R/O water smells skunky

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

600-800 is the peak value of TDS surge. Nominal is 200-400. It seems to climb much higher than the input water while it sits there idle. That's why it's really important to flush the membrane otherwise you are replacing the membranes more often which is costly.

Wow! 600-800, that's huge TDS. I thought I read somewhere that anything over 500 is unfit for human consumption and water coming out of your tap is mandated by law to be below that or the supplier has to issue a don't drink or boil before use warning! My tap TDS is around the 210 mark & after flushing my RO system on start up I monitor the TDS for a few seconds after I close the flush valve & the restrictor kicks in. The highest reading I recall observing is in the low 100's, say about 118-120 depending on the time of year. I bypass this water into a waste bucket. It then takes from 3 to 5 minutes for the membrane to get TDS down to 1 or 2. Into a waste bucket it goes until I see a 1 on the TDS meter. After this I start filling an RO container for drinking water, making at least 3 or 4 gallons. Only then do I start sending the RO water through the DI stage. Colder water in winter actually helps the membrane produce a lower TDS sooner.

[DiverDude]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Wow! 600-800, that's huge TDS. I thought I read somewhere that anything over 500 is unfit for human consumption and water coming out of your tap is mandated by law to be below that...

It sounds awful, doens't it ? I'm sure the tap water at Tony's place is just fine to drink though. I think if you ask some people who are out of town and are on a well, you'll hear about numbers higher than that.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by DiverDude

It sounds awful, doens't it ? I'm sure the tap water at Tony's place is just fine to drink though. I think if you ask some people who are out of town and are on a well, you'll hear about numbers higher than that.

Is it possible that he is taking a reading in the wrong place, like somehwere in the waste line? Just can't wrap my mind around that high of a number coming out of a reasonably serviceable RO membrane.