TheyCallMeMr.703 January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 Lol, in more detail. Do you use a booster pump on your Ro-Di setup??? I'm curious as to how many people already have the pressure needed, or something else... ? I'm testing my pressure tomorrow, last step before Finishing my Mixing Station. ( long overdue.lol ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squishie89 January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 No booster pump. I think I would get one if I had more water to make but I only need to make 20 gallons a week, and then some extra for top off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Ford January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 I turn my rodi down a little. My house is right at 80 psi though. No pump here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 I do, as I am on well water and have only 40 or 50 PSI in the house. Booster pump kicked it up to 80 and it makes water twice as fast (I change 80 gallons a week so I need as much as I can get.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Mc January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 (edited) If I use a single membrane I don't use a booster but once I added a second membrane I also needed the booster to have enough psi. My house is 40ish PSI which is not enough for 2 membranes you need at least 60 or you burn through resin. The booster puts me at 90 psi to the RO/DI Edited January 2, 2014 by Jim Mc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 90 PSI seems high to me. Make sure you flush often or you will foul the first membrane quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 I don't use a pump but am thinking that I should. My RO/DI reads at about 30 psi. Since I change so much water it would probably be worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Rhoads January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 My apartment pressure is right at 60psi, so no pump here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyCallMeMr.703 January 2, 2014 Author Share January 2, 2014 Cool, so most people do not. Intersting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 I'm on a well so I use a booster. When in Ashburn and on city water, I turned the pressure up on the house regulator to 70 psi which, I think, it what AWI lists as the max pressure to put on the canisters. The builder had it set lower - something like 40-50 as I recall. The membrane that most of us use, by the way, is specified at 50 psi. You can run it higher, but the specs assume production at 50 psi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nytelighter January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 Booster pump here. I live in a second floor apartment and was only getting about 40 PSI max on my BRS 75GPD Kit. I added the booster pump and then the second membrane to up it to 150GPD. Great investment for me since I don't have a lot of time to wait around all day to make RODI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridetheducati January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 I don't use a pump but am thinking that I should. My RO/DI reads at about 30 psi. Since I change so much water it would probably be worth it. 30 is low. RODI will not work optimally at that level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 It is my understanding that is will be less efficient, more waste water / less RODI but that the water quality would not be compromised…. perhaps I am mistaken? My output still reads 0 TDS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 I think many don't realize that having the correct pressure is an integral part of the system working correctly. Some people think- "hey water is coming out so it's good" or "I don't need that much water so having the membrane produce at a slower rate is fine for me". The membranes are designed to work with a certain pressure range. If you are outside of the pressure range, not only does production rate vary from the membrane's rating (GPD) but the quality of the output is not the same (rejection rate). Making up an example, say the membrane is rated at 75GPD and 98% rejection rate. That means it should create 75 gallons of water a day and if your TDS from the tap is 200, the output TDS to your DI resin should be 4. If you don't supply the correct pressure, not only could it produce only 40 gallons a day, the rejection rate may only be 90%. That means the TDS output to your resin would be 20 instead of 4. That's 5x "dirtier" water that your resin needs to clean up. That means the resin will be exhausted 5x faster or you will spend 5x in resin replacement costs. Another possible byproduct of incorrect pressure to the membrane is having more waste more water. At the end of the day, it's important to have the right pressure for the RO/DI. If the idea is to save money by making your own water, don't waste that money by not doing it right. Unfortunately I think lots of people try to save the expense of a booster pump but instead waste money on DI resin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyCallMeMr.703 January 2, 2014 Author Share January 2, 2014 I think many don't realize that having the correct pressure is an integral part of the system working correctly. Some people think- "hey water is coming out so it's good" or "I don't need that much water so having the membrane produce at a slower rate is fine for me". The membranes are designed to work with a certain pressure range. If you are outside of the pressure range, not only does production rate vary from the membrane's rating (GPD) but the quality of the output is not the same (rejection rate). Making up an example, say the membrane is rated at 75GPD and 98% rejection rate. That means it should create 75 gallons of water a day and if your TDS from the tap is 200, the output TDS to your DI resin should be 4. If you don't supply the correct pressure, not only could it produce only 40 gallons a day, the rejection rate may only be 90%. That means the TDS output to your resin would be 20 instead of 4. That's 5x "dirtier" water that your resin needs to clean up. That means the resin will be exhausted 5x faster or you will spend 5x in resin replacement costs. Another possible byproduct of incorrect pressure to the membrane is having more waste more water. At the end of the day, it's important to have the right pressure for the RO/DI. If the idea is to save money by making your own water, don't waste that money by not doing it right. Unfortunately I think lots of people try to save the expense of a booster pump but instead waste money on DI resin. Very Good, Thanks Dave for the tip I'm sure some needed to see... Sounded like Tom, for a minute there.haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveS January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 It is my understanding that is will be less efficient, more waste water / less RODI but that the water quality would not be compromised…. perhaps I am mistaken? My output still reads 0 TDS. Laura, see the post I made at the same time as yours. Your output is still 0 TDS because the DI resin is probably working harder to compensate. Output from good DI will always read 0TDS. But the DI is geting exhausted faster than it needs to be if the membrane was working according to spec. It's simlar to the whole "Hey I have tons of hair algae by my Phosphates tests still read 0!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 Yeah, That exactly what I've been doing. Replacing my DI resin more often to compensate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkiboy January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 no booster pump here. i keep it at 80 psi with two 150gpd membranes. excellent post dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 2, 2014 Share January 2, 2014 I think many don't realize that having the correct pressure is an integral part of the system working correctly. Some people think- "hey water is coming out so it's good" or "I don't need that much water so having the membrane produce at a slower rate is fine for me". The membranes are designed to work with a certain pressure range. If you are outside of the pressure range, not only does production rate vary from the membrane's rating (GPD) but the quality of the output is not the same (rejection rate). Making up an example, say the membrane is rated at 75GPD and 98% rejection rate. That means it should create 75 gallons of water a day and if your TDS from the tap is 200, the output TDS to your DI resin should be 4. If you don't supply the correct pressure, not only could it produce only 40 gallons a day, the rejection rate may only be 90%. That means the TDS output to your resin would be 20 instead of 4. That's 5x "dirtier" water that your resin needs to clean up. That means the resin will be exhausted 5x faster or you will spend 5x in resin replacement costs. Another possible byproduct of incorrect pressure to the membrane is having more waste more water. At the end of the day, it's important to have the right pressure for the RO/DI. If the idea is to save money by making your own water, don't waste that money by not doing it right. Unfortunately I think lots of people try to save the expense of a booster pump but instead waste money on DI resin. For those with an interest, here are the graphs for the latest generation of Filmtec membranes (99% rejection rate) from their website: As you can see from the pressure graph on the left, each of the three membranes (50, 75, and 100 gpd) produce their rated output at 50 psi and 25 C (77F). These membranes are actually improved over the ones that we were using even a couple of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squishie89 January 3, 2014 Share January 3, 2014 Well thanks for making me all nervous. Luckily my unit has 50 PSI, so yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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