Riddle me this? - RO/DI issue

1

I bought a dual 40" RO/DI system 2 years ago here called “the beast”
great system, flawless until 3 months ago

RO outs started reading 60/80/90 at times instead of 30-40tds (as we owners of these systems know, RO/DI systems give all kinds of readings throughout the day, but within certain parameters)

Resin cartridges suddenly began only lasting 100-150 gallons before reading 20+ TDS instead of the 600 plus gallons per 40" cartridge I have been getting for almost 2 years. Got some callbacks and sure enough that water sheeting shadow on the windows that really shows up in the sun, meaning its just not a “reading” of high tds, the DI is shot and the water has high tds that shows when dries on glass

ok, fine, replaced with 2 40" Axeon RO filters

new RO’s still reading wildly high TDS, some sources say it takes awhile to get normal readings and they settle in

burning thru BOXES of resin ( a 40" cartridge every day and a half - I use 50-100 gals a day 4-5 days a week)

bought a Dupont yellow RO filter. Same deal

1,000’s of gallons later on the new RO filters they finally started reading 20-35 TDS instead of 60 TDS (with 375-475 TDS going in) still the resin doesn’t last 600+ gallons, only lasts 125-150 gallons and then DI out reads 20+ TDS

tried a “nuclear grade” resin and got 800 gallons before reading 19 TDS (but a friend gets 4,000 gallons out of his with the same RO readings of 20-35TDS)

put in a cartridge of WCR resin (that used to get me 600+ gallons) and after 67 gallons its already reading 5TDS, same ol’ story but RO out is still showing 20-35 TDS out of each RO unit

I have replaced both RO’s and have 1 of each brand in there (1 dupont, 1 axeon),
replaced all the TDS probes and meter(handheld reads similar TDS to inline probes),
replaced the carbon and sediment filters, there’s no leaks anywhere and have checked RO outs right before going to DI cartridge (20-35 tds).

Spigot pressure is typically 40PSI plus
incoming TDS typically 375-475
RO out 20-35 TDS
running pump between spigot and sediment filter boosting pressure to 60-80psi makes no difference in Ro TDS out

Some water districts are using Chloramine which I understand will burn out an RO filter early. I don’t know about our water district, but if an RO was burned out I wouldn’t think it could be reading 20-35tds out. Plus I changed both carbon and sediment filters when I changed Ro filters. (and change carbon and sediment every 3 months)

Has anyone experienced this? almost 2 years and all is good, all of a sudden a mystery issue and eventually replacing all the innards and still no fix back to original results, instead still only get 125-150 gallons before a 20+ tds reading and need to change Di resin cartridge

I suddenly have lost 80% of DI capacity production even though readings on RO are in healthy parameters.

I have been battling with this for 4 months and I am stumped!!!

any ideas anyone??

thanks

2

Wow sounds frustrating, do you guys do a a lot of WFP work ?

3

John at WCR helped me a lot recently with a similar situation. Flow at brush was low, High TDS coming from ro and di and flow and tds from waste water was way too high.
After replacing R/O and DI with no success I got a new waste water valve and everything was back to normal.

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4

Why waste $50 on a valve, take the valve out and put a tap in it.
The system I made is basically the same as the commercially built systems with the exception of the valve I put a $2 irrigation tap on it now I can control how much waste is produced.

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5

I’ve been running into the same exact issue. I bought the DIY kit RODI system from the same company that sells The Beast. It worked great for the first year I had it. Then I started getting TDS readings between 18-22. Changed the pre filters and DI resin. DI resin lasts for a few houses (below 5 TDS) then shoots up to 20 TDS. I feel your pain, I’ve had to change the DI every week or so.

Interested to hear what can be the problem. I’ve talked to guys from WCR and CWC and their solutions temporarily fix the issue.

6

yeah, every day

7

I just don’t understand how RO out/DI in can be 20-35tds and 80% of DI resin life is lost compared to what it used to be at those same numbers

is something that wouldn’t register on TDS suddenly appearing in the water that blows out the resin?

is something within the DI canister leaching in and blowing out the resin?

it is very confounding, it’s like your truck instead of getting 300 miles a tank of gas, suddenly only getting 50 miles out of a full tank of gas, what could have possibly changed or broke?

8

Sounds like a simple fix for such a frustrating problem.

9

the Beast has a ball valve from flush to running thru RO, there may be something in that ball valve that adjusts wastewater, not sure, I’ll have to take it apart as i’m still waiting to hear from manufacturer on that

but my water flow isnt low like you experienced, great flow on the rinse bar even at 40psi spigot pressure going in

10

@Alex you ever hear anything like this?

11

We are experiencing this same issue. We put the machine in quarantine.

12

I would suggest taking out the DI cartridge while trying to saturate the RO membrane and get it primed up, folks waste a great deal of resin life by burning it that way. Not sure if that is a part of the process utilized?

The issue according to the words seems to start with the original system, original filters and membranes? Persisting after that? Like the human body, there can be multiple issues, one issue exacerbates the next and so on. If there is an issue with the local water and it potentially infect the system you might need to do a system flush, cleaning, bleaching of that system entirely, much like an under sink filtration system that is new, the reservoir in the least must be bleached.Has a bacteria been introduced into the system, the new filters slightly compromised? The bacteria unchecked can fester and grow, depending on use?

I would check my local water, start with the city, county next, check for alerts and changes to their systems.

13

thanks for the input everyone

so some things said here got me thinking to just google and see if anyone else dealing with this. ended up on a site for aquariums of all things

while the equipment is different, i saw about 3 things to pursue, but then i saw one post and a word jumped out at me, one word

channelling

and I thought i wonder. and since my system is horizontally mounted I really wondered. So today i took out the Di resin cartridge that had 130 gallons and was already at 20 TDS (with that 25-35 RO tds input) and i took the cap off and packed the little bit of room left in the cartridge and screwed the lid back on (it had a slight bulge it was so full and tight)

turned it back on and the same resin cartridge that was reading 20tds now read 1tds and went to 0! I used it all day, still only at 1 tds!

I think this is it! but we’ll see. it makes the most sense but did i suddenly start filling the cartridges differently enough to cause this consistently? very weird.

I hope this helps someone! I’ve spent 2500 in materials and supplies in the last 3 months, I really hope this is it! Thanks again everyone

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14

I had a similar issue with my 4 stage unit. The first time I used it, I could never get 000 from the DI side. I would get will over 20 TDS. I took the unit apart and reassembled it and I still got the same reading. What I did to fix my issue was, I took the DI cartridge out of the DI housing and connected the hose coming from the R/O to a small 1/4 tank of DI. That fixed my problem. I now get 000 on my TDS meter. I don’t take my unit off of my truck because I fill a tank with pure water and I use a 12 v pump to feed my WFP. I do how ever have a portable unit that I made for areas where parking or water spigots are not accessible. It come in two parts, one is the R/O unit with a strap to carry it and the other it a carbon block filter and a small 1/4 DI tank that fits in a home depot bucket. That way I can carry both to a water source.

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15

issue solved,

a few months back, ordered yet another set of RO cartridges, expecting more Axeon, and instead received the new xero fiberglass wrapped RO’s

installed and flushed new cartridges for like 20 min first

for the first time, with 475 incoming TDS, i was getting RO out readings of 15!

for the last 6 months have been in the 12-35 range on the RO out readings, phenomenal!
and the water flow output at 40psi out of a rinse bar is amazing

is has been a great year working with these new RO cartridges, thank you WCR for your xero brand products!