Rodi and well water

[Oshanickreef]

Hello,

I have posted about this before and am still coming up with questions.

Here is my situation. I moved to a house with a well. I have a new softener and a dual membrane rodi with 3 di stages. I posted before about my cation resin getting used up in 100 gallons and people said there needs to be a degassing chamber. I used a trash can and an air stone and aerated the ro water for 2-4 days before running through my di and overall it doesn’t slow the depletion down enough to deal with the hassle of an extra degassing chamber/brute trash can. It actually just uses up my cation cartridge at the same rate as if I run my rodi normally.

Weirdly, I noticed that running the rodi normally recharges the anion di resin and depletes the cation. And running the ro water through the di after gassing it depletes the anion but recharges the cation. By recharge, I mean that the di cartridge will be half color changed (after about 50-75 gallons of water), then when switching up the method of filtering water it goes back to a dark color and I can no longer see the color change of di..

Another thing I noticed is after degassing the ro water, the tds going into my first two stages of di is double (in comparison to running my rodi off my main water) and then hits zero after the third stage. But why would this be? Is dust getting in my ro water trash can and raising tds?

If anyone has a better solution to using up di resin when using well water, please share it. I would love to simplify this problem.

Thank you.

Nick

 

[KrisReef]

You should get a water test to see what is in your well water.

 

[Oshanickreef]

i sent in an icp test yesterday. not sure that will tell me enough tho... any advice on a test kit to buy?

 

[Mjp83]

Following! I have a new 500’ well. Have a Katalox iron filter with a water softener as we have high iron and Manganese.
I purchased the RO Buddy pump, which is boosting my water to a steady flow, as my house pressure fluctuates between 30-50. I thought for sure this is what is eating my mixed bed (I only have a 4 stage).
My incoming water is 120 TDS, membrane to resin is 003 TDS. I have a fairly new spectrapure SpectraSelect Plus 99% RO membrane. I can make about 80 gallons before the TDS creeps to 003 on RODI water.
I am now about to purchase the triple DI saver kit to save resin. I was also told to do the CTI test. In addition, I had a recent hair algae bloom, same time my vigorous growing Cheato died, and now most of my snails are gone. Very strange.

 

[KStatefan]

It is common to have high CO2 in well water that can exhaust DI resin quickly. I had to add a degassing camber to my set up.

 

[Mjp83]

i sent in an icp test yesterday. not sure that will tell me enough tho... any advice on a test kit to buy?

For the well water test, we used a private company, I’m in NC, I just googled water tests. Company was very specific and I had to get water sample in their container. I didn’t see anything alarming, but I didn’t test for pesticides as our initial test by health inspector was good, so I just tested for bacteria and iron and manganese.

 

[dangles]

Following. I’m about to move to a house with a well too

 

[Mjp83]

It is common to have high CO2 in well water that can exhaust DI resin quickly. I had to add a degassing camber to my set up.

I was told CO2 problem, so I wanted to try the same as the OP states, however the results have me baffled.

I used a trash can and an air stone and aerated the ro water for 2-4 days before running through my di and overall it doesn’t slow the depletion down enough to deal with the hassle of an extra degassing chamber/brute trash can. It actually just uses up my cation cartridge at the same rate as if I run my rodi normally.

Can you show us your set up? I was also planning on the same method as above, to “air out” the CO2.

Question: How would silicates or whatever it’s called show issues on our systems? I do know we have them, but was told it’s in most wells. Pls find attached my initial water report

 

[Cell]

@Buckeye Hydro

 

[KStatefan]

I was told CO2 problem, so I wanted to try the same as the OP states, however the results have me baffled.

Can you show us your set up? I was also planning on the same method as above, to “air out” the CO2.

Question: How would silicates or whatever it’s called show issues on our systems? I do know we have them, but was told it’s in most wells. Pls find attached my initial water report

This post shows my setup

Build Thread - This will be a slow build

I have never printed with white before but I think I will more in the future Very nice! Do you plan to sell these anytime soon, either finished 3-D prints or the STL print file?

www.reef2reef.com

When I tested fro CO2 before Degassing chamber was 50ppm and after was 10ppm.

silicates can feed diatoms but might not be a problem.

 

[topjimmy]

i sent in an icp test yesterday. not sure that will tell me enough tho... any advice on a test kit to buy?

Contact your county extension office, they might have kits for you to send water for testing.

My well burns through di resin too, but I just recharge it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Weirdly, I noticed that running the rodi normally recharges the anion di resin and depletes the cation. And running the ro water through the di after gassing it depletes the anion but recharges the cation. By recharge, I mean that the di cartridge will be half color changed (after about 50-75 gallons of water), then when switching up the method of filtering water it goes back to a dark color and I can no longer see the color change of di..

I'm not sure what is messing with the color changes, but DI resins cannot recharge in this fashion. Something other than true recharging is changing the colors.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I'm not sure what is messing with the color changes, but DI resins cannot recharge in this fashion. Something other than true recharging is changing the colors.

My thought exactly

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

You should get a water test to see what is in your well water.

Correct. This is the place to start.
https://www.buckeyehydro.com/drinking-water-test/
Standard drinking water tests do not include co2, but this can at least be roughly calculated knowing your alkalinity, pH and temperature. Alkalinity and pH should be measured on site - not measured from a sample shipped off to a lab.

 

[Fredinva]

Mjp83,​

Neither CO2 nor silicon is shown on your water test results.
CO2 eats anion resin like its candy. It needs to be gassed (aerated) off before being pushed through your di resin. My anion (mixed bed) now last 5 times longer.
I have high silicates also> currently working on that with a separate Silicon Buster di resin. Results still not known.