An unexpected issue with the aquarium RO filter…

[Magnum Man]

Our drinking water RO only runs to fill the pressure tank, so no issues there… but my aquarium RO unit pretty much runs wide open all the time… this caused some of the house water pipes to sweat, as we have cold well water, and this RO is in the opposite side of the house from the water inlet… no problem, most of the basement ceiling ( where the pipes are, is not closed off yet… so I insulated the pipes… no more dripping ceiling… however the whole filter system sweats now… it’s under the basement stairs, in my fish tank work area… but it’s not something I can just wrap, like the pipes… I’m putting a plastic tote under the filter to act as a drip pan… not a huge problem… hopefully with the dry winter air, there won’t be enough humidity to in the air, for the filters to sweat ( the house has central air, but with most of my tanks “open” on the top, and the washer and dryer 10 feet from the filter canisters… looks like there is enough humidity in the air for it to sweat

 

[jaylach]

I don't know if it would be effective or not but you could try putting a dehumidifier by the filter.

 

[Magnum Man]

I’ve been thinking about putting one under the stairs, by the filter, except I’ll be just putting more evaporation out the the tanks, and having to dump that water, every time I’m doing a water change… thought about using that condensation water into the tanks… and in theory, it should be good, but right now with the tanks I have set up, I have plenty of RO… there are 3 more tanks to set up yet, eventually, and maybe by then, I’ll be wanting to test it, then blend in to my RO fill barrel???

 

[jaylach]

This is going to be way off the wall but that is often normal with me...

If the tank RO system is small enough I'd bet dollars to donuts that putting a reptile heating pad under the thing would warm it enough to prevent the condensation. The pads are designed to carry weight as they go under the stuff on the bottom of a reptile cage/tank and they are pretty cheap. I say something like a reptile heater pad instead of a heated blanket or pad as they are not designed to carry weight and most will shut off after a designed time running. A reptile heating unit is designed to run constantly and accept weight.

If a unit carrying water such as RO is at a lower temperature than the ambient air in the area you get condensation. If the unit is at a higher temperature than the ambient air you don't get condensation.

 

[Magnum Man]

As slow as the RO filter actually fills the barrel, it’s not really sweating… but the filter cartridges have beads of moisture slowly dripping off them ( would be easy to catch with a tote) it makes the concrete floor damp, but I’m guessing if I caught it all, it wouldn’t be actually that much in a week… but it drips enough that there’s a wet spot underneath that doesn’t dry

If the barrel was sweating, they do make commercial barrel band heaters, that you wrap around them

 

[Colin_T]

Coverglass on the tanks.
Cover the r-o unit in its drip tray with a plastic sheet or something to trap the humidity inside.
Try to have windows open when it's suitable and safe to do so.