Question about RO/DI pressure

kelley_mc

kelley_mc

Active member
I got the Typhoon III from you know who and I just hooked it up yesterday. So far I am very impressed and the installation was a breeze. Only tools needed was something to cut the plastic hose. Everything else went together by hand. Nice unit.

Because I have well water, I had to install a booster pump. With the booster pump, I am getting ridiculous pressure. The pressure gauge installed before the membrane reads about 85 psi. With the pump off, it reads about 20 psi. Is the 85 psi bad?

Here is a link to the pump I have. It is the AQUATEC 8800

http://www.thefilterguys.biz/booster_pumps.htm

The TDS of my tap water is 34 and the TDS of the RO/DI water is 0. I made about 5 gallons of water in an hour yesterday which seems like too much. I have a 75 gpd unit which in a perfect world works out at about 3 gallons per hour. The temp of my water is a cool 50 degrees so I figured I would be getting about 2 gallons per hour form the unit.

Am I going to damage the unit with this type of pressure? I believe the 75 gpd rating is based on 50 psi. Does that mean that at 85 psi I am going to get more water safely?

Thanks for the help!
 
I have the same pump running the same pressure on my set up with a well. I do have an extra prefilter before the pump you might want to consider for the pumps safety. I get about the same quantity you get and am not concerned. So far about 400 gallons at 0 TDS after DI. I never tested my source (some things your better not knowing) but after RO it varies from 6 to 1 on different days.
I got my whole setup from the filter guys and am sure the pump pressure is fine.
 
85 is great. Membranes will work at up to 300 psi but the housings and other components are usually rated for 125 psi.
You need to know what your tap water TDS is to figure out your efficiency, thats a necessary number. Just because you get between 1 and 6 doesn't mean your membrane in functioning correctly, you could have a tap of 50 and only be operating at less than 90% efficiency for all you know.
 
Thanks AZDesertRat. Does that mean it would be normal then to have more water output than the stated gpd?

asm481 - I agree about the filter before the pump. I have a sediment filter in my lines before the pump.
 
You are probably right about needing to know what my TDS is from source but on a well I would be monitoring it constantly. A well changes from day to day while municipal systems are far more consistent. Therefore I just watch output. I also found just plumbing in to different parts of the house got different TDS. I am now plumbed right after it comes in to the house. The house is 100 years old so old pipes but the supply from the well was replaced with ABS last spring. Much cleaner coming in then out at the kitchen faucet.
 
wow!!!

kelley_mc - 'The TDS of my tap water is 34'

Mine comes out of the tap at 485 here in the UK, I suppose your membrane and DI will last a fair while!! Takes me about 6 hours to make 25 litres at the moment.

:D
 
Just as a word of warning - I also have the Typhoon III and my house pressure (no booster pump) was at about 100 PSI. When I contacted the manufacturer he told me that he flagged my account for extreme pressure and recommended a pressure regulator for our whole house.

Several hundred dollars later we are adjusting to having our house pressure reduced to 52 PSI from 100 PSI.

I think one of the more pressing concerns of the high pressure was the automatic shut-off system but I am not sure. I know I feel safer now than I did before (even if my showers are not as powerful).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9189166#post9189166 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dj_chicane
wow!!!

kelley_mc - 'The TDS of my tap water is 34'

Mine comes out of the tap at 485 here in the UK, I suppose your membrane and DI will last a fair while!! Takes me about 6 hours to make 25 litres at the moment.

:D
Click to expand...

I think there is a lot worse than 485 so its not that bad.

I was very surprised by my 34, I actually never seen levels that low. (Not that I am an expert). We have a 405' well and cold water. I don't think that has anything to do with the low TDS, but it tastes good. :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9189337#post9189337 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ambaratur
Just as a word of warning - I also have the Typhoon III and my house pressure (no booster pump) was at about 100 PSI. When I contacted the manufacturer he told me that he flagged my account for extreme pressure and recommended a pressure regulator for our whole house.

Several hundred dollars later we are adjusting to having our house pressure reduced to 52 PSI from 100 PSI.

I think one of the more pressing concerns of the high pressure was the automatic shut-off system but I am not sure. I know I feel safer now than I did before (even if my showers are not as powerful).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the warning but I think we are OK. Our house pressure doesn't get much higher than 50 psi, that's why I needed the booster pump.

When you talked to you know who about your high water pressure, were they concerned about the unit itself? I was just thinking and I am pretty sure that the unit says is was rated at 75 psi. I think it is referring to what AZDesertRat was saying, but instead of 125 psi, its 75 psi.

typhoon_02.jpg


Also, I am not using the automatic shutoff valve. The cost to get the valve plus the shutoff for the pump was just more money. Between the unit, booster pump, dual tds meter, pressure gauge, tds alert and shipping, I already dropped $325 on the unit.
 
Yes - he was concerned about the unit itself operating over 75 PSI. He said that the auto-shut-off may fail and that other things may happen.

Again - I am no expert here. Just sharing my experience since I have the same unit. They were very friendly - perhaps you might send an e-mail to the manufacturer and see what they say.

Good luck
 
Thanks for letting me know. I apologize, it did come with the auto shut-off valve, I did not buy the float that you use to make it work. I just shut mine off by hand, unplug the pump and shut off the water supply.

Actually, it looks like the pump is adjustable.
http://www.pwgazette.com/pumpadjustment.htm

I think I will just drop the pump back to 75 psi and be all set with it. I hope.... :rolleyes:
 
Very good - I think that would be a great solution. When I was running mine at 100 PSI is sure worked great! I envy you being able to dial in 75 on the nose. :)

At my current 52PSI I get exactally 75 gallons a day - so I am happy that it is working as it should.

Best of luck!

-Amb
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9189980#post9189980 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ambaratur
Very good - I think that would be a great solution. When I was running mine at 100 PSI is sure worked great! I envy you being able to dial in 75 on the nose. :)
Click to expand...

I guess that makes spending the money a little easier to swallow. :D

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9189980#post9189980 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ambaratur
At my current 52PSI I get exactally 75 gallons a day - so I am happy that it is working as it should.
Click to expand...

It's nice when things work out as they should. :D

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9189980#post9189980 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ambaratur
Best of luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
A wells TDS is actually very stabe in comparison to treated surface water. You draw from the same aquifer all the time so it changes very little unless it is a very shallow well under the influence of surface water. Surface water blends and sources change constantly. Storms and runofff have little effect on a deep well but change a treatment plants techniques drasticly.

Higher pressure will give you increased output if your water temperature is also at 77 degrees or above. Temperature has as great an effect on output as pressure does.
Using my unit as an example at the very same 64 psi RO pressure I get 62 GPD in the winter with water at 60 degrees and 100 GPD in the summer with water at 80 degrees.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9190338#post9190338 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
Higher pressure will give you increased output if your water temperature is also at 77 degrees or above. Temperature has as great an effect on output as pressure does.

Using my unit as an example at the very same 64 psi RO pressure I get 62 GPD in the winter with water at 60 degrees and 100 GPD in the summer with water at 80 degrees.
Click to expand...

Interesting... My water temp is 50 degrees. When I tested my unit last night, it filled a 5 gallon water bottle in about 1 hour, all at 0 TDS. (At least I think so, I didn't watch the meter for the whole hour.) :D

5 gph x 24 hours is 120 gpd. Does something not seem right or because I am getting so much pressure, are the negative effects of the cold water is being offset by the increase in pressure?

Or does my low tap water tds have anything to do with it?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9191927#post9191927 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
Here are Dow Filmtecs graphs that show the effects of temperature and pressure on membrane output.

http://www.dow.com/PublishedLiterat...seps/pdfs/noreg/609-09010.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc

Notice if you had 85 psi and 77 degree water you would be in the 130 GPD range, but when you look at the temperature graph that 75 GPD membrane at the same 50 psi drops all the way down to 45 GPD. I would say you are right where you should be.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for all of the help.

I dialed the pump back to 75 psi just to be safe and everything looks like its working great. Thanks again everyone, I am very happy so far with this unit.
 
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