Brodex Portapower

[Smurf]

You know you get that gut felling if someone is going to stitch you up. Well that is the gut feeling I get with this chap. Bless him /emoticons/biggrin.png

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[Smurf]

Also not using a carbon filter on any type of ro system is just plain bonkers if you ask me.

 

[spruce]

Spruce , Brodex only fit a sediment filter to their systems, no carbon filter. Also have seen a lot of systems where the "o" ring in the di head where the riser tube sits is taken out. I have my thoughts on this but not for public forums.
I think this membrane is still okay as takes time for membrane to foul with chlorine, not so quick.

Hi Doug. This is probably why we stick to the smaller experts for equipment purchases - the ones who value their reputation.

I have always said that if you buy a used r/o always count on having to replace all filters and membranes. So I expect that the membrane that the OP thought he was getting as a bonus, wasn't.

I had one experience of buying 2 Prolong Ali poles from Brodex and it was a nightmare. What was promised by the telesales wasn't what was delivered. It didn't matter what the salesman had said to get the order of 2 units, they wouldn't abide by their salesman's agreement with me. According to the salesman, the poles were ex stock - no they weren't as it took 3 weeks for them to arrive. I badgered them every second day. They kept telling me they had been dispatched. But they were charged to my credit card immediately.

They also charged the full retail price and not the offer price. They then invoiced another 2 poles against my credit card for the correct price but didn't credit the first 2. They made all sorts of excuses. It took about 4 weeks before the credit came through after many phone calls, but by that time I had to pay 4 poles off on my credit card.

I will never, never deal with them again. Every time they ring me or send me a text I just smile. It's costing them money to try to get me back as a customer who they had in the first place for nothing. Another cardinal mistake the last telesalesman made was to berate the quality of the Gardiner poles I use now. A customer can do that but a supplier should never slag off the opposition to raise the perception of his own offering above it.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone told me this company has also been building in some preplanned obsolescence into their systems to increase their sales of consumables. Having given this missing O ring on the DI riser tube a bit of thought, I can only conclude that the top half of the resin would work and then once that was depleted, the tds would start to rise. Shaking the di vessel may work for a couple of days until the tds started rising again. At that point I would replace the resin. If this is what happens then I would be throwing away some resin which is still ok - replacing resin sooner than I needed to. However, they would only catch me once with this, because I would see the tube was loose in the head and queried it further. I've just replaced the resin in my di vessel and noticed that the o ring isn't a tight fit on the riser tube, so I'm watching this.

A fellow window cleaning business in Middlesbrough needed to replace his pump on his Brodex system. I think they wanted £140.00 + VAT + postage and packing. I think he got the same Shurflo replacement pump from you at half that amount. They wouldn't negotiate a price and even became quite rude - take it or leave it attitude. So there is another customer of theirs they don't have any longer.

Someone else needed a new electronic controller board. In those days Williamson's supplied the controllers. The electronic board from Brodex was twice the price of the equivalent Varistream. A new Varistream was purchased and the board removed from it and fitted to the Brodex control panel. Took 10 minutes.

Whilst we don't have a problem with companies selling stuff at a profit (I don't anyway) I feel this needs to be justified. According to my experience and that of other posters, their customer service is one of the worst in the industry. A glossy coat of new paint isn't enough to hide the company's culture underneath.

 

[spruce]

You know you get that gut felling if someone is going to stitch you up. Well that is the gut feeling I get with this chap. Bless him /emoticons/biggrin.png
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The sound quality on this video says it all about Brodex.

 

[Daniel Mc]

On van systems yes but on their trolley systems no, strange but true! Should be fairly easy to add one on so will def do that before putting another membrane in. Live and learn I guess!!! I bought the trolley for cheap on eBay, but never had any intention of using Brodex for anything else because they are expensive and have a poor reputation for customer service. I got a very good price for what I have and the fact that I received a "free" membrane with it was a bonus but wouldn't have stopped me buying it even if it hadn't come with it. Brodex wanted to sell me a replacement RO when I was there yesterday-300 plus Vat! Anyway, hopefully with a few sensible mods for cheap I will have what I need for a very good price. Happy cleaning!

 

[Smurf]

So did you get to the root of the problem in the end as I thought you said that was a new sealed wrapped membrane you put in?

 

[spruce]

On van systems yes but on their trolley systems no, strange but true! Should be fairly easy to add one on so will def do that before putting another membrane in. Live and learn I guess!!! I bought the trolley for cheap on eBay, but never had any intention of using Brodex for anything else because they are expensive and have a poor reputation for customer service. I got a very good price for what I have and the fact that I received a "free" membrane with it was a bonus but wouldn't have stopped me buying it even if it hadn't come with it. Brodex wanted to sell me a replacement RO when I was there yesterday-300 plus Vat! Anyway, hopefully with a few sensible mods for cheap I will have what I need for a very good price. Happy cleaning!

According to your photo and the video @Smurf linked to, you have 1 preflter. I would remove the sediment filter and replace it with a Fiberdyne carbon block that will also suffice as a sediment filter as well.

On the back of what Doug has highlighted, I would also be tempted to carefully unscrew the riser tube in the di vessel and check for the presence of that O Ring in the rise head.

 

[Daniel Mc]

Yes, I think so. The chlorine appears to have been a problem, also the fact that the membrane had been purchased 4 months prior to my purchase of the system. It was bought from an airport and u have no idea how/where the membrane was stored prior to my installation. The membrane was quite brown after only a week on the outside, which Fileder said could also be from sort of biological contamination.

 

[Daniel Mc]

Good suggestion over the prefilter, cheaper and easier than adding another. It's a spectrum di vessel, checked the o ring yesterday, it was ok.

 

[Smurf]

I'm sure you will get it sorted and don't forget to let us know how you get on as that trolley is defo a handy bit of kit to have :thumbsup:

 

[SHAQ TULLOCH]

I AM HAVING EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM RIGHT NOW!!

 

[Daniel Mc]

I AM HAVING EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM RIGHT NOW!!

Hi mate. Sorry to hear that. I'm still sorting mine out. Not sure where you live but after further investigation it appears that my membrane has indeed suffered from chlorine attack. I am fitting a 20" housing for a Carbon filter as it was recommended to me before I spend money on another membrane! I will keep up the post as I get it sorted and post some pics when it's all done. Do you have a portapower?

 

[SHAQ TULLOCH]

i just cant get my water any lower then 010 at all i just dont want to get a new membrane! i didnt flush my membrane enough i dont think i didnt even know i had to which has annoyed me .. call it common sense but im completely new to the industry so i had now clue. yhyh mate iv linked it to a tank in the van so i can have the best of both worlds (Y) /emoticons/smile.png

 

[Daniel Mc]

I'm not new to window cleaning, 17 years and counting, but I am new to wfp and I'm starting to realise why I had stayed traditional so long-so much simpler! Where are you taking your tds measurement? To test the membrane you need to check the tds of the water between the RO and your resin. Depending on the make and model of the RO you have it should take out between 90-98% of the impurity. So for example, my tap water tds is about 350-375 which means after the RO my water should be about 17 as my RO is rated at 95. The resin will take out the rest. If your readings from the membrane are reasonably low( say 20 or less) then it's more likely the resin is on its way out. Have you changed a membrane before? If not and you decide you need to, just reply to this thread as the chap I spoke to at Brodex when I went up had some useful advice/suggestions. Hope you get it sorted!

 

[SHAQ TULLOCH]

My tds readings vary from 200-250 mainly and my ro reading was 17 actually .. but the lowest im getting now is 008 thats with new resin aswelll so not to shure what else it could be really.. very technical stuff but ill get there in the end lol thanks for you help.. i will be back in touch before i change my membrane as i havent changed it before /emoticons/smile.png thanks again

 

[doug atkinson]

Shaq are you saying 017ppm is the reading after your membrane and after di it is only taking it to 008 ppm.

If so then the route cause is your di vessel. The riser tube which is the tube that goes inside the di head should be a tight fit. Twist and pull to get it out, if it slides out easily then you have a problem.

Pull the riser tube out then and unscrew the filter part on the head. Then looking inside the head you should see 1 or 2 "o" rings glued in. If they are not there you will see a groove.

This will be your problem.

A good way to check to eliminate your resin and pin point the di vessel is pour some resin in a plastic cup and put a pin prick on the bottom.

Pour some water from the r/o pure into the cup and wait until the water starts dripping from the bottom. Test the water and if it is 000 ppm you then know the problem lies with the DI Vessel.

 

[doug atkinson]

Sorry but well annoyed that a so called supplier does this to it's customers. Some may disagree with me putting this up but this is not acceptable.

We sold a 4040 membrane to a Brodex machine customer and have never had any problems in the past. Customer installed membrane and found nothing coming out of the pure so took it to them to look at.

Basically after 4 hours or so they said membrane was faulty and to be returned back to us. Customer charged £500 +

Membrane returned installed in our system and hey presto it works fine. I have a feeling why it did not work for him to do with the back pressure but can be sorted in minutes.

System less than a year old.

My words stop here, rant over. Why do this !!!!

 

[Smurf]

That just goes to show how ppl can easily get ripped off @doug atkinson

 

[SHAQ TULLOCH]

because we kept gettin problems they recommended we part exchanged for there ro 650 ltr.. give back the porta power and module carbon fibre poles and everything and still we would have to pay an extra £1500 wheres the logic in that ? instead i rigged it to my own tank for under £400 and i get the best of both worlds portable and my own water supply. they are awful! NEVER GO BACK.. they have taken advantage of the fact that we are new to the industry and were very vulnerable. glad i had this place to help me out as i probably would of went bust already

 

[Smurf]

That's shocking to hear how they take advantage of people.

Good for you for not taking their bait /emoticons/wink.png

 

[doug atkinson]

Daniel should have said this long time ago. The pump you have is not suited for a 4040 membrane so it will not work to full spec on water production. It will only feed your membrane 3 l/m and membrane needs at least 12 l/m.

Pump will do the job but you can get more flow with a larger pump.