RO pressure too low?

[booth2010]

So I have an RO system its nothing fancy a 3 stage filter, does the job gets the tds from 145 down to 0 according to the dual tds meter from BRS. My issue is I have heard that for optimum performance they should be in the water pressure should be 80ish. I just got the glycerin filled gauge from BRS and its saying the pressure is on 48. Should I get a booster?

 

[143MPCo]

60 to 80 is normal operational PSI but lets get an expert recommendation @AZDesertRat

 

[booth2010]

Thats what I thought, I was hoping he would chime in at some point. He helped me with another question I had a couple weeks ago

 

[AZDesertRat]

48 is fine, 40 is the minimum. Dow Filmtec gives their membranes their 96-98% removal rating at 50 psi so you are right there. Yes, a booster pump will increase that slightly, up maybe 2% at 80-100 psi, but at a $135 or so cost. Do the math keeping in mind an xtra 2% will double the life of your DI but it may take 10 or more DI replacements to offset the cost of the booster pump.

 

[booth2010]

Awesome thanks for the reply AZDesertRat. At this point in time, and since I dont have DI at the moment, I think I will keep it how it is. Maybe once I get a DI stage and need more RO/DI water I will buy the booster.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Don't put too much faith in your inline TDS meter, no RO only system will get water to 0 TDS, it is impossible since a RO membrane is only a 96-98% efficient filter by itself. Inline meters are not truly temperature compensated so have inherent inaccuracies built in. Better than nothing but a good handheld TDS meter is much more accurate and more versatile since it is not stuck with only two sampling points. I have two dual inlines but never use them since they lack accuracy, especially on the low end where it is important.