Ro unit isn't working correct di material changes color

[Budman's Corals]

Ok here my situation. Replace all cartridges exceot the top membrane. On 5/25/13. Ran maybe 200 gallons and now the di has changed colors... for the 200 gallons I was getting 0 tds and now 03. The top membrane hasnt been replaced in 2 years. Could that cause the di to change that fast
Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[Travis Dragan]

I dont think so, from what i am reading on di, the color changing resin is only good for 0 tds up to 150/200 gallons. The membrain probably should be changed also after that much time. another reason di tends to deplete quickly, is when it is submerged in water while waiting to produce i.e. you are using a float valve to fill a holding tank but the chambers have presure on them and remain full while not producing water.

 

[jasonrodreef]

Yes.. 2 years its time to change membrain your DI is doing extra work and the color change means its exhausted. Change membrain and your DI will last longer.

 

[jasonrodreef]

Color changing DI and Noncolor changing are the same thing. Color changing is for people who do not use TDS meter when brown its time to change.. I use noncolor change because i do not need to see that i look at TDS. Anything over 5ppm i change DI.

Boost your presure to get more life from membrain and all filters..90psi max
Looks alittle low in the picrure

 

[Reefing Madness]

Wait for AZDesertRat to chime in.

 

[Bow]

Wait for AZDesertRat to chime in.

Lol yep waiting for that answer

 

[jasonrodreef]

The answer your looking for is not going to be much different. 2yr old membrain is toast if maybe you did some reverse flow to clean or extend the life of membrain its still needs to be changed. Change membrain and your DI will last longer. Add a boost pump and will last even longer.

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[lakeviewink]

CO2 will cause DI resin to exhaust prematurely. If you have high CO2 in your water it won't matter how new your membrane or filters are you will quickly go through DI resin. Also there is a difference in the quality of DI resins. A mixed bed( Anion and Cation) is what I find works best depending on your source water.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Start from the beginning with the basics.
What is your tap water TDS, RO only TDS before the DI and your final RO/DI TDS? You need to know all three of these always.
What is your water pressure and water temperature? Are you using softened water, you should be if you can. What is your water source, treated surface water, well water, a blend etc?
What is your exact measured waste ratio?

As long as you use high quality replacement filters and kep up with them, there is no reason the membrane should be shot in two years. If it were an ebay quality system maybe so but not a Purelyh2o system with the correct filters and waste ratio. My Spectrapure is over 5 years old in Phoenix with a tap TDS over 600 and still producing 99.4% rejection rate or a RO only TDS of 2-3 always. Membranes will last with quality systems and soft water does help.

 

[GHill762]

my DI resin always changes color very quickly too, I just keep an eye on TDS... for whatever reason my DI resin usually changes color within the first couple uses, but TDS remains 0 for a long time, then slowly creeps up.. I have really high TDS tap though..

 

[AZDesertRat]

For the most part, color changing resins are very unreliable and a waste of money. They actually contain dyes that contribute to and register as TDS.

Some may change in streaks, top to bottom, bottom to top, all at once, not at all, etc. And when it does turn in most cases its already too late and your TDS meter is showing elevated TDS. Always use a handheld TDS meter for accuracy. And always test your RO only water at the same time as the RO membrane is the workhorse of the system doing 90-98% of the work, the DI is just a final polishing. If the membrane is bad the DI is acting as a crutch to prop it up and the cost of DI replacements soon exceeds the cost of a new, better RO membrane.

 

[Budman's Corals]

Start from the beginning with the basics.
What is your tap water TDS, RO only TDS before the DI and your final RO/DI TDS? You need to know all three of these always.
What is your water pressure and water temperature? Are you using softened water, you should be if you can. What is your water source, treated surface water, well water, a blend etc?
What is your exact measured waste ratio?

As long as you use high quality replacement filters and kep up with them, there is no reason the membrane should be shot in two years. If it were an ebay quality system maybe so but not a Purelyh2o system with the correct filters and waste ratio. My Spectrapure is over 5 years old in Phoenix with a tap TDS over 600 and still producing 99.4% rejection rate or a RO only TDS of 2-3 always. Membranes will last with quality systems and soft water does help.

OKAY WATER COMING IN IS 45.. its .03 before the DI which after the di it goes stright to the barrel

water pressure is 60 water temp is 78 no water softner regular city water 4:1 ratio

there is a space from the top of the resin to the top of cartridge
wonder if that had something to do with it since it started changing colors from the top not the bottom

before it hit the DI it was putting out 03 tds then when i installed the di cartridge it went to 0 but lasted less then 2 weeks

 

[AZDesertRat]

Wow, you ahve extremely low tap water TDS, the national average is around 250.
OK, if your tap TDS is 45 and your RO only is 3 then you have a RO rejection rate of 93.3% which should be better but with such a low tap TDS is borderline acceptable. I would like to see it closer to 98% rejection rate myself.

Your DI should be tightly packed. When adding the new resin, fill it to the top, tap the cartridge on the table top or counter several times to pack it down then repeat the filling process again before adding the sponge doughnut ring at the top before adding the screw on lid. If resin is not tight the cation and anion resins can separate and you will not get the same treatment plus the colors can do strange things. Personally I never waste money on color changing resin, a handheld TDS meter is your best friend and does not lie or need deciphering on whether its brown, orange, streaked, exhausted or not.

Is the resin fresh and has it been stored properly as in a vacuum sealed mylar foil bag stored with a little moisture in it and in the back of the refrigerator so it stays fresh? Once opened resin strength deplets rapidly unless it is resealed and stored properly. I never buy more resin than I can use in a couple months time and I even quit that when I switched to the Spectrapure MaxCap and SilicaBuster cartridges. When I was using normal nuclear grade mixed bed resin, no matter what the source or freshness I was getting 150 measured gallons per refill before I was seeing 2-3 TDS. On my first MaxCap I got a measured 830 gallons on the very first cartridge and over 1000 gallons ever since, huge difference and huge cost savings. Where I was going through 10-15 cartridges a year I now go through 2.

Also as someone mentioned, CO2 in the water eats resin quickly, is not removed by RO and does not show up as TDS. If you know the alkalinity and pH of your tap water there is a nomograph you can calculate the CO2 content with that is pretty accurate or you can buy a CO2 test kit from Spectrapure too. I have CO2 in my water and it did shorten the DI life some but again the bette resin was not affected as much and I still get over 1000 gallons per DI.

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

there is a space from the top of the resin to the top of cartridge
wonder if that had something to do with it since it started changing colors from the top not the bottom

Almost sounds like the in and out are switched? Not sure how much that really matters for di but maybe look and see if you have the ro out going into the di out on the canister



Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[Budman's Corals]

They say this city has really clean water

Well I bought this di cartridges from purely h20 and its not packed tight at all. Theres a gap at the top

Idk what yall talking bout carbon dioxide but for the 1st year I didn't replace anything and it always was 0. But recently this is happening .I'm contacting purely to let them know about the cartridges

Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[AZDesertRat]

If the cation and anion resins separate and stratify this is how they will look. The space allows the resins to do this and one is heavier than the other.

I also noticed in the first photo you have a dual inline TDS meter not a handheld. How are you measuring the TDS at three points, tap, RO only and RO/DI with just two probes? Inlines need to have flow past the probe in the tee and cannot be used portable by dipping the probe in a glass of water. They are normally installed with the IN probe on the RO only and the OUT probe on the RO/DI so do not measure the tap water. You can cut a short piece of 1/4" tubing, shut the water off, disconnect the tap water line from the sediment filter, remove the tee and OUT probe from thefinal RO/DI and stick it between the tap wate rline and this stub piece to temporarily read the tap water though but its a PITA to keep doing this. I have two dual inline meters but never even turn them on as they never agree with the more accurate and versatile handheld COM-100 meter.

Your water quality report shows the Conductivity at 228 uM si I suspect your TDS is higher than what you reported. Also keep in mind that wate rreport is generated annually and is an average of compilation of all sources and is a "snapshot in time". This means the results shown were for those samples on those dates and your results may vary. It is a rough guide and by no means what you have at the tap. It does no take into account changes in the distribution system or piping once it leaves the plant, or the effects of when Joe Contractor dug up and broke the water main down the street. Too many variables but you are doing your diligence by using a RO/DI system.

 

[Budman's Corals]

Almost sounds like the in and out are switched? Not sure how much that really matters for di but maybe look and see if you have the ro out going into the di out on the canister




Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

Well i havent changed any connections.just all filters

been setup for 2 years and the 1st year no prob really lasted longer then a year the resin im talking bout

 

[Budman's Corals]

If the cation and anion resins separate and stratify this is how they will look. The space allows the resins to do this and one is heavier than the other.

I also noticed in the first photo you have a dual inline TDS meter not a handheld. How are you measuring the TDS at three points, tap, RO only and RO/DI with just two probes? Inlines need to have flow past the probe in the tee and cannot be used portable by dipping the probe in a glass of water. They are normally installed with the IN probe on the RO only and the OUT probe on the RO/DI so do not measure the tap water. You can cut a short piece of 1/4" tubing, shut the water off, disconnect the tap water line from the sediment filter, remove the tee and OUT probe from thefinal RO/DI and stick it between the tap wate rline and this stub piece to temporarily read the tap water though but its a PITA to keep doing this. I have two dual inline meters but never even turn them on as they never agree with the more accurate and versatile handheld COM-100 meter.

**** ..you know your water...

I got to order one of them meters..kinda pricey but well worth it

 

[Budman's Corals]

BUt would .03 hurt if i added it to the tank for a week

 

[Budman's Corals]

Wow, you ahve extremely low tap water TDS, the national average is around 250.
OK, if your tap TDS is 45 and your RO only is 3 then you have a RO rejection rate of 93.3% which should be better but with such a low tap TDS is borderline acceptable. I would like to see it closer to 98% rejection rate myself.

Your DI should be tightly packed. When adding the new resin, fill it to the top, tap the cartridge on the table top or counter several times to pack it down then repeat the filling process again before adding the sponge doughnut ring at the top before adding the screw on lid. If resin is not tight the cation and anion resins can separate and you will not get the same treatment plus the colors can do strange things. Personally I never waste money on color changing resin, a handheld TDS meter is your best friend and does not lie or need deciphering on whether its brown, orange, streaked, exhausted or not.

Is the resin fresh and has it been stored properly as in a vacuum sealed mylar foil bag stored with a little moisture in it and in the back of the refrigerator so it stays fresh? Once opened resin strength deplets rapidly unless it is resealed and stored properly. I never buy more resin than I can use in a couple months time and I even quit that when I switched to the Spectrapure MaxCap and SilicaBuster cartridges. When I was using normal nuclear grade mixed bed resin, no matter what the source or freshness I was getting 150 measured gallons per refill before I was seeing 2-3 TDS. On my first MaxCap I got a measured 830 gallons on the very first cartridge and over 1000 gallons ever since, huge difference and huge cost savings. Where I was going through 10-15 cartridges a year I now go through 2.

Also as someone mentioned, CO2 in the water eats resin quickly, is not removed by RO and does not show up as TDS. If you know the alkalinity and pH of your tap water there is a nomograph you can calculate the CO2 content with that is pretty accurate or you can buy a CO2 test kit from Spectrapure too. I have CO2 in my water and it did shorten the DI life some but again the bette resin was not affected as much and I still get over 1000 gallons per DI.

i have a handheld but its the cheaper blue one..not the com100

i see i need to test after the membrane to see what it is ,could i do that just now to see with the hand held