Reverse flushing RO

[Dave Maycock]

I know flushing the RO membrane by fully opening the waste exit valve is important to do regularly. But I've heard of people 'reverse flushing' (I think).

I presume this is pumping pure water in through the 'product' port, from where it came, so the water pushes out back through the membrane? Presumably with the waste exit valve fully open.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Or tell me if this is something I have imagined

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[Dave B]

Nah it is just what some people call flushing

 

[AGlassAct]

You can use ‘pure’ supply instead of tap water. Some of the New Ionic system set ups pump pure back in so the membrane is sitting in pure water until you next produce water - the theory being the membrane will last longer as it’s not in contact with all the contaminants. Not sure (without scratching my head) how easy it would be and how much water it would take but I’m quite happy knowing my membrane will last 3-5 years by just flushing it on a weekly basis


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[mufcglen]

Just to be clear guys I’m a newbie to ro, flushing reverse flushing is just open the waste gate fully open and let it run for however long then close it off partially to make pure?

 

[Dave Maycock]

I have a friend who used to work in print and he says it's called back flush. Different to normal flush


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[spruce]

At one time Merlin used to sell an optional flush tank which was an add one accessory for their r/o.

The membranes on a Merlin were unable to be flushed due to the r/o's design. (The pure outlet goes to a tap in the kitchen. When the tap was switched off the pressure buildup will switch the input to the r/o off.)

For what I understand, the water pressure build up in the pure system section of the r/o filled a bladder tank. Once the r/o shut off, the pure from the tank bled back through the membranes and out of the waste to the drain.

The Merlin had a specific port for this accessory.

How successful it was I don't know.

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-3604-ge-merlin-flush-kit.aspx

 

[Dave Maycock]

https://www.lenntech.com/membrane-cleaning.htm seems to be a thing


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[spruce]

I have a friend who used to work in print and he says it's called back flush. Different to normal flush


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Sea going yachts usually have a reverse osmosis water maker on board.

When they finish filling their tanks with pure water, they then pump a little of that water back through the membranes back out to sea. I'm not sure if the main reason is the flush the membrane with clean water or to pump the salt water in the system pipes and pump out. It could well be both.

 

[spruce]

Just to be clear guys I’m a newbie to ro, flushing reverse flushing is just open the waste gate fully open and let it run for however long then close it off partially to make pure?

Most of us just open the waste gate fully for a few minutes and let the water flush the membranes.

 

[Nudel]

I have a friend who used to work in print and he says it's called back flush. Different to normal flush

A friend of mine cleaned / renewed his membranes with caustic soda. I do believe he ran it through backwards / the pure outlet. Went from 75 to 150lph.