Check your water pressure...

[tsciarini]

As everyone is aware... theres a water shortage in the area. As a result, many counties have started cutting back the pressure on water mains.
This will have a major inpact on your RO/DI production. Make sure you check the water pressure on your RO units!
I checked mine the other day after it took 2days to fill my resevoir to find that I'm pushing about 15lbs of pressure thru my RO/DI unit.

 

[stanfill reef]

I purchased a diaphragm booster pump for my RO/DI. My new house has very low pressure.

 

[burdundi]

Great advice Tony! That's a good reminder. Now I just need to get a pressure gauge.

-Andy

 

[george]

We're also going to see a faster use of DI resin because the total amount of stuff (ions, solids, etc) in the water is going up, so while the rejection rates of the RO membranes are relatively constant, the amount left in the water that passes through will be higher.

We'll probably also see faster degradation in RO performance.

 

[tsciarini]

not a bad idea to add a flush kit to your units if you dont already have one... the parts are fairly inexpensive and can be found at HD/Lowes

 

[roland jacques]

I found that even though our TDS is very low, we have High SDI (sediment density index, clay & or rust</em>) in some Atlanta areas. I've seen prefilter clog up very fast in some houses, and lower the pressure at the membrane greatly.

When your pressure to your membrane goes down your Waste water ratio goes up a good bit. Wasting a lot more water than normal. Allowing even more water through your prefilter and they get even dirtier faster and faster (A full on snow ball effect). So i check the pressure before and after the prefilters.

FWIW, I upgraded my prefilter cartages I now use a special high flow 0.2 micron sediment to protect My membrane better. I also run more than 1 sediment filter. (<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Zeta Zorb http://spectrapure.com/St_replac_p1.htm">http://spectrapure.com/St_replac_p1.htm</a> ) </span></span></em>

George, I agree with possible faster degradation of the RO membrane. But I'm not sure how your DI would be used up faster.

 

[tsciarini]

yup... check the prefilters first. The way I have my setup configured, I can bypass the prefilters and go straight to the membrane (that's how I knew the water pressure got lowered).

 

[buckeye field supply]

Installing an adjustable flow restrictor may help in this situation as well.

Russ

 

[stroid]

Can someone explain how to check water pressure? Also what is a flush kit and how does it work?

 

[roland jacques]

Flushing a RO membrane is a simple valve bypassing the restrictor, allowing the water to flow freely and with more speed over the membrane, picking up and flushing out any solids that may diminish RO fuction.

IMO a good prefilter is more important than flushing but doing both is best.

 

[buckeye field supply]

The primary chemicals that cause scale in RO elements would be caught by prefilters. It calcium and magnesium - the same chemicals that build up scale on you shower heads and faucets. They enter the system as dissolved solids so they won't be captured by sediment filters or carbon blocks. These are the real culprets you want to flush out of the membrane.

How to check pressure? You can go to the hardware store and buy a setup that screws on to a hose bib for instance and will tell you what your "line pressure" is - that's the pressure inside your home's plumbing. That's good information, but what you really want to measure with these RODI systems is the pressure that actually reaches the membrane (i.e., after the prefilters). When you see that that pressure isn't as high as it once was, that's your clue that one or both of the prefilters is clogging.

Our pressure gauge kits have a quick connect tee to splice into that tube between the carbon block and the "in" port on the RO membrane housing, some tubing, a quick connect fitting that screws onto the back of a pressure gauge, and of course the pressure gauge itself.

Russ