Quick RODI unit questions

[theMeat]

That piece is auto shut off. Works on hi/low pressure,
If you turn off the valve on the end of your product water line that valve should shut off the waste water within a few minutes. Does it on yours?

 

[kyley]

That piece is auto shut off. Works on hi/low pressure,
If you turn off the valve on the end of your product water line that valve should shut off the waste water within a few minutes. Does it on yours?

Ahh, okay. Without that, I guess water would constantly flow through to the waste water drain, huh? I assume that is working, but it doesn't matter. I have a valve now that controls flow between the faucet and RODI unit. Thanks,
--Kyle

 

[theMeat]

Ahh, okay. Without that, I guess water would constantly flow through to the waste water drain, huh? I assume that is working, but it doesn't matter. I have a valve now that controls flow between the faucet and RODI unit. Thanks,
--Kyle

That’s good to have but when you use the auto shut off to turn off your unit you are flushing the membrane.
if curious to see if tubing is right see if auto shut works

 

[JoshH]

Kyle,

First things first, I think you need to take a step back and order or acquire a PSI Gauge to replace your broken one. If you wish you can PM me and I'll even send you one for free. There are a lot of variables going on here and your PSI should be step one to identifying any issues. I also feel your Product to waste ratio is way off what it should be, even for a dual membrane setup.

If your membranes rejection rate is at 92% depending on the membrane, I would feel those membranes are toast. BUT that depends on what PSI you're getting, hense the first step.

Have you always run Chloramine specific carbon?

 

[kyley]

That’s good to have but when you use the auto shut off to turn off your unit you are flushing the membrane.
if curious to see if tubing is right see if auto shut works

Not sure I follow. Isn't it good to be flushing the membrane?
Should I just put a ball valve on the DI chamber's output and see if waste water stops when I turn it off?

Kyle,

First things first, I think you need to take a step back and order or acquire a PSI Gauge to replace your broken one. If you wish you can PM me and I'll even send you one for free. There are a lot of variables going on here and your PSI should be step one to identifying any issues. I also feel your Product to waste ratio is way off what it should be, even for a dual membrane setup.

If your membranes rejection rate is at 92% depending on the membrane, I would feel those membranes are toast. BUT that depends on what PSI you're getting, hense the first step.

Have you always run Chloramine specific carbon?

Hi Josh,
That’s a kind offer. I'd appreciate the gauge and would be happy to pay you a bit for your trouble / shipping if you have an extra one. I'll send you a PM.

And no, I can't even remember why I switched off of a chloramine block (hadn't been running anything for chloramines most of this year at least), but I feel pretty stupid for doing so. Been adding ammonia to my tanks all this time!? I haven't really noticed ill effects (I imagine the biofilter takes care of it), but in my quarantine tanks I was exposing new fish to high ammonia without anything to take it out. :-( It was just today that I added catalytic carbon for the chloramines. I got that and a regular 1 micron carbon block from my LFS, but I'm planning to buy a Matrikx Chloraguard block and either use two of them or one plus catalytic carbon. Not sure which would be best. Thanks,
--Kyle

 

[theMeat]

Without chloramine block or carbon your membrane likely toast. Membrane should be getting at least 95% rejection.
yes. I’d test auto shut off works to help you verify tubing is right. The product water is the finished water you collect. Put a valve on it.
Yes definitely good to flush membrane, especially on shutdown

what tds does your product water have?

 

[kyley]

Without chloramine block or carbon your membrane likely toast. Membrane should be getting at least 95% rejection.
yes. I’d test auto shut off works to help you verify tubing is right. The product water is the finished water you collect. Put a valve on it.
Yes definitely good to flush membrane, especially on shutdown

what tds does your product water have?

Thanks, the product water is showing 10-11 TDS, as well as 0.4ppm ammonia.

 

[kyley]

Considering that I have chloramine treated water, I'd love to hear what you all suggest for either a new RODI unit (do I need multiple resin chambers?) or:

New membrane (maybe I'll go back to one)
Should I use catalytic carbon? Brand?
A regular carbon block (which one)? Or BRS Universal block?
A chloramine carbon block (which one - Matrikx chloraguard? 1 micron?)
And which DI resins if I use more than one?

I looked at the Spectrapure MaxCap, but it isn't chloramine specific, so I need to find one that is (or change out the filters)... Thanks,
--Kyle

 

[Saltyreef]

I would still recommend the max cap system. You can likely message their support and have them swap the .5 carbon block to the 1micron chlor plus before they even ship out.

SpectraPure - Innovators in Water Technology

SpectraPure, Inc. is an Industry Standard in the Water Purification world. From Drinking Water to Aquarium Systems, you don't just want pure water, you want the PUREST Water! Get it with SpectraPure!

www.spectrapure.com

Fwiw, I have 1.2ppm total chlorine in my tap water, havent tested free chlorine to see what the chloramine content may be but the .5 micron carbon block is still helping my waste water show 0ppm total chlorine. Its also at 350tds and ph of 7.5.
With the maxcap standard I make about 5 gallons of water in 1.5 hours at 50-60psi. My product to waste ratio is at 1:5 and i have yet to change out any filters after 6 months of constant use.

You can also upgrade to the super DI cartridges when ready to replace.

 

[kyley]

I would still recommend the max cap system. You can likely message their support and have them swap the .5 carbon block to the 1micron chlor plus before they even ship out.

SpectraPure - Innovators in Water Technology

SpectraPure, Inc. is an Industry Standard in the Water Purification world. From Drinking Water to Aquarium Systems, you don't just want pure water, you want the PUREST Water! Get it with SpectraPure!

www.spectrapure.com

Fwiw, I have 1.2ppm total chlorine in my tap water, havent tested free chlorine to see what the chloramine content may be but the .5 micron carbon block is still helping my waste water show 0ppm total chlorine. Its also at 350tds and ph of 7.5.
With the maxcap standard I make about 5 gallons of water in 1.5 hours at 50-60psi. My product to waste ratio is at 1:5 and i have yet to change out any filters after 6 months of constant use.

You can also upgrade to the super DI cartridges when ready to replace.

Update... So I watched this video from BRS, and it looks like separating the DI Resins is the way to go for removing ammonia with chloramine-treated water. Because of that, and the need to replace my TDS meters, and I don't have a real need for dual membranes (it is nice to save water, but then I have to replace two when issues occur), and also because I feel like I should replace all my filters now, I'm going to upgrade to a new RODI unit. I figure that I can probably sell the dual membrane unit and not end up spending too much cash considering I need to upgrade filters.

Anyway... I'm leaning toward the 75 GPD 7 stage from BRS which comes with BRS Universal 1 micron carbon blocks and 3 DI chambers for $320 after their coupon (and another $15 or so back in rewards).

Or, there are some SpectraPure ones that @Saltyreef recommended. I'd lean towards this chloramine-specific one, but it's $30 more and one stage less, and the replacement filters look to be quite a bit more expensive. Granted, it sounds like some of their filters may last longer?

Thoughts on these two options?

Regardless of which unit I get, I'm also considering the ZetaZorb .2 micron sediment filter. It's like 5x the cost, but is supposed to be more effective and last 5x as long... Thanks,
--Kyle

 

[theMeat]

Either one is a good choice. With spectrapure you have to /should modify/adjust flow restrictor once installed

 

[Opus]

Without chloramine block or carbon your membrane likely toast. Membrane should be getting at least 95% rejection.
yes. I’d test auto shut off works to help you verify tubing is right. The product water is the finished water you collect. Put a valve on it.
Yes definitely good to flush membrane, especially on shutdown

what tds does your product water have?

Chloramines will most likely not hurt the RO membrane, just chlorine.

 

[Saltyreef]

My spectrapure arrived out of the box running a 5 to 1 waste to product water ratio.
Its a pretty simple process to swap the carbon block with their chloramine specific block that should take care of 100% of the issues you are encountering too.
Its also nice to see tds of Tap, after RO, and both stages of DI with the pre installed meters.
Their products are also far superior in all regards.
I would talk to their customer service to ensure you can get it installed prior to shipping. Also, i would skip adding a flush kit and just install the DI bypass valve to flush the unit properly.

If your chloramine is higher than the single cartridge can handle, than you can use your single filter holder you already have, and plumb it inline after the sediment and add another chlorplus cartridge to it.

Have you measured total and free chlorine to get a better understanding of to what PPM your chloramines are?

 

[theMeat]

You should adjust your flow restrictor to 4:1, and spectrapur, or any other brand chloramine cartridge will fit/work in either unit.

 

[JoshH]

You should adjust your flow restrictor to 4:1

He would have to purchase a whole new restrictor, in Spectrapures case they use capillary flow restrictors (Which I'm sure you know) that are cut to a certain size to achieve the waste/product ratio, if his is operating at a 1:5 ratio it's too short and a new one is needed.

 

[theMeat]

He would have to purchase a whole new restrictor, in Spectrapures case they use capillary flow restrictors (Which I'm sure you know) that are cut to a certain size to achieve the waste/product ratio, if his is operating at a 1:5 ratio it's too short and a new one is needed.

True, or he’s outside, or close to, psi parameters

 

[JoshH]

True, or he’s outside, or close to, psi parameters

Absolutely a possibility as well, either case would require a new one to adjust to his specific specs which is why I don't like that they send pre-trimmed restrictors when they should send full ones so the purchaser can adjust them to there unique water supply situations

 

[theMeat]

Absolutely a possibility as well, either case would require a new one to adjust to his specific specs which is why I don't like that they send pre-trimmed restrictors when they should send full ones so the purchaser can adjust them to there unique water supply situations

Was not aware they send pre/cut. Thought they sent units with full length

 

[Opus]

Chloramines will most likely not hurt the RO membrane, just chlorine.

Not sure why I'm given the sad face on this true comment. Film-tec rates their TFC filters at 300,000 ppm-hours (6yrs at 1ppm) of chloramine resistance, compared to 200 ppm-hours for chlorine.

 

[Opus]

To further expand on the chloramines will not hurt the OPs membrane, according to his water reports, 1 of the sources averages 2ppm of chloramines. Since there are 3 sources total, that will be lower. That means his membrane should last the stated 6 years easily, since he is within the tolerance range of the manufacturers rating without the water being treated. With the water going thru carbon before getting to the membrane, the traces of chloramines will be a lot lower if not zero.