5 micron carbon block getting clogged? sediment in water supply?

[Bluephish13]

So i have been having dropping psi issues in my ro/di unit. I have the clog isolated to the 5 micron block second chamber on my BRS unit.

I used to just change all 5 filter out after a year but never did i have tds above 0 or any drop in psi. So all filter could have run longer.

But 2 months ago my psi dropped from normal 43 to about 20. I figured that was weird but it was time for the annual filter change anyways. So i purchased all new filters, unit worked great for 2 months now its down to 18 psi again.

So i isolated the clog to the second chamber. could this be sediment kicked up in the lines just near my house? in lancaster? or the surrounding area?

Anyone else been having ro issues, around the lancaster area.

what should i do?

 

[SkiFletch]

Could be. What pre-filters do you run, and in what order? Any construction or road work in your areaL?

 

[Bluephish13]

i run a sediment filter, 5 micron carbon,0.6 micron carbon, ro membrane 75gpd, di resin in that order.

matrix carbon blocks, dow membrane, brs di. all from brs.


not really sure about the road construction, nothing major that i have noticed.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

What micron rating is your sediment filter?

The pressure readings you're talking about - where on the unit are you taking them?

 

[Bluephish13]

not sure the size of the sediment filter. The guy at BRS said i could get 1 micron sediment filters but would probably blow threw them. sill cheaper than replacing the carbon block all the time.

just suxs got to be something in the lines as of the last few months. RO unit used to run flawlessly for the past 5 yrs. used to go 1+ YRS be for a filter change.

pressure gauge is after my pre filters.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

At one point I was running .5 micron sediment filters to keep my carbon alive. I was getting them for less than a buck though (from a source I no longer have access to) so I didn't care that I was replacing them every month.

You might want to shop around for a cheaper source - this is a pretty standard canister size so they're available from all kinds of sources (even Home Depot, etc).

This has been a strange year for water in upstate NY so I wouldn't be surprised if things were different now vs. how they used to be.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah this is a pain. So you mention, you isolated it to the second chamber (6micron carbon)? How did you manage that? Did you look at your sediment filter? Did it look clogged? or no?

 

[Bluephish13]

it was the 5 micron block, i just removed each filter replaced the canisters and ran the water until i got to the chamber that was clogged. when i removed the clogged filter i knew it was clogged because the pressure went back up to 43 psi.

 

[SkiFletch]

Ah, well my suggestion would be to try and source some cheaper smaller-micron pre-filters. The carbon is of course expensive, but the regular foam ones are affordable and available from industrial suppliers in semi-bulk. It kinda sucks that you don't know what your current pre-filter is. If it's really big, like 100 micron, it might be just letting too much through. My favorite thing to do in situations like this is to stick one more pre-filter in there. Have a large sediment filter (50-100micron) then a small sediment (5-10), followed by the two carbons then the RO. My favorite place for filters is mcmaster.com. Cheap, FAST (like ludicrously fast) shipping, and you can buy exactly what you want. Here's a link to get you started for string-wound pre-filters http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-filter-cartridges/=h3eeff