RO flow rates

[redbudduckfoot]

have you checked your waste water line? mine is yellow, and there is this little brown line that locks into the end that enters(the exit) of the membrane. it is the flow reducer. mine fell out and i lost it in a move, and when I hooked the RO back up my flow rate was horrible. If for any reason this little(8") line popped off in transport that would be yer problem.

i bought my replacement for like 4 bucks. i really doubt it is your water quality, i have been throwing 450ppm well water through my RO for 3 years now with no filter/membrane changes. 3 years ago my finished RO ppms were 8ppm, today, 11 ppm.

check it out FF. fellow blumatter over here, hope this helps.

rbdf

 

[dalilguy]

Merlin wants your water at 77*F..?? Are you kidding? Whose water comes out of the tap that warm?

80-85 out this way

 

[redbudduckfoot]

that is crazy. like 48-55 here.

rbdf

 

[SeaMaiden]

That *is* crazy. You could just draw water without heating it and take a bath.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

Good news,
While I havnt got around to increasing my water temperature I did manage to get my flow back to .42 GPM.

It is merely clogged sediment filters.


I swapped out my whole house sediment filter as I have been doing regularly. It was looking kind of bad, but I had bypassed it previously to test the Merlin and did not see any increase in my flow rate so I figured it wasnt the contributing factor.

After replacing the whole house sediment filter again, as well as changing out the brand new Merlin carbon pre-filter with just a poly spun sediment pre-filter I am getting nearly double the flow.

I'm not sure how I missed it when inspecting the merlin pre-filter the 1st time, but it is infact clogged after just around 2 weeks of use - possibly less. It wasnt apparent at first but after closer inspection is covered in a light tan clay sediment..its thin, but you can tell that its likely not easily permeable. Almost the consistency of paint or make-up or something.

The whole house sediment filter was a bit darker and thicker. Looks like a paint roller.
I guess I'll just have to monitor my GPM and change out these sediment filters very frequently.



Just in the nick of time because my flow had even gotten worse after creating this thread and I was not keeping up with the water requirements of 4 reservoirs sucking down juice.

Right now I'm running through the whole house pre-filter.. then through the booster pump and direct to the merlin. I tried hooking up the tall blue again, but cannot maintain good flow and my booster pump sounds like shit. I've read previously to come through tall blue pre-filter..then booster pump..and then through Merlin. This doesnt work as I get tons of water hamming and the pump cuts down.. This is a result of insufficient flow after the tall blue as I can sometimes see air bubbles in the tube before the booster like its not getting enough water quick enough. I tried pushing through both the tall blue and then the merlin and can only achieve 40psi. Whats the correct route? I know fish tank guys go through all pre-filters..then booster..then membranes, but this seems to cause problem with inadequate water to my booster.

Maybe thats the correct way and I just need to swap my tall blue filters already. Maybe replace all 4 sediments filters I have and start fresh, but I already did that and it only last me a few weeks before I had problems. Think it might be easier to just change the whole house sediment and merlin sediment very often and forget about the tall blue all together.

I have a seriously mucky well I guess.

Still going to try to raise my water temp to perhaps get better flow/more efficiency.


Any further recommendations to battle heavy clay like sediment? Or is it just a matter of changing very frequently?
Going to see how long it takes for my .42GPM rate to fall and get on a schedule of changing out the filters. I'm talking very quickly though.. just doesnt seem right.

EDIT - went back through my posts to check date and it actually was exactly the 1 month mark when I started having flow issues after changing sediment filters and adding the tall blue. Felt like shorter.. I guess time flys.. We'll see how it goes this time never bypassing my house sediment filter before hitting the merlin. I pretty much exposed everything at one point or another to worse water by switching things around to try to troubleshoot.

 

[SeaMaiden]

If it were me, I would add more mechanical filtration, and since this is clay you're talking about I'd like to know if it'll settle out. If it does, perhaps a settling tank, post-mechanical filtration, would be the ticket to help prolong the life of your media.

I've rigged up a LOT of aquariums, and an RO filtration unit is never part of the filtration of the tank itself. Depending on the system itself (freshwater vs marine) we need to pre-mix the change water, which translates to a reservoir. Not sure what you meant above there.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

I'll look into that.


What I meant from the fish tank guys comment was merely that upon researching what the best order of operation was for the RO system I was directed to some aquarium forums. A few responses there stated that when setting up RO system they normally had all of their pre-filter before the booster pump... putting the booster pump before the membranes, but after any type of pre-sediment. I tried this, but it seems to choke my booster pump as if water is not getting through my tall blue fast enough to make the booster pump happy.

 

[SeaMaiden]

Aaahhh..! Ok, then that would suggest that the pre-filter is getting filled up very quickly, which seems to be what you've described. Settling tank IF you find that there is still sediment that settles out. Otherwise, more filtration would be my answer.