Help with reverse osmosis setup.

[Buckeye Hydro Verified Sponsor]

It's a

​

SpiroPure SP-RO-400R RO Membrane Filter Replacement 400 GPD


https://www.allfilters.com/reverseosmosis/replacementfilters/spiropure-sp-ro-400r?p=7979

Can't find any spec's on that membrane. Wonder what the testing pressure spec is, what what pressure you are providing it.

Because of your high (and untreated, correct?) hardness, you'll want to run that membrane at something like a 3:1 or higher ratio of concentrate to permeate. So let's do some math here.
Permeate production: 400 gpd (you're probably not getting this much but let's use 400 gpd for sake of discussion)
Concentrate production at a 3:1: 1200 gpd
Feedwater flow = 400 + 1200 = 1600 gpd.
1600/1440 = 1.1 gpm

And you're trying to do this with 10" x 2.5" prefilters with 1/4" housing ports. That is not a good fit.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hey everyone! Sorry it took a while to get back to you all. Just wanted to reply and give you guys an update on the situation. The situation seems resolved now. I changed from 2x 150gpd membranes to 1x 400gpd membrane. I also changed the waste line restrictor from 1500cc on this new 400 gpd ro membrane to 800cc restrictor, then added 2x more di cartridges in line after the pure water comes out of the membrane. So now I have it setup like this: water source(well) ---> a 1micron sediment filter ---> 1 micron carbon block ---> 1 micron carbon block ---> 400gpd ro membrane ---> di cartridge ---> di cartridge ---> di cartridge ---> usable water!

Incoming water from the well is still 1600 tds and I added a mister to the holding tank of the well to "degass the water". I am getting 135 tds after the 400gpd ro membrane on the pure side. Then after the first di canister I am getting 75 tds. After the second DI canister I am getting 10 tds and after the third DI canister I am getting 0-2 tds.

Thank you to everyone for all your help and ideas and also to the generous offer of help from Buckeye Hydro. Even though I never bought any equipment from him it is still nice to see the community come together to try to help one another. I am just hoping with such a high tds that these di cartridges don't eat me out of house and home.. I have ordered a digital gallon per minute usage meter I am going to put on the water line to see how many gallons are being made before these cartridges start dying as well. Someone also told me to use a 20x4.5 in big blue DI cartridge and I'd only need one to accomplish the same thing but I am not sure. I have the DI cartridges in see through containers now so ill know when to start looking for that orange color to see if they're going bad.

I'm on a well with 48ish incoming. You're is really high tds. Wow. I also have high CO2.

What I did to help the CO2 is have separate anion/cation resin then a mixed bed. The anion gets chewed up after 100ish gallons.

That anion can be regenerated with pure lye. You can find the crystals in the plumbing department in your local hardware store. I got it down to about 45 minutes tear down to back up and running.
I haven't touched the cation in a long time nor the mixed bed.
If you would like info, LMK.

 

[KStatefan]

It's a

​

SpiroPure SP-RO-400R RO Membrane Filter Replacement 400 GPD


https://www.allfilters.com/reverseosmosis/replacementfilters/spiropure-sp-ro-400r?p=7979

Not much info there says 97.5% rejection but does not specify at what pressure. Why 400 gpd membrane?

 

[spacecop9999]

Your DI cartridges are not full of resin - what's up with that?

They looked full when I swapped them out yesterday but today when I saw they were exhausted and took them out they were half empty! I am not sure. I feel swindled lol. Maybe them not being packed tight is causing massive channeling?

 

[spacecop9999]

Can't find any spec's on that membrane. Wonder what the testing pressure spec is, what what pressure you are providing it.

Because of your high (and untreated, correct?) hardness, you'll want to run that membrane at something like a 3:1 or higher ratio of concentrate to permeate. So let's do some math here.
Permeate production: 400 gpd (you're probably not getting this much but let's use 400 gpd for sake of discussion)
Concentrate production at a 3:1: 1200 gpd
Feedwater flow = 400 + 1200 = 1600 gpd.
1600/1440 = 1.1 gpm

And you're trying to do this with 10" x 2.5" prefilters with 1/4" housing ports. That is not a good fit.

Good morning and thanks for your help. I am on a well as well. My incoming pressure is 60psi. I tried to do everything on 3/8 ports but the issue for me is that even though I found an ASO valve with 3/8 ports none of the filter housings for the RO membrane have 3/8 output ports and non of the flow restrictors I could find have 3/8 fittings either so at some point I am hitting the bottleneck and having to use an adapter to step down from the 3/8 to 1/4. I would love to run the entire thing off 3/8. I do have 3/8 quick disconnects and tubing to and from all the the canisters.