Solenoid Cutoff switch? Booster cut off? Which 4040 booster?

[steele]

I've been reading loads of posts (Spruce, Tuffers et al) about 4040s and will be getting either the Daqua or Vyair 4040 to install on my van.

I'll be running the water through the night to fill the van tank and I'm trying to understand how the Solenoid Cutoff Switch works. Can some one explain how this is set up to work with the booster pump and how it turns stops the water flow.

From what I gather it's placed inline just before the booster pump, once the tank is full it recognises an increase in pressure and cuts off the water supply in turn turning off the booster pump. Is this right?

Does it need power? Can I connect it to a booster pump?

What booster pump would you all recommend? I've asked Vyair and Daqua but would be interested in some unbiased recommendations.

Thanks

 

[peter rogers]

If you cut the water on a booster and not power. U will destroy it

 

[steele]

If you cut the water on a booster and not power. U will destroy it

ok, that makes sense, how do I do you hook this up? What Kind of solenoid do you use to cut off a booster like this one that Daqua sells

Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems and Water Filters with Axeon Membranes

 

[spruce]

ok, that makes sense, how do I do you hook this up? What Kind of solenoid do you use to cut off a booster like this one that Daqua sells
Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems and Water Filters with Axeon Membranes

One of these

Switched Booster Pump Kit - 240v for PRF-RO systems - Booster Pumps - Water Treatment - Pure Water Systems - All Products Gardiner Pole Systems

and one of these

Liquid Logic™ System Autofill - System Controllers - Pump & System Controllers - Pump & Hose - All Products Gardiner Pole Systems

I have a solenoid valve on the supply pipe just before the first prefilter.

These are all you need. Once the tank is full the float switch in the tank switches off and this cuts power to the solenoid valve switching the water off into the r/o.

The booster pump would be mounted after the prefilters and before the r/o inlet. The electronic control box sold with the unit senses a flow of water when the r/o starts working and switches the booster pump on.

When the solenoid valve switches off the flow stops, the electronic box senses the flow has stopped and switches the booster pump off.

I would ask for 20" prefilter rather than 10" when buying a 4040. You only need these 2 items and the r/o assembly.

If this is permanently mounted in the van, then you can use 12v battery power to run the solenoid valve controller. But you will need to provide 230v for the booster pump.

.

 

[steele]

One of these
Switched Booster Pump Kit - 240v for PRF-RO systems - Booster Pumps - Water Treatment - Pure Water Systems - All Products Gardiner Pole Systems

and one of these

Liquid Logic™ System Autofill - System Controllers - Pump & System Controllers - Pump & Hose - All Products Gardiner Pole Systems

I have a solenoid valve on the supply pipe just before the first prefilter.

These are all you need. Once the tank is full the float switch in the tank switches off and this cuts power to the solenoid valve switching the water off into the r/o.

The booster pump would be mounted after the prefilters and before the r/o inlet. The electronic control box sold with the unit senses a flow of water when the r/o starts working and switches the booster pump on.

When the solenoid valve switches off the flow stops, the electronic box senses the flow has stopped and switches the booster pump off.

I would ask for 20" prefilter rather than 10" when buying a 4040. You only need these 2 items and the r/o assembly.

If this is permanently mounted in the van, then you can use 12v battery power to run the solenoid valve controller. But you will need to provide 230v for the booster pump.

.

Cheers Spruce, That is pretty clear. Do you have a fixed RCD plug or do you run the booster from a portable RCD like one of these.

RCD Adaptor - Toolstation

Also my water is about 300-400ppm from the tap, and was planning on getting a DI vessel but the Daqua doesn't mention the need for one although I'm sure I'll need it. What size DI vessel would you recommend, I'm filling a 1000 litre tank although most days I'll only be filling 600-700 litres.

 

[spruce]

Cheers Spruce, That is pretty clear. Do you have a fixed RCD plug or do you run the booster from a portable RCD like one of these.
RCD Adaptor - Toolstation

Also my water is about 300-400ppm from the tap, and was planning on getting a DI vessel but the Daqua doesn't mention the need for one although I'm sure I'll need it. What size DI vessel would you recommend, I'm filling a 1000 litre tank although most days I'll only be filling 600-700 litres.

I would advise using an RCD, yes. To comply with current electrical regulations all your garage/outbuilding electrics should be covered with RCD protection anyway. If it is then the RCD plug shouldn't be necessary. I believe all new builds have RCD protection through out house and garage. Our house and garage are protected with an RCD unit. It was part of the conditions of getting a mortgage on our house 16 years ago.

Di Vessel.

Yes you need one as an r/o will never bring your product water down to zero. If its too small, you will be changing resin often and if its too big its difficult to manage when you have to empty the old resin.

I have a 6.5 liter di vessel and that suits me fine. In my case I have a bad back and dealing with anything heavier would be much more difficult so that was the main reason for my choice. The other reason for that size was that I was building a wall mounted temperature controlled cabinet to store my complete r/o system in. I didn't want something too big. If Purefreedom included that size di vessel in their 4040 kit, then that was also helpful in making that decision - why reinvent the wheel.

Our di vessel doesn't do much work and the resin lasts for about a year before it starts to climb off zero. I change it at 1. Its not difficult as our r/o rejection rate is 2ppm. /emoticons/wink.png Our tap water tds is between 99 and 125.

Daqua have an 11 liter unit on their site, but that's to difficult to manage for me. It has no handles to hold it when removing the resin by shaking it out.

Gardiners have a resin calculator on their site which will make it a little easier to decide which will be best for you.

Resin_Calculator.xls

My experience is that this resin calculator will give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect.

With a booster pump I'm pretty sure a 98% rejection rate is a good start to work out how long you could expect your resin to last. Lets take the 400 ppm tap water and 700 liters example. I've added 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month. Once running you should get pure out of the r/o at about 8ppm which you will need the resin to polish off.

A 6 liter di vessel will last you 5 weeks and an 11 liter vessel will last you 9 1/2 weeks.

With a tap water tds as yours is I would be inclined to also consider/investigate the possibilities of a water softener to protect your membranes. However, this is a separate exercise. I don't know much about these softeners, so the cost of a softener and running it (salt) and cost of membranes is part of that decision. In other words, using hyperbole, buying a £10000 softener wouldn't justify a saving of £5000 of membranes over the same period of time.

Also of note:

My r/o just switches on when water has been taken from the tank and switches off when its full. This is what you will do as well. There are some cleaners who take into account tds creep when the r/o first starts up.

[media]

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So what happening here is that the user has installed a 2 way valve (or 2 ball valves) on the pure supply after r/o but before the di vessel. The idea is to shut off the first flow of water production from going through your di vessel. Some send it to the drain, others send it into the IBC tank. It just saves a bit of your resin.

I honestly don't bother but with your much higher tds tap water, its probably something worth considering.

.

 

[steele]

I would advise using an RCD, yes. To comply with current electrical regulations all your garage/outbuilding electrics should.....

Spruce, you're are a wealth of Knowledge, thank you so much.

 

[spruce]

Spruce, you're are a wealth of Knowledge, thank you so much.

/emoticons/wink.png

I'm just glad I can help. At the end of the day each of us know ourselves and our circumstances better than anyone else does, so you have to go with what your gut feel says makes the most sense to you and what you want to achieve.

.