Hi,
Just joined the forum. Im Alan, a window cleaner based in the UK using both traditional and wfp for cleaning.
Just wanted to know if anyone had any insight into whether virgin resin or regenerated resin was the best to use?? I have a tds of about 45 after filtration through a Merlin RO filter and am using about 1200 litres per week.
Would be great to hear from anyone who may know if there is any difference between the two resins?!!!
Thanks
Alan:)
Virgin for sure. But also depends which brand. I’ve heard that Tulsion’s probably the best & longer lasting. More than Rohm & Haas or Dow.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TULSION-MB-115-VIRGIN-MIXED-BED-RESIN-WINDOW-CLEANING_W0QQitemZ220213184744QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.c81.m20.l1116
Alan the regenerated resin works a little better only because all the fines from manufacturing have been removed. the thing is for what we as window cleaners need for spot free cleaning their is not enough difference for you to spend more money buying virgin resin. I hope you don’t throw your resin away after its spent. virgin resin cost $200 per cu ft and up. You could save your self $75.00 dollars per cu by regenerating your used (spent) resin. and there is no difference between virgin and regen. regeneration is the process used to charge and clean resin.
The resin in the link is virgin. Its $140 for 55 pounds (25kg). All testers say that this stuff lasts longer than any they have tried. Any questions - phone Doug (UK) 07971 635 958
Perhaps you have a quality issue with resin over in the States?
What precautions are necessary?
I would never suggest trying to regen resin at home. The acids are far to harsh and the equipment is to expensive. This is something to leave to the pros. the prices I gave was from WCR store.
Mine was a leading question for the sake of forum members.
Alan said he uses water at 45 TDS, Im a bit confused:confused: would this not leave streaks or water marks on the glass.
Pre-DI, no doubt.
That’ll be the Merlin for yer. I bet he goes through shed loads of DI as well.
“That’ll be the Merlin for yer. I bet he goes through shed loads of DI as well.”
Not sure what you mean by that?
I’ve been using the Merlin for over 1 1/2 years now - I just order my first set of replacement RO membranes - I haven’t installed them yet cause it’s still taking the inlet tds down about 95% (ie. inlet water of 200 tds down to around 10 tds or less before it goes to the DI).
The Merlin is limited in what it can produce and you need decent inlet psi or a pump, but mine has worked like a champ for the most. My cost last year to run my van mounted RO/DI setup with my merlin was under $250 - and we use it pretty much everyday for at least a couple of hours. All I did was replace a couple of pre-filters and exchange my DI resin at the end of the year. This season the pressure from many of the spickets seems lower than last year (it varies here from one area to another and throughout the year), - a lot of areas are only producing about 40-50 psi - you really need at least 60psi to be able to run the Merlin without a pump - so we’ve been by-passing the Merlin and just using straight DI. I’ve been trying to figure what pump to get and how to set that up - many pumps aren’t adequate for the Merlin.
The Merlin is renowned for high output & poor quality. You may have also noticed that for every 1 gallon made, you are probably sticking 2 or 3 gallons down the drain.
Just as a comparison every gallon I make only 1 gallon goes down the drain & I’ve had this RO/DI unit for nearly 5 years (don’t ask me what brand it is - but it wasn’t the cheapest). Merlins are cheap & cheerful units & they are made for high output in mind.
You can get a 60 psi/12v shurflow pump from Northern tool - another item that hasn’t let me down. I should really get a spare!
Forgot to add - my post RO reading is 017 (from 1400 tds), so obviously my DI has to do less work before taking it down to the 000 mark, therefore, longer lasting resin.
The beauty of the Merlin is it knocks the production water out faster but at cost to quality & wastage.
