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Date:         Mon, 18 Feb 2002 16:22:08 -0500
Reply-To:     "John P. Flaherty" <jflahert@MAINE.RR.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "John P. Flaherty" <jflahert@MAINE.RR.COM>
Subject:      Re: distilled water & wbx reliabilty
Comments: To: developtrust <developtrust@HOME.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Ok, my degree is in business and computers, not science, so I'm certainly not an expert, but doesn't water that goes "down the drain" end up back in the water supply? If so, in the long term, how is it wasted?

John Flaherty Portland, Maine '84 GL

----- Original Message ----- From: "developtrust" <developtrust@HOME.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 1:09 PM Subject: Re: distilled water & wbx reliabilty

> I can see the value of an R/O plant that cycles the water back into the sea > or a life raft unit that spills the water back into the ocean, but a home > unit that just flushes valuable water down the drain is just plain > irresponsible. > > In the future wars will be fought over water and home R/O units will be > illegal. > > William Polowniak > 1989 Vanagon GL > 1988 Mercedes 300 SE > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> > To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> > Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 9:54 AM > Subject: Re: distilled water & wbx reliabilty > > > > At 02:53 AM 2/18/2002, Andrew Grebneff wrote: > > >Reverse osmosis? Osmosis is osmosis; there's no such thing as reverse > > >osmosis! It's merely the transfer of elements in a solution across a > > >semipermeable membrane, moving from an area of higher concentration > > >to one of lower, until the two balance (reach equilibrium). Whichever > > >way the elements/chemicals move, it's just plain ol' osmosis. Smells > > >of the idea of "deceleration" which is actually acceleration. > > > > Reverse osmosis applies a brine to one side of a membrane, and uses high > > pressures to force water molecules through the membrane and out of the > > brine, obtaining drinkable water as output. There are plants with 1000 > > cubic meter/day output, and there are hand-powered liferaft devices that > > produce a pint an hour or some such. I believe Israel was one of the > first > > places to use large-scale R-O plants. > > > > The feedwater-treatment plants (around 10 m^3/hour) from Idroconsult > > achieve < 0.1 ppm free chlorine, < 2000 ppm total dissolved solids, and > > recovery rates (ratio of output:input flows) of 75 or 90 per cent. Looks > > like recovery rates run around 20-30% for "home" units, and 50-75-90% for > > industrial plants, and the units are tailored for both input and output > > purposes/characteristics -- solids removal, wastewater treatment, > > desalination, deionization of municipal water etc. > > > > Google on "reverse osmosis plants" will give plenty of grist if you're > > interested. > > > > david > > > > -- > > David Beierl - Providence, RI > > http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/ > > '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage" > > '85 GL "Poor Relation" > > >


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