RODI - HELP, no waste water and high pressure

[Skynite]

Setup my RODI with a Smart Buddie booster pump and I'm getting no waste water. TDS meter reads 0 after the DI so its working but shouldn't I be getting some waste water? Also the pressure going into the RO membrane is at 110 PSI which seems high.

Does this sound normal?

 

[ZenGuitarGuy]

110 is high, but it should tell you in the specs for the unit. I'll let others reply though.

 

[Darthv247]

pressure is too high. think 90psi max on them no? there should have been a flow restrictor that came with it too?

 

[Skynite]

I don't have a flow restrictor in my setup. I have a check value between the Ro and the Di unit. Do I need the flow restrictor, the documentation was very vague.

 

[flooddc]

I encountered a similar issue last winter. My waste line originally feed to the back yard was frozen shut. After I reconfigured the waste line to inside the house, there still no waste water coming out. In short, the membranes (I have 2 on my unit) were damaged and I replaced both and everything work like normal like before the freeze.

How old is your unit? was it working before?
If you don't have flow restrictor on the unit, the waste line should be flowing out lot of water!
Since you don't have a restrictor, there should be a "capillary" installed on the waste line by the connector. This is the same as a restrictor. Pull it out to see if it clogged. Run your unit without it and you should have lot of water coming out of the waste line. If there is lot of water, then clogged capillary.
If still no waste water, your membrane is likely damaged and need a new one.
Be sure to double check your connections, make sure they are set up correctly.


PS. I look over the Smart buddie booster, it suppose to have a "built-in" flow restrictor, so you don't need one!
So pull the waste line out from the smart buddie to see if any water coming out of the waste line.

 

[Skynite]

I encountered a similar issue last winter. My waste line originally feed to the back yard was frozen shut. After I reconfigured the waste line to inside the house, there still no waste water coming out. In short, the membranes (I have 2 on my unit) were damaged and I replaced both and everything work like normal like before the freeze.

How old is your unit? was it working before?
If you don't have flow restrictor on the unit, the waste line should be flowing out lot of water!
Since you don't have a restrictor, there should be a "Yes" installed on the waste line by the connector. This is the same as a restrictor. Pull it out to see if it clogged. Run your unit without it and you should have lot of water coming out of the waste line. If there is lot of water, then clogged capillary.
If still no waste water, your membrane is likely damaged and need a new one.
Be sure to double check your connections, make sure they are set up correctly.


PS. I look over the Smart buddie booster, it suppose to have a "built-in" flow restrictor, so you don't need one!
So pull the waste line out from the smart buddie to see if any water coming out of the waste line.

I got the RODI system from a friend, just empty containers. I bought all the filters new. I have a new 5 micron sediment filter, 2 new 1 micron Carbon block filters, a new RO membrane, and a new DI canister. I also bought added a Aqualife Smart Buddie booster pump to the setup. I think with the addition of the booster pump I thought I can eliminate the flow restrictor but as you can see the pressure is pretty high.
Yesterday I removed the booster pump from the setup and I was able to finally get some waste water coming out of the waste line. Though the waste water was just a trickle compared to the clean water line. i was probably getting twice the amount of clean water as the waste water which is unusual to me. I thought I would get more waste water then clean water. Without the booster pump, pressure is now at just below 60psi going into the RO membrane.

I feel like I'm doing something wrong but can't figure it out.

 

[Skynite]

Just got of the phone with Aquaticlife customer support, the makers of the Smart Buddie booster pump. They said that I should take a look at the RO waste and filtered line outputs, in particular the elbows of the filtered line and the inside the red tube of the waste line. They said that sometimes theres a flow restrictor inside of the elbow of the filtered line or a capillary inside the red tube of the waste line that can be restricting the flow of the waste water and also increase the pressure.

"flooddc" you mentioned some of this already but I didn't know that the capillary or a restrictor could be inside of the elbow. I'll check for that tonight and update tomorrow.

thx

 

[flooddc]

Waste water should normally 4:1, something is clogged or something is no seated correctly (especially the membrane).
Yes, take out the connector on the red line and see if there is a capillary in there.
if nothing, I'd remove the membrane and re-install it. Sometime it's not seated properly.
Test your unit without the booster to see if it function properly. Once it produce RODI water and normal waste water (lot of it since no flow restrictor) then hook it up to the booster pump.
I'd also recommend an auto shutoff valve for your unit (when you get it to work properly of course) it will save you down the road.

 

[Skynite]

Waste water should normally 4:1, something is clogged or something is no seated correctly (especially the membrane).
Yes, take out the connector on the red line and see if there is a capillary in there.
if nothing, I'd remove the membrane and re-install it. Sometime it's not seated properly.
Test your unit without the booster to see if it function properly. Once it produce RODI water and normal waste water (lot of it since no flow restrictor) then hook it up to the booster pump.
I'd also recommend an auto shutoff valve for your unit (when you get it to work properly of course) it will save you down the road.

I found a flow restrictor in one of the elbows. after removing the flow restrictor I was finally able to get waste water. Now my TDS meter before the DI is reading what its supposed to at 4 to 5. The Pressure is a little lower now at between 95 to 100 PSI. The ratio of waste to filtered is now around 1.2 to 1 which is what I'm supposed to get with the Smart Buddie booster pump.

Question for you guys, I also found what looks like compression sleeves inserted at the end of the tube where it screws onto the elbow. I've circled them in the picture. Are they supposed to be there? These are not the capillary's?

 

[Breadman03]

Those help to prevent the tube from collapsing. Bear in mind that your RO unit should produce about 1 gallon of clean water for every 4 gallons of waste. The flow restrictor provides some back pressure on the waste line to force some of the water through the filter membrane. Without it, you're likely to get drops of clean water and gallons of waste.

 

[flooddc]

Glad it's working for you!
one of those look like some kind of flow restrictors. the rest idk. Different vendor use different type of components in their unit.
here are some flow restrictors:
http://www.appliedmembranes.com/flow-restrictor-for-home-ro-systems.html
http://www.waterfilters.net/730-ml-insert-ro-membrane-capillary-flow-restrictor.html

 

[Skynite]

Those help to prevent the tube from collapsing. Bear in mind that your RO unit should produce about 1 gallon of clean water for every 4 gallons of waste. The flow restrictor provides some back pressure on the waste line to force some of the water through the filter membrane. Without it, you're likely to get drops of clean water and gallons of waste.

I talked to customer support from Aqualife Smart Buddie and they said the same thing, the sleeves are there to prevent the tube from collapsing or slipping out.
According to Aqualife, with the addition of the Smart buddie booster pump my ratio of waste water to filtered water is supposed to be around 1.2 to 1. Also the Smart Buddie eliminated the need of any flow restrictors.

Glad it's working for you!
one of those look like some kind of flow restrictors. the rest idk. Different vendor use different type of components in their unit.
here are some flow restrictors:
http://www.appliedmembranes.com/flow-restrictor-for-home-ro-systems.html
http://www.waterfilters.net/730-ml-insert-ro-membrane-capillary-flow-restrictor.html

Thank you all for your replies. I now have a functioning RODI system. You guys have been very helpful. thanks again.

 

[Breadman03]

Good to hear! Now just develop a regular schedule of replacing your prefilters and monitor your TDS to get years of service out of it.

 

[Skynite]

Good to hear! Now just develop a regular schedule of replacing your prefilters and monitor your TDS to get years of service out of it.

How often should I expect to change the filters?

 

[Breadman03]

It depends on how much water you are making and your source water. I change my prefilters every 2-3 months, but I have a 150 plus use it for drinking water for a family of 6.