RO booster not working?

[Irishman]

So I went down to one membrane and took out the automatic shut off valve, PSI before membrane is still 20. Moved he PSI gauge to see what PSI my water feed is at and it barley comes in at 30 PSI. I’m pretty much lost on what to do.

 

[Irishman]

Hows the water pressure in your house? I'm no expert but 20psi sounds like your shower would be pretty weak. Just wondering if it's a connection issue

Water pressure seems fine through out he house. I mean when you turn on the sink it doesn’t blast your hand away from it.

Are you on city water? If so, you probably can increase the water pressure coming into your house yourself. There are youtube videos showing how to do it. I agree with other posters, 20 is very low. I'm at 50 and hate taking a shower because of lack of pressure.

Have you tried by passing the ASOV to make sure it isn't the problem?

Took off ASOV and still no improvement

 

[Irishman]

Hooked up a psi gauge directly to the garden hose and that reads 90 PSI, so I’m loosing pressure somehow.

 

[redfishbluefish]

90 is rather high for house pressure. What's your raw water source....well, city water? Do you have a pressure regulator in your house? What plumbing do you have...copper, pex....the reason I ask is that they use 1/2 pex in my daughters house, and she has terrible flow.

 

[Opus]

Hooked up a psi gauge directly to the garden hose and that reads 90 PSI, so I’m loosing pressure somehow.

I would just start with the process of elimination then. Hook the RO unit up and put the pressure gauge after the first filter and check the pressure. If still around 90 then put it after the second filter.

Just a thought, you said you just moved. Did you take your RO unit completely apart? Do you a have an internal flow restrictor? If so, maybe you got the tubes mixed up and the flow restrictor is on one of the pre filters instead of the RO membrane waste outlet.

 

[Opus]

90 is rather high for house pressure. What's your raw water source....well, city water? Do you have a pressure regulator in your house? What plumbing do you have...copper, pex....the reason I ask is that they use 1/2 pex in my daughters house, and she has terrible flow.

My thoughts too but he said he had moved it to the outside water hose with the same results.

 

[Irishman]

90 is rather high for house pressure. What's your raw water source....well, city water? Do you have a pressure regulator in your house? What plumbing do you have...copper, pex....the reason I ask is that they use 1/2 pex in my daughters house, and she has terrible flow.

90 is the pressure I got for the garden hose pressure. The plumbing in the house is per. There is a regulator for the plumbing inside the house as well.

I would just start with the process of elimination then. Hook the RO unit up and put the pressure gauge after the first filter and check the pressure. If still around 90 then put it after the second filter.

Just a thought, you said you just moved. Did you take your RO unit completely apart? Do you a have an internal flow restrictor? If so, maybe you got the tubes mixed up and the flow restrictor is on one of the pre filters instead of the RO membrane waste outlet.

The 3 chambers for the sediment and carbon are all hard plumbed if that makes sense, not connected by quick connects. RO unit was taken completely apart when I moved and bought all new tubing for this. One of the tubing was still connected to the membrane and when I tried to release he tubing it wouldn’t come out, so I grabbed plyers and pulled it out, something was in the connection and came out of the tube but couldn’t tell you what it was. I threw that piece out two weeks ago when I first tried this.

 

[Opus]

The 3 chambers for the sediment and carbon are all hard plumbed if that makes sense, not connected by quick connects. RO unit was taken completely apart when I moved and bought all new tubing for this. One of the tubing was still connected to the membrane and when I tried to release he tubing it wouldn’t come out, so I grabbed plyers and pulled it out, something was in the connection and came out of the tube but couldn’t tell you what it was. I threw that piece out two weeks ago when I first tried this.

Did it look like this:

http://www.buckeyehydro.com/capillary-flow-restrictors/

 

[Irishman]

Did it look like this:

http://www.buckeyehydro.com/capillary-flow-restrictors/

Yes. On another note I’m looking at my quick connects and taking the unit apart and had this on the first membrane RO line

 

[Irishman]

Well removing that piece didn’t help. Still 20 PSI

Edit: both membranes had those pieces as the pic above, removed them both and still 20 PSI. Are those two pieceses essential for my unit?

 

[Opus]

Well removing that piece didn’t help. Still 20 PSI

Edit: both membranes had those pieces as the pic above, removed them both and still 20 PSI. Are those two pieceses essential for my unit?

I've never seen that piece in them so not sure of the purpose. Looking at their website, it looks like they have them in all of theirs so it isn't a constrictor of any kind. Since your pressure gauge is before the RO membrane that wouldn't be the problem anyway. I'm guessing that the issue is in one of the pre filters. I would take them apart and if you can make sure there is nothing stuck in the flow thru tubes between them. Then reinstall the filters. Maybe one of the filters is installed wrong and blocking the flow.

 

[ryeguyy84]

Remove all filters including the membrane and check the pressure then install one filter at a time checking pressure each time to rule out the filters.

 

[Irishman]

I've never seen that piece in them so not sure of the purpose.

I took all the filters off checked them, made sure they stayed straight when I screwed them back on. Took my pressure gauge and put it on the end of the run off the main filters. Let the water run through, put my finger on the end and was able to build up pressure to 90 psi.

 

[stacksoner]

Easiest way to troubleshoot your issue is to get a bucket of water and to insert the intake line from the booster pump into it. Connect a line to the output and insert it into the bucket.

Turn it on and check to see if water is passing through the booster pump. You should see a healthy stream coming out of the output line. Let us know what happens and we'll go from there.

 

[stacksoner]

Is this a crack in the elbow piece??

 

[Irishman]

Is this a crack in the elbow piece??

Not a crack, just marked it #2 a while back ago.
I’ll try the booster idea when I get the kids asleep and update after.

 

[Irishman]

So come to find out that I do need the capillary flow restrictors. It seems they are pretty essential for all RODI units. BRS has some good info on it, https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/instructions/article/Changing-the-flow-restrictor-on-your-membrane.

Now here is my question, I have (2) 100 GPD membranes hooked up. Do I need two 100 GPD flow restrictors or just find one that does 200 GPD?

 

[Scorpius]

I knew there was something missing. The flow restrictor. I know BRS has an old video on converting a 75gpd unit to their 150gpd water saver unit. I watched that to upgrade my rodi.

 

[Irishman]

I knew there was something missing. The flow restrictor. I know BRS has an old video on converting a 75gpd unit to their 150gpd water saver unit. I watched that to upgrade my rodi.

Yea I bought their water saver system a while back too. But when I moved I bought all new filters and membranes. The LFS that I bought it from said the membranes were 100 GPD. Now I’m just curious on how big of a flow restricter I need.

 

[stacksoner]

Yea I bought their water saver system a while back too. But when I moved I bought all new filters and membranes. The LFS that I bought it from said the membranes were 100 GPD. Now I’m just curious on how big of a flow restricter I need.

I use a needle valve on the waste line of the 2nd ro canister. It let's you dial in your flow restriction (which helps with output) unlike the preset restrictors. They cost about $2