R/O unit going through cartridge within 2 days?

[lwillis22]

Has anybody ever had an r/o unit that goes through cartridges real quickly? I have had the same r/o unit for a while and it takes months to go through the cartridges. I moved in May and now am going through cartridges every other day. I would think it was the new water source since I moved in May but I have made lots of water here since May and just within the last week have had these issues. I am freaking out as I just up a 240 gallon tank and also have a 125 gallon. I can not be buying and hauling in that much water all the time to go buy it at the store. Can anybody help?

[rustyjames]

Going through cartridges every other day seems excessive. What are your tds readings out of the tap, waste and final?

[kurt_n]

When you say "cartridges", you mean the DI cannister... correct?

[Dapg8gt]

Have you checked the tds pre and post membrane to make sure it's still putting out its advertised rejection rate?

A spent ro membrane will cause resin to burn out excessively fast in high tds source water..

Also When was the last time you changed the pre filters (carbon) ? Chlorine will ruin a membrane quite fast. My best guess is your membrane needs to be changed.. That's the only logical thing in my mind that can cause your di to exaust that fast.

[whosurcaddie]

Is your source well water because it could be CO2 exhausting the DI.

[ca1ore]

Have you checked the tds pre and post membrane to make sure it's still putting out its advertised rejection rate?

A spent ro membrane will cause resin to burn out excessively fast in high tds source water..

Also When was the last time you changed the pre filters (carbon) ? Chlorine will ruin a membrane quite fast. My best guess is your membrane needs to be changed.. That's the only logical thing in my mind that can cause your di to exaust that fast.

That the DI cartridge has only recently started to exhaust quickly suggests to me that one of these is the culprit ....

[lwillis22]

I have been working with the filter guys to try and figure this out as this is where I purchase all my cartridges. I have changed the membrane. The tds readings before it goes through the di is 34. It is well water and I have heard others say about the CO2 causing exhaustion but what can be done about this if this is the case?

[Silvergryphon]

Have you checked the tds pre and post membrane to make sure it's still putting out its advertised rejection rate?

A spent ro membrane will cause resin to burn out excessively fast in high tds source water..

Also When was the last time you changed the pre filters (carbon) ? Chlorine will ruin a membrane quite fast. My best guess is your membrane needs to be changed.. That's the only logical thing in my mind that can cause your di to exaust that fast.

Isn't that Chloramines? City water here uses chlorine and my filters don't go through all that quickly.

[DSMpunk]

34 tds post membrane is high. What is your rejection rate?

[Zer0.]

I get 15 TDS pre DI stage. Just throwin it out there for comparison

[shermanator]

I have been working with the filter guys to try and figure this out as this is where I purchase all my cartridges. I have changed the membrane. The tds readings before it goes through the di is 34. It is well water and I have heard others say about the CO2 causing exhaustion but what can be done about this if this is the case?

BRS (and others) sell a test kit for CO2, but essentially you can calculate CO2 amount using Alk and pH measurements.

If you have high CO2 in your well water (I do!), you have two options to keep DI resin costs down:

1. sparge the water with air pump and stone to drive off the CO2. It's usually done after the RO stage and before the DI stage. You can sparge in a Brute trashcan.

2. learn how to regenerate DI resin. Possibly add an additional anion exchange resin (this is what captures CO2).

My RO TDS is 7 but because my well has so much CO2, but without sparging the RO water I can only get about 50-75 gal of 0 TDS DI water per DI cartridge.

[Dapg8gt]

Isn't that Chloramines? City water here uses chlorine and my filters don't go through all that quickly.

Both chlorine and chloramine(basically the same thing one with a longer lasting effect ) bad for the membranes.. It's all about capturing it all with a good carbon stage so it doesn't hurt the membrane..

If he is on well water my guess is going to sway towards the high c02 If the other membranes are newly replaced.. From what I remember you will have to off gas the incoming water by aeration in another container or run it through another specialty stage pre resin but that's not from experience so take it as that..

I'd ask spectrapure about your issue if I were you.. I've been sold things by other places that werent needed that were taken care of with quality inserts. Not saying that's what you have going on or bashing your current supplier at all I'm just saying spectrapure has never steered me wrong since I made the switch . I get a lot more bang for the buck even though initially it doesn't seem that way.

[lwillis22]

Thanks for the help. What is sparge? Also not sure what rejection rate is?

[Dapg8gt]

Thanks for the help. What is sparge? Also not sure what rejection rate is?

Rejection rate is what the ro membrane' efficiency is rated at.. So for a example a 98% rejection rate membrane should turn 100tds pre membrane water into 2 tds post membrane filtered water or close to it with all other variables. If 100tds water is coming out of the membrane at 50tds you have a 50% rejection rate etc..

I've never heard sparge either(not saying much lol) but from what I know is your basically aerating the water to off Gass. Like a Brute filled with water and an air stone in it . I'd guess a powerhead aimed at the surface would do it also.. .

[shermanator]

Thanks for the help. What is sparge?

Sparge = blow air bubbles through the water. You exchange the dissolved CO2 with room air (mostly nitrogen and oxygen).

You can use a cheap air pump and airstone and let it run 24 hours in a big brute and your dissolved CO2 will be greatly reduced.

[shermanator]

I'd guess a powerhead aimed at the surface would do it also.. .

This would be incredibly slow (compared to an airstone), but would work.

[JMorris271]

My DI Canister was shot after 100 gals. Haven't solved the situation yet

[shermanator]

My DI Canister was shot after 100 gals. Haven't solved the situation yet

Do you have a well? If so, test the Alk and pH of your RO water. You probably have high CO2 and should do what I posted above.

[lwillis22]

Can you describe how to sparge again?

[shermanator]

Can you describe how to sparge again?

Here's a FAQ from spectrapure that includes an image for sparging ro water with an air pump: http://spectrapure.com/frequently-asked-questions#calcc02 There is also a lot more information on high CO2 levels and it's effects on DI resin.

It's quite simple. You collect the RO water in something (spectrapure link above uses a big PVC pipe, I use a brute trash can). Then you bubble air through the high-CO2 water for 24 hours. Finally, now pump (use powerhead, BRS 50 mL/min peristaltic pump, etc etc) the water through the DI resin.

It's very easy, but it's a manual process which sucks. I'm working on automating my system using an apex and a Tunze RO controller, but that is quickly becoming complicated and very expensive.

High CO2 only seems to happen with wells. And aside from paying $$$ for new DI resin every week, the only solution is to bubble air through the water (or regenerate the resin yourself). I do both. But there is no pre-filter or membrane that can remove CO2, unfortunately.

BRS sells a CO2 test kit (Lamotte, I think) that you can use to determine your dissolved CO2 level.

[JMorris271]

Do you have a well? If so, test the Alk and pH of your RO water. You probably have high CO2 and should do what I posted above.

I have a well but am using tap for the RODI

The great thing about all of these gizmo's,there is always somewhere you can purchase something to make what you bought in the first place work and do what you thought you were going to be able to do

[TropTrea]

I'm not sure I'm, following some of the comments here compared to what has been my experience.

1. I'm running none clorinated well water through my system which is HiSi Cartridge. Before it I have a 10 micron and 1 micron prefilter. When everything is new I get a yield of about 65 gallons of 2.0 tds water in a day. Note my well water varies from 80 to 14 tds dependent on the usage and time of the year. When I have a low yield of roughly 40 gallons per day I usually end up changing my 1 micron filterer and things jump right back up. Usually ever third time I end up changing the 1 micron I also need to change the 10 micron filterer. Each time I change any filters I back flush the entire ROI membrane.

I do not run my system constantly roughly 12 hours each time I run it for around 30 to 35 gallons of RO water. I will do this every second or third day. So in the average year I'd estimate I'm producing about 5,000 gallons of RO water. Usually a membrane will last for me close to 2 years or around 10,000 gallons.

But here is the puzzle in my mind. When the membrane starts to go for me I see a decrease yield that changing the per filters does have any effect on rectifying. Usually I get mad and change the membrane when it takes nearly 24 hours to fill up my 35 gallon container. However even on this last fill I'll usually have a TDS of 4 or less.

Now keep in mind I have been using RO systems for over 25 years for aquariums. At one time I had two systems running around the clock one at 120 gpd and ther at 50 gpd. I have found out that the selection of the different membranes has a drastic effect on what you get in the final tds. The HiSi yielded the purest of the 3 types of membranes I tried and lasted the longest if it was back flushed regularly.

Warning if you back flush your membrane throw out at lest the first 5 gallons of water it filters. This was recommended to me and once I tested the first 1/4 gallon and the TDS was about 3 times what my incoming water was, by 5 gallons it was down to 2 ppm TDS.

[reelredfish]

What was your PSI? I may have missed that.

I had a similar problem turned out to be a faulty membrane plus I think one of them was not seated all the way either.

My tap water is like 650 TDS and now that I have mine working the post membrane or RO water is about 4 or 5 going into the DI then coming out at (0) zero.

I clearly think you must have some sort of issue here. Before I fixed my issue mine wus running just like yours. With the low production yours seems to be putting out that's why I ask about your PSI.

[TropTrea]

one other note. Are you on a city or other municipal water source. If you are chlorinates and your particular type of membrane could be the issue. Chlorinates are added in heavier dosages during warm weather and when there excessive rain fall by local water companies. Chlorinates will not leave the water through aeration and are not as effectively filtered out by carbon filters as chlorine is. Yest one of the lower cost type membranes can be easily destroyed by chlorinates where there build up on the membrane can actually start chemically dissolving it slowly. End results is higher TDS as there are now pin holes for the membrane.

The standard membranes if I recall correctly are CTF, TFC, HiS, and HiF. I believe it was the CTF membranes that were very sensitive to any chlorine or chlorinates. But even the others are to a much lesser extent. The filtering capacity of HiS and HiF is much purer than the others as well but cost is also much higher.

[shermanator]

I'm not sure I'm, following some of the comments here compared to what has been my experience.


The OP is talking about rapid DI resin exhaustion (not premature membrane damage). And he's on a well, so no chlorine.

Anyway, it's very easy to test to see if CO2 is the problem. You can do it with Alk and pH testing and BRS even sells a CO2 test kit.

[TropTrea]

I have been working with the filter guys to try and figure this out as this is where I purchase all my cartridges. I have changed the membrane. The tds readings before it goes through the di is 34. It is well water and I have heard others say about the CO2 causing exhaustion but what can be done about this if this is the case?

I have never seen tds as high as 34ppm coming out of my RO membrane. These are usually in the low single digits. But then I run HiS membranes that are rated at 99+ % filtration. Some partials they are even rated at 99.8% filtration.

[Buckeye Hydro]

Has anybody ever had an r/o unit that goes through cartridges real quickly? I have had the same r/o unit for a while and it takes months to go through the cartridges. I moved in May and now am going through cartridges every other day. I would think it was the new water source since I moved in May but I have made lots of water here since May and just within the last week have had these issues. I am freaking out as I just up a 240 gallon tank and also have a 125 gallon. I can not be buying and hauling in that much water all the time to go buy it at the store. Can anybody help?

Sure - feel free to give us a call.

Russ
513-312-2343