RO/DI takes FOREVER....

janastasio

janastasio

Member
New Years resolution this year is to be good and ALWAYS use RO/DI. The sad thing is that I have the unit, but it takes soooo L O N G!! I've been dripping for two days and I am up to maybe 10 gallons at most! It is supposed to do 24 gallons a day. Anyone else have this problem. Pressure of the water in the house isnt bad. We have a well...... Name on the unit is a Kent.
 
dfreeman64

dfreeman64

Member
How old is the unit and how long since last filter change? My tds was still good but flow was very low. Swapped out filters and back came the flow.
My .02 worth
Dewayne
 
aquaguy24

aquaguy24

Active Member
make sure the membrane is installed correctly and pushed in all the way..or maybe the source water pressure is too low.....
 
goinbroke

goinbroke

Member
i have the same one. let it make water days on end without checking on it. i think i need a new membrane. the other filters are new. i'm also on a well and can only make 8-10gallens in 24hrs
 
nitschke65

nitschke65

Member
Originally Posted by janastasio
http:///forum/post/2919380
Pressure of the water in the house isnt bad.
Okay, this leads me to believe that you don't actually know what the supply pressure is. If you don't have a gauge on the well's pressure tank, and haven't had the well maintained in a while, you'll at least need to install one so that you know what you're dealing with. If you get the well serviced professionally, they may be able to make some adjustments to the pump and pressure tank that can help you out, and also give you a report on your source water so that you know what kind of strain you're putting on the membrane. Keep in mind that the efficiency of an RO unit is also dependant on the temperature of the water, and I'm going to go ahead and assume that New Hampshire well water isn't all that warm right now.
For all ro/di questions I'd reccomend calling or emailing thefilterguys.biz
 
domsbuddy

domsbuddy

Member
I have the Kent 35 gpd and it probably doesn't do quite that much. I have a well and live in Connecticut. I also heard it does slow down with colder weather. I have a pump and used it when I first set up my 180 but don't use it any more. The pump definatly makes it flow faster though. I have a 90 gal industrial garbage can that I have my ro/di unit flowing to almost constantly. It takes about 4 - 5 days to fill up 90 gallons - but I am due to replace a couple of the filters. I set up a waste line to go out a hole that I drilled through my garage window. So I am nearly always making water, I barely think about it.
Here are my observations on flow.
It will flow too fast - not filtering - if the membrane is not seated all the way down in the unit. So that is not your problem.
Obviously it works best when all the filters are new and then it slows down noticably.
It slows down considerably after the filters absorb some of the sediment from the well water. I would replace the first - cheapest - and see if that helps.
Depending on your water hardness, you should get about 15 - 20 gallons per day with new filters.
Again I am no expert but unless I couldn't take a shower or wash cloths or whatever else the house needs water for, I would not in a million years have someone come in and check the water pressure on my well so I could make ro/di water. I would take my unit to a friends house and try it there or just get new filters or new unit. House calls to service a well are not cheap. I understand though what nitschke65 is saying about pressure, but in my experience you will know if your pressure is low and if your tank needs to be repressurized because your water pressure will pulse, meaning it will be strong for a few seconds, progressively weaken and then get strong again. Every year I have to repressureize my tank because it gets, ironically, water logged. It's not hard if you are at all handy.
 
gmann1139

gmann1139

Active Member
Originally Posted by domsbuddy
http:///forum/post/2920428
Oceansidefish, I'm curious, can you put a valve on the inline to alter pressure and change the output?
Not without reducing the flow.
Remember, what we care about is the amount of water flowing into the unit.
That's based on 2 factors, the diameter of the pipe, and the inlet pressure.
A valve can only reduce the flow, thereby reducing the amount of water that goes through.
Short of plumbing in a bigger line, a pump is the only way to increase pressure coming into the unit.
 
janastasio

janastasio

Member
I have yet to replace filters or membrane in the unit. I bought it a couple of years ago from someone breaking down the tank. He said the filters were new at that point. It has not had nearly the use that it should. It has been slow since I first purchased it. We had very hard water. When we bought our house, we received the reading on the water and if I remember correctly, the water was at the highest level of hardness that it can be. We have thought about installing a water softner, but have not done that yet. We generally do one big house project a year. We usually do one of those one year, no payments if you spend 299 or more at home depot! Mmmmm, home depot!! I believe I remember somone saying that home depot sells those filter replacements???
 
gmann1139

gmann1139

Active Member
First, if I buy something second-hand, the first thing I do is replace the filters and other consumables. Otherwise, I have no idea how old they are, and when they need to be replaced.
Think of it as buying a used car, and not knowing whether the brakes have been changed 10 miles ago, or 100,000.
Especially if you have extremely hard water, I would plan to change the filters regularly, even more often than recommended. I would also look at the maintenance you can do to clean the filters off. This should extend the life of your unit.
As far as water softeners go, the first couple chambers on the RO unit perform pretty much the same task.
 
janastasio

janastasio

Member
good to know, thanks! I bought the unit off of a friend, I trusted his word that the filters were new. He is very "type A" personality!!
 
gmann1139

gmann1139

Active Member
Originally Posted by janastasio
http:///forum/post/2922826
good to know, thanks! I bought the unit off of a friend, I trusted his word that the filters were new. He is very "type A" personality!!
Ok, if that's the story, I understand not replacing them right away.
If he was that -retentive, he would have sold you filters for the future too
 
janastasio

janastasio

Member
Where do you get your replacement filters and what are you paying? I was just checking out the drs and it could cost me about 200+ to replace these and looking more in the 300 range. Is that accurate? At that price I would be better off to get it someone else. When people use bottled water, what are they using?
 
markus0909

markus0909

Member
I use distilled water. It seems to work well, but is a pain and expensive. I am getting a ro/di unit. Kent seems to be popular. Is that one of the best? Does anyone else use Distilled?
 
gmann1139

gmann1139

Active Member
Originally Posted by markus0909
http:///forum/post/2925268
I use distilled water. It seems to work well, but is a pain and expensive. I am getting a ro/di unit. Kent seems to be popular. Is that one of the best? Does anyone else use Distilled?
Distilled is a kind of a crapshoot. Some of it is really clean, but if there is stuff in it, it tends to be metals (copper) that you really don't want in your tank.
It also tends to be more expensive than RO/DI you can get at a LFS.
 
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