BajaJim
Junior Nomad
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Registered: 9-25-2006
Location: Phoenix
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Drinking Water in San Felipe
Has anyone installed an RO water system in San Felipe and used the water to drink or make ice?
Just curious
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wornout
Senior Nomad
Posts: 595
Registered: 10-24-2004
Location: San Felipe, Baja California
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaJim
Has anyone installed an RO water system in San Felipe and used the water to drink or make ice?
Just curious |
I haven't because I am in a solar area and they take a lot of power. Also I understand they use 5, 6, 7 or whatever gallons to make one gallon.
There are ample water places in San Felipe.
This Space Available, E-Mail Me If Interested.
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BajaJim
Junior Nomad
Posts: 30
Registered: 9-25-2006
Location: Phoenix
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| Quote: | | I haven't because I am in a solar area and they take a lot of power. Also I understand they use 5, 6, 7 or whatever gallons to make one gallon.
There are ample water places in San Felipe. |
Reverso Osmosis does not take any power. It used a fine mesh screen to clean the water. It does take 2 gallons to one to make the purified water.
Now the question is, when you say it wastes water, does it bother you that water is being wasted or just your water is being wasted? If you get
bottled water from a machine, it wastes the same amount of water.
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EngineerMike
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Posts: 272
Registered: 9-6-2006
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Mood: piso mojado
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I have a whole-house RO filter on my motorhome. I fill the tank w/good water from whatever source is available. I don't have the MH in Mulege, but
could have devised a way to take river water & run it thru the RO to make good water. Pre-filters take the big stuff out, then the RO gets 100%
of the virals/bacterials and anything particulate, and 95% of the disolved minerals. Mulege water has 700ppm in disolved minerals & the RO gets
that down to 38ppm into the tank. In AZ its 800ppm, but @ 70psi input pressure I get 20-25 ppm in the tank.
I can dial it from zero to 2X the waste water per gallon of "product" water; lower waste = lower filtration efficency. It does not take any
electricity if you have pressure (20psi min). Higher pressure works best; efficiency of the filter increases as the input poressure goes up (it has
faster output & lower ppm output as well). If you don't have 20psi, you need a pressure boosting pump which can be 120V or 12V. While in Arizona
I water the palm trees & such on our lot w/the discharge water. While in Mulege I dial the discharge rate back to 1:1, water the plants till they
won't take any more, then the rest goes in the septic tank. Since we don't put that much into the septic anyway, the dilution doesn't hurt.
Got the setup from www.vagabondwater.com. My tank is 100 gallons & we use about 25 gallons/day, so I top off every 3 days or so.
Director, Mulege Student Scholarship Program
Oasis Rio Baja #M-3, & Auburn, CA
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wornout
Senior Nomad
Posts: 595
Registered: 10-24-2004
Location: San Felipe, Baja California
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| Quote: | | Quote: | Originally posted by BajaJim
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Now the question is, when you say it wastes water, does it bother you that water is being wasted or just your water is being wasted? If you get
bottled water from a machine, it wastes the same amount of water. |
It bothers me that if I get a truck with 2500 gallons, 1250 gallons will go in the septic if I put in an RO system. That is 1250 gallons I will not
be able to shower with, water the plants with and so on. It is too late for me to redo my system to use an RO system. It has worked just fine for
the last 8 years just the way it is.
It doesn't bother me what they do with the 5 gallons of water it took to create the 5 gallon bottle of water I buy because that waste is figured in
the 75 cents we pay for the 5 gallons.
This Space Available, E-Mail Me If Interested.
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Bajajorge
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Posts: 2604
Registered: 10-13-2005
Location: Topaz Lake, NV/San Felipe
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Five gallon bottles at 7 pesos is good enough for me. Why go to the expense of an RO system. The trucked in water is good enough for showering,
flushing etc. I have a $20 filter on the water coming out of my storage tank, change it about every 5000 gallons. I've even drank it  and I ain't dead yet.
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ncampion
Super Nomad
Posts: 1238
Registered: 4-15-2006
Location: Loreto
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A good compromise is to just have a small RO system to make drinking water. I use one in my house in the States to get great tasting water. I does
have some waste water but it is minimal for the small amount of water that you produce for drinking. You don't need to RO the water you use for the
shower and washing clothes. Get a system at Costco for less than $200, install under the sink and fill up you drinking bottles from that.
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wornout
Senior Nomad
Posts: 595
Registered: 10-24-2004
Location: San Felipe, Baja California
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| Quote: | Originally posted by ncampion
A good compromise is to just have a small RO system to make drinking water. I use one in my house in the States to get great tasting water. I does
have some waste water but it is minimal for the small amount of water that you produce for drinking. You don't need to RO the water you use for the
shower and washing clothes. Get a system at Costco for less than $200, install under the sink and fill up you drinking bottles from that.
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Let's see, $200 would buy about 180 five gallon bottles, and at 2 bottles a week that is 90 weeks or about three years worth of water (we are not in
San Felipe during the summer so I subtracted those weeks).
Figuring in filters for an RO system, and considering I already invested in the 5 gallon bottles, RO isn't really for me at this time. Might be a
plan for someone just building though. 
This Space Available, E-Mail Me If Interested.
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meme
Senior Nomad
Posts: 756
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: San Felipe,BC
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We bought the $100 undersink system two years ago for our house. Just change the filters once a year. Works for us! Before that we were drinking the
water , had no problems but a Mexican friend advised us not to drink it.
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QuePasaBaja
Nomad
Posts: 179
Registered: 9-7-2006
Location: Rosarito Beach
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There is a law for ALL tourist areas, and that means Baja. If you buy water from one of the places that sells botteled water, it is CLEAN, or they are
out of business. I will try and find the translated law. It was put into action because of tourists getting sick. So we get the water from one of the
local places and use that. It tastes fine, and is nice and clean.
Have a Baja Day
QuePasaBaja
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BCSTech
Senior Nomad
Posts: 584
Registered: 4-16-2006
Location: Todos Santos, BCS / Placerville, CA.
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| Quote: | | Let's see, $200 would buy about 180 five gallon bottles, and at 2 bottles a week that is 90 weeks or about three years worth of water (we are not in
San Felipe during the summer so I subtracted those weeks). |
Just to keep the comparison fair, I assume this
doesn't include any other costs such as the time, effort or gas it takes to get the water and schlep the bottles, no?
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wornout
Senior Nomad
Posts: 595
Registered: 10-24-2004
Location: San Felipe, Baja California
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Mood: No Bad Days
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BCSTech
| Quote: | | Let's see, $200 would buy about 180 five gallon bottles, and at 2 bottles a week that is 90 weeks or about three years worth of water (we are not in
San Felipe during the summer so I subtracted those weeks). |
Just to keep the comparison fair, I assume this
doesn't include any other costs such as the time, effort or gas it takes to get the water and schlep the bottles, no? |
Let's see, the water place is on the way to the gas station and I have to get gas for my dune buggy, in cans, so I schlep the water bottles along with
the gas cans. Now if I gave up schlepping my water cans, I might just not want to schlep my gas cans. That means I wouldn't have gas for the desert
trips. Then I would just sit around when everyone is going to the desert, and this would be a bad thing. Therefore, installing an RO system would
just cut into my hobby. BTW, like a lot of folks in San Felipe, we are retired and have lots of time.
This Space Available, E-Mail Me If Interested.
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ncampion
Super Nomad
Posts: 1238
Registered: 4-15-2006
Location: Loreto
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Mood: Retired and Loving it
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Besides, schlepping all that water and gas makes your arms longer which makes it easier to steer the dune buggy. Makes sense to me!
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bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
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I just drink the water-------------
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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Drink the water! You'll build-up a tolerance to those little bugs that cause all
the problems.  Only the strong survive.
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