RODI help BRS 150 water saver 6 stage?

[VbReefer]

Hey guys thanks for stopping by
I purchased a used BRS system 75gpd 6 stage?
Has the 3 pre-filters, 150gpd water saver upgrade, twin DI canisters.

I have well water, albeit clean well water. Just high in iron. No testing to confirm but the pre-filter in my pump house gets really red and loaded with iron sediment/rust.

I run a 10 micron out there and then it feeds the whole house with my water room being last. I have another pre-filter there with a 5 micron sediment filter that feeds the de-gassing barrel. This one stays mostly white for a good period. TDS of feed water fluctuates from 60-100 depending on the time of year from what I can tell. Brand new triple inline TDS monitor from HM Digital. Handheld TDS meter matches results.
I replaced my DI resin and it was rapidly depleted so I did some research and assumed I have high CO2 which was causing my rapid DI consumption.

So I re-did everything and added an offgassing barrel where I pump the water into a holding barrel and let it aerate via Airstone. I also put a heater on there to get the water to optimal RODI temps in the 70s.

I didn't think this through. Given the waste water I am unable to complete filling a 44g brute in a single run and my pump runs dry.

Upon further inspection it seems my waste to product ratio is more around 1:1.
Running a booster through entire RO system at 80psi with a 550ml flow restrictor recommended by BRS.

So now I'm thinking the restrictor is bad?
What else would cause the close to 1:1 ratio?
Using a 250ml graduated cylinder and a stopwatch I got
210ml waste in 20 seconds and
194ml product in the same time.

Tested my rejection rates but something didn't seem right so I will re-test and post the results soon.

Thinking I may be better off dropping a membrane and getting my ratio to 4:1

Here's some pics
Original setup


Had to prep for winter while doing this so I added insulation and am working on a door soon.
This is outside on my porch.

Added foam insulation and 1/2" ply floor


Insulation


5 micron pre-filter feeding de-gassing barrel
Via 1/2" pex and 3/8 tubing and float valve.


Gravity fed from barrel into spin-down sediment filter and then another pre-filter with 10 micron sediment filter. Aquatec 8800 with pressure switch
Blue is feed
Red is RO
Clear is RODI

 

[VbReefer]

I run RO to my fridge and sink with a pressure tank under the sink. I have a check valve between this system and the unit and another before the DI to prevent back-siphoning from the DI unit.

 

[VbReefer]

Problem is with this setup it needs the booster pump running to feed the RO where as before the RO would function with the 40-60psi from the supply. So if I used a bunch of RO water at the sink it would keep feeding the pressure tank without turning on the booster pump. I would only plug in the pump when making DI water. At that point it was after all pre-filters and before the membranes. Ran about 90-100 then Vs the 75-80 now.

 

[VbReefer]

Video of new setup

 

[VbReefer]

Ive read you can extrapolate the CO2 content using Ph and Alkalinity

Will my Hannah Marine alk meter work? Doubtful , i know.
What about api salt PH kit?

 

[VbReefer]

Id definitely like to go back to the old setup but need to figure out my co2 content first.

 

[VbReefer]

I will re-test these numbers but this was from the other day and I may have messed up.

Feed water 89ppm TDS
1st membrane in 89, product 25
2nd membrane in 84?, product 26

Pretty sure there's some testing error in there.
Going to remove the 2nd and run one at a time for a good 5 minutes before testing again.

Later that day I got
feed 96
RO 3
DI 2
Has to be testing error because if I had 25ish product out of both there's no way I had 3 after RO.

 

[Jeepj667]

After all those posts it's hard to tell what the question was but 1:1 water is really good. Most get 4:1 four being waste.

 

[Jeepj667]

In the last picture your DI resin is exhausted.

 

[VbReefer]

I'm worried that the potential high CO2 in combination with the 1:1 ratio is depleting the DI resin.

The new resin was depleted after 50g.

Like too much flow through the DI?
I turned down the product line with a ball valve and saw my DI TDS drop 1. Maybe more contact time or accuracy of the meter
Most say 1:1 is bad for life of the membrane

I'm not really worried about the waste water as I only pay for power to run the well pump.
I'm also planning on putting a used washing machine out there for my filter socks and using the waste from the system to run that.

Would really like to keep 0tds water coming from the DI unit.

Main questions were, or are now...

Has anyone heard or had a barrel type flow restrictor go bad?

Is the closer to 1:1 ratio normal operation for this system at this pressure, with the 550 restrictor?

Should I get a larger restrictor?
The BRS video and other sources say you keep the same restrictor when running two of the same membranes in series.

I'll come up with more soon.

Membranes are both Dow filmtec 75gpd. I just checked them and re-did all the connections and added new Teflon tape.
There's what looks to be a check valve inside the product out elbow on each membrane housing.

Thank you

 

[topjimmy]

The booster pump should increase the efficiency of the membrane, so a 1:1 is fine. I'm on a well with a feed tds of 1600. Out of the membrane I'm around 20. I also fill a brute can and run an airstone over the next day then pump it through the di. Are you still going through the di resin fast after the degassing?

 

[VbReefer]

The booster pump should increase the efficiency of the membrane, so a 1:1 is fine. I'm on a well with a feed tds of 1600. Out of the membrane I'm around 20. I also fill a brute can and run an airstone over the next day then pump it through the di. Are you still going through the di resin fast after the degassing?

I'll have to replace the resin which I'll have to order so that may take a while
Want to make sure membranes are good first then I'll replace all the RO system pre-filters as a precaution and then the resin last. On a limited budget right now.

 

[topjimmy]

I'll have to replace the resin which I'll have to order so that may take a while
Want to make sure membranes are good first then I'll replace all the RO system pre-filters as a precaution and then the resin last. On a limited budget right now.

Recharge the resin. It's easy..

 

[VbReefer]

Recharge the resin. It's easy..

If I had the acid,lye, and the old resin I tossed I would consider it. I won't be throwing anymore away. If I can get my DI consumption under control and more in line with the avg life I wouldn't even bother probably. But if the offgassing doesn't greatly improve the lifespan I'll probably just add another dual DI, maybe even a larger unit and recharge the resin myself.

 

[VbReefer]

Ok. So I broke down the system and ran the membranes seperately.
At 80psi and 72°F
I ran everything for a few minutes before testing. Handheld TDS meter is pretty much spot on with the in-line at lower TDS ie 2-3
At higher TDS of 93(inline) the handheld reads 95-99 so pretty close.

#1
In 93
Out 2-3
20 sec fill into 250ml graduated cylinder
Waste 224ml
Product 114ml
2:1 ratio @ 97% rejection rate

#2
In 93
Out 2-3
20 sec volume
Waste 220
Product 114
2:1 ratio @ 97%rejection rate

Ran through DI I get 93-3-1 from the triple in-line meter.

So they are spot on the same.
Should I even replace till I see like 95% rejection?

Running both in series I get
93 in
2-3 out
20sec volume test
Waste 208
Product 204
So...
1:1 ratio at the same 97% rejection

But when I run through the DI
The triple in-line shows 93-3-2

So seems to me the longer DI contact time associated with the 2:1 ratio gives me a 1 PPM drop in TDS. Could just be the meters sensitivity though.

Your thoughts?

 

[topjimmy]

The membranes are fine. Probably a co2 issue with the di.

 

[VbReefer]

Ok. Well I just pulled the trigger on 7.5 lb of color change DIY resin via Bulk Reef Supply this will provide me with plenty and then I'll look into recharging in the future I'll post back after I received the resin and see if there's a noticeable decrease in consumption after off-gassing the supply water

 

[VbReefer]

Recharge the resin. It's easy..

I went ahead a got the acid and have some food grade lye on the way.
Have you done this yet yourself?
Did you notice a large difference in your DI resin after de-gassing?

 

[VbReefer]

I've made some changes.
I had a 75g de-gassing barrel and 2 44g brute holding tanks. with the 1:1 ratio that means I couldn't fill one brute in a single go round and my booster pump would run dry.
So I needed a bigger holding tank.

I found a great deal on a 275g IBC tote through facebook marketplace. 50 bucks!
Was very clean. No odor or suds!
I rinsed, rinsed with weak acid bath and then with a strong baking soda solution and a final rinse with tap.



I had to expand my water room 2ft in width to accommodate the new tank. I got the wall moved and everything plumbed today.

I have just uploaded these images:

 

[haanstang]

Any updates