You have to put a valve on the bypass connection port. Without the valve you’re not making RO water.
Close the valve to the point where the water coming out of the permeate and the concentrate are basically equal.
When done working for the day, open the valve all the way with the water on, for 5 minutes to flush the RO.
Repeat at next job.
okay i’ll try that and let you know how it goes. thanks!
… Thanks for this…Questions: Does the pressure regulator boost pressure if needed or just limit in case there is too much pressure? Do you have 3 carbon filters (carbon,carbon,carbon) or was that a typo? 
I don’t think I have problems with channeling ( how would I tell?) because I don’t pack the tank full. The resin has enough room to sort of be “swimming” in the water.
The regulator does just that, regulates, but only what you give it to work with. Backflows have these too. They are really expensive for some reason, sometimes landscaping outfits will have a few of these laying around their shop so the landscaping outfits that work on the properties you service may be able to hook you up for cheap. They’ve helped me out with a rainbird coupler quite a few times and those things run up to a hundred bucks and over depending on the size.
All it is, is a valve that won’t let the pressure go over a limit that you set for it. It has a knob that will allow you to adjust it. Some regulators are factory set, and you don’t want those.
No it wasn’t a typo, 3 carbon blocks are used in my set up. I forgot to put in there that I do have another bypass between the second and third tho, I normally use only 2 unless I’m tying into reclaimed water and then I’ll use all 3.
As far as channeling problems, the only way you can tell is by educated guess.
In order to do that, it helps to document what tds each property has that you service and have it on paper or something and keep it with your setup. At least document your readings each use. I document before and after on each use so I know where I’m at and basically how long filters and tanks are good for.
The only way to know when to change out your carbon filters is to use a pool chlorine tester and see whats getting thru. You can add a relief valve and put it on a “T” where your pressure gauges are on your filter housings so you can get a reading off each filter, and of course the first filter in line is gonna take a huge beating before the others.
If you can get your hands on a digital chlorine testing meter for cheap I’d jump on it if I were you cuz those things are pretty expensive. Might be able to pick one up at a yard sale in an upper class area where they all got pools, not too upper class-they don’t usually have yard sales and definitely don’t service their own pools.
As far as channelling go’s, you’d have to guess by your readings you took.
Because if your pressure is low, say: in the 50’s. Sometimes your tds will start to jump, or you start seeing your windows look like crap. So when you test your tds, and the reading is say 008 and just yesterday, or last time you used it you were seeing 000 or 002, and your filters are good because you just tested them a month or so ago (and you have that result documented) it is safe to assume that the low pressure is causing the water to channel.
Theres really no other way to know, that I am aware of.
i have never heard of this method being recommended, a have always heard that resin should be packed in pretty firmly
Any luck?
Faulty membrane and actually turns out they sent me the wrong one. Just got the money back from the faulty wrong one and will be getting a new one within the next couple of weeks.
Contacted the manufacturers of the housing to talk about the Brine outlet and I’m just waiting on their response. I’ll be getting the Axeon Ultra Low Energy Membrane that operates at 80 PSI.
Glad you got that sorted out. The Axeon F5 is the most common used for window cleaning.
Good job big Shawn!
Howdy, bro. So sorry to hear about your RO problems; I’m sure that has been frustrating!
I have that same membrane housing. From the picture, it looks like you have your permeate (good water) hose attached to the concentrate (waste water) outlet on the bottom end of your housing. Good water always will come out of the center ports of the housing if the system is plumbed correctly. The original membrane may not have had any problem at all. Your system was plumbed so that the feed water ran straight through the housing without being filtered at all. You can just put a simple ball valve fitting (available at any hardware store) on the concentrate (waste water) port of the housing, & then you’ll be able to restrict the flow out of that port to basically force the feed water through the membrane & start producing pure water. I hope this helps!
The Axeon HF-5 is a great choice if you’re just running off tap pressure. I’ve had good success with mine.
I’m in the process of building a new system; hopefully will have pics soon. I highly recommend educating yourself on how an RO system works & how to efficiently use & maintain it. I made a lot of mistakes when I first started due to sheer ignorance. The Dow website has some awesome user manuals for their filmtec membranes, & the same basic principles apply to any RO system.
For example, their spec sheets give specific instructions on how to start using a membrane for the first time. Basically, you slowly build feed (tap) pressure over at least 60 seconds, let water flow for a bit, then you can slowly begin to restrict the concentrate (waste water) flow over a period of 30 seconds or more to begin producing permeate (pure water). They say that the water produced over the first hour of initial production should be discarded. Then the unit is ready for use!
There are also other procedures for later startup, shutdown, & storage. Also, each membrane has specific operating parameters that need to be followed; otherwise you risk prematurely fouling your membrane (like I did, haha).
Like I said earlier, I highly recommend educating yourself! Hopefully can save you time, $$, & frustration in the future.
Best wishes to you. I hope it works out! Feel free to holler back if you have any additional questions 
I sincerely apologize; I didn’t realize that you had posted this over a year ago. I saw “January” on the thread & thought it was recent. You’re probably a pro with your RO now. Best wishes, & happy cleaning! 
Howdy, Shawn. I know this is an old post, but from what the techs at DOW told me about RO recovery rates, wouldn’t running at a 1:1 production ratio greatly increase the potential for scaling & premature fouling of your membrane? All the tech spec sheets for Axeon & Dow membranes that I’ve seen have their benchmark tests performed at a 5:1 recovery rate & recommend not exceeding a 4:1 recovery rate. Has your experience shown you otherwise? Sorry, I’m still kind of a newbie at this
