Well Water Chewing through DI Resin

[theMeat]

1- Let’s start with needle valve off or all the way open

2- not sure why you need the needle valve if flow restrictor is working and sized right. The capillary , when used with flush kit, should be placed in small piece of tube in between two y connections, parallel to flush valve. And tail end of capillary pointing in direction with flow of water

3-should be booster pump, then whatever particle filters, then carbon block which you don’t need because you’re on well, then membrane, then silica buster , maxcap whatever, then di resin

Also will note that on membrane you have on one side a single fitting that goes in to membrane from cartridges.
On the other side there are 2. The one in center continues out to eventually become product. The other one is off center and goes to waste

 

[JordanM]

@theMeat
Thanks for your reply. I had to put the needle valve in to make any water today because my waste to product ratio was way off almost 12:1. The capillary is in the correct location. If you zoom in on the picture you can see it in the clear tube under the block valve.
I thought maxcap goes before the silica buster?
Through my calculations from the product after the di resin at 55ml/min or 3300ml/hr or 0.87 gallons per hour. It will take me a long while to make any water.
So it sounds like the real issue is the flow restrictor capillary. Either marine depot sent me the wrong one or something else is causing my pressure to be high on the product side and tilt the equilibrium to waste.

 

[theMeat]

Yes, maxcap goes before silica buster. Just wanted to make sure they were after membrane, and before di resin.
Maybe just get a regular external 550 ml flow restrictor and see what you got.

 

[mfinn]

Thanks for your reply. I had to put the needle valve in to make any water today because my waste to product ratio was way off almost 12:1. The capillary is in the correct location. If you zoom in on the picture you can see it in the clear tube under the block valve.
I thought maxcap goes before the silica buster?
Through my calculations from the product after the di resin at 55ml/min or 3300ml/hr or 0.87 gallons per hour. It will take me a long while to make any water.
So it sounds like the real issue is the flow restrictor capillary. Either marine depot sent me the wrong one or something else is causing my pressure to be high on the product side and tilt the equilibrium to waste.

When I talked with Spectrapure tech support, they told me it was 471ml/minute for the 90 gallon per day 2:1 membrane.
I mentioned that I wanted to use a bypass valve/flow restrictor all in one, instead of the capillary style.
He said I couldn't get one that had the correct flow so I needed to add a valve to fine tune it and to put it on the waste line.
I bought the BRS 550ml flow restrictor/bypass valve and I used a JG gate valve. It was a little harder to dial it in, but I got it down to a steady 478ml/minute.
I'm getting a flow rate now of 2:1 and getting 84 gallons a day with a water temp of 44 degrees.
Might get better as the weather gets warmer and water temps come up.

 

[JordanM]

Thanks

When I talked with Spectrapure tech support, they told me it was 471ml/minute for the 90 gallon per day 2:1 membrane.
I mentioned that I wanted to use a bypass valve/flow restrictor all in one, instead of the capillary style.
He said I couldn't get one that had the correct flow so I needed to add a valve to fine tune it and to put it on the waste line.
I bought the BRS 550ml flow restrictor/bypass valve and I used a JG gate valve. It was a little harder to dial it in, but I got it down to a steady 478ml/minute.
I'm getting a flow rate now of 2:1 and getting 84 gallons a day with a water temp of 44 degrees.
Might get better as the weather gets warmer and water temps come up.

Sounds like a very similar situation to what I have. I guess i will just keep tweaking the needle valve to restrict the waste to get down to the correct ratio.

Is your gate valve before the flow restrictor or after? I would think you would want this before the flow restrictor.

Also should the waste to product ratio be the same measuring after the DI or do you always have to measure right after the membrane? My DI reduced my product flow from 75ml/min (after membrane) down to 55ml/min when i added them into the mix.

 

[mfinn]

Thanks

Sounds like a very similar situation to what I have. I guess i will just keep tweaking the needle valve to restrict the waste to get down to the correct ratio.

Is your gate valve before the flow restrictor or after? I would think you would want this before the flow restrictor.

Also should the waste to product ratio be the same measuring after the DI or do you always have to measure right after the membrane? My DI reduced my product flow from 75ml/min (after membrane) down to 55ml/min when i added them into the mix.

The valve should go after the flow restrictor. I let the BRS flow restrictor do it's job to cut it down to 550ml/minute, then the valve fine tunes it down close to the 471ml Spectrapure wants.

THe black line is the waste.
I have it going to my washer drain to the left of the picture.
The red arrow shows the JG ball valve on the waste line.
I do have a needle valve but it came after I got the ball valve dialed in.
Not going to mess with it now.

 

[JordanM]

So when you perform a flush doesn't this ball valve also restrict the flow so your not really flushing full flow?
Also should the waste to product ratio be the same measuring after the DI or do you always have to measure right after the membrane? My DI reduced my product flow from 75ml/min (after membrane) down to 55ml/min when i added them into the mix.

 

[mfinn]

So when you perform a flush doesn't this ball valve also restrict the flow so your not really flushing full flow?
Also should the waste to product ratio be the same measuring after the DI or do you always have to measure right after the membrane? My DI reduced my product flow from 75ml/min (after membrane) down to 55ml/min when i added them into the mix.

I flush until the TDS says under 4.
I believe the product/waste ratio should be measured after the di, because that's what the total purpose is.
To get my ratio of product water to waste water, I use a 5 gallon bucket on the waste line and a 1 gallon container for the product line.
When the 1 gallon product water container filled, I measure the results in the 5 gallon bucket and it comes to 2 gallons.
I have no idea what the mls. are coming out of the membrane or the di.
Once I got the waste water mls. dialed in I was done

 

[mfinn]

So when you perform a flush doesn't this ball valve also restrict the flow so your not really flushing full flow?

The amount flushing would be the same as if I was using the 471ml capillary flow restrictor.

 

[JordanM]

Thanks. Ill try restricting my waste down a little more to get my ratios in check and see if i can get my production up a little higher. Of course by doing this i am guessing that TDS will also increase?

 

[mfinn]

Thanks. Ill try restricting my waste down a little more to get my ratios in check and see if i can get my production up a little higher. Of course by doing this i am guessing that TDS will also increase?

Not sure why it would.
If you get the recommended ( by spectrapure) rate of waste vs. product water, I would think you would get the best performance. IDK.

 

[JordanM]

I have my ratio to almost 3:1 and still only making 75ml/min which is 28.5 gallons per day. This is way off from the 90gpd ideal conditions. What else could be wrong? I’m guessing it has to be on the product side since it has never reached over 75ml/min. I think I’m going to remove the float shutoff and any check valves from from the product side and see if it increases at all.

 

[JordanM]

I managed to get the flow up to 100ml/min or 38 gallons a day by removing the 90 degree check valve that comes out of the membrane on the product side. Still always off from the 90gpd. TDS also increased from 3-5 now. It’s 300 coming in so that’s about 98% reduction. I would be happier if my flow was there and able to get closer to at least 60-80 gpd.

 

[mfinn]

I managed to get the flow up to 100ml/min or 38 gallons a day by removing the 90 degree check valve that comes out of the membrane on the product side. Still always off from the 90gpd. TDS also increased from 3-5 now. It’s 300 coming in so that’s about 98% reduction. I would be happier if my flow was there and able to get closer to at least 60-80 gpd.

If this is a Spectrapure unit, I would call them for some hands on help.
What pressure are you running the pump at?

 

[JordanM]

Yes it is. Pump is at 76psi

 

[mfinn]

Yes it is. Pump is at 76psi

I run mine at 86-88psi

 

[JordanM]

I run mine at 86-88psi

I bumped it up to this pressure and am now getting 50 tds out of the membrane!

 

[mfinn]

I bumped it up to this pressure and am now getting 50 tds out of the membrane!

Holy ****
Did you back flush before running this test?

 

[JordanM]

No it was just running as usual and I bumped it up until it read 88 and then looked at the tds and it was 50 so I dropped it back down to 75 now and it is still holding around 10 for some reason. I did a flush after it went high and diverted it to waste from the di but the reading out of the membrane is still 10 now

 

[JordanM]

I got it back to 6ppm by putting the flow at 74psi. It’s kind of strange that there is that large of jump in tds for that pressure increase