Cali Kid Corals

RO/DI Chloramines?

HiFidelity

HiFidelity

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Hi guys, I found a killer deal on a BRS 5 Stage Chloramine RO kit.

I confirmed that our municipal water here in Hayward is in fact treated with Chloramine, does the kit from BRS do what it says it does? or am I wasting money on gimmicks? I have never thought about Chloramine before I came across this and was prompted to look into it....

I'm awaiting some input before I actually send payment so I hope the right people read this soon :)

I have more questions about setting it up but won't waste time asking yet, until I actually buy the unit.

Thanks in advance
 
I hope some chemistry gurus speak up. I am curious on other opinions as well.

I have been planning on adding a stage as well ... someday soon ... like many projects.
In Union City we have Chloramines also.

For me : Good insurance against forgetful maintenance.
 
I have been buying water for years & years & years, I'm so sick of hauling jugs into the car, out of the car, into the car & out of the car again every two weeks it seems.

We have some really nice water in our area (I think it's the same source to union city as well) I've seen the analysis sheets and we basically have the best water quality in the bay...
 
For peace of mind having two carbon blocks is more than sufficient to take care of chloramines as long as you change the blocks regularly.

The "aquarium" supply places used to try and market "Chlorine guzzler" and "Chloramine buster" and other catchy titles for their carbon blocks that usually cost significantly more than a similarly rated carbon block from a non-aquarium source so that part of it is marketing hype. The newest thing I've seen a particular online store do is attack the ratings of various blocks claiming that theirs will last much longer and are actually accurately rated, I'm not sure on this aspect though, it'd be easier to buy if I didn't know of their misleading ads about the earlier mentioned stuff plus it's technically not illegal to lie to consumers about a competitors product when you're not actually mentioning said product because there could be a product out there that is so horrible that is the one they're talking about (even if you're not the ones using it).

Its been forever since I've priced RO/DI systems so I don't know what a good price for one is, however a few additions that are probably worth the extra bucks.
Booster pump - Especially useful if you have lower water pressure, ratings for systems are usually based at some overly high PSI and water temperature (70° IIRC... good luck getting that out of the ground!)
Pressure gauge - nice to know what your water pressure is, plus when you get pressure spikes or drops it can let you know something might be clogged and need looking into.
Flow meter - neat little toy that lets you know how many gallons go through your system, where they often advise changing filters every 6 months but someone with a 20g tank isn't going to make as much water as someone with a 200g tank... so who's the 6 months aimed at? Is the 20g guy getting hosed? or is the 200g risking tank death!?
Second RO membrane - with enough pressure (or using the a fore mentioned booster pump) you can plumb the waste water into the second membrane and cut the water waste roughly in half, and on top of that make water twice as fast! .
 
so this is what a standard 5 stage BRS unit has;

  • Purtrex 5 Micron Sediment Filter
  • MATRIKX CTO 5 Micron Carbon Block
  • MATRIKX CTO 0.6 Micron Carbon Block
  • 75 GPD Dow Filmtec Membrane
  • Single DI Refillable Cartridge

    & this is what the Chloramine version has;

  • Purtrex 5 Micron Sediment Filter
  • BRS Packed Catalytic Carbon Cartridge
  • Pentek ChlorPlus 10 Carbon Block
  • 75 GPD Dow Filmtec Membrane
  • Single DI Refillable Cartridge

    not much difference, just different carbon filters granted I have no idea if Matrikx is better than the other ones listed but it does have 2 carbon cartridges which seems to fit the bill either way in regards to chloramines.

    I'm thinking at that price I might as well grab it and maybe ad a second RO membrane in the future...

  • Purtrex 5 Micron Sediment Filter
  • MATRIKX CTO 5 Micron Carbon Block
  • MATRIKX CTO 0.6 Micron Carbon Block
  • 75 GPD Dow Filmtec Membrane
  • Single DI Refillable Cartridge
 
OK I bought it :D

This will be my first RO/DI unit, I've been buying water for so many years now I can't wait to start making my own finally.

I have new questions (aren't I always full of them :D)

I have a 12 gallon container that I'd like to fill with this thing, I want to be able to turn it on for a day let it fill and stop on its own then shut it off until I need it on again. I have a water line that used to be hooked up to a sink in the garage that is no longer there so luckily that gives me a very convenient location for RO/DI unit, my container with water source & drain all in the same place.

Do I need a flush kit? I read that flushing the membrane is essential for optimal performance, I've read that I need to stay away from float valves etc.

So yah I just need the basics on what accessories or parts I should get to make this puppy work as best as it can. Mike mentioned a second membrane & a pump along with gauge etc. I plan to get the gauge so I can at least know what my pressure is before I consider a pump and second membrane will be an upgrade I will do further down the road. I'm also going to buy a TDS meter of course.
 
Regarding the float valve- your going to need something to turn the water on and off. It could be float or a pressure tank and even a level sensor attached to a solenoid if you want to get fancy. Float valves work fine IMO and are very straight forward. The only negative thing I can see about them is TDS creep. You will produce the best water when the filter is running for a longer duration.
http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.php/182-RO-DI-TDS-Creep-is-it-worthy-of-concern

Flush kits are great - help prolong the life of the membrane by reducing deposits on the membrane.

I am against the booster pump just because Ive had a bad experience with them in the past. Ive had a pressure switch fail on me and kept the pump running 24/7 until the pump failed and leaked everywhere. This was at a customers office, so it wasn't monitored all the time. (I'm in the water filtration business)

Chloramines can be bad mainly because they can turn your membrane to mush if the filter is exposed enough to chlorine/chloramine. Usually membranes can stand 100-1000 hrs of exposure to 1ppm of chlorine before break through.

A TDS meter is good to have. you can figure out what the membrane rejection rate is by knowing the taps TDS and RO water TDS. I usually toss out membranes when they fall below a 90% rejection rate.

Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
It is up, bolted to the wall & hooked up to a dedicated water line and below it sits a 12 gal holding reservoir.
does it work yet? no, haha
I noticed today when I tried to test run it that it was leaking, upon further inspection it appears that one of the fittings was cracked (probably during shipping) so a replacement is being added to my BRS order.

I had one hell of a time finding an adapter that allows one of the fittings the kit came with to connect to my water source, apparently I had an odd thread/size combination.

TDS Meter, pressure gauge, float valve, 3way valve to eliminate TDS creep, and a flush kit are all going to be coming soon. I would have placed an order by now but BRS is out of the 3way valves currently :mad:

Furthermore I decided the next step for this system is going to be a booster bump & tank so I can fish a line through the walls to my fridge for cold refreshing RO water on tap :D
 
I was waiting on that 3 way valve also! I decided to just get an inline check valve so no DI water bleeds into drinking water. teed off the product line and put another valve after the DI canister.


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yeah I was thinking of picking up a home depot T & a second valve that way I can run 2 inline valves and the T to redirect water pre-DI stage but I figured that will nearly cost the same as the 3 way valve BRS sells and the quality doesn't quite compare so I'm waiting, for now I can just pull the line out of the DI stage & drain before making freshwater although I may break down & go get a replacement fitting but I really don't want to use the single o-ring fittings HD sells...

Haaaah I just got a brilliant idea as I was typing this reply, I could take out the 3 way valve already installed between the carbon stages since that thing is only used for draining carbon particulates when installing a new carbon filter which I'm not doing anytime soon, woohoo now I just need to replace the broken fitting.

Thanks for jump starting my brain, can't believe I didn't think of that :)
 
The fittings at HD aren't bad. I use them with no problems. I've had more leaks occur due to water lines not being cut square or not being pushed in all the way.

I may plumb another pressure tank on my system to increase capacity.


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