ro/di help please

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jason1985

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
226
okay so i got myself a 6 stage RO/Di Unit

With Presure gauge and TDS meter

My presure is 50psi

Problem is my TDS going into the unit is 332ppm x10 so thats 3320 ppm
On the way out it reads 700ppm

NOt good

i just tested spring water from a botle and it reads 338ppm.

I have a lot of water coming out of the waste tube and only drips coming from the Good side?
 
What TDS meter are you using? the x10 seems odd to me. It's normal to read a few hundred, not a few thousand.

Also, you'll need to let a brand new RODI unit run for a bit to get everything down to 0 TDS. I think I let mine run for an hour or two before ever collecting the water.

As for the waste water, it depends slightly on the RO membrane you have, but in general you're going to get 4:1 waste:pure water. Lower water pressure (like you have) makes it even worse actually. Higher water pressure will make the RO membrane operate better. So, you can consider buying a booster pump. Ideally (again, unit specific) you probably want to be in the 85psi range.
 
Let it run, the first 10-30 gallons need to be dumped. If after that it isn't 0 then you need to check that your membrane is in properly and sealed.
 
Let it run, the first 10-30 gallons need to be dumped. If after that it isn't 0 then you need to check that your membrane is in properly and sealed.


Okay well i'm only getting drips from the Out side :S I will get it go and see what happens.

The TDS meter is ccalled HM Digital. It has a prove for the in and the out.

I am on well water, that's why the TDS is so high. When I put water in a glass straight from the tap it has a yellow tint to it. Even thought the water out of the RO unit has a high TDS it looks clearer
 
Most systems are pretty slow at producing water. Keep us updated.
 
this is the same tds meter that i am using.

well it flashes x10 on my meter when i test my tap water
it shows 325 x10 flashing!
 
I have a lot of water coming out of the waste tube and only drips coming from the Good side?

Mine operates the same. Sounds normal to me. Put that other water to good use and run it out to the yard to water grass or flower bed or even fill washer machine with it.
 
Mine operates the same. Sounds normal to me. Put that other water to good use and run it out to the yard to water grass or flower bed or even fill washer machine with it.


okay So I have the system running better now, 0ppm coming out after DI stage! The DI it turning brown already, I'm assuming this is bad?

Even with the flow restrictor turned OFF for the waste water there was still a lot of water coming out of the tube. I guess its a defective restrictor so what I did was installed a manual shut off valvle before the restrictor, adjusted the manual shut off vavle so the water coming out of the waste water tube is about 3x1 of what is coming out of the 0ppm tube.

To flush the system I will turn both the manual valve and restrictor valvle to full open to flush.
 
I don't think you should have been running the the DI until after the first 30-50 gallons and the water was running cleaner. You will probably have to replace it sooner than you otherwise would have.
 
I don't think you should have been running the the DI until after the first 30-50 gallons and the water was running cleaner. You will probably have to replace it sooner than you otherwise would have.


I'll go remove the DI from the process right now, I've only produced about 2gallons so far if I'm lucky.


I made a quick video of what the setup looks like now, I'll clean up the hose mess once everything is running smoothly.

VID-20110307-00016.mp4 video by jasonmoreau - Photobucket
 
Not trying to high jack but I had a quick question on this stuff. I was wondering. If you put a float valve on the clean side, how do you get the waste side to shut off on it's own? I hate the idea of making waste and not getting the clean water cause the barrel is full. Thanks

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium
 
You might want to pre-filter your water prior to sending it to the ro unit. Just a cheap canister filter will catch a lot of what is clogging the ro unit.
 
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