Is RODI water safe to drink?

[robbyg]

Yes you can use it in your iron to flatten clothing
No, do not use it to make coffee or in your baby bottles for drinking

I have to respectfully disagree with that opinion.
DI water is very destructive when it comes to most metals. Yes it will work, but I think it will shorten the life of the Iron. Does that matter in the grand scheme of things? That would be up to the owner.. Most likely it would take so long to create an issue that the iron would have died for other reasons first, but who knows for sure.

 

[Rtorres508]

You can definitely use the waste water to wash your car if you save it lol. My cousin saves all his water due to what his water bill looked like that first quarter lol. I don’t see why it would ruin an iron though. I’ll give it a try since I had no problem drinking it for a good cause (beautiful strawberry shortcake colony) and post the results.

 

[Rtorres508]

You can definitely use the waste water to wash your car if you save it lol. My cousin saves all his water due to what his water bill looked like that first quarter lol.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So what about the waste water that comes out? Can you drink that?

No. It Is more likely to be a problem than the di because it can readily be contaminated with bacteria. It’s only ok if you sterilize it, or frequently sanitize the system.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I ran RODI for a few months to start with, until I looked into my Municipal Water Supply TDS test records and saw nothing to worry about.
My source water is 8-12 TDS throughout the year and my RO Membrane reduces it to 0, so I removed my DI canister.

The reason for using DI is to reduce to 0 TDS what your RO membrane cannot

the main risk is copper from your own pipes, not the water sent out by the company. Most people may be ok, some will not be.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This sums up all the other things I have read on the subject (see link below).

Why It's Unsafe

Aside from its unpleasant taste and sensation in your mouth, there are good reasons to avoid drinking deionized water:

1. Deionized water lacks minerals normally found in water which provide beneficial health effects. Calcium and magnesium, in particular, are desirable minerals in the water.
2. Deionized water aggressively attacks pipes and storage container materials, leaching metals and other chemicals into the water.
3. Drinking DI may lead to increased risk of metal toxicity, both because deionized water leaches metals from pipes and containers and because hard or mineral water protects against absorption of other metals by the body.
4. Use of DI for cooking can lead to loss of minerals in food into the cooking water.
5. At least one study found ingestion of deionized water directly damaged the intestinal mucosae. Other studies did not observe this effect.
6. There is substantial evidence drinking DI disrupts mineral homeostasis. Long-term use of deionized water as drinking water may cause organ damage, even if additional minerals are present elsewhere in the diet.
7. There is evidence that distilled and DI water are less likely to quench thirst.
8. Deionized water may contain contamination in the form of bits of ion exchange resin.
9. While deionized water made from distilled or reverse osmosis purified water may be pure, deionizing nonpotable water will not make it safe to drink.

https://www.thoughtco.com/is-it-safe-to-drink-deionized-water-609428

A good paper on the subject from WHO.
World Health Organization paper on DI Water

I don’t agree with all of your reasoning, but I do agree to not drink it due to potential bacterial contamination.

 

[Rtorres508]

One cup is safe for a high end frag or two
All jokes aside, if you still decide to drink RODI water after reading all of these responses than you deserve the mud butt.

 

[Dom]

No. It Is more likely to be a problem than the di because it can readily be contaminated with bacteria. It’s only ok if you sterilize it, or frequently sanitize the system.

Thank you, Randy.

 

[Rjramos]

I ran RODI for a few months to start with, until I looked into my Municipal Water Supply TDS test records and saw nothing to worry about.
My source water is 8-12 TDS throughout the year and my RO Membrane reduces it to 0, so I removed my DI canister.

The reason for using DI is to reduce to 0 TDS what your RO membrane cannot

Was that 8-12 TDS from their records or your actual meter at your faucet?
As mentioned, it’s the distribution pipes that pick up contaminants on the way to your house.
I will say this, in 25 years as a firefighter, we have duties to flush and maintain hydrants in our area annually. This is the same pipe that supplies everyone’s homes. What comes out of hydrants when we first open the valve people, is milky sediment and then brown sludge. It takes about 1 min for the water to run clear. I saw this first 25 yrs ago and never drank tap water again.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

What’s an easy way to sterilize the RO water if I am filling up a 5g water jug for drinking?

 

[topjimmy]

Ho

Would it be unhealthy because it's filtered too much?

Last question...can you use this in an iron since all the metals are filtered out.

I wanna make coffee with it or use in baby bottles.

How would drinking filtered water be bad for you?

 

[427HISS]

I haven't read all the pages yet, but if it's true that it is bad to drink, why do we use it for our fish/corals, wouldn't be bad for them as well ?

 

[C. Eymann]

Ho

How would drinking filtered water be bad for you?

Because RODI is aggressively trying to re-establish itself. While I know this is debatable but I have read the WHO recommends against it as it can cause gastric upset, electrolyte imbalances etc etc.

I'll drink RO, but not RO/DI.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I haven't read all the pages yet, but if it's true that it is bad to drink, why do we use it for our fish/corals, wouldn't be bad for them as well ?

It’s not RODI once it hits the salty water.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

I don’t agree with all of your reasoning, but I do agree to not drink it due to potential bacterial contamination.

Correct.

The problem with almost all of the "internet wisdom" that drinking highly purified water is bad for you from the standpoint of "mineral depletion" is that it violates several aspects of physical chemistry. That makes the conclusion false. Not just false, but flat-out false.

The issue of microbial contamination remains, however. Someone mentioned water filtration pitchers and why that would be OK and a typical RODI system would not. In actual fact, there's substantial risk from the use of one of these pitchers if not handled correctly. Specifically, the reservoir (the pitcher itself) must be regularly cleaned in a dishwasher or with hot soapy water, the filter itself must be changed on a relatively frequent basis, and when one filters enough water to fill the pitcher, it's best to store it in the refrigerator to prevent bacterial growth.

If you choose to do this (use a carbon filter to remove chlorine) because you don't like the taste of chlorine, that's fine of course. But you should know that some of us with extensive chemistry and microbiology education deliberately choose to drink chlorinated municipal water - i.e., no bottled water, and no water from tapwater sink filters/filtration pitchers.

 

[EMeyer]

This is such a funny topic because not only does incorrect info get recycled in every new thread, but often multiple times within the same thread!

Pure water - whether distilled, RO, DI, or RODI, is absolutely, positively, NOT bad for you. The lack of mineral content in a glass of water does not make that glass of water dangerous whatsoever. It is also not bad for equipment like espresso machine or irons - quite the opposite, it is *much better* for them. Pure water is not some kind of dangerous strong acid. Its water. The same thing thats in a $4.99 bottle of fancy spring water or the wet stuff that comes out of your tap. H2O.

The minerals only make it taste different. They are nutritionally unimportant assuming you eat normal food The WHO report gets regularly misinterpreted. They advised against making DI water your primary source of drinking water. Thats a different question than "is RODI dangerous".

With that said, drinking from a water source that hasnt been set up to provide potable water is a bad idea. Its very likely that bacteria grow in any non-potable source of water, and in some cases they can be dangerous bacteria.

Its like drinking from a stream. You can actually get away with it sometimes, but that doesnt make it a good idea! However, in both cases, it wasnt the water that posed the danger.

 

[Levii]

Interesting thread. How about the wastewater coming off the system? I hate watching it all go down the drain and have been using it for making coffee, watering plants, cooking, etc.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Ok so this thread has me concerned that I could wind up getting sick from my RO...

I tap off my RO, before the DI, which means I am filling my 5g water container with unchlorinated water. This then gets hand pumped out into a pitcher as needed.

I’ve been doing this for years and no serious illnesses that would link to the water.

Is there an easy way to ensure that I don’t get sick from this? Maybe some peroxide added to the water? Potassium permanganate?

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Ok so this thread has me concerned that I could wind up getting sick from my RO...

I tap off my RO, before the DI, which means I am filling my 5g water container with unchlorinated water. This then gets hand pumped out into a pitcher as needed.

I’ve been doing this for years and no serious illnesses that would link to the water.

Is there an easy way to ensure that I don’t get sick from this? Maybe some peroxide added to the water? Potassium permanganate?

While there is no way to 100% assure that you don't have microbiological contamination in your system or in your containers, there are some steps that you can take to minimize the risk. The first is to regularly use the system (your RODI system), and when you take it apart to replace the membrane and/or carbon blocks, everything should be cleaned in the manner that you would dirty dishes - i.e., hot soapy water and drying. Re-assemble the system in a relatively clean manner - the same way you'd handle food in your kitchen.

For the containers (both the 5 gallon intermediate container and the drinking pitcher), they should also be handled the way one would food/drink containers: regularly wash both out with hot, soapy water, replace the water in the 5 gallon container on at least a once every couple of days basis if it's kept at room temperature, keep it covered at all times, and store the drinking pitcher in the refrigerator.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Would it be unhealthy because it's filtered too much?

Last question...can you use this in an iron since all the metals are filtered out.

I wanna make coffee with it or use in baby bottles.

There is a formula online for coffee water.
I tapped into my ro before the di. Then add in the Epsom salt and baking soda for taste. Pure ro won't taste great for your coffee
Di is great for irons, steam mops etc