Let's talk RO Flow Restrictors!

[Buckeye Hydro]

Let us know if you need help troubleshooting your softener.

Because you have a pressurized storage tank, if you want to get an accurate reading of the permeate TDS, close the valve on the top of your pressure tank, and open the faucet. Let the system run for a couple of minutes and then check the permeate TDS.

 

[bandit8623]

Let us know if you need help troubleshooting your softener.

Because you have a pressurized storage tank, if you want to get an accurate reading of the permeate TDS, close the valve on the top of your pressure tank, and open the faucet. Let the system run for a couple of minutes and then check the permeate TDS.

8 years old. just re-bedded mine. softener had been not been cycling properly from a line clog i didnt notice. pretty sure chlorine resin damage

i didnt see any 10% cross resin on your store. but for any new purchases ill be looking @ buckeye

i actually emptied my tanks completely and had it fill them. at the end 80 ppm. i have a water tester and im @ 0 hardness (new resin its been 7 days now still 0 hardness). before the re-bed i would get 0 hardness for a few days but the hardness jumped up(100-200 gallons). i had to set the softener to false crazy numbers to get it to regen quick enough.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

8 years old. just re-bedded mine. softener had been not been cycling properly from a line clog i didnt notice. pretty sure chlorine resin damage

i didnt see any 10% cross resin on your store. but for any new purchases ill be looking @ buckeye

i actually emptied my tanks completely and had it fill them. at the end 80 ppm. i have a water tester and im @ 0 hardness (new resin its been 7 days now still 0 hardness). before the re-bed i would get 0 hardness for a few days but the hardness jumped up(100-200 gallons). i had to set the softener to false crazy numbers to get it to regen quick enough.

That's not the correct way to evaluate your RO membrane. See what I posted above.

You should not have to put in incorrect numbers into your softener. If you have really high hardness you may have been getting bleed through. We have 10% xlinked as well as any other media you can think off. Most of that side of our business is not on the website.

 

[bandit8623]

That's not the correct way to evaluate your RO membrane. See what I posted above.

You should not have to put in incorrect numbers into your softener. If you have really high hardness you may have been getting bleed through. We have 10% xlinked as well as any other media you can think off. Most of that side of our business is not on the website.

oops sorry missed that. i ran like you said for 5 min and it stalled at 74 ppm. incoming water atm is reading 505 ppm.

i had to put incorrect number into softener because my resin was no longer functioning properly to get it to regen more often. my softener is based on gallons used and the settings. im sure there are more fancy units out there now?
i verified my softnener is pulling brine and refilling properly after i found a chunk in the injecter blocking water a few years back. but i think it wasnt cycling for about a year (chlorine damage). this all happened before i hooked up my RO. i set up my RO last july.

the removed resin was half the size of the new resin i put back in. i also was seeing some resin in my tankless water heater pre filter.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

That's an 85% rejection rate. Assuming you are feeding it the correct pressure, and you have the correct recovery set up, then it sounds like a bad membrane

I misunderstood - thought you had messed with the softener settings on your softener after you had rebeded it. Make sure to clean your blfc, dlfc, and injector at least yearly. That's what a technician would do if you hired them. Clean your brine tank out at least annually, and when you do make sure the ball in the air valve in the bottom of the brine pickup tube rolls freely.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

What is the diameter and height of your softener tank? How much resin did you refill it with?

 

[bandit8623]

What is the diameter and height of your softener tank? How much resin did you refill it with?

32k 9x 48 I believe. I put in 1cf

She's working well now. I guess I'm just wondering if hard water could destroy my membrane that quickly.

I have an extra dow membrane here I'll throw in after I make sure my water stays soft throughout a full cycle that I have the softener set at.

Its just me and the wife here. Also toilets not plumbed for soft. I could switch it but haven't seen any issues with toilets.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

If your waste to permeate ratio is low (meaning you've chocked off the concentrate flow too much), and if you feed the membrane hard water, you can clog a membrane with scale in days.

 

[bandit8623]

If your waste to permeate ratio is low (meaning you've chocked off the concentrate flow too much), and if you feed the membrane hard water, you can clog a membrane with scale in days.

its the green one 575 ml. when i tested with no tank it seemed like at least 2:1 3:1 ratio waste to permeate.

thanks for all your help! on soft ill change membrane. and see how it goes

 

[bandit8623]

If your waste to permeate ratio is low (meaning you've chocked off the concentrate flow too much), and if you feed the membrane hard water, you can clog a membrane with scale in days.

I have been going 4 months now with soft water and am seeing 4ppm now still for 4months. soft water took care of the issue. Thanks Again

 

[pd68]

If your waste to permeate ratio is low (meaning you've chocked off the concentrate flow too much), and if you feed the membrane hard water, you can clog a membrane with scale in days.

Buckeye, you have been so helpful, I hope you don't mind another thread hijack.

I am just putting together a partslist for my first RO system, which will be a 75gpd with a tank for drinking water. I currently have my whole house filtered by a 25-micron GAC filter to remove high amounts of Chlorine. From there it splits and a 0.5micron carbon block serves the kitchen sink, while the rest of the water gets softened for the house. The city says they are supplying water hardness of 6-8grains. I measure about 160tds before and after softening.

I read that Chlorine and sediment are worse for a membrane than hardness is, so I was planning on feeding it the un-softened water after the 0.5micron carbon block. Do you think that's a good plan? Or would it be better to use the 25-micron soft water? I will be adding the membrane only, not any additional prefilters which is why the choice matters.

And coming back to the topic of flow restrictors, I had been looking at a 650mlm restrictor, but using your calculator for 65psi and 50-55f input temp, I'm thinking maybe a 550mlm is more appropriate? I was targeting a 3:1 ratio, but maybe that will depend on your answer to the prior question.

Thanks

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Feed you membrane softened water, with the correct pretreatment for sediment (down to 5 micron or less), and chlorine removal.

You can always buy more than one flow restrictor (they are only $4) and do some experimenting. You may also want one for winter, and a different one for summer.

 

[pd68]

Feed you membrane softened water, with the correct pretreatment for sediment (down to 5 micron or less), and chlorine removal.

You can always buy more than one flow restrictor (they are only $4) and do some experimenting. You may also want one for winter, and a different one for summer.

Thanks. So if I feed it softened water with a prefilter down to 05micron, is a 2:1 ratio good enough you think?

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Thanks. So if I feed it softened water with a prefilter down to 05micron, is a 2:1 ratio good enough you think?

Yes.