RODI not doing what it's supposed to!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

How old or new are the filter media?

[11purewater]

Know any body with another TDS meter too verify your readings

[neoh]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

How old or new are the filter media?

Don't know!

Originally Posted by scherzo

You can flush it by temporarily removing the restrictor on the waste line. Do you have a pic of that?

During the time of high TDS, I did not have the restrictor on the waste line.

Originally Posted by mike31154

That's a great idea, particularly if you have little to no information as to filter media condition from the previous owner. It could well have been sitting for some time, either dry or wet & has all kinds of nasty stuff bound in the sediment and/or carbon stages. The membrane could also be shot if it has dried out.

I know on my system, the center fitting out of the membrane is the pure water & the waste is the outer fitting & that's usually the way most membrane housings work, but one never knows for sure without confirmation of the manufacturer or by opening it up. The way most membranes are built, the water is pushed from the outside to the inside while flush water rinses the outside of the membrane. So it makes sense that the center fitting on the membrane is the pure water.

Also make sure there is a restrictor on the waste line somewhere. Some are built into the waste line fitting, some are obvious combination valve/restrictor units that you can use to either flush the membrane or produce pure water by closing the valve. With the restrictor in line & working properly, your pure water to waste water ratio should be about 1 to 4. Should be easy to tell that way which is the pure water out & which is the waste, since the output will vary significantly between the two. That is, the water coming out of the waste line should be running much faster than the pure water out.

I've seen quite a few posts about water quality at various locations around our fair country & you folks in greater Van have some of the best source water anywhere, usually less than 10 TDS, so the 300 you're seeing is really wacky. Some areas like White Rock are on a different source & TDS may be somewhat higher but still nothing like what we have in the North Okanagan. My incoming TDS is usually close to 200 & my 75 gpd membrane gets that down to 1 TDS after running for about 5 minutes. Which reminds me to ask, what's your water pressure? Water pressure & temperature both have a major effect as to the efficiency of an RO system. If there's a way for you to disconnect your TDS probe & hold it under running tap water, you'll know what your incoming TDS is. Water quality reports available from your supplier are also a good source of info on your incoming water.

As someone has already mentioned, over 300 TDS for your area is out to lunch. It's possible your sediment filter may be releasing all that TDS into the system, but after running 6-8 hours it should have come down significantly provided the system is hooked up properly.

Let us know how you make out after disassembling the unit. It would be a shame to toss it & buy another without further troubleshooting. Like you said, it's not rocket science & if assembled in the correct order with serviceable components, there's no difference between a generic, vertex, brs, or what have you system. They're all built with more or less generic components. Some have a few more bells & whistles, but the real difference is generally in the quality of the membrane & carbon blocks.

As mentioned previous, I did not have a restrictor on the waste line during the high reading stage.

This morning I took the third filter media apart and took a look inside. Now, I have no idea what the inside of a DI filter looks like, so I'm going to assume this is it:



(The last one on the right there) - taking apart of the bottom of that filter, it seems to be filled with a small roe-like substance, and since I know it's not carbon, and chances are not likely to be sediment. I'm going to assume this is the DI portion.

I hooked up the tap water right into the unit and out. My TDS is different in the morning as it is at night (for whatever reason that is) - and out of the tap it's reading 8, and out of what appears to be the DI portion - I'm getting a 0 reading.



So, I'm going to hook everything back up - with the restrictor on the waste line, and run it through sediment - carbon - membrane - di - bucket, and see what happens.

[hillegom]

Of the pic with the 3 filters, the one on the rt is the DI. Your sediment filter on left looks like it could be replaced. Should be white when new, looks to have particles, (brown) all over it.
Do you have a pressure gauge? If so you could hook it up after the carbon filter and then to before the first, sediment filter and compare readings. If you have at least 60 psi at both places, the filters are still good.

The path of the water in your system should be:
sediment, carbon, RO membrane, DI. Most systems have two carbon filters to ensure the RO membrane does not receive any chlorine, which deteriorates the RO membrane.

The following in no way promotes this co. I have never bought from them, but the diagram on page 8 might help you. In your case, the 5th stage would be the DI
http://www.watergeneral.com/support/pdf/RO585.pdf