Lets talk RODI booster pumps. Didnthey make the difference

[adinin]

Another vote here for the smart buddie pump. I got one a few months ago when i was starting a tank back up, previously when i was running the system i was getting about 30 psi and after the pump im up to 90. Also does a backflush of the membrane every time its powered on or every 24 hours. I cant say for certain if it sped up my water rate, as i changed a bunch of stuff at the same time. Before and after the pump i was making about a 5 gallon bucket an hour, but i also switched to a 99% rejection rate membrane from the standard spectrapure 90%.

 

[Yodeling]

Booster pump plus a second membrane will make your RO/DI much more efficient. Second membrane extracts water from the first membrane’s waste water, which doubles your RO production, and decreases your waste water by a third. My system is almost identical to @oregongrownreef including the PSI. It takes me an afternoon to fill up a 50g reservoir. And the waste water is a slow trickle.

Btw, adding a booster pump alone (without a second membrane) will improve your waste water efficiency somewhat, but you’re looking at small very percentages.

 

[hllb]

Booster pump plus a second membrane will make your RO/DI much more efficient. Second membrane extracts water from the first membrane’s waste water, which doubles your RO production, and decreases your waste water by a third. My system is almost identical to @oregongrownreef including the PSI. It takes me an afternoon to fill up a 50g reservoir. And the waste water is a slow trickle.

Btw, adding a booster pump alone (without a second membrane) will improve your waste water efficiency somewhat, but you’re looking at small very percentages.

Can you explain? Because from my perspective, it improved dramatically simply due to the speed I make water now. The ratio would have to improve a lot if I’m making water 3 times as fast, right? So if it takes me an hour to get 3 gallons of hood water instead of 3 hours, that’s a lot of waste water saved. I don’t think it’s pumping out waste water that much faster, is it? I’ve never actually checked the volume of waste water

 

[Yodeling]

Can you explain? Because from my perspective, it improved dramatically simply due to the speed I make water now. The ratio would have to improve a lot if I’m making water 3 times as fast, right? So if it takes me an hour to get 3 gallons of hood water instead of 3 hours, that’s a lot of waste water saved. I don’t think it’s pumping out waste water that much faster, is it? I’ve never actually checked the volume of waste water

Yeah I take it back, if your household pipes have very low water pressure, I guess it would be possible to have abysmal RODI performance like what you were seeing (I think you're suggesting you were getting 24 GPD from a 100 GPD membrane?). I personally never lived in a house that had less than 40 PSI.

 

[hllb]

Yeah I take it back, if your household pipes have very low water pressure, I guess it would be possible to have abysmal RODI performance like what you were seeing (I think you're suggesting you were getting 24 GPD from a 100 GPD membrane?). I personally never lived in a house that had less than 40 PSI.

Yes, our water pressure is terrible…

 

[Scorpius]

Booster pump, 90psi, 150gpd ro/di. 5 gal. in 45 min.

 

[outhouse]

So I'd be better with 2 ro's at that point?

with TDS that low you can run 3 membranes in series so you get more production verses waste water.

Yes you want the first booster mentioned the 8800, you can play with your waste water restrictor for even better results.

Its what I did with water a little cleaner than yours . best to have it hooked into an ATO with pressure switches that can cut water off to the booster pump, and use a float on your mixing tub

 

[outhouse]

3 gallons per hours sounds like fantasy. I'm so jealous

LOL id quit if thats all I got. like I said get 3 cheap ebay membranes and some nuclear DI resins and you will make over 10 GPH and wont waste water.

not everyone can do this, you have to have clean water to start or you limited to 1 membrane and a 75G at that, to keep from wasting DI resin

 

[Yodeling]

with TDS that low you can run 3 membranes in series so you get more production verses waste water.

Tap TDS in my area is like 30-40, and some local reefers reported not running a membrane at all (which means zero waste). They still use a flow restrictor, reportedly to make sure the other filters get enough contact time. I tried it myself but TDS out of my carbons was still like 8-10 so I’d end up changing DI too often, so I went back to dual membranes. With the membranes, TDS out of my carbons is always zero LOL and I follow that with 3 DI cartridges. So that’s not optimal either since the DI is doing nothing.

Interesting idea to add a third membrane. I might try it.

 

[codenfx]

I’m running the 8800 on 80 PSI, makes 1 gallon in about 6 minutes. Without the booster would take roughly 35 mins per gallon. Great product!

 

[Floyd-]

I was debating getting a booster for my 4 stage water saver setup. Pressure is about 50psi from the tap and I get about a gallon every 9 minutes. If I can boost up to 80-90psi it should speed up a little more.

 

[Minireef30]

I just started using the smart buddie about a month ago. Well water would take 10-12 hours to make 30-35 gallons with a 6 stage 100 gallon system. After the booster I overflowed my brute can in the garage in less than 10. I would also see di resin color change in one chamber almost completely. Now after about 50 gallons the first di chamber is only showing some orange/yellow color at the bottom. I'm happy with the purchase and it is really quiet too.