Let me start with an apology...cottagefarmer, sorry I failed to mention the orchids in the original post. Not an intentional oversight, just a head full of too many details. Its often difficult to merge information from various sources and not only do I not always rememeber to ask all of the specifics of a question but often the answers to an initial query run so tangental to the original question, that its hard to stay focused. I also try to be senstitive to the length of a post, so I apparently fall short in the details in the process. Please all, accept my apologies and, if you still have patience, let me try and restate my situation: The gh is small (about 120 sq ft), wood frame, uses a 34" high kneewall of cement block,covered with 10mm twinwall. Floor is mortared used common brick that slopes to a central drain. pics via the URL below It currently has a 16" exhuast fan on thermo, two 16" shutters in the east wall, two 8" circulation fans running low speed 24/7 and (for starters) uses a 1500 watt milkhouse heater to keep night temps around 55-60. The plan (we all have to have a plan huh?) is mixed use in the Intermediate Greenhouse temp range, which I understand to be min 60 at night max mid 80s with a humidity range somewhere between 50- 75%. We'd like to maintain a small collection of orchids (of various types to the intermediate temps range) yet also start spring flower and veggie seeds, perhaps root a few cuttings etc. The gh has only been in operation for less than a month...mostly empty. So far the temps hold OK but the humidity hovers at mid 40s at best during the day. I do not plan a drip system for the gh. Plants will be watered and fertilized individually, or by "group". I do understand that misting and fogging are two of the ways to control and maintain a rise in humidity and that the two systems (fog vs mist) emit a different size water droplet and, of the two, I have read that the small fog droplet size is better for the plants than the (relatively) larger mist droplet size. (I thought I was trying to get input about which of the two systems people were using but, perhaps I failed in that communication as well) Of the two, at least for a start, I am currently (as of 10pmPST last night) looking at the Rainmaker Misting system from Ecologic that uses a high pressure pump and nozzles that produce 50-100 micron size water droplets (about $240). I understand that this is a misting system and that "fog" droplets would be smaller (less than 50 micron)but the cost differential between the two systems (at least from these folks) is big (roughly $240 vs $980). I'm not trying do this gh on the cheap but I'm not made of $ either. I do hear, even within the current answers to my orignal post, a difference of opinion about whether RO is "necessary" for such a system for use on orchids..at the moment my leaning is toward the RO system BUT it might be prudent for me to try the misting system without the RO and watch carefully what happens. It seems to me that cooling (in contrast to only maintaining humidity) is a plus to the deal. Since the gh needs additional humidity and, since that humidity in the form of injected mist would also help cool the gh, I can't see how the two don't work hand in glove, at least to a point. Thanks for your patience. Steve Here is a link that might be useful: gh pics

As someone well steeped in a medical and science background, I can't really recommend an ionized water system over RO. No offense. Of course all unstudied things remain a mystery, but sometimes there are reasons we don't study things, because they don't make a lot of sense. Water is an extraordinarily weak buffer. You can sway its pH by electrolysis, but upon contact with any small amount of acid or base, it will quickly lose whatever pH it has. Read, stomach acid vs ionized water... stomach acid wins. If your goal is better tasting water, then carbon may be fine. If you want to remove tasteless chemicals and toxins, maybe RO is for you. The claim that there are 80,000 chemicals and toxins in the water supply at one time or another is sort of like claiming that every once in a while somebody gets hit by a bus, or struck by lighting. Yes, they are very real things, like chemicals in water, that may cause harm. But living your life in fear of such things can make people do extreme things, and waste a lot of money. You are not going to stay in your house, and avoid all roads to avoid lighting and buses, nor should every house install an RO system "to be safe." If your city has a bad track record for maintaining its water, you live near a clearly unregulated pesticide production facility, or you live on a farm with a well that has fluctuating water quality, it may be that an RO system is for you for "safety reasons." I still maintain an RO system is for us water snobs that not only want better tasting water, but clear ice, clear tea, and better water for our plants and high maintenance fish....

Yur choices are either have your membrane try to remove calcium carbonate or sodium. Calcium is know as a hydrophobic element and sodium is a hydrophillic element. What this means the water loves sodium and hate calcium. Membranes will rid the deposits of sodium very easily and calcium will adhere and soon the membrane is shot. Inn fact we get the word calcification from this process. The prefilter will suffer but not as much. Certainly, if you remove the calcium and iron, the whole system will benefit. Membranes will start to be damaged in as little as 5 gpg in a relatively short time. Are you connecting the RO to the ice maker? Good idea if you can. Andy Christensen, CWS

If a ball valve has a problem it's usually at install. Either a defective ball valve or more likely the installer applied too much heat or took too long when soldering it in. The reason I recommend a three ball bypass along with the OEM bypass is that most dealers want to install just the OEM bypass and the redundancy of the additional three ball bypass, at it's modest cost during installation, is a good idea. With no Kinetico bypass what you have will serve you once the ball valves that leak are taken care of. Understand before you speak with the dealer that the water at the float valve is under system water pressure and all that is between correct operation and failure is the float. The tank drain elbow is provided so that if the float fails the overflow will be directed to a drain cause if it fails when no one is around it will be pumping water into the brine tank at house pressure. If there is no floor drain handy then it is common to drill a hole through an exterior wall and run a PE tube from the brine tank elbow through the wall to the outside. The elbow is a gravity drain and will not run water up. Many softeners are installed disregarding the brine tank drain and as long as the float never fails or leaks it's OK. I've seen quite a few where the float failed and there is substantial water damage. Do not let the dealer minimize the importance of the brine tank drain or say it can be ignored because you're betting a lot on that float mechanism... an awful lot. If something does happen and there is no line to drain there's a chance your homeowner's insurance won't cover the damage. With a washing machine I'd think that one of the Gap-It airgaps from airgap.com will do nicely. Pick the one that accommodates both the washer drain hose and the softener drain hose.