Need help with RO unit

[Hara]

as I mentioned in a previous post, I bought the 5 stage ro unit from aquasafecanada. Here is an image of it. The only change is that we do not have the holding tank, (reef system unit they sell does not come with one)
as it is going into a 55 gallon bucket, figured we wont need it. Here is my problem. the waste discharge line is flowing like a pig. The line with the "filtered" water is barely dripping. Ed at aquasafe said that low well pressure would cause this. We have 95 lbs at the well. Does anyone have any ideas that we could try? Right now, I have a bucket sitting under the drip, and a timer set for 1 hour, just to see exactly how much water is coming out, I feel it should be close to 3 gallons. The problem is that even if that is what is coming out, the sheer waste of water out the discharge line is unacceptable and will keep my well running constantly.

 

[reefrunner69]

Have you checked to see if the RO membrane is seated properly? 95 lbs of pressure should give you plenty of water from the RO. You should loose approx 3 gallons for every 1 that is produced of RO product water.

 

[Hara]

ouch, that is alot of lost water
I will know in about 15 minutes, how much the unit is putting out in an hours time.
But the discharge bucket, 4 gallons, fills in about 20 minutes or so

 

[stresco]

Hara,
What is the RO unit rated at (GPD)? Usually, you will get about 50-75% of this amount of water. RR is right about the waiste. RO Units produce a lot of waste water, mine is about 4gal of waste to 1gal of RO water at 100GPD.

Did you flush and charge the unit prior to use?

You may have air trapped in one of the lines, so you can try bleading them one at a time.

You can try twisting the filter chambers counter clockwise to break the seal and releace any trapped air.

Do you have a pressure guage on the unit? What is the PSI at the unit intake? If it is under 40psi, you will need a pump to increase the water output. I think 75psi is what you want.

I have seen people run their waste lines to their washing machines and use that water on their clothes. Others catch the waste water and use it for watering their lawns and washing their cars.

Hope this helps

 

[Hara]

*heavy sigh* the directions didnt mention anything about flushing and charging the unit first. What does that entail? I will do the filter chamber idea as soon as the one hour timer goes off. It is a 75 gpd unit. We did make sure the ro membrane was seated correctly. We do not have a pressure gauge on the unit.

 

[Hara]

we got a gallon and a spoonful out of the thing. Bled the lines, unscrewed the filter cartridge housings, ran it wide open throttle out of the discharge line, still the same issues....

 

[reefrunner69]

I would suggest you contact the place you purchased it from. I would also recommend adding a pressure gage before the RO unit, or at the very least get one you can test the pressure of the faucet your running it from. That is way to mch waste per product.

 

[stresco]

I agree with RR, on the pressure guage, and contacting the manufacture to get info, who is gonna know the product better than the people that made it? I made sure to get a guage for my unit. I get 40psi at the intake of the RO unit, and i get half the amount of water it is rated for. As for the waste, 4 to 1 is about normal.