RODI Woes

[WindowMaker]

Alright, my RO system has been less than perfect to me over the past year and Im at the point where I may smash it if I cant get it where I want it. Im going to flood this with background details so that you may be able to help me out here.

MY system is a BRS 6 stage with the dual DI. I do have the filter monitor, pressure gauge and TDS meter as well. I have probably run 150 gallons through it at this point due to low water demands.

WATER SUPPLY

Currently my RO is hooked up with a t split under the sink, it is hooked up to cold water only. I am in an apartment building and my cold water comes in at city pressure which equates to about 30-35psi on a good day. The water is very cold and I feel this may be slowing the process. The hot water in the building is boosted after the boiler and boasts much higher pressures.

I have been trying to find a way to hook up both hot and cold under the sink and mixing the two. Would it be feasible to put a t split on the hot water and run both hot and cold into a Y fitting in the RO system? if this is feasible, should I put a valve on both hot and cold so that I can control the temperature going in? Does this make sense or am I crazy? Ive looked into mixing valves but they only appear to work at temperatures of 90+ which is way too high for the RO.

PRESSURE ISSUES

Lately I have been struggling to maintain even 10 psi. I have a good feeling this is due to clogged filters. I have changed the sediment filter without much luck in pressure, but I imagine after a year the carbon cartridges are about done too. I have ordered a full filter/DI kit as my di resin is just about exhausted as well. Hopefully this gets me back to my 25-30 PSI from before.




what do you guys think of my mixing idea? do you think it will work or am I head in the wrong direction?

[daplatapus]

Is there a reason you don't want to put in a booster pump on your RO/DI with a pressure cut off switch? That would be the best option if you can do it.
Something like this would work:
http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s..._ID=vt-rozbsts

or this:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/1-4-aq...-pump-kit.html

[mike31154]

Mixing hot/cold is a bad idea. Since your input pressure with the cold is very low, consider a booster pump. They're readily available for RO systems. You need somewhere around 60 psi for a membrane to start working effiiciently. 150 gallons total throughput is not very much & your filters/DI media should be nowhere near exhausted.

My experience is that colder water, while slowing production down a little, actually results in 0 TDS output after my RO stage after running for about 5 minutes. This is with water at 8 to 10 degrees C. In the summer, when the water temperature coming into my house ranges from 10 to 15 degrees C, the membrane manages a TDS of 1. I'm fortunate to have access to the pressure regulating valve in my home's plumbing, so I've adjusted it to provide 100 psi to my RODI. This higher pressure allows me to produce close to the rated gpd output from the 75gpd membrane at the colder water temperatures. Being in an apartment, it's unlikely that you have access to the pressure regulating valve, so that leaves you with the option I already mentioned, a booster pump. I suppose you could always complain about low pressure to the apartment superintendent, maybe they can do something about it.

[rstar]

Im going to piggy back on this thread as I too believe I am having pressure issues, ordered a psi gauge last week, just wondering where in line I need to install it to test pressure?

[ckmullin]

booster pump seems to be lacking

http://www.maxwaterflow.com/Booster-Pumps_c_146.html might be of help

got my 6 stage unit from them and pleased

[rhody605]

I got my booster pump from aquasafe out of b.c. A great investment. Under $100 shipped.

[hillegom]

As a lot of people are saying,
a booster pump is what you need..
RODI requires at least 60 psi to work properly

[WindowMaker]

Looks like the booster is the way to go. Will I need to plug it in when I want to use it? or is there some way to automate the process?

[lastlight]

I think you're going to be feeding water from the hot pipe that is less ideal than the water from the cold pipes. I've heard you get elevated copper levels leaching into your hot water from the pipes but maybe that's a myth.

[WindowMaker]

My goal would have been to feed both hot and cold so that it mixes to a normal temp