Please troubleshoot my RO/DI

mikestod · 10/03/2004, 10:09 AM

Here's the problem. Recently moved, but am on the same municipal water supply (as i'm about 1 mile across town. My 50 GPD RO/DI unit is setup and produces no flow from the waste water hose but a ton of flow from the filtered hose. The pressure gauge on the unit reads @ 20 PSI. My TDS meter may or may not be working (it definately does not read the incoming TDS), but when first starting it usualy reads in the 20-30 TDS and quickly reduces to 0 TDS. At my old apartment pressure was @40 PSI, and water production was mostly waste water, and the normal production rate of filtered water. The RO/DI unit was removed from the old apartment and re-installed in my new house within 2-3 hours.

Does this sould like a membrane or cartridge problem or a pressure problem.? Any suggestions on how to repair this?

Thanks,
Mike

SpectraPure · 10/04/2004, 10:51 AM

The pressure guage is either telling you that you have low tap water pressure or your sediment filter is plugged up. In either case, you don't have enough pressure to push the water through the membrane but water does flow down the drain unimpeded.

0 TDS means the membrane is working well.

Scott
SpectraPure, Inc.

mikestod · 10/04/2004, 09:14 PM

The drain? The drain in the membrane housing? I'm a little confused.

I have almost no flow from my waste water hose, but unusually fast flow from the hose that usually trickles RODI water from the end.

Last time I had a problem, there was very little flow coming from either hoses and that was due to a plugged carbon cartridge. By replacing the cartridge production increased tenfold. Right now I can fill a 5 gallon bucket in about 5 minutes from my filter hose while almost no water comes out of my waste hose. The funny thing is the TDS meter still reads 0.

SpectraPure · 10/05/2004, 09:47 AM

You are going to have to call us, 800-685-2783. Too many things don't make sense. 1440 GPD is improbable, TDS=0 is highly unlikely, and no water from the waste line is physically impossible.

Scott
SpectraPure, Inc.

SpectraPure · 10/05/2004, 04:06 PM

You also need to be sure you did not switch the blue (product) and yellow (waste, with flow restrictor) lines when you re-installed the system. The yellow line connects to the port nearest the edge of the membrane housing and the blue connects to the more-central located port.

Scott
SpectraPure, Inc.

10/03/2004, 10:09 AM	#1
mikestod Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Central Massachusetts Posts: 487	Please troubleshoot my RO/DI Here's the problem. Recently moved, but am on the same municipal water supply (as i'm about 1 mile across town. My 50 GPD RO/DI unit is setup and produces no flow from the waste water hose but a ton of flow from the filtered hose. The pressure gauge on the unit reads @ 20 PSI. My TDS meter may or may not be working (it definately does not read the incoming TDS), but when first starting it usualy reads in the 20-30 TDS and quickly reduces to 0 TDS. At my old apartment pressure was @40 PSI, and water production was mostly waste water, and the normal production rate of filtered water. The RO/DI unit was removed from the old apartment and re-installed in my new house within 2-3 hours. Does this sould like a membrane or cartridge problem or a pressure problem.? Any suggestions on how to repair this? Thanks, Mike __________________ ~~~My OCD was in remission until I started reefing!~~~ Current Tank Info: 40g Breeder SPS frag tank

10/04/2004, 10:51 AM	#2
SpectraPure RC Sponsor Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 3,002	The pressure guage is either telling you that you have low tap water pressure or your sediment filter is plugged up. In either case, you don't have enough pressure to push the water through the membrane but water does flow down the drain unimpeded. 0 TDS means the membrane is working well. Scott SpectraPure, Inc. __________________ *Innovators in water technology.* Since 1985!

10/04/2004, 09:14 PM	#3
mikestod Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Central Massachusetts Posts: 487	The drain? The drain in the membrane housing? I'm a little confused. I have almost no flow from my waste water hose, but unusually fast flow from the hose that usually trickles RODI water from the end. Last time I had a problem, there was very little flow coming from either hoses and that was due to a plugged carbon cartridge. By replacing the cartridge production increased tenfold. Right now I can fill a 5 gallon bucket in about 5 minutes from my filter hose while almost no water comes out of my waste hose. The funny thing is the TDS meter still reads 0. __________________ ~~~My OCD was in remission until I started reefing!~~~ Current Tank Info: 40g Breeder SPS frag tank

10/05/2004, 09:47 AM	#4
SpectraPure RC Sponsor Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 3,002	You are going to have to call us, 800-685-2783. Too many things don't make sense. 1440 GPD is improbable, TDS=0 is highly unlikely, and no water from the waste line is physically impossible. Scott SpectraPure, Inc. __________________ *Innovators in water technology.* Since 1985!

10/05/2004, 04:06 PM	#5
SpectraPure RC Sponsor Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 3,002	You also need to be sure you did not switch the blue (product) and yellow (waste, with flow restrictor) lines when you re-installed the system. The yellow line connects to the port nearest the edge of the membrane housing and the blue connects to the more-central located port. Scott SpectraPure, Inc. __________________ *Innovators in water technology.* Since 1985!