Here's my new RO system

[FreahSaltyGuy]

Hi All,

I did it. Went big on what is one of the more important pieces of equipment and got this new beauty today to provide plenty of RO water. I no longer have to wait 1 hour for 1.5 gallons of water lol. Overkill probably but will make water changes so much quicker and eventually will automate it all in the future. One step at a time.

 

[Turkeysammich]

Is that a ro system ? Looks like 3 filter with a booster pump. I don’t see the ro canister. Then your missing the di part. Just asking.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

Is that a ro system ? Looks like 3 filter with a booster pump. I don’t see the ro canister. Then your missing the di part. Just asking.

Ha! I should have also included a pic of the back side lol my bad.
Here is the link from iSpring - https://www.123filter.com/ac/index.php?rt=product/product&product_id=254

 

[Turkeysammich]

Wow. That’s a nice setup. Kinda over kill. But whatever’s. Lol.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

Wow. That’s a nice setup. Kinda over kill. But whatever’s. Lol.

Agree but got it for a great price so had to do it lol and I was tired of waiting for water lol

 

[Coral reefer]

I would def modify it to send waste water from first membrane into input for the second and waste from second into input for third. Waste was less water and get longer life out of the prefilters which won’t be cheap for the 20” ones

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

I believe that's how it is setup now if I'm not mistaken on the right side of the filters which I think got cut off in the pic

 

[Coral reefer]

I don’t think so. Pictures can be hard tho

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

I should call them tmrw to ask. But to add to this I just realized the hose that I tapped into comes from the whole house filtration system granted not RO but 4 stage.

 

[Arvin R]

I believe that's how it is setup now if I'm not mistaken on the right side of the filters which I think got cut off in the pic

It is not setup the way we recommend. Currently all the waste of each RO filter just gets dumped and "wasted" and each RO has a fresh feed of clean prefiltered water. If it were setup using the waste to feed, then you'd have the waste line from the 1st crossing over to the other side of the 2nd RO them the waste of the 2nd going across into the feed of the 3rd and join all 3 clean output into 1 line into the DI chamber. You'll also have to figure out how to eliminate the other 2 clean pre-filter feeds and just run 1. Shouldn't ve too hard.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

It is not setup the way we recommend. Currently all the waste of each RO filter just gets dumped and "wasted" and each RO has a fresh feed of clean prefiltered water. If it were setup using the waste to feed, then you'd have the waste line from the 1st crossing over to the other side of the 2nd RO them the waste of the 2nd going across into the feed of the 3rd and join all 3 clean output into 1 line into the DI chamber. You'll also have to figure out how to eliminate the other 2 clean pre-filter feeds and just run 1. Shouldn't ve too hard.

Thanks Arvin for that. Are you saying to get rid of the first 2 pre filters because it's already filtered from the whole home filter or is there another reason?

 

[Arvin R]

Thanks Arvin for that. Are you saying to get rid of the first 2 pre filters because it's already filtered from the whole home filter or is there another reason?

No, that's not what I'm saying. You might be able to get rid of pre filters depending on what your house filtration filters are. We are just talking about the RO filters.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

No, that's not what I'm saying. You might be able to get rid of pre filters depending on what your house filtration filters are. We are just talking about the RO filters.

Ya that's what I meant. So I basically have the same whole house filters then I can bypass the first 2 filters on the front and keep the RO's and replumb then like you mentioned.

 

[Arvin R]

Ya that's what I meant. So I basically have the same whole house filters then I can bypass the first 2 filters on the front and keep the RO's and replumb then like you mentioned.

Have you compared your whole house filters to the first 2 filters on the RODI unit? If they are filtering the same micron then go ahead and bypass them.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

Yes they are ok will bypass. Thank you!

 

[Arvin R]

Yes they are ok will bypass. Thank you!

You could've saved money and not even bought this thing then and just bought RO canisters and filter and DI canisters/filters. Any chance of returning this?

Always research your purchase and needs before buying. Impulse buying will not get you far in this hobby.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

You could've saved money and not even bought this thing then and just bought RO canisters and filter and DI canisters/filters. Any chance of returning this?

Always research your purchase and needs before buying. Impulse buying will not get you far in this hobby.

For the $60 I paid I'm gonna keep it lol...yup $60 brand new

 

[richiev]

As a counterpoint, I don't think the logic to running RO filters in serial versus in parallel is actually proven. Neither in theory nor in practice.

If you're thinking of switching the way it is plumbed, if that came as a unit designed that way I'd contact the company and ask their opinion. They might have an argument doing it that way it is makes more sense.

The theory to plumbing them in series (what people are saying to do) is that you're getting production for free by using the waste water of one unit to power the next. That seems logical, but it's not that simple.

The dirtier the water you feed to a RO, the higher your discharge rate, the dirtier "clean" water will come out, and the faster you burn through RO membranes. So the second membrane will be doing a worse job than the first, produce less, and wear out faster. It also will have lower input pressure into it, again making it less efficient.

If you do it in parallel (how yours is setup), each will be working at the same efficiency (in theory their maximal efficiency). That's certainly going to lead to the highest water production rate.

How much relative waste one versus the other produces seems unclear. It seems like something that could be interesting to do a test on though. For 10L of input, how much total clean output do you get in one setup versus the other. Similarly what's the final TDS of the clean output.

Measuring the membrane wear I don't how you would do. Probably could estimate it if you measured TDS of the input water at each stage of serialness

The parallel one should increase production linearly (assuming the pump and prefilters can keep up). With more RO membranes in parallel it seems you should just be making water faster, with the same ratios and wear as using one membrane. The wear just gets spread across multiple membranes.

The serial one it seems like you don't get slightly dirtier output, higher membrane wear, but presumably use a bit less input water. In theory wasting less input water, at a cost of wasting more RO membranes and DI resin.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

Lol totally man. I have a buddy who buys commercial auctions. He hooked me up. Everything was still brand new in box from iSpring.

 

[FreahSaltyGuy]

As a counterpoint, I don't think the logic to running RO filters in serial versus in parallel is actually proven. Neither in theory nor in practice.

If you're thinking of switching the way it is plumbed, if that came as a unit designed that way I'd contact the company and ask their opinion. They might have an argument doing it that way it is makes more sense.

The theory to plumbing them in series (what people are saying to do) is that you're getting production for free by using the waste water of one unit to power the next. That seems logical, but it's not that simple.

The dirtier the water you feed to a RO, the higher your discharge rate, the dirtier "clean" water will come out, and the faster you burn through RO membranes. So the second membrane will be doing a worse job than the first, produce less, and wear out faster. It also will have lower input pressure into it, again making it less efficient.

If you do it in parallel (how yours is setup), each will be working at the same efficiency (in theory their maximal efficiency). That's certainly going to lead to the highest water production rate.

How much relative waste one versus the other produces seems unclear. It seems like something that could be interesting to do a test on though. For 10L of input, how much total clean output do you get in one setup versus the other. Similarly what's the final TDS of the clean output.

Measuring the membrane wear I don't how you would do. Probably could estimate it if you measured TDS of the input water at each stage of serialness

The parallel one should increase production linearly (assuming the pump and prefilters can keep up). With more RO membranes in parallel it seems you should just be making water faster, with the same ratios and wear as using one membrane. The wear just gets spread across multiple membranes.

The serial one it seems like you don't get slightly dirtier output, higher membrane wear, but presumably use a bit less input water. In theory wasting less input water, at a cost of wasting more RO membranes and DI resin.

Great point I was wondering that exact thing and was going to call iSpring tmrw and quiz them on that. Thanks for the input!