Linking RO units

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this. I have a 300 gpd RO system, but need to produce more pure, so is it possible to put a splitter from my outside tap to two 300 gpd RO systems in order to produce more? I have 5.5 bar of pressure at the moment going to my 300gpd system and wondered if I hooked in another, would they produce equal amounts or do I need to sell the 300 gpd system and buy a 600 gpd RO system? your help on this would be very much appreciated... 

DavieB said:

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this. I have a 300 gpd RO system, but need to produce more pure, so is it possible to put a splitter from my outside tap to two 300 gpd RO systems in order to produce more? I have 5.5 bar of pressure at the moment going to my 300gpd system and wondered if I hooked in another, would they produce equal amounts or do I need to sell the 300 gpd system and buy a 600 gpd RO system? your help on this would be very much appreciated... 

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As you say; put a splitter before the first r/o and run it to the second r/o. You need to treat them as 2 separate r/o's. You could join the pure outlets together into a bigger hose and do the same with the wastes. You don't want the waste from one interfering with the waste to pure ratio from the other.

However, I would recommend you rather sell your r/o on Ebay and go for a 4021 which will give you approx 1liter of pure a minute with 50psi of water pressure. A 4040 will give you approx 2 liters of pure a minute.

You obviously need more water. Without enough water we can't grow our business. Water is our life blood, without it we can't work and earn. We ran a  275gpd for a year and then upgraded the membranes to 450gpd for 6 years. When I look back I can't believe how much having insufficient water throttled our business growth.

spruce said:

As you say; put a splitter before the first r/o and run it to the second r/o. You need to treat them as 2 separate r/o's. You could join the pure outlets together into a bigger hose and do the same with the wastes. You don't want the waste from one interfering with the waste to pure ratio from the other.

However, I would recommend you rather sell your r/o on Ebay and go for a 4021 which will give you approx 1liter of pure a minute with 50psi of water pressure. A 4040 will give you approx 2 liters of pure a minute.

You obviously need more water. Without enough water we can't grow our business. Water is our life blood, without it we can't work and earn. We ran a  275gpd for a year and then upgraded the membranes to 450gpd for 6 years. When I look back I can't believe how much having insufficient water throttled our business growth.

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Is it then possible for me to replace the Membrane in my 300gpd RO for a bigger one or add another membrane into the existing RO system to produce more instead of adding another RO, or is it better to just replace the system for something bigger? I'm trying to keep the outlay down to a minimum at the present time as I have just taken on another member of staff and cashflow isn't quite as good as I would like it, as i'm sure all us window cleaners are aware, late payers, non payers etc;

DavieB said:

Is it then possible for me to replace the Membrane in my 300gpd RO for a bigger one or add another membrane into the existing RO system to produce more instead of adding another RO, or is it better to just replace the system for something bigger? I'm trying to keep the outlay down to a minimum at the present time as I have just taken on another member of staff and cashflow isn't quite as good as I would like it, as i'm sure all us window cleaners are aware, late payers, non payers etc;

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If you have 2 membrane housings each with a 150gpd membrane then you could add another housing and membrane to make it 450gpd. Add on kits were available from RoMan at one time. You will also need to check the restrictor on the waste. If its a fixed unit then you will have to get the right one. If its an adjustable tap then you will just need to adjust your waste to pure ratio until your membranes are working at their most efficient.

We were always told that 3 x 150gpd membranes are the most you can put on a RoMan type r/o using 1/4" standard hose. 1/4" hose won't supply enough water to supply any more membranes. (I can remember reading one report where a cleaner says he successfully added a 4th housings, but I haven't seen this first hand.)

The 2 of us found we could just manage with a 450gpd with forward planning. This meant filling my van up on Saturday and son's van up on Sunday. By Monday evening we would have a full IBC tank and I would again fill my van on Monday evening and son's van on Tuesday morning. The r/o virtually ran 24/7. It was on a float switch and solenoid valve so might switch off in the early hours of the morning when the IBC tank was full.

When son in law joined us the 450gpd wouldn't supply all our needs. We struggled through for a year and I often went without water when the 2 lads had enough for themselves. Sometimes I was glad we couldn't work one day due to bad weather as it gave us a bit of breathing space with regard to water production.

It was only when we invested in the 4040 that we realised how we battled. So I would always recommend a decent size r/o. Its based on my personal experience of failure.

Our water is relatively soft (130ppm atm) so we could have used a di vessel to supplement our water needs in an 'emergency,' but the cost of resin would have impressed upon us that it would be a very temporary solution.

spruce said:

If you have 2 membrane housings each with a 150gpd membrane then you could add another housing and membrane to make it 450gpd. Add on kits were available from RoMan at one time. You will also need to check the restrictor on the waste. If its a fixed unit then you will have to get the right one. If its an adjustable tap then you will just need to adjust your waste to pure ratio until your membranes are working at their most efficient.

We were always told that 3 x 150gpd membranes are the most you can put on a RoMan type r/o using 1/4" standard hose. 1/4" hose won't supply enough water to supply any more membranes. (I can remember reading one report where a cleaner says he successfully added a 4th housings, but I haven't seen this first hand.)

The 2 of us found we could just manage with a 450gpd with forward planning. This meant filling my van up on Saturday and son's van up on Sunday. By Monday evening we would have a full IBC tank and I would again fill my van on Monday evening and son's van on Tuesday morning. The r/o virtually ran 24/7. It was on a float switch and solenoid valve so might switch off in the early hours of the morning when the IBC tank was full.

When son in law joined us the 450gpd wouldn't supply all our needs. We struggled through for a year and I often went without water when the 2 lads had enough for themselves. Sometimes I was glad we couldn't work one day due to bad weather as it gave us a bit of breathing space with regard to water production.

It was only when we invested in the 4040 that we realised how we battled. So I would always recommend a decent size r/o. Its based on my personal experience of failure.

Our water is relatively soft (130ppm atm) so we could have used a di vessel to supplement our water needs in an 'emergency,' but the cost of resin would have impressed upon us that it would be a very temporary solution.

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Thanks for your input, really helped. Much appreciated