Issues with my RO

[Iron Giant]

So in recent weeks my production had slowed down to the point were it was taking 8-10 hours to produce 300ltrs of pure, I live in a soft water area and tds range is 45-75ppm but my 4 year old 450gpd RO with original membranes was still producing 001ppm so I had being happy, but the waste and pure ratio was near to 50/50 and when i used to flush it the waste would blast out quite powerful but even this had slowed on flush ?

My thoughts were that the membranes must be knackered and need changing so got some ordered swapped them over very cautiously to ensure I didn't mess up pipe work and flushed for over an hour before producing pure. Now i am getting 005ppm and production is slower than before I had changed my carbon pre-filter 3 months ago which is the fancy merlin one which lasts twice as long  :banghead3:  @spruce any ideas at all 

 

[Dave B]

Water pressure?

Our local water company recently put a restrictor valve on the pipework for this area to reduce leaks in the old pipework round here

Consequently the pressure has gone from an excellent 73psi to a disappointing 35psi meaning I had to buy a booster pump to make the ro work properly

 

[Iron Giant]

Think I might have got one waste/pure messed up as I waste output is higher than the pure production

County Durham Lad

 

[Iron Giant]

Water pressure?
Our local water company recently put a restrictor valve on the pipework for this area to reduce leaks in the old pipework round here
Consequently the pressure has gone from an excellent 73psi to a disappointing 35psi meaning I had to buy a booster pump to make the ro work properly
 
 

Just checked visually as don't have a pressure gauge but water pressure has dropped will adjust stop **** first.

County Durham Lad

 

[spruce]

So in recent weeks my production had slowed down to the point were it was taking 8-10 hours to produce 300ltrs of pure, I live in a soft water area and tds range is 45-75ppm but my 4 year old 450gpd RO with original membranes was still producing 001ppm so I had being happy, but the waste and pure ratio was near to 50/50 and when i used to flush it the waste would blast out quite powerful but even this had slowed on flush ?

My thoughts were that the membranes must be knackered and need changing so got some ordered swapped them over very cautiously to ensure I didn't mess up pipe work and flushed for over an hour before producing pure. Now i am getting 005ppm and production is slower than before I had changed my carbon pre-filter 3 months ago which is the fancy merlin one which lasts twice as long  :banghead3:  @spruce any ideas at all 

This is similar to @Dave Bcomments. In Saltburn our water pressure has also dropped by about 5psi lately. I changed prefilters last night and noticed the difference. Our tap water tds has also gone up from 99 two weeks ago to 122 yesterday.

Some have experienced an increase in output tds when changing membranes which settles down after a while.

I'm cautious about using my Fiberdyne carbon block prefilter as a sediment filter as well. I don't know where this sediment laden water comes from, but although this last sediment filter lasted the full 77k (20") since the last filter change, it was laden with red slim. So my suggestion is to change the prefilter.

I've stuck with the Fiberdyne from Gardiners as it has a 5 micron rating. I once bought a much more expensive carbon block once which was a 1 micron, and even with the sediment filter it was blocked up well before its service life. (I can't remember what its service life was exactly; 153k seems to come to mind, but it only lasted to about 40k. I tried to backflush it but it didn't work.)

In my experience with a 450gpd over 6 years, it would take around 24 hours to fill a 1000 liter IBC tank in summer. In winter it went to 34 hours. So your current 300 liters in 8 to 10 hours is similar to what mine produced.

So I would change the carbon block filter and see if there is any difference.

.

 

[Iron Giant]

 
This is similar to [mention=1286]Dave B[/mention]comments. In Saltburn our water pressure has also dropped by about 5psi lately. I changed prefilters last night and noticed the difference. Our tap water tds has also gone up from 99 two weeks ago to 122 yesterday.
 
Some have experienced an increase in output tds when changing membranes which settles down after a while.
 
I'm cautious about using my Fiberdyne carbon block prefilter as a sediment filter as well. I don't know where this sediment laden water comes from, but although this last sediment filter lasted the full 77k (20") since the last filter change, it was laden with red slim. So my suggestion is to change the prefilter.
I've stuck with the Fiberdyne from Gardiners as it has a 5 micron rating. I once bought a much more expensive carbon block once which was a 1 micron, and even with the sediment filter it was blocked up well before its service life. (I can't remember what its service life was exactly; 153k seems to come to mind, but it only lasted to about 40k. I tried to backflush it but it didn't work.)
 
In my experience with a 450gpd over 6 years, it would take around 24 hours to fill a 1000 liter IBC tank in summer. In winter it went to 34 hours. So your current 300 liters in 8 to 10 hours is similar to what mine produced.
 
So I would change the carbon block filter and see if there is any difference.
 
.

Thanks Spruce I will do a that. I turned outside tap on with hose disconnected slowly from a half turn to fully open and their was no difference to the flow from the tap.

County Durham Lad

 

[CHWS]

Mines playing up also. Water is coming out 1 after the resin so I changed it and it’s still coming out at 1. Also changed my pre filter and still the same 

 

[Iron Giant]

Tap tds is 58ppm so not high at all really. But the tap pressure could be the issue as it has dropped considerably.

County Durham Lad

 

[Iron Giant]

If I need a booster pump were is the most suitable place to buy one. [emoji5]

County Durham Lad

 

[spruce]

The Aquatec one seems to be the most highly rated.

Could this drop in pressure just be weather related? If it is then the pressure should be back up later in the year.

Just to get back to your r/o. I realise that linking membranes together the way yours is does save water, but I could never get my head around it tbh.

When we got our 450gpd (it was originally a 225gpd which I upgraded the membranes to 450) the pipe from the carbon block filter was divided into 3 and each membrane inlet was feed by the same tds of tap water. Then all the wastes were joined together before the restrictor valve and then went to the drain. Pure were also joined together and went to storage.

My reasoning is that water goes through your first membrane which removes say 98% of the dissolved solids. That water with the extra concentration of dissolved solids is then flushed away to the drain. But what yours is doing is taking that much higher tds water and introducing it into the second membrane and then the third membrane.

Does connecting the membranes up this way impact on the final pure quality?

It would be interesting to hear if @doug atkinsonhas a comment on this.

 

[Iron Giant]

The Aquatec one seems to be the most highly rated.
 
Could this drop in pressure just be weather related? If it is then the pressure should be back up later in the year.
 
Just to get back to your r/o. I realise that linking membranes together the way yours is does save water, but I could never get my head around it tbh.
When we got our 450gpd (it was originally a 225gpd which I upgraded the membranes to 450) the pipe from the carbon block filter was divided into 3 and each membrane inlet was feed by the same tds of tap water. Then all the wastes were joined together before the restrictor valve and then went to the drain. Pure were also joined together and went to storage.
My reasoning is that water goes through your first membrane which removes say 98% of the dissolved solids. That water with the extra concentration of dissolved solids is then flushed away to the drain. But what yours is doing is taking that much higher tds water and introducing it into the second membrane and then the third membrane.
 
Does connecting the membranes up this way impact on the final pure quality?
 
It would be interesting to hear if [mention=156]doug atkinson[/mention]has a comment on this.
 

It's one of Dougs [emoji16]

County Durham Lad

 

[doug atkinson]

To me it looks as if it is corrected wrong but will be able to see clearly on the computer when I’m back in the office. Will let you know once I’ve looked at it as you have some tubes going the wrong way I think.

 

[P4dstar]

Could this drop in pressure just be weather related? If it is then the pressure should be back up later in the year.

I had a drop in pressure this week, tap isn't getting past 45PSI. I spotted a guy from severn trent working on a local new build so I stopped to ask him. He said it was likely the weather, something to do with how the water reacts differently to the pipes in the warm weather. He also said I may find the water isn't as clean as it usually is and sure enough my TDS has been sitting between 185 and 215 all week (Glad I bought that single TDS monitor for the input now)

 

[Iron Giant]

To me it looks as if it is corrected wrong but will be able to see clearly on the computer when I’m back in the office. Will let you know once I’ve looked at it as you have some tubes going the wrong way I think.

Thanks Doug and everyone else for advice, So this morning at just after 5pm I replaced the carbon filter and after removing the sediment filter a while back i put a new one in also tap pressure is back up and production is 000ppm 


The ro spluttered like anything on flush pushing the air out and the overall pressure i am used is currently resumed, But yesterday my wife pipes up after about 15 minutes of me boring her with the details and says ooh the water board where round the other day looking to fit the neighbour a water meter and they knocked and asked if the water pressure was good she tried the basin tap which has a restrictor on anyway and told them yes it's fine  :banghead3: ?

 

[Iron Giant]

In my experience with a 450gpd over 6 years, it would take around 24 hours to fill a 1000 liter IBC tank in summer. In winter it went to 34 hours. So your current 300 liters in 8 to 10 hours is similar to what mine produced.

.

300ltrs in less than 7hrs is what I am used to through the warmer months which is what it produced yesterday it will take maybe up to 10 hours through the colder months