Burning thru DI resin

[chopper320]

I am burning thru di resin like crazy ever since moving to my new house. I get about 120 gallon of good water before it's completely spent. The tds coming out of the membrane and into the di is between 2-4.

The pressure coming into the filter is always above 60 psi. I'm also noticing that my sediment filter is turning completely yellow in about that same time fram so every 120 gallons I'm changing out the pre filters and the di resin.

I had this same unit at my old house and the tds measurements were about the same but the di lasted more than 2x as long and the prefilters lasted way longer.

Any ideas on what could be causing that? It's getting really expensive to make water.

[wrott]

Maybe chloramine in new water supply?

[disc1]

Are you on a well? Measure the pH out of the tap. If it is below 7 you may need to blow off CO2 before you run through the DI stage. That's the most common reason for this anyway if you are sure that the membrane is working and not leaking.

[chopper320]

I'm not on a well. If the membrane was leaking, it would drop out of the unit right? I'm still getting about a 98% rejection rate out of it.

Is there an easy way to test for chloramine? Is there anything I could do about it if I did find chloramine?

[nereefpat]

Bulk reef supply sells strips to test.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/insta-...66oaAuWJ8P8HAQ

You can also ask the city if they use chloramine.

There are cartridges for RODI units specifically for chloramine. Catalytic carbon usually.

[Kt8]

Check carbon dioxide level in water. Spectrapure makes a test kit. I'm in northwest Indiana and had same problem, I was getting around 100 gallons and resin was shot. My carbon dioxide level was high. Now I run water through prefilter, carbon and membrane into a brute can, run a bubbler in it for 24 hrs(gets the carbon dioxide out), then pump it through the resin. I now get months of water before having to change out the resin.

[tkeracer619]

I don't think it's chloramines unless your municipal switched to it this year, I went back a few years and it looks like they have been using chlorine exclusively for several years.

Probably CO2.

You test for chloramines by using a total ammonia test kit on your tap water. You test breakthrough by testing total chlorine on the waste water of your to.

The jungle buddies ammonia test strips from Wal-Mart register for chloramines in your tap water.

[CuhRaig]

According to this Indianapolis uses Chloramines.

https://www.dudegrows.com/watercheck/

[Rich1Reef]

I had a similar problem with my old house. Then one day the wifey wanted to get a Rainsoft System. I was like ..... YES! It was expensive but I do think after enough time it would pay for itself in resin ...... a while. When we moved ..... I took it with me lol. Now I get about 9 months out of my resin.

[Rallos]

Originally Posted by Kt8

Check carbon dioxide level in water. Spectrapure makes a test kit. I'm in northwest Indiana and had same problem, I was getting around 100 gallons and resin was shot. My carbon dioxide level was high. Now I run water through prefilter, carbon and membrane into a brute can, run a bubbler in it for 24 hrs(gets the carbon dioxide out), then pump it through the resin. I now get months of water before having to change out the resin.

Where in NWI? I am moving to Dyer soon and am curious if I'm gonna need to do something similar.

[chopper320]

Sorry I need to update my profile since I moved. I live in Danville Indiana now. I tried to find a list of what they treat the water with but I don't know where to look.

I will try to test for carbon dioxide and chloramines. The solution for carbon dioxide sounds like a pain in the butt. Do you use a booster pump to pump it back thru the rodi after you bubble it for 24 hrs?

[chopper320]

One other thing I forgot to mention. At my old house, it came straight out of my rodi system and into the container about 6 feet away. At this house, I run it up thru the attic and back down about 30 feet away. Would this make any difference in di usage?

[tkeracer619]

Nah, it won't. Call the water company and ask about chloramines. I wasn't able to find the water quality report.

[chopper320]

So I finally got in touch with the water company and they confirmed that they do use chloramines because the ammonia level is so high.

With that being said, what is the best way to deal with that? Just use the chloramine carbon cartridges? That comes after the sediment filter so I guess I will just burn thru sediment filters really quickly?

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Yes, you need more carbon up front.

Sediment filter usage shouldn't change due to chloramine in the water or due to changes in the carbon filter configuration. That said, sediment filters are dirt cheap bought in bulk so I'm not sure it would bug me if they were used up quickly - especially compared to (very expensive) DI resin or even carbon filters.

[chopper320]

Would I get by with just replacing my normal carbon stage with the chloramine carbon filter or do I need to add a whole new stage and have 2 carbon filters?

Ever since I've moved, my sediment filters turn yellow after about 50 gallons so I assumed it was related to the same thing. I'd definitely rather replace the sediment filters than anything else but I still wish it wasn't THAT frequent.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Yellow color in the sediment filter doesn't automatically mean it's done. I would be shocked if it was truly used up at 50 gallons unless you have very dirty water. I'd expect at least hundreds of gallons if not more. Ideally you'd have a pressure gauge right before the membrane and you'd replace the sediment filter when it dropped below the threshold you needed for your membrane. Few people are probably doing that, though.

Regarding your choice of carbon stage(s) - it's really going to depend on the specific brand and model you're talking about. And on your philosophy about maintenance. A cheaper, lower-spec carbon cartridge in front of an expensive "chloramines" carbon cart will allow the more expensive cart to last much longer. Two filters will probably result in more pressure drop, causing your wasteroduct ratio to go up. And so on. Honestly, the best bet is probably to contact the vendor you're buying from and ask them.

Personally, I use a 5 micron sediment filter, a 5 micron carbon block, and a 1 micron carbon block. I've used this combination for years (decades?) regardless of my source water.

All this said, you may end up discovering that even if you add more carbon, you're still burning DI thanks to CO2. The presence of chloramine in the water doesn't mean there aren't also other problems.

[Kt8]

Originally Posted by Rallos

Where in NWI? I am moving to Dyer soon and am curious if I'm gonna need to do something similar.

St. John, about 10 minutes from Dyer.

[tkeracer619]

You may be able to get away with a single 10" chloramine specific filter, though, I recommend using Size 4 Big Blue cartridge with a chloramine specific cartridge.

You do not want your carbon blocks to act as a sediment filter, especially an expensive chloramine block.

Here is my experience with Chloramine filter blocks and also what I recommend you do. You will save money long term all things considered.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2483520

Minimally you will want at least two carbon stages. Ideally you would want 3. What system do you have now and how many 10" stages does it have?

This is an ideal setup when dealing with chloramines. If you don't have 2 carbon stages now omit the .5 micron carbon block.

1 Micron Sediment > Chlorplus 20BB > Chlorplus 10 > .5 micron carbon > RO Membrane > Spectrapure Silica Buster > Maxcap DI

The specialized carbon blocks split chloramines into chlorine and ammonia. They ONLY deal with the chlorine component. The ammonia component is taken care of by your DI, specifically Cation Resin. If you only use a single mixed bed DI cartridge the Cation component will exhaust rapidly. This is why I recommend the silica buster before a mixed bed resin. It is Cation heavy and will remove the same amount of ammonia as several standard mixed bed cartridges. If you only have a single stage DI and the cation exhausts you will dump ammonia into your tank.

I have gone to extremes to prevent ammonia and chloramines from getting into my systems. This stuff is a nightmare. Spending more money up front will pay for itself down the road.

Remember that Chloramines and ammonia are dissolved gasses, not solids, so a TDS meter reading 0ppm TDS can be lethal.
Once you have the proper carbon blocks and DI remember contact time is everything. The longer the contact time the better.

[chopper320]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

You may be able to get away with a single 10" chloramine specific filter, though, I recommend using Size 4 Big Blue cartridge with a chloramine specific cartridge.

You do not want your carbon blocks to act as a sediment filter, especially an expensive chloramine block.

Here is my experience with Chloramine filter blocks and also what I recommend you do. You will save money long term all things considered.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2483520

Minimally you will want at least two carbon stages. Ideally you would want 3. What system do you have now and how many 10" stages does it have?

This is an ideal setup when dealing with chloramines. If you don't have 2 carbon stages now omit the .5 micron carbon block.

1 Micron Sediment > Chlorplus 20BB > Chlorplus 10 > .5 micron carbon > RO Membrane > Spectrapure Silica Buster > Maxcap DI

The specialized carbon blocks split chloramines into chlorine and ammonia. They ONLY deal with the chlorine component. The ammonia component is taken care of by your DI, specifically Cation Resin. If you only use a single mixed bed DI cartridge the Cation component will exhaust rapidly. This is why I recommend the silica buster before a mixed bed resin. It is Cation heavy and will remove the same amount of ammonia as several standard mixed bed cartridges. If you only have a single stage DI and the cation exhausts you will dump ammonia into your tank.

I have gone to extremes to prevent ammonia and chloramines from getting into my systems. This stuff is a nightmare. Spending more money up front will pay for itself down the road.

Remember that Chloramines and ammonia are dissolved gasses, not solids, so a TDS meter reading 0ppm TDS can be lethal.
Once you have the proper carbon blocks and DI remember contact time is everything. The longer the contact time the better.

Thanks for all of that info. I just read your other thread on your results. I currently have a typical 4 stage with 1 sediment>1 carbon block>RO membrane>DI resin. Before reading your response, I ordered another housing to add in a second 10" carbon block with the BRS chloramine reducing carbon blocks.

It sounds like I need to invest in the 20" BB and add a silica buster stage. I can't believe you've had the same filter for 2 years and it's still working. That makes the big expense much easier to swallow.

[Potatohead]

Some pretty great info in this thread.