What about potential reduction in water pressure while using a whole house filter? I have a fairly large house, 6000 sq feet, and I want to install the filter. But I am concerned about maintaining adequate flow rates and water pressure to the entire home during heavy water usage. Any thoughts??
Glad you asked, Michael. thanks for visiting the blog. Our basic system is sized for a 4K sq ft, 4 bathroom home with 1/4 acre of outside irrigation. From there we have a light commercial size and we can even use 2 light commercial systems in series to ensure your water flow is not restricted. We pay careful attention to the flow rate because not only do we want to be sure you have optimum water pressure and flow rate, we also want to make sure you have optimum water filtration and treatment with the ECOsmarte system. We size the system so that if all your showers were being used, dishwasher, washing machine and sprinklers going outside - you would still have optimum performance and adequate water pressure. ECOsmarte is not like reverse osmosis - no restriction of flow. Important factors are size of water pipe incoming, existing flow rate, size of property, # of bathrooms, acres of irrigation, and number of people.
As an example, a 5 acre ranch in Ojai (my first sale!) has 4 buildings, about 6K sq ft total, 5 bathrooms, 4 people and 2.5 acres of avocados. They chose to treat both their house water and irrigation water - so basically all the water on the property is pure and clean. We installed 2 light commercial tanks in series, and it handles the property perfectly.
Why treat the outside irrigation? Read here for more info.
Comments (2)
Thanks for the feedback Wendy. One final question. Aside from a 110V connection, is there anything else the system needs to function? Do I need a seperate water line exiting the house for the backwashing process? Is backwashing automated or must it be done manually?
Posted by Michael | May 23, 2008 1:50 PM
There is nothing else the system needs to function. Periodically (every 9 - 12 months) you will need to clean the electrodes - see your manual for instructions.
Exiting the house? Where your water entry point is to the house will determine where you place the system, and remember it does need to be out of the weather. Most people end up putting the system in their garage or in a shed. As for the backwash - Rather than put it down the drain, it is non-toxic and completely suitable for supplemental irrigation. You can run a pvc line, or even a flexible plastic line to a place you want to water - just make sure you do not decrease the diameter of the backwash output or in any way restrict the flow.
Backwashing is completely automated - it meters your water useage and once the set number of gallons is used, the backwash will happen in the wee hours of the morning (we set it that way so it does not interfere with normal water use, because for about 15 minutes, the system is in bypass mode and the water is not filtered/treated).
Posted by Wendy | May 23, 2008 6:36 PM