in the red.
But the green is always fuller than the red so it constantly overflows. But the good thing is it just flows off the padio into the grass and then into the canal. Or it evaporates becuse of the hot texas heat.
I also have the unit on a little timer that shuts off the water when it's up.

 

[doubleshot00]

Ive flooded my garage a few times. Happens. Just sucks I wasted so much water.

 

[Matt1997]

I’ve done it far to many times. The worst was when filling a 20 gallon ATO tank directly with the line. I started to fill it around 8-9pm. Was likely done around 11 ish but I passed out and woke up at 7am for work. The living room was a swimming pool. I estimated about 50 gallons of RO water overflowed.

The most recent was a similar incident filling a bucket in the kitchen area. Once again I ended up passing out on the couch waking up few hours later, in my head asking “why am I on the couch”? Then suddenly realizing.

 

[glency]

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

I like it. But I don’t like the chance of another connection to leak

 

[blecki]

Never flooded, but I have forgotten to turn it off and sent uncounted gallons of pristine RODI water down the emergency drain.

 

[Tuan Black]

Worse experience was was watching a movie and filling up my auto top off container and fell asleep. When I woke up the whole living room flooded. Only lucky thing was the whole house has tile floors. Took me 1 hr to clean up the mess. Now I set my alarm on my phone just in case I fall asleep.

 

[Buckeye Hydro Verified Sponsor]

We had a customer who had a very high-end home with his tank in the main floor living room. His not-so-careful tank maintenance contractor installed an RO in the cabinet under the tank, but didn't think of any type of failsafe should there be a problem.

A float valve that he bought from another vendor failed and it flooded the cabinet, flooded the living room hardwood floors, the basement drywall ceiling, the basement carpet, etc.

LeakBlock Sensor

At Buckeye Hydro we specialize in providing the highest quality water filtration systems and accessories for every potential need.

www.buckeyehydro.com

had this been installed in the cabinet all the damage would have been avoided.

 

[Stephen8169301]

I do mine in my back bathroom left mine filling while I was putting my kid down for a nap yeah so I fell asleep this happened twice

 

[gbroadbridge]

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.

I use the Auto Aqua Smart RO

AUTOAQUA

www.autoaqua.com.tw

 

[aws2266]

I've not flooded anything from forgetting about it. I've read too many stories about people forgetting, so I set an alarm on my phone to check every so often. Now my cats playing with the ro hose, that's a different story. I've had to tape the hose into my bin so they won't pull it out. Thankfully the couple of times it's happened we've caught it early enough so it wasn't a huge issue. My cats are fascinated by the noises the ro unit makes.

 

[leepink23]

Years ago when o first started I was filling a 5 gallon bucket. I forgot, left out of town and came back that night. Had to use a shop vac to get the flood up. Now I use brute containers with float valves.

 

[Snoopdog]

I took a tea picture from wal-mart and just put a small float valve in it toward the top, that way if I walk away no harm done.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

I use a float switch, but I still forget to turn it off an it allows the water to keep running the “dirty” water down the drain and I get a high water bill sometimes.
I also got a new tank so I just had to use a bigger brute to fill up and wasn’t using my float. Woke up at 2am and ran downstairs to it just starting to overflow my laundry room.

 

[fish farmer]

My first flood was in an upstairs apartment, not sure if it was RO or straight DI from the tap, used it fill in the kitchen...then moved my bucket to the shower.

Currently my RO/DI is in my basement which is dirt/gravel in spots. I've installed a float valve on my fill tank and auto shut off on the drain line works great when I forget.

My biggest floods down there happen when I run the waste to a trash can for plant water....no valve there yet.

When I turn my water on I have a note "water" that I put on my kitchen counter....only reminds me when I put it out.

 

[Snoopdog]

I use a float switch, but I still forget to turn it off an it allows the water to keep running the “dirty” water down the drain and I get a high water bill sometimes.
I also got a new tank so I just had to use a bigger brute to fill up and wasn’t using my float. Woke up at 2am and ran downstairs to it just starting to overflow my laundry room.

How and why? If the float turns off the water production, no waste water is produced. As soon as my water is made my waste water cuts off, my water exits on the side of my house, it goes straight into the grass so I would notice if it is ran when it was not supposed to.

 

[fish farmer]

I've not flooded anything from forgetting about it. I've read too many stories about people forgetting, so I set an alarm on my phone to check every so often. Now my cats playing with the ro hose, that's a different story. I've had to tape the hose into my bin so they won't pull it out. Thankfully the couple of times it's happened we've caught it early enough so it wasn't a huge issue. My cats are fascinated by the noises the ro unit makes.

My cats had a chewing phase...the drain line took it hard.

 

[Snoopdog]

On top of having a float valve in the filling container, I also have a zircon flood sensor next to the R.O. unit under the kitchen cabinet.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

I'm guilty of this too. When I first got my rodi unit I temporarily hooked it up to make buckets of rodi water. Well, I forgot a time or two and found a mess. Now I have a permanent rodi station with two 30 gallon containers and yes, a float switch. Many cheaper rodi units do not come with an auto shut off valve, so that needs to be present along with the float switch.

My next move is to find a blow off valve that will shut off the water in case of a line rupture. Infinite water flooding the house wouldn't be fun. (Knock on wood.)

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

How and why? If the float turns off the water production, no waste water is produced. As soon as my water is made my waste water cuts off, my water exits on the side of my house, it goes straight into the grass so I would notice if it is ran when it was not supposed to.

I use the rodi buddy the float is connected to the r/o di line. That water stops coming out, but the waste water keeps pushing through. Idk why it just does lol