How long should DI media last?

[allabout]

I bought the BRS 150g/day system with a booster pump a couple months ago. It works great except I keep having to change the DI resin media. I get about 30 - 40 gallons and it starts to go up quickly from there to 3 or 4 on the tds meter. I have well water so I know it's not great coming in but the tds is showing about 18 into the DI filter and 0 out at first, then like I said at about 30 gallons it starts going up. It might be a little more than that but not much.

I only have a 90 gallon tank, bought the unit March 6th and have gone through 4 packs of DI resin and need to change it again! Any thoughts on what it could be? Just bad water? Seems like I'm not the only one with a well, it should last longer. Could it be a bad unit/bad filter somewhere possibly? Just trying to get some ideas.

Thank you!

 

[caudill187]

Hmmmmm. That is using up your resin more quickly than normal. Is it possible you have a bad membrane? Is the water pressure correct?

 

[Mike in CT]

I have the same unit minus the booster. I have city water ( tds about 100 from tap). I have run about 300 gallons or so and have used up less then 1/4 of my di bottle ( by color anyway) and still getting around zero tds. I am guessing it's your well water but I am sure others will chime in.

Mike


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[mike007]

Sounds like your well water has some bad stuff in it exausting your resins. Maybe you need to contact brs and maybe they can help.

 

[greg0385]

I have well water and had the same problem. Most likely its the same problem. My well water has a high level of co2. co2 will exhaust your di resin very fast.

First thing is if you have the exhausted resin, dont throw it away. Your premature resin still has life in it and just needs to be keep damp. I learned this by placing it in a small pan or bowl exposed to the air. I keep the resin damp and would stir it around to expose it all to the air. Mine became recharged after a couple of days of this process. I know this because i have the color changing resin and it would change back to its orginal color PLUS my tds meter went back to 0 from 3-4 using the same resin.

Second is how to fix the issue to stop from having to do this any of the above any longer. I resolved mine by running a de-gas chamber prior to running the water into the di chamber. My diy de-gas chamber is just a large container, mine is a brute container. I took the line off of my rodi unti that was going into the di chamber from the membrane. Reroute this line into a container with a airstone. Allow this RO water to de-gas for atleast 24hours. Then using a small pump, mine is a maxi-jet 1200. Plumb this small pump into your di chamber and you should have di resin lasting WAY longer.

My di resin was lasting between 30-90 gallons prior to this setup. Now i make about 60-80 gallons a month and the di resin last me over a 1000 gallons. My tds meter stays at 0 and the color doesnt change anymore after just 30-90 gallons

Now my raw well water only had 16-22 tds and after my RO membrane it would be 4tds. So i dont have a intinal high tds out of my spring fed well water.

The reason most people dont have to do this is because most water gets treated at a plant. While its there, the water gets agitated enough to degas the co2 from the water before it leaves the plant.

Wellwater is just underground water that doesnt get agitated enough to de-gas the co2 from the water prior to you using it.

I hope this can help you or someone else that is having this problem

Greg

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[allabout]

Hmm yeah thanks all. Yeah the water pressure is about 80 - 90 psi using the booster pump. I've contacted BRS to see what they think, should hear back soon.

Greg that's really helpful. Yeah my tds is very high coming in but I would still think it would last longer than it is. We have well water then it runs through a water softener then to the RO/DI.

It sounds like the co2 could be exactly what it is. So you had a maxijet pump running water into your di unit directly? It went from like well > RO unit > holding bin/de-gas chamber > DI via maxijet? Just want to make sure I understand. Thanks!

 

[greg0385]

Yes. Faucet- sediment- carbon- RO membrane- de gas container- maxijet inside de gas container - DI chamber- out flows RoDI water.

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[AlexAquaFX]

DI life will always depend on the quality of the water its purifiying. The less work it has, the longer the life... A good RO membrane reduces approx %98 of TDS leaving the remaining small percent to be polished off by the DI. There are others factors such as gases. The first thing I would do in any water situation is get it tested. Find out what you're dealing with and go from there. Some simple cost friendly prefilters can extending the life of your resin dramatically, saving you money in the long run.