RO/DI buddy not funtioning properly?

[ashs_exotics]

I just bought an RO/DI buddy and ive had it for about 2 weeks now. I know they arent the best solution for quality water but its the only affordable one that I could find. After testing the water i found that it was at 0ppm, which is far better than the tap at 350-400ppm. The only issue I am having is that the DI cartridge goes bad after like 20-30 gallons max, this has happened with 3 cartridges already. Anyone else having this issue and have a potential fix? I hate buying a new DI cartridge every other week.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

That was my problem with it as well. The prefilters and membrane aren't high enough quality and it exhausts the di to fast.

As you can see it's not as affordable as it originally sounds.

 

[infinite0180]

Mine was able to bring tds down low enough that i got reasonable life out of my DI. Are you by chance on well water?

 

[infinite0180]

Maybe give this a watch.

 

[ashs_exotics]

Mine was able to bring tds down low enough that i got reasonable life out of my DI. Are you by chance on well water?

Nope I’m on tap tested at 350-400ppm

 

[ashs_exotics]

That was my problem with it as well. The prefilters and membrane aren't high enough quality and it exhausts the di to fast.

As you can see it's not as affordable as it originally sounds.

Did you end up buying a higher quality Ro/Di system?

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I actually had a 3-stage filter housing that I loaded with a sediment cartridge and two carbon block filters before the RO Buddie. The DI resin lasts several hundreds gallons now before being exhausted so it was definitely an issue with the RO Buddie prefilters.

 

[Hallowhead]

I had the same problem... I added a better membrane from DOW, got it from Amazon that had a 99% rejection rate as opposed to like 91%... I can go like 140 gallons with one fill of resin.

 

[piranhaman00]

RO Buddie works great for me. My tap is only 150 ppm though. I also bought a different membrane for it.

Whats your TDS before the DI? You can buy resin on amazon and refill the carts to save.

 

[ashs_exotics]

I had the same problem... I added a better membrane from DOW, got it from Amazon that had a 99% rejection rate as opposed to like 91%... I can go like 140 gallons with one fill of resin.

I’ll have to try that

 

[ashs_exotics]

RO Buddie works great for me. My tap is only 150 ppm though. I also bought a different membrane for it.

Whats your TDS before the DI? You can buy resin on amazon and refill the carts to save.

Haven’t checked it before the di, not sure how much the other cartridges are pulling but obviously my tap is killing the thing

 

[Hallowhead]

I’ll have to try that

It was like 36 bucks... saved me sooo much on resin

 

[Opus]

The other cartridges will do nothing for the tds, the ro membrane is what lowers tds. The sediment filter takes out the larger particles in the water and the carbon takes out the chemicals that could harm the ro membrane, specifically chlorine. I don't know the efficiency rating of the ro membrane for your unit, can't find it on their website. I have a spectrapure membrane in my ro unit and my tap tds of 400-450 is taken down to 3 or 4 before the di. This gives me about 1000 gallons of 0 tds water from 1 DI cartridge.

If you are only getting 30 to 40 gallons then you are looking at 60% efficiency on your membrane. That means it is bad or installed incorrectly and water is getting past it.

 

[Hallowhead]

The other cartridges will do nothing for the tds, the ro membrane is what lowers tds. The sediment filter takes out the larger particles in the water and the carbon takes out the chemicals that could harm the ro membrane, specifically chlorine. I don't know the efficiency rating of the ro membrane for your unit, can't find it on their website. I have a spectrapure membrane in my ro unit and my tap tds of 400-450 is taken down to 3 or 4 before the di. This gives me about 1000 gallons of 0 tds water from 1 DI cartridge.

If you are only getting 30 to 40 gallons then you are looking at 60% efficiency on your membrane. That means it is bad or installed incorrectly and water is getting past it.

This is 100% wrong. The other cartridges do remove TDS. You said it in your reply... they remove larger particles, which in turn reduce TDS (total dissolved solids). The membrane does remove the majority of the TDS but the sediment & carbon do remove TDS.

 

[Opus]

This is 100% wrong. The other cartridges do remove TDS. You said it in your reply... they remove larger particles, which in turn reduce TDS (total dissolved solids). The membrane does remove the majority of the TDS but the sediment & carbon do remove TDS.

Go do a reading before and after your prefilters and report back!

 

[Hallowhead]

Go do a reading before and after your prefilters and report back!

It's minimal but it does remove TDS.

 

[piranhaman00]

This is 100% wrong. The other cartridges do remove TDS. You said it in your reply... they remove larger particles, which in turn reduce TDS (total dissolved solids). The membrane does remove the majority of the TDS but the sediment & carbon do remove TDS.

This is wrong, RO is the only part that removes TDS before the DI

 

[Hallowhead]

I will admit I was under the impression that they removed more TDS than they actually do... however, they still remove minimal amounts.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I'll tell you this....my DI resin usage was cut significantly when when I installed the sediment and carbon filters ahead of the RO Buddie, and I'm pretty sure my water quality didn't just magically improve over night.

 

[Hallowhead]

I'll tell you this....my DI resin usage was cut significantly when when I installed the sediment and carbon filters ahead of the RO Buddie, and I'm pretty sure my water quality didn't just magically improve over night.

As mentioned above, the prefilters prepare the water for the membrane so the membrane can do its work. The prefilters probably removed the larger solids that then allowed the membrane to do the remainder.

Again I was wrong in saying that they remove an abundant amount of TDS however, they remove some.