RO/di question/problem?

[KillerReef]

I just recently change out all of my filters on system and upgraded the tfc membrane from a 50gpd to a 75gpd( I changed out the flow restrictor too) In the first 24 hours it made about 75 gallons as promised. But now it has slowed considerably. In 24 hours it has only made maybe 25-30 gallons tops. What could be wrong? BTW i do have a booster pump.

TIA,
Dave

[Buckeye Hydro]

Dave - do you have a pressure gauge installed after the prefilters? If so, what does it read when thew system is running?

Given your water's temperature and pressure, use this calculator to see what the membrane should be producing.

Are you sending the output from the system to a pressurized storage tank?

Russ

[KillerReef]

Dave - do you have a pressure gauge installed after the prefilters? If so, what does it read when thew system is running?

Yes and it reads about 75 with the booster pump and 41 without..

Given your water's temperature and pressure, use this calculator to see what the membrane should be producing.

according to that I should be making about 94 gpd (75GPD*75PSI*65F)
*feed water is 240ppm

Are you sending the output from the system to a pressurized storage tank?

No I don't...

Thank you for the reply...

[Buckeye Hydro]

Hmm. And you are certain the pressure gauge is seeing the same pressure the membrane is?

[KillerReef]

I believe so...

basically the system runs like this...

it comes into the sediment then to the carbon then it T's off, one to the membrane, and one to the pressure gauge, then 2 out the membrane, one out thru the flush kit to the waste water and one through the DI for good water...

[Buckeye Hydro]

That sounds right.

Make sure your flush valve is closed.

Give it a couple of days and measure production again after the membrane is fully hydrated.

What is your waste water to purified water raio?

What is your feedwater TDS?
RO water (not di) TDS?

Russ

[KillerReef]

Originally posted by BuckeyeFS
That sounds right.

Make sure your flush valve is closed.

Give it a couple of days and measure production again after the membrane is fully hydrated.

What is your waste water to purified water raio?

What is your feedwater TDS?
RO water (not di) TDS?

Russ

feed water is 240ppm
This seems weird to me:
ro(waste) water is 250 w/o booster pump, 299 w/ pump
How can it take out more DS than initially is in water? I even tried removing the pump completely and got the same results...
BTW, ro/di is 001

Waste water to purified water is about:

took 5 min to make 1 gallon of waste water
and it has taken 24+ hours to make about 30 gallons

[Buckeye Hydro]

Tap is 240 ppm
RO is?????? ppm
DI is 1 ppm

What is the TDS reading of your RO (not DI) water?

TDS in your RO waste water is higher than the tap because nearly pure water has been removed from your tap water, leaving most of the contaminants it contained behind.

So if you have a beaker of tap water, you could raise the TDS in the beaker by adding dissolved solids, OR by removing some of the pure water.

To measure your waste to permeate ratio, line up about 6 identical containers (e.g., drining water glasses). with your waste water tube in one hand and the DI tube in the other, in the time it takes you to fill up one glass with DI water, how many glasses have you filled with waste water?

Russ

[KillerReef]

RO is?????? ppm

my bad, post ro is 11ppm

working on the ratio right now...

[KillerReef]

To measure your waste to permeate ratio, line up about 6 identical containers (e.g., drining water glasses). with your waste water tube in one hand and the DI tube in the other, in the time it takes you to fill up one glass with DI water, how many glasses have you filled with waste water?

I did this like you recommended and came up with 3 1/5 glasses waste to 1 glass pure water...I have an auto shutoff that came with the unit and 40 gal storage bucket that has never worked which was bypassed when I did the test. Could that be an issue?

basically the in is plumbed between the pump and the first cartridge on the unit, and the out is plumbed between the di and the storage bucket. In side the bucket is a long 3.5" dia tube with some kind of a float device inside it. The tube is not stationery inside the bucket. Should it be? Could this be part of problem? that my problem? If so, why would it be turning it off when the water level is only 4-6"?

Thanks for all the help,
Dave

[KillerReef]

You're laughing AT me now, huh?

[Buckeye Hydro]

So you are getting a 96% rejection rate, and your waste to permeate is 3.2:1

That ratio and rejection sounds about right for your situation.

I can't picture what your tank is - is there something there that is slowing the flow?

[KillerReef]

Could it have anything to do with the ASO I mentioned above? Here are a couple pics of the float valve:

Float
closer up

As mentioned above, it has never worked and just kind of moves around the storage container. Just not sure why it would have slowed the flow in the ASO when the water was only 4-6" deep.

[KillerReef]

I was just looking at your site and the way your float valves work is totally different than the way mine works(is supposed to work). Yours seem to work like a toilet's does, but the one in mine just goes up and down inside the tube...

[KillerReef]

I think I will try my next 40 gallons w/o the ASO. There must be something with the way the float is not on place that makes the ASO switch slow the water. If you have any ideas on how to get my float valve to work properly, I would totally appreciate it.

Either way, thank you very much for all your help today. You have been great.

And you have just gained a new customer, especially if your customer service is half as good for your regular customer as it was for me, a non-customer. And looking at your site, your product are much less expensive than what I have been paying.

[Buckeye Hydro]

Originally posted by KillerReef
Could it have anything to do with the ASO I mentioned above? Here are a couple pics of the float valve:

Float
closer up

As mentioned above, it has never worked and just kind of moves around the storage container. Just not sure why it would have slowed the flow in the ASO when the water was only 4-6" deep.

I can't really tell from the pics if you have a problem there or not. An easy way to tell would be to remove the tube from the float and just run the water into a bucket and see how that affects production.

[Buckeye Hydro]

Originally posted by KillerReef
I think I will try my next 40 gallons w/o the ASO. There must be something with the way the float is not on place that makes the ASO switch slow the water. If you have any ideas on how to get my float valve to work properly, I would totally appreciate it.

Either way, thank you very much for all your help today. You have been great.

And you have just gained a new customer, especially if your customer service is half as good for your regular customer as it was for me, a non-customer. And looking at your site, your product are much less expensive than what I have been paying.

Thanks.

What brand is that ASO - or is it a diy deal?

[addicted2reefin]

are u sure that ur temperature is 65 degrees? i run my r/o on absolute cold to save on electricity, and i get MUCH less than when i have hot/cold balanced

[KillerReef]

Originally posted by BuckeyeFS
Thanks.

What brand is that ASO - or is it a diy deal?

no idea, the ASO switch(not pictured) looks just like the one on your site. It came with the storage bucket. It all came from Reefpure(I think that is the company's name) 7-8 years ago. They are no longer around. It might have been his DIY, not sure though...

[KillerReef]

Originally posted by addicted2reefin
are u sure that ur temperature is 65 degrees? i run my r/o on absolute cold to save on electricity, and i get MUCH less than when i have hot/cold balanced

yes I live in socal, so that is about as cold as the water gets. I am running it straight from our outside hose, so there is no temp guage...

[KillerReef]

Originally posted by BuckeyeFS
I can't really tell from the pics if you have a problem there or not. An easy way to tell would be to remove the tube from the float and just run the water into a bucket and see how that affects production.

I'll give that a shot, thanks

[KillerReef]

I am sure the production issue was because of the float valve. I took off the tube as you suggested and I now know how it works.

Basically the float is attached to a stiff wire that goes down to a "trap door" which stops the water which should cause the ASO piston to close off the incoming water. So now I can see how it slowed production at only 4-6"...

Problem I now have is that I think I need a new float as I broke the tubing inside the tank so it will not cause pressure to shut down the ASO. Looks like I'll be placing that order sooner than later...