How to Reduce DI Resin Consumtion?

bdejong1112o · Jan 16, 2018

Do it! It was amazing how much of a difference it made for me. Couldnt believe how the anion was being used up but barely a bead has changed color on the others. Thats where the cost savings comes in. @Bulk Reef Supply rocks for information like this

120reefkeeper · Jan 16, 2018

120reefkeeper · Jan 16, 2018

redfishbluefish said:
What I do to save DI is to divert the first five minutes of start-up to waste. When you start a DI system, you get break-through TDS that will accelerate DI consumption if not sent to waste. BRS sells a three way that I use to do this.

Exactly what I do and what I have.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 16, 2018

120reefkeeper said:
.

I agree.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 16, 2018

Evan, are you in well water? That would be co2.

I’m on city and have 350+ tds. I rise the ro membrane and get pretty good mileage out of the resins.

120reefkeeper · Jan 16, 2018

Lol

saltyfilmfolks said:
I agree.

Evan West · Jan 17, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
Evan, are you in well water? That would be co2.

I’m on city and have 350+ tds. I rise the ro membrane and get pretty good mileage out of the resins.

Ahh yes I am on well water in this house that would make sence.

redfishbluefish · Jan 17, 2018

Evan West said:
Ahh yes I am on well water in this house that would make sence.

Determine if you have a CO2 problem:

1. If it's bad, sometimes a simple pH test will tell. Draw a glass of water from the sink and immediately measure the pH. Let that glass sit overnight and measure pH. If you see a change from low pH to a higher pH after letting the water sit, that's a good sign you have a problem.

2. You can actually determine CO2 content if you can measure both pH and Alkalinity. If you can, use THIS nomogram found on the Spectrapure site. Click on "Calculating CO2 and its effects on DI water production" on the linked FAQ page.

ca1ore · Jan 17, 2018

My raw water is around 400. RO knocks it down to about 4-6. I can get about 300 gallons out of a DI charge. Probably should do better, but I'm on well water so CO2 is an issue. I did the diverter valve thing for a while, but I didn't notice much difference in my case so stopped doing it. Though I run the Avast barrel tender into my 75 gallon ATO reservoir, so I'm making big volumes of water at a time.

Evan West · Jan 17, 2018

ca1ore said:
My raw water is around 400. RO knocks it down to about 4-6. I can get about 300 gallons out of a DI charge. Probably should do better, but I'm on well water so CO2 is an issue. I did the diverter valve thing for a while, but I didn't notice much difference in my case so stopped doing it. Though I run the Avast barrel tender into my 75 gallon ATO reservoir, so I'm making big volumes of water at a time.

Well going off of the rate of color change and then assuming the resin has some life left in it after it goes all brown I'm gonna guess I'll get 150 gallons out of it if I'm lucky -_-

tpack17 · Jan 17, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
Evan, are you in well water? That would be co2.

I’m on city and have 350+ tds. I rise the ro membrane and get pretty good mileage out of the resins.

Not always. I have issues with DI on well water and co2 isn’t an issue.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 17, 2018

tpack17 said:
Not always. I have issues with DI on well water and co2 isn’t an issue.

True , there are no absolutes.

What was it in your water?

tpack17 · Jan 17, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
True , there are no absolutes.

What was it in your water?

No idea. Just off the charts super hard and some sulphur. I just deal with it. But good news is bulk resin still cheaper then a water bil. Lol

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 17, 2018

tpack17 said:
No idea. Just off the charts super hard and some sulphur. I just deal with it. But good news is bulk resin still cheaper then a water bil. Lol

You didn’t test for co2?

Sleepydoc · Jan 17, 2018

+1 to getting the diverting valve. I would also recommend getting a 2 stage TDS monitor and placing one probe between the RO membrane and the other probe after the DI resin. It's rather eyeopening to see the TDS when you first start up the system. Mine goes from 250 all the way down to 1-2 in the space of 5 minutes. If you run that water through the DI resin, you can use a ton of extra resin every time you start up your system.

I also notice that I go through DI resin much faster in the winter. The TDS coming out of the DI membrane is the same, so it's either a temperature effect or there's more dissolved CO2 in the winter. Either way it's not worth it for me to set up a system to warm & aerate the water so I just put up with buying more resin in the winter.

ihavecrabs · Jan 18, 2018

tpack17 said:
No idea. Just off the charts super hard and some sulphur. I just deal with it. But good news is bulk resin still cheaper then a water bil. Lol

I have the same problem. My TDS is extremely high 750-800+ and I get it down to 14 post RO before running it through the DI. Once it runs for a while I get it down to around 7-8 TDS.

I burn through resin quickly. 150 gallons or so.

I run two di canisters now to completely use up the first container.

I also validated CO2 with the pH and alkalinity test. It came out to 2-3% of my resin depletion (not much at all). Must be how hard my water is.

I do believe if I keep up with my water softener salt I would get better DI resin life.

saltyfilmfolks said:
You didn’t test for co2?

Buckeye Hydro · Jan 18, 2018

ihavecrabs said:
I have the same problem. My TDS is extremely high 750-800+ and I get it down to 14 post RO before running it through the DI. Once it runs for a while I get it down to around 7-8 TDS.

I do believe if I keep up with my water softener salt I would get better DI resin life.

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. If you measure the TDS coming into your house, and the TDS coming out of w functioning water softener, the TDS would be very similar. A softener doesn't remove TDS, it simply exchanges Na+ ions for primarily Ca++ and Mg++ ions.

That said, no doubt your high TDS water is also very hard... so softening the feedwater to the RO membrane will absolutely lengthen the useful life span of the membrane.

Russ

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 18, 2018

Buckeye Hydro said:
Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. If you measure the TDS coming into your house, and the TDS coming out of w functioning water softener, the TDS would be very similar. A softener doesn't remove TDS, it simply exchanges Na+ ions for primarily Ca++ and Mg++ ions.

That said, no doubt your high TDS water is also very hard... so softening the feedwater to the RO membrane will absolutely lengthen the useful life span of the membrane.

Russ

Yup.
I belive a whole house filter would bring more benifit , sediment primarily, and also be cheaper.

Buckeye Hydro · Jan 18, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
Yup.
I belive a whole house filter would bring more benifit , sediment primarily, and also be cheaper.

A whole house sediment filter would remove UNdissolved solids that don't show up on a TDS meter, but would do nothing to remove hardness or any other ions that are picked up by your TDS meter.

ihavecrabs · Jan 18, 2018

Buckeye Hydro said:
Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. If you measure the TDS coming into your house, and the TDS coming out of w functioning water softener, the TDS would be very similar. A softener doesn't remove TDS, it simply exchanges Na+ ions for primarily Ca++ and Mg++ ions.

That said, no doubt your high TDS water is also very hard... so softening the feedwater to the RO membrane will absolutely lengthen the useful life span of the membrane.

Russ

My understanding is the RO membrane is more effective at removing NA ions versus Mg which is where the effectiveness may drive a difference in TDS out of the RO. Would that not mean that less Mg will get past and therefore DI would have less work?

Thanks for the response. This hobby is a constant learning experience!