I'm burning through DI resin

[Velcro]

Mine is 400+ on city water.

Same here.

 

[Dmsick]

Take a water sample to the local Ag extension and get a test of your water. I'm on a well and along with pH have basically nothing in my water except a TON of silica (along with super low pH). Letting that through would have been a nightmare.

FWIW I rune 5 Micron, 1 Micron, Carbon (just because), dual membrane, 1 Anion Resin, 1 Mixed bed Resin

Thanks. I'll have to find a place to have my water tested. I suspected that silica may be the issue along with low pH which is why I added the silica buster. I guess at this point I need to know what I'm dealing with rather than trial and error.

 

[Dmsick]

You are correct, but I was thinking you may be treating your well water. If not, you could contact a supplier of DI resin and ask them. I also Ask google " What causes DI resin to exhaust quicker when using well water? " Ask BRS (bulk reef supply) They helped me. ( I do have a well, but now use it for sprinkler system) Good Luck!

Thanks. That video was definitely a help. BRS has some great resources. I'm not sure how I missed that one.

https://www.aquaticlife.com/blog/how-co2-can-impact-di-resin-consumption/

Perhaps we could ask @Randy Holmes-Farley about the common fixes.

Edit also found one of azdesertrats
Post
https://www.thereeftank.com/forums/...-well-water-225980.html#/topics/225980?page=1
It’s a well documented problem.

Thanks @saltyfilmfolks. I've been through that thread which led me to some of the things I've tried. I need to revisit it!

I would think it has to be CO2. With a TDS before any filtration of 17, I can't think of anything else that would burn through resin.

My tap water (municipal water system) is 37 and my DI lasts a long, long time. My RO membrane is 6 years old and still producing 0-1 TDS (before it goes to DI).

Thanks! I'm going to test the CO2 today. I also think it's the culprit at this point.

Mine is 400+ on city water.

Yikes!

 

[jsker]

If you could please, snap a picture of your system post it up for us picture people

I went through the same troubleshoot steps like yourself. Went to my cities website and downloaded the quality test report and yes the city use chloramines, next step was adding the silica buster, and then adding one more carbon canister. My answer was adding the buster pump to bring down the TDS.

Here is how my system is set up

 

[MrsBugmaster]

I am on well water and had the same problem. Now I run Ro water into a storage container, use air pump and stone to degas the water for 24 hours then run it through my DI. Yes, it is a pain with an extra step to do and takes a day longer to get the water, but this solved my problem. Now my DI last almost a year instead of 6 weeks. You get use to doing it this way after awhile and it is no big deal now.

 

[Dmsick]

If you could please, snap a picture of your system post it up for us picture people

I went through the same troubleshoot steps like yourself. Went to my cities website and downloaded the quality test report and yes the city use chloramines, next step was adding the silica buster, and then adding one more carbon canister. My answer was adding the buster pump to bring down the TDS.

Here is how my system is set up

I can’t keep mine setup so it’s mobile. I have the RO unit separate from the 2 DI canisters.
I'm jealous of your set up. I wish I had a place in my house to do something similar. No way my wife would have it in our laundry room. I could do it in our garage but the problem with that is the winter temps can get pretty cold.

 

[Dmsick]

I am on well water and had the same problem. Now I run Ro water into a storage container, use air pump and stone to degas the water for 24 hours then run it through my DI. Yes, it is a pain with an extra step to do and takes a day longer to get the water, but this solved my problem. Now my DI last almost a year instead of 6 weeks. You get use to doing it this way after awhile and it is no big deal now.

I'm going to give this a try. It would be a significant cost savings at this point.

 

[jurgenph]

you replaced the carbon block with DI resin?
did you also re-route how the water flows through the system? because now, it looks like you're running your water through your DI before going through your RO membrane.


J.

 

[Dmsick]

you replaced the carbon block with DI resin?
did you also re-route how the water flows through the system? because now, it looks like you're running your water through your DI before going through your RO membrane.


J.

I didn't reroute anything. That's a great observation. I'll have to look at that and see if I can change that. I read where I could swap out the canisters and didn't even thing about the fact that the RO comes after the carbon blocks. I feel pretty stupid. I'm trying to figure all this out on my own. I wish I'd purchased my RODI from spectrapure or buckeye hydro and gotten them to advise me from the start. The BRS seemed like a great deal but in hind sight not so much.

 

[jurgenph]

I didn't reroute anything. That's a great observation. I'll have to look at that and see if I can change that. I read where I could swap out the canisters and didn't even thing about the fact that the RO comes after the carbon blocks. I feel pretty stupid. I'm trying to figure all this out on my own. I wish I'd purchased my RODI from spectrapure or buckeye hydro and gotten them to advise me from the start. The BRS seemed like a great deal but in hind sight not so much.

you should have: sediment filter -> carbon -> RO -> DI, in that order.


J.

 

[Dmsick]

you should have: sediment filter -> carbon -> RO -> DI, in that order.


J.

Thanks!!

 

[jsker]

Things happen and that is why we have a community for help.

The sell job for the RO/DI in the laundry is all the wastewater is used for laundry I also ran all the lines so that I would not be in the way of anything.

 

[Dmsick]

Things happen and that is why we have a community for help.

The sell job for the RO/DI in the laundry is all the wastewater is used for laundry I also ran all the lines so that I would not be in the way of anything.

I've been involved with many online forums for different things over the years. This is by far the friendliest!
I'm scheming for a way to set up my water station in the laundry room!

 

[jsker]

I'm scheming for a way to set up my water station in the laundry room!

It may cost you

 

[Dmsick]

It may cost you

Haha. For sure!!

 

[scardall]

I didn't reroute anything. That's a great observation. I'll have to look at that and see if I can change that. I read where I could swap out the canisters and didn't even thing about the fact that the RO comes after the carbon blocks. I feel pretty stupid. I'm trying to figure all this out on my own. I wish I'd purchased my RODI from spectrapure or buckeye hydro and gotten them to advise me from the start. The BRS seemed like a great deal but in hind sight not so much.

I went to BRS and found some data that may be pertinent to you configuration issue. Both of you carbon block stages come before the RO membrane, so I would remove DI resin from that location and add a stage after RO for your resin. Canister plus fittings ,one option or other similar additional stage. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reverse-osmosis-canisters.html
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/5-stage-premium-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html (FYI)

 

[Bonfish]

Sometimes it is the simplest of solutions, I found that when I replaced the RO membrane I accidentally installed it backwards. I was blowing through DI resin like crazy. It’s sounds like you may already have found a solution, but for me it was something really silly. As soon as I reversed the RO membrane the DI lasted a year. Good luck

 

[Dmsick]

I went to BRS and found some data that may be pertinent to you configuration issue. Both of you carbon block stages come before the RO membrane, so I would remove DI resin from that location and add a stage after RO for your resin. Canister plus fittings ,one option or other similar additional stage. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reverse-osmosis-canisters.html
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/5-stage-premium-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html (FYI)

Thanks so much for that. I was actually looking at it last night and trying to figure out if there was a way to reroute that but it looks like a huge pain. I think I will just put the carbon blocks back in and run my 2 DI canisters after the RO stage as it should. I will probably try degassing the RO water before running it through DI to see if this helps.

 

[MT. Reefer]

Don't want to go off topic, but who makes the best PH tester?

 

[PhreeByrd]

Are you certain of your tapwater TDS reading? 17 ppm is incredibly low. Almost impossibly so, I would think. With 17ppm tap water, you could skip the R/O process entirely and go straight to DI.
And no, you will not have chloramines in water from any private well.