Cali Kid Corals

RO system troubleshooting

I ran everything for a good while after every change I made. I flushed a bazillion times.

Routing waste from the first into the second produces more water. I want lower TDS.
 
svreef said:
I ran everything for a good while after every change I made. I flushed a bazillion times.

Routing waste from the first into the second produces more water. I want lower TDS.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure the way you did it makes sense tho. Not sure pressure works that way properly. Never tried it
 
svreef said:
I ran everything for a good while after every change I made. I flushed a bazillion times.

Routing waste from the first into the second produces more water. I want lower TDS.
Click to expand...
I didn’t catch that when you said it before. I’ve never heard of someone doing it that way, don’t think it is designed for that as Mike says. But I don’t know for sure.
 
svreef said:
I ran everything for a good while after every change I made. I flushed a bazillion times.

Routing waste from the first into the second produces more water. I want lower TDS.
Click to expand...
In this scenario, you would need 2 restrictors.

The required back pressure to properly drive the membrane is on the waste line... if you have only on retrictor on the last stage and you are feeding product from first to input of second, the water ratio of the first will be of poor quality...slightly better than unfiltered.

Effectively you are only using one membrane... or mixing good product with subpar water.
 
Ok, I removed the second membrane today and went back to a single, brand new one. Getting almost 200 TDS out. I’m furious
 
Oh wow, that’s maddening! You probably ran it for awhile to get the membrane hydrated and going, right? Gaskets look okay? I had one get squished in one of mine when I upped my system end of the summer.
Carbon block stages and gaskets can also be problematic.
I didn’t go back and read if you have changed the flow restrictor. I suppose something can mess it up over time.
Anything that could be going on in the Smart Buddie?
 
svreef said:
Ok, I removed the second membrane today and went back to a single, brand new one. Getting almost 200 TDS out. I’m furious
Click to expand...
It may be time to change your flow restrictor.

The RO Buddy is just a conveniently packaged box of parts... but inside, is still the basic pieces.

Typically a good idea to change restrictors with the membrane particularly if you have high starting tds
 
@svreef so the more i think about it, the more i think it's your flow restrictor that's clogged or failing.

Would explain the spike in pressure and poor water... and did you say you have low production too?

Do you have an extra barrel restrictor to swap in?
 
I don’t know whether the TDS meter is bad or not, but the input TDS measures consistent.

I do have a spare flow restrictor. I’ll try that tomorrow.
 
Make sure the o-rings and seals on the membrane(s) are still there and properly seated. If the new flow restrictor doesn’t work start checking the membrane housings for hairline cracks inside where the membrane seats.
 
If I were in this situation and I’d tried so many things and I was just getting super frustrated and not figuring it out spending so many hours trying different things, I would just buy a whole new 6 or 7 stage system and be done with it.
 
JVU said:
If I were in this situation and I’d tried so many things and I was just getting super frustrated and not figuring it out spending so many hours trying different things, I would just buy a whole new 6 or 7 stage system and be done with it.
Click to expand...
I considered this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top