Need help getting water through my resin canisters.

JMM744

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I have to agitate my ro water to degas it. I pump it into a 55 gal. drum that resides over my salt water container and my top off water container. I use gravity to feed the water through the canisters of resin to get my tds down. For about a year it worked fine but now it just drips. I have checked all the hoses for blockage and repacked the canisters but can not get a nice steady stream through the canisters at all. In fact I can seldom get it to go through both canisters as it was intended to start with.
I am looking for one of two things, either a solution to the gravity feed failing at times or a small pump I could use to push the water through the canisters. It needs to fit inside the drum and push up to the top, about 3.5 ft. and then through the canisters below.
Of course there may be an easier way that one of you might suggest and I am all ears. Please be as elaborate as you like.
Thank you to any and all who care to contribute.
My best,
jim
 
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theMeat

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Sounds like it could be air lock. Try tilting and shaking up the canister

Maybe some resin clogging the line

Weird that the same amount of gravity worked, now not
 
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JMM744

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Actually could be. Yesterday I actually sucked water through the line trying to get it going and it worked briefly. I have loosened the cartridges so water comes out but still not getting the flow I should.

The booster pump did come to mind but it requires 20 lbs. of pressure behind it to work right and it can not be placed inside the drum. Appreciate the idea though. Thanks for offering it.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

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If gravity-feeding worked fine for a year and suddenly stopped working, something is blocking the tubing. Unless you've made some changes to the setup.

Try replacing the lines to and from the canisters. Also, take apart the canisters and feeding pipe cleaner through the holes where the RO tubing plugs in to make sure there are no blocks. Also inspect the bulkhead coming out of your RO container (you will likely have to drain your RO container to do this effectively).
 
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JMM744

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81A3EB12-03F9-44F0-AE56-B4FB28A07237.jpeg
B4749BF6-DE18-44A6-9AF2-30BAE1EA6395.jpeg
If gravity-feeding worked fine for a year and suddenly stopped working, something is blocking the tubing. Unless you've made some changes to the setup.

Try replacing the lines to and from the canisters. Also, take apart the canisters and feeding pipe cleaner through the holes where the RO tubing plugs in to make sure there are no blocks. Also inspect the bulkhead coming out of your RO container (you will likely have to drain your RO container to do this effectively).

Here are pictures. I can find no blockage at all. I tore it apart and every hose is open. The only thing I can think of is the canisters but I interchange them as they get spent and it doesn’t always help. I just figured if it’s air in the canister that a pump would push it out. I am at a loss as to how to clear the canister of air if in fact that’s the problem.
 

theMeat

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Not really following the pics. See a big hose coming out of can on table. Is that the big hose going into canister? Is there a big hose coming out of canister as well?
 
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JMM744

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The bottom picture shows the same hose fitted to the supply side of the back canister. The back side is the 1/4 “ supply to the containers that came with the unit. You can see the line from the front canister that is unplugged for reference.
 

theMeat

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The bigger hose puts more weight on the siphon making it stronger. Changing the 1/4 on the downside will certainly improve things.
 
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JMM744

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Can’t say as I understand what you are saying. The 1/4 hose supplies the containers and is hooked to mechanical shut offs. I would think increasing its size would let the water through the resin too fast.
 

theMeat

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Let’ Start over. The can on table with big hose feeds the canister with di?
What size is hose coming out of di?
 

theMeat

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If you change that 1/4 inch to something bigger, it will make the siphon stronger because it adds more weight to what gets pulled down. You can put a valve to control flow
 
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JMM744

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Let’ Start over. The can on table with big hose feeds the canister with di?
What size is hose coming out of di?
1/4
If you change that 1/4 inch to something bigger, it will make the siphon stronger because it adds more weight to what gets pulled down. You can put a valve to control flow
ok, I can try that. Thanks
 

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I have to agitate my ro water to degas it. I pump it into a 55 gal. drum that resides over my salt water container and my top off water container. I use gravity to feed the water through the canisters of resin to get my tds down. For about a year it worked fine but now it just drips. I have checked all the hoses for blockage and repacked the canisters but can not get a nice steady stream through the canisters at all. In fact I can seldom get it to go through both canisters as it was intended to start with.
I am looking for one of two things, either a solution to the gravity feed failing at times or a small pump I could use to push the water through the canisters. It needs to fit inside the drum and push up to the top, about 3.5 ft. and then through the canisters below.
Of course there may be an easier way that one of you might suggest and I am all ears. Please be as elaborate as you like.
Thank you to any and all who care to contribute.
My best,
jim

Need to do process of elimination, if you have other resin cartridges (new), Replace one at a time. Till problem solved. Double check tubing, fill valves, etc...first.
 
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JMM744

JMM744

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So I changed out the cartridge with a new one and the supply was very slow. After a period of time I then used suction to get water flowing from the line between the canister and the reservoir. Got a real nice stream for about 30 min. Or so. Then back to drips. I took the resin container out of the canister and water ran very well through the system.
It really appears the bottle neck is the resin containers. When I used suction there was a lot of air that was evacuated before a solid water stream. My thought is that somehow air is getting in the canister or somewhere along the way. If there was a loose or worn fitting would it not leak water? I may just replumb the whole setup once I get the time.
 

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