[Delphinus]

Just moved...

The new place has considerably lower water pressure than the old place, and the RO output has slowed to a crawl. Whereas before I was getting ~50gpd out of a 50gpd membrane, I am getting maybe 12-15 gpd out of the unit now. This is very frustrating .. I run my RO output T'd off into two lines, one goes into a RO reservoir for making up SW, and the other feeds the tank topups. Basically at the output level it's currently at, it can't service both lines simultaneously.

So I've noticed that there is some kind of device that looks like a pressure regulator on my water supply line, just immediately following the water meter. It has something that looks like an adjustment screw.

Now, I assume that this device is placed on the line due to some municipal code or something like that; and I don't really want to be dinking with something I don't understand.

It seems to me there are three options to pursue:

1. Look for some kind of pressure boosting pump that can be used to increase the pressure of the RO inlet line. Advantage: should solve my problem. Disadvantage: probably costly, and I don't even know where to look for such a device.

2. T-off a supply line to the RO inlet prior to the pressure regulator. Advantage: should solve the problem, should be an inexpensive alternative. Disadvantage: it's defeating the purpose of whatever this regulator thing is for, possibly subjecting the RO to fluctuating pressures. Not sure if this is truly an issue though, since the old place had no such device and the RO would have had to deal with whatever pressure the city gave me. And it would only be for the RO unit.

3. Adjust this regulator thing. I don't have a pressure guage though, and I have no instructions for the unit, so I'm possibly quite out of my league. Would need to consult a plumbing authority or something before attempting this. Advantage: just an adjustment and not making any (more) invasive changes to the plumbing supply line. Disadvantage: don't know what I'm doing and I'm flying blind without some kind of guage to quantify the changes in supply pressure.

Opinions?

PS. Anyone know where to suggest to look for a RO pressure boosting pump? What about a water supply line pressure guage?