RO Unit on a well

[Slick Fork]

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone has any tips on maximizing RO efficiency and membrane life with well water.

Our water from the tap is 768ppm, I just put a brand new Dow Filmtec 75gpd membrane in and the reading right off the membrane is 83ppm. I have not yet tested after the DI to see what that brings it down to. I just got the tds meter so I'll be interested in seeing what sort of lifespan I'm going to get out of this membrane.

So, if anyone has any tips to improve on this, I would really love to hear from them.

[robzilla]

what psi do you have?
i've got low psi from my well and i bought a booster pump. one of my best investments, improves rejection rates and cuts down on waste water

[DanG]

if your RO system has a flush (reverse flow)option, I suggest running it every couple of days to try and flush all the crap out of the membrane.

[Doug]

I ran my well water through a large mainline filter first, then to the water softener, then to the ro. The soft water is easy on membranes and the ro removes the softener salt for drinking purpose.

My feed from the softener was split, with part feeding the ro and the rest to the house fixtures that needed no ro water. The ro was only used to feed a spigot tap at the kitchen sink and the fridge water & ice maker, plus the tanks.

[Slick Fork]

Doug;
Are you talking about one of those big cannisters that you can buy at home depot?

Robzilla;
Where did you get your pump? I may look into ordering one as our PSI sort of hovers around 30ish

Dan:
I just installed a flush kit the other day, glad to hear it wasn't a waste of money!

[Psyire]

PSI of 30 is very low, you want at least 50.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

Doug;
Are you talking about one of those big cannisters that you can buy at home depot?

I dont recall seeing the one they sell but would guess thats similar. Its just a large mainline prefilter. Mine came from the company that installed my equipment but they are pretty much standard. I purchased filters for around $12 from a wholesale plumbing outfit here and changed them 3 or 4 times/year. I did notice everytime I changed them, the old ones were sure full of crud from the well.

[robzilla]

i picked up the pump from purely h20
www.PurelyH2O.com

just reading on reefcentral about a discount with:
the code for RC members is: rcdiscount2007

not sure what discount you get but any little bit helps.

i bought the 100 gpd pump

[hillbillyreefer]

You guys with low pressure why not just adjust the pressure in your pressure system rather than buying a boost pump for your ro system. There should be a pressure switch on top of your pressure tank just increase the cut in/out values. I run mine at about 80 psi. Check your tank and make sure it can handle the pressure and you should be good to go.

[Slick Fork]

That's a really good point, have you noticed any adverse affects on your well pump or other peripherals such as livestock waterers etc.?