RODI micron question

[Myka]

Originally Posted by ReefOcean

So I read your aticle and I am thinking I should just buy a package and replace one of the filters. Seems pretty easy.

That's what I would do. You can buy a 1 micron sediment filter for $10 or less. How many microns is the carbon filter that it comes with?

[StirCrazy]

Watch what you buy and read the fine print, there are different ratings for filters, normaly you see 1 micron and it is an average size rating, this means there will be some bigger getting through also, what you want to look for is a 1 micron absolute rating, which means nothing bigger than one micron will get through.
Also, chloramins can be trickey and a normal carbon block filter is not enough, where two is. The dangerous part is the cl getting through and that is what kills your membranes.
When i buld a ro system from a area that uses them in the water system i put two carbon block filters befor the membrane which are both 1 micron absolute, befor that i put a 1 micron absolute sediment filter. Thoes are all standard 10x4 filters, on my own i went a step further and i bought a 10x6 housing and i use a graduated 25 to 1 micron filter in that as a prefilter. That alone has increased the life of my normal sediment filter and carbon blocks by about 4x.

I also do not use di filters anymore as unless you have realy bad water or your ro isn't working properly, your waisting money, if your tds is 0 befor your di, you dont need it so let it burn out then use the housing for a second carbon block. Other people will swear by them, i grew up in edmonton but i don't know the water there anymore so maybe you need it maybe you dont.

Things to keep in mind is you have two goals, to protect your ro membrane its self, and to produce the best water you can. A few years ago people were replacing membranes every year, we found this was from the switch from chlorine to chlorine/amonia mix, the amonia binds to the chlorine so it doesnt disapate in the water system and is harder to remove, which allows the citys to run lower chlorine levels and still have it last all the way to your kitchen tapat levels that provide proper protection. What we found was that one carbon block filter did remove a lot of it, but what it didn't remove was broke up into cl and amonia, bu adding the second carbon block you were insuring anything that made it through your first one was taken care of and when your first one started to be exhausted the second one also protected against that. The result for me was a extension to 5 years life on my ro membrane.
Steve