Rodi membrane
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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You may never need to change it. You don't change it until flow through it is too low to be useful. Mine lasted more than 10 years, but the local water conditions will impact the lifetime.
There are a number of factor's that will affect its life, starting with the quality of your raw water, how much water you need to make, the frequency of how often you replace your prefilters, i.e. sediment, carbon block, etc. In my case, I replaced mine after about 5 years, when the output TDS from the membrane started to rise. I could have left it in there longer, but I thought the added expense of more frequent DI resin replacement would in part make up for its replacement cost.
You should be monitoring your rejection rate or RO removal efficiency with a TDS meter. An elevated TDS on the RO only water is one indication the membrane is failing. More commonly though you start seeing a reduction in the GPD as the membrane starts plugging or fouling and it is harder for the pure water to pass through. This often ends up in a rupture or catastrophic failure if not replaced.
Membranes can last 5-7 years or longer if you keep up with the small amount of required maintenance including sediment and carbon block filter replacements and annual disinfections. Other things that help membrane life are using softened tap water, keeping the waste ratio at the manufacturers recommended rate and making water in larger batches so the membrane cleanses itself versus frequent small batches where it does not have a chance to flush itself via the waste ratio.
Membranes can last 5-7 years or longer if you keep up with the small amount of required maintenance including sediment and carbon block filter replacements and annual disinfections. Other things that help membrane life are using softened tap water, keeping the waste ratio at the manufacturers recommended rate and making water in larger batches so the membrane cleanses itself versus frequent small batches where it does not have a chance to flush itself via the waste ratio.
As Randy said, he went over 10 years. I am over 7 years on my current membrane and my tap TDS exceeds 600 most of the time but I do use softened water which greatly extends their life.
