RO/DI installation Troubleshooting and woes solved.

[Bizzarro]

First off! Hello. This is probably my first thread and probably not my last. I tend to share my discoveries with my co-workers so they can learn from my mistakes.

I bought my first RO/DI. I have a 50 gallon project on the horizon and wanted to start doing my own salt water.

I installed the system and everything seemed to be doing fine but I started getting TDS Creep. It started around 2 TDS and became 130!!

I was like... what the heck..

I started asking myself a few questions;

Is my pressure not adequate?
I went to home depot and built myself a pressure gauge for the 1/4" fittings and no.. my pressure in my APT dwelling is 60.

Is my RO filter not seated correctly?
I opened it; removed the filter; reseated the sucker...

My readings were still 130!

This morning I woke up and realized I wasn't hearing the dribbling of water going down my sink!
I went to the clamp fitting and huzzah!

I had mashed the waste water line and for-whatever reason I guess it caused enough backpressure that it was back feeding into my system?

I went ahead and did another flush of the entire system and my TDS stayed around 8... ( I am too much of a perfectionist to let this slide..)

Did some more research;

I mounted my DI cartridge vertically and wow..

My readings are now at 2.

I don't know how much I damaged the DI cartridge from all the back feed but lessons learned.



Here is a recap...

- Make sure your waste water is going down the waste line and not back feeding into your system.
-Mount your DI Cartridge vertically.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Congrats on getting your RO/DI set up— quality water will always be your friend in this hobby.

 

[Shirak]

I don't know how much I damaged the DI cartridge from all the back feed but lessons learned.

Welcome!
Do you have color changing DI resin? You should be getting 0 tds out after going through the DI, if not then it's probably shot and you need to replace. If it's color changing you can see if it's all changed color or not.

 

[Bizzarro]

Congrats on getting your RO/DI set up— quality water will always be your friend in this hobby.

Thanks!

 

[Bizzarro]

Welcome!
Do you have color changing DI resin? You should be getting 0 tds out after going through the DI, if not then it's probably shot and you need to replace. If it's color changing you can see if it's all changed color or not.

You know; It may be shot; though I did get a 100gph system.

I will likely replace if after the first week of running it doesn't yield 0 TDS.

I have a booster pump that I can rig on my system to see if I can't push 80 PSi through the system also.

I am pretty happy W/2 TDS.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Booster pump is the way to go.

 

[Shirak]

You know; It may be shot; though I did get a 100gph system.

I will likely replace if after the first week of running it doesn't yield 0 TDS.

I have a booster pump that I can rig on my system to see if I can't push 80 PSi through the system also.

I am pretty happy W/2 TDS.

Do you have a tds meter after the RO and before the DI? Ideally should be around 2-4ppm out of the RO membrane depending on your source TDS and the RO membrane installed in the system. The DI will then take that to 0 TDS. 80PSI will help the RO membrane produce more and run a little more efficiently but not sure you will see much difference from the 60 you already have.

Which RODI system do you have?

On a side note. It's a good plan to have a bleed line after the RO and before the DI. When you first turn on the system there is high TDS water that will come out of the RO line from TDS creep when the unit is sitting unused. It will then drop down to the 2-4ppm range after a minute or so and then you can divert the water from the RO bleed line to the DI cartridge. This will save a lot of DI from getting used up unnecessarily. The RO water you remove from the bleed line is great for house plants and making coffee etc..

 

[mdb_talon]

welcome to R2R and thanks for sharing. I recently had a similar issue when my tds shot up to 20. My drain line(directly to outside) had frozen up. Its only has about 6 inches before dripping into a pvc drain so had never been an issue....but sure enough that several inches was frozen solid.

 

[Gtinnel]

I'd almost guarantee that your di is depleted because when your waste line was blocked you were essentially not filtering anything out and forcing all of the tds from your tap through the membrane and the di.
If your tap water is 130ppm tds then after your membrane you would expect to see around 2ppm. If I were you I'd go ahead and order new di resin and replace it.

Also welcome to R2R

 

[Bizzarro]

Do you have a tds meter after the RO and before the DI? Ideally should be around 2-4ppm out of the RO membrane depending on your source TDS and the RO membrane installed in the system. The DI will then take that to 0 TDS. 80PSI will help the RO membrane produce more and run a little more efficiently but not sure you will see much difference from the 60 you already have.

Which RODI system do you have?

On a side note. It's a good plan to have a bleed line after the RO and before the DI. When you first turn on the system there is high TDS water that will come out of the RO line from TDS creep when the unit is sitting unused. It will then drop down to the 2-4ppm range after a minute or so and then you can divert the water from the RO bleed line to the DI cartridge. This will save a lot of DI from getting used up unnecessarily. The RO water you remove from the bleed line is great for house plants and making coffee etc..

I picked up the express water system. I think if I had the option again I might of chosen a different system; but I have these bones now. I may make some upgrades as time progresses to make it a better system overall. I do not have an inline TDS; but that can be rectified with overnight parts from BRS >_>.


All a work in progress.

 

[Bizzarro]

I'd almost guarantee that your di is depleted because when your waste line was blocked you were essentially not filtering anything out and forcing all of the tds from your tap through the membrane and the di.
If your tap water is 130ppm tds then after your membrane you would expect to see around 2ppm. If I were you I'd go ahead and order new di resin and replace it.

Also welcome to R2R

My tap is 250 actually.

I probably put 10 gallons through it with the backfill.

I am getting 2 TDS now from 250 Tap.

Edit:* I will probably replace the DI Filter to just be safe at this point though; I have a year supply so its no big deal.

 

[Gtinnel]

My tap is 250 actually.

I probably put 10 gallons through it with the backfill.

I am getting about 2 TDS now from 250 Tap.

2ppm after the membrane with 250ppm tap is over 99% rejection which is really good, that will also fluctuate with several other factors including water temperatures and pressure. In the winter after my membrane it's 0 but during the summer it's 1.
With running 130ppm water through your di it wouldn't take long to deplete. If your di is not depleted you should be getting 0ppm after it with the 2ppm after the membrane.

 

[Bizzarro]

2ppm after the membrane with 250ppm tap is over 99% rejection which is really good, that will also fluctuate with several other factors including water temperatures and pressure. In the winter after my membrane it's 0 but during the summer it's 1.
With running 130ppm water through your di it wouldn't take long to deplete. If your di is not depleted you should be getting 0ppm after it with the 2ppm after the membrane

I will replace and report. Note, I am hesitant to replace right now as I essentially took everything apart this morning and reseated everything thinking it might of been another issue before realizing it was my waste line.

I am essentially doing another flush of the system to see if my water will read 0.

I will probably just replace the DI filter at this point though..

It sucks but.. you make mistakes and hope to not repeat them ever.. ever again.

 

[Bizzarro]

welcome to R2R and thanks for sharing. I recently had a similar issue when my tds shot up to 20. My drain line(directly to outside) had frozen up. Its only has about 6 inches before dripping into a pvc drain so had never been an issue....but sure enough that several inches was frozen solid.

I was thinking this over for a second and realized you live in Illinois. Yea.. that would be an issue there.

I use to live in Northern New Mexico and remember those frigid cold mornings in the winter.... Oh I loved my heated Garage.

Oh well... I live in California now.... .. .

 

[Gtinnel]

I will replace and report. Note, I am hesitant to replace right now as I essentially took everything apart this morning and reseated everything thinking it might of been another issue before realizing it was my waste line.

I am essentially doing another flush of the system to see if my water will read 0.

I will probably just replace the DI filter at this point though..

It sucks but.. you make mistakes and hope to not repeat them ever.. ever again.

If you ran the filter long enough that the 2 wasn't tds creep then I doubt you'll see any better than 2 with flusing the system, but it doesn't hurt to try.

 

[Bizzarro]

If you ran the filter long enough that the 2 wasn't tds creep then I doubt you'll see any better than 2 with flusing the system, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Thanks for the help man. I got it down to 1. I went ahead and replaced the DI canister and its 0 now.

Oh well! .