I asked my mrs to turn my water off last night which she has done plenty of times. Woke up to the garage flooded and a full tank of water . She fully closed the valve on the ro. What’s the chances of it being damaged ??? 12 hours it was producing fully closed
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Ro left on fully closed
- Thread starter CHWS
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This is one for @spruce I reckon.... Probably a sign you should buy that 4040 you've been after though ?
On a basic level I know that it means all the sh1t has been flowing through the membrane for the 12 hours. I will take an educated guess this will clog it up so first thing to do is flush it, probably for quite a while.
On a basic level I know that it means all the sh1t has been flowing through the membrane for the 12 hours. I will take an educated guess this will clog it up so first thing to do is flush it, probably for quite a while.
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- Messages
- 3,958
- Location
- Gloucestershire
The only thing you can do is test its water output @CHWS to see if the membrane is damaged or not after you have flushed it.
If its damaged then the rejection rate will be poor. If it is then you have to weigh up whether you stick with it with your low tds input and use more resin (if you use resin in the first place) or whether you start again and replace the membrane.
When I built up my 4040 I used a 1/2" BSP gate valve to control the waste. I wasn't 100% sure that son or son in law, both of whom also drew water, might not fiddle with the valve. So I drilled a 1.5mm hole through the paddle of the valve. This would ensure that some water went to waste even if the valve was completely shut.
Purefreedom do this, but I believe the hole they drill is a little bigger as they want a 2 waste to 1 pure when the valve is completely shut. My 4040 works better at around a 55 to 45 waste to pure ratio, hence the smaller hole. It enables me to play around with the ratio to get the membrane working at its most efficient. I have an inline tds meter to help with this.
If its damaged then the rejection rate will be poor. If it is then you have to weigh up whether you stick with it with your low tds input and use more resin (if you use resin in the first place) or whether you start again and replace the membrane.
When I built up my 4040 I used a 1/2" BSP gate valve to control the waste. I wasn't 100% sure that son or son in law, both of whom also drew water, might not fiddle with the valve. So I drilled a 1.5mm hole through the paddle of the valve. This would ensure that some water went to waste even if the valve was completely shut.
Purefreedom do this, but I believe the hole they drill is a little bigger as they want a 2 waste to 1 pure when the valve is completely shut. My 4040 works better at around a 55 to 45 waste to pure ratio, hence the smaller hole. It enables me to play around with the ratio to get the membrane working at its most efficient. I have an inline tds meter to help with this.
So basically once flushed and I put it back to where I usually have it set it should put out the same TDS reading ?
Yes. The only way is the test it the way you had it and see how it performs. Nobody can say for sure if you got away with it or not. If you asked a supplier they would tell you that 'you' have damaged the membrane because in most instances you will have.
But the only way is to test it yourself. If your rejection rate of your r/o was 97% and still is when you test it, then your membrane has survived. * (see note below.)
If its been partially damaged then your rejection rate will show that. If your rejection rate is now 94% then this is when some suppliers consider its time to change your membrane.
But at 55ppm your tap water tds is low. If your membrane was performimg to spec (say 97%) then the tds of your pure will be 2ppm (1.65). If your rejection rate drops to 94% then pure output is 3 or 4ppm. That's isn't going to cost much more in resin and you could possibly still clean windows with 4ppm.
Obviously if your tap water tds was much higher, say 400ppm, then a 94% rejection rate would use much more resin. In that case its time to replace the membrane.
* The other thing to watch for is the amount of pure water the r/o is now producing. Those filtered dissolved solids will normally get flushed away in the waste water. When the waste water tap is completely closed those dissolved solids have no where to go and will start to clog the membrane. Flushing might remove some but not all. If your r/o is now producing 1lpm of pure when it produced 2lpm before then this is another thing to consider.
I have my r/o on the float switch and solenoid valve. When the tank is full the float switch deactivates the 'normally closed' solenoid valve which shuts the water off to the r/o.
This gives me peace of mind as I can go to bed with the r/o running.
The other thing I did was to drill a hole above the normal water line in my IBC tank and fit a hose fitting with a length of hose which runs under the garage door to the drain outside. Should the solenoid valve stick or stay open for whatever reason, that hose will stop the garage flooding out. Its done its job once in 12 years (my fault).
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doug atkinson
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It is more than likely damaged but try flushing for around 20 mins no more then see what the results are like. If production has slowed down and ppm increased then the membrane is damaged.
Don't take it out on your misses mistakes happen. Remember they never forget and it will bite you back one day. Years of experience ?
Don't take it out on your misses mistakes happen. Remember they never forget and it will bite you back one day. Years of experience ?
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@spruce I like the drilled hole with hose, I must do that as I've had to use my booster pump this week with a major drop in pressure, I thought 30 minutes on and off over 3-4 hours and it would be fine after just over 3hrs of production it was pouring out of the tank, just as well my wife was home aka my float switch, when i remember to text her ?
dazmond
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good stuff...so no damage done....?
however with such low tap tds of 55 id be DI only if i were you....its far less hassle than messing about with ROs and much quicker and convenient to purify your water....
I was di only but bought the ro as my tap water was quite a bit higher and then went back down. I seemed to be using a lot of resin aswell
