RODI Spectrapure - Refurb

[mcgyvr]

Do you have color changing DI?
If so has its color changed?

I'd simply start off by starting over again
Pull the input line to the DI stage this time and let it run for an hour per the instructions.. Hook it all back up and try again..

You might have exhausted the DI media too since you were running high TDS water through it for an hour...
If after "starting over" if its still 7 TDS then either you have a dirty glass or the DI is exhausted.. or water is going through it and not being filtered properly or the meter is off..

I find your average bottle water is around 14 TDS but no guarantees they are all like that.. But everyone I've tested has been (about 3-4 brands)

 

[Bmore88]

It is two color DI. The guy on the phone said as long as there is still the darker color on top it is "full."

I am going to take it apart and run it more. Then re assemble everything tight and snug and see what happens.

If nothing Ill buy a new DI membrane.

 

[DSMreefer]

Running straight fresh water through di resin will exhaust it extremely quickly. Most di resin sees very low tds after the ro membrane. My di stage sees 7-9 tds. On an older unit I had my di stage was seeing 30 tds and it would exhaust it after 60 gallons of product water.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[Bmore88]

DSM... you are correct. Just emailed spectrapure and they said to send them a picture of the DI to make certain... But most likely it got killed when I left it running for an hour without the RO... This would make sense as to why I am getting 7 right now.


They also said they would send me one out discounted as a "learning curve."

Really couldn't be more happy with the customer service on their end, all things considered.

 

[jml1149]

Running straight fresh water through di resin will exhaust it extremely quickly. Most di resin sees very low tds after the ro membrane. My di stage sees 7-9 tds. On an older unit I had my di stage was seeing 30 tds and it would exhaust it after 60 gallons of product water.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Not to hijack the thread, but I have the same problem. My tap water TDS is around 500+, my input into the DI stage is somewhere around 25 tds. I only get about 100g of water. Really expensive this way. How did you resolve?

 

[mcgyvr]

Not to hijack the thread, but I have the same problem. My tap water TDS is around 500+, my input into the DI stage is somewhere around 25 tds. I only get about 100g of water. Really expensive this way. How did you resolve?

What is the rejection rate of your RO membrane?
A quality membrane with a 98% rejection should be sufficient to extend DI life

 

[DSMreefer]

I upgraded units is all. I had a ro buddie to begin with and it would exhaust the di stage very quickly (rejection rate of ro membrane was only around 80%). I upgraded to a spectrapure 90 gpd dual di resin unit. Like mcgyvr said, look and see what the rejection rate is of your membrane. Right now it looks like you're getting about a 95% rejection rate (experts correct me if I'm wrong). A 98% rejection rate would get you down to around 10 tds to your di stage greatly improving the life of your di resin. I think spectrapure also offers a 99% rejection rate membrane. A little more money but you end up saving it in di resin.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[Bmore88]

So after sending pictures and talking with Spectrapure they are sending me a discounted DI filter. It turns out when I mixed up the RO and DI membranes when I was breaking it in it cooked the DI. So, seeing as how I have 160 prior to RO and 7 after, the new DI should take it to 0...

JML1149... what area are you in? I have never heard of 500tds!

You could try looking into some sort of water softener or get additional filters prior to DI.... Not certain as obviously I am learning as I go.

 

[mcgyvr]

So after sending pictures and talking with Spectrapure they are sending me a discounted DI filter. It turns out when I mixed up the RO and DI membranes when I was breaking it in it cooked the DI. So, seeing as how I have 160 prior to RO and 7 after, the new DI should take it to 0...

JML1149... what area are you in? I have never heard of 500tds!

You could try looking into some sort of water softener or get additional filters prior to DI.... Not certain as obviously I am learning as I go.

Sadly 500 TDS is not that unheard of at all..
In fact some are 1000+...

My supply is 60 on average.. But water her is INSANELY expensive.. I think most of that 60 is gold flakes.. My water bill for just me and my wife is like $120/month.. and I only make maybe 15 gallons of RO/DI a week..
And they just approved I believe a 15% rate increase..

 

[Bmore88]

Sadly 500 TDS is not that unheard of at all..
In fact some are 1000+...

My supply is 60 on average.. But water her is INSANELY expensive.. I think most of that 60 is gold flakes.. My water bill for just me and my wife is like $120/month.. and I only make maybe 15 gallons of RO/DI a week..
And they just approved I believe a 15% rate increase..

Wow that is crazy.. I just paid mine and it was about $120.. but thats quarterly.

 

[jml1149]

FWIW I'm in southern CT

 

[TangingOut]

So after sending pictures and talking with Spectrapure they are sending me a discounted DI filter. It turns out when I mixed up the RO and DI membranes when I was breaking it in it cooked the DI. So, seeing as how I have 160 prior to RO and 7 after, the new DI should take it to 0...

JML1149... what area are you in? I have never heard of 500tds!

You could try looking into some sort of water softener or get additional filters prior to DI.... Not certain as obviously I am learning as I go.

You can further eliminate confusion by calling the DI a resin and not a membrane. Btw, I get 500+ TDS here in AZ.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

You can further eliminate confusion by calling the DI a resin and not a membrane. Btw, I get 500+ TDS here in AZ.

My thought too.

You only have one device called a "membrane." It's if your Reverse osmosis membrane, or RO membrane for short. It is in the horizontal housing above the bracket.

You have two DI resin cartridges in vertical housings below the bracket.

Russ

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

JML1149... what area are you in? I have never heard of 500tds!

You could try looking into some sort of water softener or get additional filters prior to DI.... Not certain as obviously I am learning as I go.

500 ppm TDS feedwater is not too uncommon.

A water softener doesn't reduce TDS. It replace hardness ions (primarily Ca and Mg) with Sodium. A water softener will address the issue of scale building up inside the RO membrane, and it will allow you to reduce the amount of waste water, but it won't increase the life span of the DI resin.

There are only two stages in the system that remove TDS: the RO membrane does most of the work, and the DI resin polishes up the last little bit. So the key here is to make sure the RO membrane is working as it should. The cleaner your RO water, the longer your DI will last.

If your feedwater is 500, and your RO water is 25, then your RO is letting through 5% of the TDS, and rejecting 95%. Not exceptional performance.

What is your water pressure after your prefilters at the membrane?

What is your waste water to purified water ratio?

The high rejection everyone wants from their RO membrane - the rejection quoted by Filmtec, is a membrane performance attribute that is the result, in part, of the 15% recovery during testing. 15% recovery translates into a ~5.5 to 1 waste to permeate ratio. The more you choke off the waste water the lower your rejection will be.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

I am using a hand held.... He said the water needs to be moving with the handheld ones and to overflow a glass.... Which I am doing and its still reading 7. So now I am curious that maybe not enough water is moving for it to be accurate. I will try a small glass.

We've been a National Distributor for HM Digital for over a decade.

The probes on inline HM meters are calibrated in moving water.
The probes on handheld HM meters are not calibrated in moving water.

Can't imagine it would be any different for any other manufacturer.

Russ