Thread: RO DI questions
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Old 05-20-2010, 07:57 PM
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Good advice already. Did a pressure gauge come with your unit? If not, it's a worthwhile investment for sure. I purchased two oil filled 0-100 psi gauges at Princess Auto (about $15 each) and installed one just after the shut off valve from the source and one before the RO membrane (after the prefilters). First thing to do is check the pressure of your source water, should be at least 60 psi for reasonable performance. If it's below that, you have a number of options, including the addition of a booster pump.

In my case, on city water, I found a PRV (pressure reducing valve) installed in my house plumbing downstream of the water meter. These are required by code in most situations to protect your plumbing from pressure spikes at the source. They're adjustable and I tweaked mine to provide approx. 85 psi to the house, including the RODI system. If not mistaken, most RODI systems are designed to handle at least 90 psi safely. I have a 75 gpd membrane and at the current input pressure, the output line produces a reasonable flow, definitely more than just a drip, drip. So I suspect your 100 gpd should be producing a bit more than a drip only.

Here's a photo of the gauge monitoring house pressure:



Right side of this photo shows RODI system with second gauge installed at the RO membrane:



I've also stuck a couple of those cheap strip thermometers on to the poly pre filter housing in an attempt to monitor the water temperature. Typical temp in the winter is down at 12 degrees C and that's with me running a long coil of input line immersed in a bucket of water with two heaters. A feeble attempt at increasing production by raising the input water temperature. I think it helps... a little. One good thing about the colder water, the RO output TDS gets down to 0, so DI media lasts for a long time. During summer my RO TDS is around 1 with the slightly warmer water coming in.

I run my unit for at least 14 gallons for top up purposes and generally 35 to 40 when preparing for a water changes. Never leave it unattended for more than an hour and set the kitchen stove timer to remind me to check up on it. I have not been able to get my auto shutoff valve to function reliably and don't trust the thing. I collect the waste water for use in the garden and around the house, so it's easy to end up with a flood if I'm not monitoring things.
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