Help with reverse osmosis setup.

[spacecop9999]

Hello everyone!

I have just put together my first reverse osmosis system that was stand alone and not one of those 3 stage under the sink things.

No matter how long the system is running the TDS wont get below 700 and is around 900 after it's been through all the filters. I have tried putting a booster pump in as well to no avail helping lower the tds.

My water source is hard well water. I am running 1500tds straight from the ground and into the system Then the water goes through a 1 micron sediment filter and then through 2x 1micron gac filters back to back where it takes off and goes into the shutoff valve. Leaving the shut off valve it goes into a splitter and from the splitter each line goes 1x line to each of the 150gpd ro membranes on the input side. Out of the pure side on each ro membrane they are piped together and go to the di media and leave the di media and then go to a splitter for the storage tank. The waste sides of both of the ro membranes each have 1500cc capillary flow restrictors on each waste line where they are also going into a splitter and out the side of the building into the grass.

Not sure what to do at this point I have thrown so much money trying to solve this problem but I have finally put my pride aside and am willing to take advice from pretty much everyone at this point. I have attached photos of the whole setup as well.

Please leave a message if you know what's wrong or a suggestion of what might can help.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[threebuoys]

Two thoughts,

One, are all of your seals in the canisters tight so water flow cannot bypass?

Is the capillary flow restrictor too much? I use a 600cc flow restrictor in mine (came with the setup). I get a fair amount of waste water, but my good water is about 3 - 4 tds.

 

[Snoopy 67]

You are on a well, Strike 1.
Most times well water has too much CO2 and has to be De-Gassed before it runs through the DI cartridges or it depletes them FAST.
Check with either Spectrapure or Buckeye Hydro for help.

 

[spacecop9999]

Two thoughts,

One, are all of your seals in the canisters tight so water flow cannot bypass?

Is the capillary flow restrictor too much? I use a 600cc flow restrictor in mine (came with the setup). I get a fair amount of waste water, but my good water is about 3 - 4 tds.

Thank you for your reply, the company that I bought this system from said that you take your TDS of the incoming water and that is your restrictor in CC. So my incoming water Is anywhere from 1300 to 1500 TDS all day long. So that is the one that they sent me with the kit.

 

[threebuoys]

That restrictor still seems to be the only variable that might affect your system efficiency unless all of the canisters are plugged. see if this article sheds more light.

How to Size a Reverse Osmosis Flow Restrictor (+ Sizing Chart)

How to know what size flow restrictor works with your particular RO system? Thankfully, there is an easy formula to figure it out...

www.best-osmosis-systems.com

 

[spacecop9999]

thanks. I changed them all this morning every single one. Nothing clogged and still looking brand new. I'm not sure what else to do at this point lol.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Take a step back.

Test one membrane at a time, no DI.

Waste into one bucket and product into another.
Tells us the TDS of the input and output.
Tell us the ratio of the product to waste.

Do this for both membrane separately. I would temp re-plumb without the Ys and complicated plumbing for the tests. Test both flow restrictors as well.

 

[spacecop9999]

Take a step back.

Test one membrane at a time, no DI.

Waste into one bucket and product into another.
Tells us the TDS of the input and output.
Tell us the ratio of the product to waste.

Do this for both membrane separately. I would temp re-plumb without the Ys and complicated plumbing for the tests. Test both flow restrictors as well.

Thanks ! I will report back later today!

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Feel free to give us a call when you are in front of the system.

Russ

 

[SPS2020]

1500 TDS...wow! I'm on a well and mine is 36 TDS. I must be super lucky. Looking forward to hearing how this works out for you!

 

[14 foot reef]

Feel free to give us a call when you are in front of the system.

Russ

This is why I buy everything from Russ at Buckeye Hydro.
Russ is going to one on one help a reefer who did not buy his equipment, but is still willing to invest his personal time to help out one of our forum members !!!!!!
How many other company owners would do that? answer is, almost none.
Thanks Russ for always being here for the Reefing Community.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Thank you sir we appreciate your business!

 

[spacecop9999]

Hey everyone! Sorry it took a while to get back to you all. Just wanted to reply and give you guys an update on the situation. The situation seems resolved now. I changed from 2x 150gpd membranes to 1x 400gpd membrane. I also changed the waste line restrictor from 1500cc on this new 400 gpd ro membrane to 800cc restrictor, then added 2x more di cartridges in line after the pure water comes out of the membrane. So now I have it setup like this: water source(well) ---> a 1micron sediment filter ---> 1 micron carbon block ---> 1 micron carbon block ---> 400gpd ro membrane ---> di cartridge ---> di cartridge ---> di cartridge ---> usable water!

Incoming water from the well is still 1600 tds and I added a mister to the holding tank of the well to "degass the water". I am getting 135 tds after the 400gpd ro membrane on the pure side. Then after the first di canister I am getting 75 tds. After the second DI canister I am getting 10 tds and after the third DI canister I am getting 0-2 tds.

Thank you to everyone for all your help and ideas and also to the generous offer of help from Buckeye Hydro. Even though I never bought any equipment from him it is still nice to see the community come together to try to help one another. I am just hoping with such a high tds that these di cartridges don't eat me out of house and home.. I have ordered a digital gallon per minute usage meter I am going to put on the water line to see how many gallons are being made before these cartridges start dying as well. Someone also told me to use a 20x4.5 in big blue DI cartridge and I'd only need one to accomplish the same thing but I am not sure. I have the DI cartridges in see through containers now so ill know when to start looking for that orange color to see if they're going bad.

 

[Gtinnel]

Hey everyone! Sorry it took a while to get back to you all. Just wanted to reply and give you guys an update on the situation. The situation seems resolved now. I changed from 2x 150gpd membranes to 1x 400gpd membrane. I also changed the waste line restrictor from 1500cc on this new 400 gpd ro membrane to 800cc restrictor, then added 2x more di cartridges in line after the pure water comes out of the membrane. So now I have it setup like this: water source(well) ---> a 1micron sediment filter ---> 1 micron carbon block ---> 1 micron carbon block ---> 400gpd ro membrane ---> di cartridge ---> di cartridge ---> di cartridge ---> usable water!

Incoming water from the well is still 1600 tds and I added a mister to the holding tank of the well to "degass the water". I am getting 135 tds after the 400gpd ro membrane on the pure side. Then after the first di canister I am getting 75 tds. After the second DI canister I am getting 10 tds and after the third tds 0-2 tds.

Thank you to everyone for all your help and ideas and also to the generous offer of help from Buckeye Hydro. Even though I never bought any equipment from him it is still nice to see the community come together to try to help one another. I am just hoping with such a high tds that these di cartridges don't eat me out of house and home.. I have ordered a digital gallon per minute usage meter I am going to put on the water line to see how many gallons are being made before these cartridges start dying as well. Someone also told me to use a 20x4.5 in big blue DI cartridge and I'd only need one to accomplish the same thing but I am not sure. I have the DI cartridges in see through containers now so ill know when to start looking for that orange color to see if they're going bad.

I have never done it personally but I know that di resin can be regenerated with some readily available chemicals. If you start using a ton of resin it may be worth looking into.

 

[spacecop9999]

I have never done it personally but I know that di resin can be regenerated with some readily available chemicals. If you start using a ton of resin it may be worth looking into.

Thanks for that tidbit of info, Ill have to check it out!

 

[KStatefan]

800 cc flow restrictor is way to small for a 400 gpd membrane. To get to a calculated 3:1 waste to permeate ration you would need a 3000cc restrictor

 

[spacecop9999]

800 cc flow restrictor is way to small for a 400 gpd membrane. To get to a calculated 3:1 waste to permeate ration you would need a 3000cc restrictor

I can't find any 3000cc restrictors. Should I put the original 1500cc restrictor back on? It is the most restrictive one I have or do you put two of them back to back in series to make a 3000cc restrictor ? Also I am not sure what is going on but either I got some counterfeit di resin or this wasn't packed tight at all or both. Both of the new canisters I installed today are completely depleted in only a couple hours running only the 135tds through 3 of them. So crazy it's that hard to figure this **** out. Grrrr

 

[KStatefan]

Not surprising that the resin did not last long with 135 tds going in to it.

Two 1500 run parallel would be closer but with as high as your source water is probably not enough.

What are the spec on the membrane you are using?

 

[spacecop9999]

It's a

​

SpiroPure SP-RO-400R RO Membrane Filter Replacement 400 GPD

SpiroPure SP-RO-400R RO Membrane Filter 400 GPD - $20.39

The SpiroPure SP-RO-400R Reverse Osmosis Membrane Filter Replacement 400 GPD for undersink RO systems for a high reduction of contaminants from your water.

www.allfilters.com

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

I can't find any 3000cc restrictors. Should I put the original 1500cc restrictor back on? It is the most restrictive one I have or do you put two of them back to back in series to make a 3000cc restrictor ? Also I am not sure what is going on but either I got some counterfeit di resin or this wasn't packed tight at all or both. Both of the new canisters I installed today are completely depleted in only a couple hours running only the 135tds through 3 of them. So crazy it's that hard to figure this **** out. Grrrr

Your DI cartridges are not full of resin - what's up with that?