Inside the Smart Buddie - Turbo charge your RO system

[btmedic04]

Installed my smart buddie and it was pretty straight forward following along with the aquatic life classic ro system video. My only concern during installation was when I pushed the ro tubing into the smart buddie, the face plate that the line connections are on would depress too. It just made me a bit nervous that I would break something. Other than that, this is an awesome unit. Im making water so fast now and seeing 88-90 psi. My tds after the membrane is now 1 whereas my previous best was 3 tds after the membrane. If you don't have one, get one!

 

[excell007]

Got the smart buddie today and hooked it up to a 50GPD unit. Installation is easy, you don't even need an instruction, just follow what's written in front of the unit. The only thing that's not mentioned is that you have to remove the flow restrictor, I am sure there is a video somewhere that mentions this. Below are the before and after values, I am already getting more than the rated capacity of my 50 gpd unit but this definitely boosted it. I also have a whole house filtration, so the input is already filtered, probably the reason why I am getting better than rated numbers w/o boosting.

Before:
Pressure 55PSI
Filtered water output 2.5 gallons per hour
Waste ratio 2.5 : 1
TDS 11 (need to replace DI resin)

After:
Pressure 95PSI
Filtered water output 4.5 gallons per hour
Waste ratio 1.25 : 1
TDS 5

Good performance, can't wait to see what it does when I replace membrane to 100gpd. Hopefully longivity will be good too.

 

[H.herry]

Installed smart buddie today with classic model aquatic ro unit. Pressure to ro membrane only around 70psi, is there something I do it incorrectly .
for the autoflush feature, the unit itself should be unplugged or I could just use a simple on off thing on the power source will do the same job ?

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Are you using 100 GPD membrane or less? If you have more even in series the pump is not big enough.

Yes, just on and off power to the unit will cause it to flush at startup.

 

[H.herry]

100gpd that come with your classic unit

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Our classic 100 should see around 90 PSI as long as no water saver kit is used.
is the sediment and carbon filters pretty new?
Can you send a photo of the setup when you have a chance.

 

[H.herry]

Our classic 100 should see around 90 PSI as long as no water saver kit is used.
is the sediment and carbon filters pretty new?
Can you send a photo of the setup when you have a chance.

 

[H.herry]

It is a brand new unit, just installed two days ago. And followed step by step installation from official youtube channel.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

I looked at the yellow lines and just want to verify the carbon filter out is going to the yellow top of the Smart Buddie and the yellow bottom is going to the Y to the membrane and the gauge. Only other time I have seen a low pressure like this with a 100 GPD membrane is if the membrane is not fully inserted.

So the RO and Smart Buddie are both new?

Please let me know.

 

[H.herry]

Yes the yellow line from carbon filter going to top of smart buddie.
Yea both are new


Membrane fully inserted

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

I have no idea then. All the pumps are tested prior to shipping. So not sure why/how the pressure would not be around 85 - 90PSI on a 100GPD membrane.

Can you measure the waste water flow out of the Smart Buddie? After the initial flush is complete. The opening of the flush valve will reduce the pressure at startup but should climb after it closes to the 300 CC flow restrictor. Looking for roughly 10 ounces in a minute. Wondering if the flush valve is staying open.

You can email us at [email protected] and send the receipt and shipping address and we can start the return process for the Smart Buddie.

 

[shadow1013]

@AquaticLifeProducts Can you do dual membrane filters in parallel with your booster pump?

Also I see the manual says do not use a flow restrictor. What is the Waste water to product water ratio? Normal 4:1? I've been told to help use reduce waste water would be to use a 100GPD membrane but put a 50GPD restrictor and it would take it down to 2:1. Was wondering if I could do that here.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

The Smart Buddie's internal pump is rated to handle up to 100 gpd of membrane so 2 x 50 is no problem. More membrane surface area will reduce the pressure that the pump would be able to create against the membrane.

We use a 300 cc flow restrictor which will give a ratio of 1 filtered to 1.14 concentrate/waste approximately.

 

[shadow1013]

300 cc seems a bit small as it averages around 30-50gpd.

The Smart Buddie's internal pump is rated to handle up to 100 gpd of membrane so 2 x 50 is no problem. More membrane surface area will reduce the pressure that the pump would be able to create against the membrane.

We use a 300 cc flow restrictor which will give a ratio of 1 filtered to 1.14 concentrate/waste approximately.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

300 CC on a 50GPD membrane will give you around 1 : 2.28 and a 100GPD membrane would give you a 1 : 1.14. I do have a way to increase the ratio if you would like. Its an additional flow restrictor between the waste water in and waste water out.

 

[shadow1013]

I'd love to know. Where would that go exactly? Inside the Buddy?

Also I see the specs say it is up to 90 psi and I know it says up to 100GPD but have you tested what the psi would be using either a 150GPD (dual 75) or 200GPD (dual 100). BRS did test a couple of years ago and found 70 psi gave the best results. Wondering if the large membranes would put it at the 70 psi.

300 CC on a 50GPD membrane will give you around 1 : 2.28 and a 100GPD membrane would give you a 1 : 1.14. I do have a way to increase the ratio if you would like. Its an additional flow restrictor between the waste water in and waste water out.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

It is an external bypass. Photo attached.

I know that increasing the flow restrictor from 300 to 500 cc the pressure on a 100 GPD membrane tested at 75PSI. Downside with increasing the membrane size to a 150 GPD and keeping the 300 cc flow restrictor is that you would be at 1 gallon filtered to 0.75 gallons concentrate/waste. The membrane manufacturers recommend a 15% recovery. This would be way past that and you could have problems with scaling or fouling of the membrane.

 

[shadow1013]

What size restrictor do you put in on the external? The 450 in the picture, or was that for demo? What would this give you for waste water ratio with the 50 and 100 GPD?

It is an external bypass. Photo attached.

I know that increasing the flow restrictor from 300 to 500 cc the pressure on a 100 GPD membrane tested at 75PSI. Downside with increasing the membrane size to a 150 GPD and keeping the 300 cc flow restrictor is that you would be at 1 gallon filtered to 0.75 gallons concentrate/waste. The membrane manufacturers recommend a 15% recovery. This would be way past that and you could have problems with scaling or fouling of the membrane.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Let me know what you are looking to do. The flow restrictors can be changed in the bypass depending on the requirement. The internal pumps is rated at 70 PSI at 550ml. Internal 300 ml/cc flow restrictor and the remaining is for the membrane. Less membrane higher pressure and as the membranes increase in size the pressure will drop.

I have had a few customers use a valve to adjust the flow to regulate the pressure to the membrane too. This way the could adjust the pressure to their requirements.

 

[shadow1013]

I was thinking of putting an adjustable valve at the beginning if the pressure was more than 70. I'm looking to get 1:1 if not less because our waste water cost is calcuated off of our use for the clean water in, and it is triple the price of the clean water so the less I waste the better.