Coleman RO system problem

[John_Thomas]

My RO system has worked flawlessly for the last 9 years but now I am starting to have problems that I cant figure out.

My spot free water is measuring 27 ppm as it comes out of the system. I think the number should be below 20 ppm. I tried to adjust the product water/reject water with the RO regulator and it will not adjust. The regulator had a small leak/drip so I replaced it with a brand new one. I still am not able to adjust it with the new regulator. The pressure guage is reading 150 PSI and the sight guages for reject and product are almost maxed out. I have replaced the paper filter and we have done an acid flush on the membranes twice. You would think at 27ppm exiting the system that we could get get under 20ppm by simply adjusting the product/reject water ratio but again I cannot adjust with the RO regulator.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[chaz]

Assuming you have never replaced the membranes, may be time to replace. Is the water softener working ok. Could be chlorine not being filtered out by carbon and then damaging the membranes

 

[John_Thomas]

RO System

Assuming you have never replaced the membranes, may be time to replace. Is the water softener working ok. Could be chlorine not being filtered out by carbon and then damaging the membranes

The soft water is measuring 2ppg. Im using about 100 pounds of salt every 7-10 days. I have never replaced my membranes but we did do an acid flush twice in the last month. Would bad membranes cause the RO regulator not to be adjustable? We did discuss that last night thinking they may be so clogged up that may be the cause of the high pressure at the guage. It reads 150 when the RO system is on.


Thoughts?

 

[chaz]

Wow. Yeah I'd likely go with the membranes. Based on salt usage, it sounds like you have softened a lot of water in 9 years, that's then been run through the RO. I'd replace the paper filter as well. And again, if the carbon is wearing out in the softener, that would allow chlorine to pass to the RO, and damage the membranes. Membranes are not cheap so you may want to test the chlorine after the softener first, you can use pool test strips for that. Your spot free now is mesuring very high compared to what I strive for.

 

[MEP001]

Acid flushing the membranes may restore the production but increases the TDS. More than likely the RO regulator is just bad.

 

[John_Thomas]

RO System problem

Acid flushing the membranes may restore the production but increases the TDS. More than likely the RO regulator is just bad.

Thats what I thought so I replaced the regulator with a brand new one from Coleman. No change to problem.

 

[Jeff_L]

I assume you run the softened water through a charcoal filter first. Have you ever replaced the charcoal? If not, then chlorine is probably getting to the membrane (paper filter won't get rid of it) and your membrane is getting damaged. Thus, I would replace the charcoal filter first, a couple days later replace the paper filter (new charcoal will have dust that will go through the output side which the paper filter will catch. You don't want to waste a new filter for that. After you replace the paper filter, then replace your membrane. That should get your ppm down into the teens or less.

 

[John_Thomas]

I assume you run the softened water through a charcoal filter first. Have you ever replaced the charcoal? If not, then chlorine is probably getting to the membrane (paper filter won't get rid of it) and your membrane is getting damaged. Thus, I would replace the charcoal filter first, a couple days later replace the paper filter (new charcoal will have dust that will go through the output side which the paper filter will catch. You don't want to waste a new filter for that. After you replace the paper filter, then replace your membrane. That should get your ppm down into the teens or less.

Yes, I have replaced the charcoal and media once before. thankd for the info and reply.

 

[chaz]

Assuming your charcoal is good, that is chlorine level does not test hi, and assuming you have replaced recently (not acid wash) the membranes you should have good RO. If you replaced the membranes before the charcoal, it's possible that you damaged the new membranes with chlorine.

I have the Ginsan RO system, (for all I know these may be made by same company), so let me throw this out there as I had this problem and it took a while to figure it out.

1) first I replaced a small check valve in the system, this may have helped but was not the "real" issue.

2) on my system there is a small ball valve on the lower back side of the system. At some point this valve was opened, not sure when or by whom, and quite frankly one would likely assume this valve should be open. NOT!! This small ball valve is ONLY opened to prime the unit. At all other times (like forever) the valve should be closed. When open, it allows untreated water to enter the bottom of the tank faster than treated water fills the top.

Good luck and let us know what you figure out.

 

[DJGall]

Contact Jim Barton; he's been in the water filtration, softening business for 15+ years. He's my goto for softeners and RO units. Tell him Dirty Dawg sent you.

Jimmy Barton
MidAmerica Water Technologies, Inc.
8003 N. Wilshire Court, Suite E
Oklahoma City, OK 73132
jimmy.barton@midamericawatertech.com
PO Box 720715, OKC, OK 73172
Office: 888-490-1106
Cell: 918-991-8818

 

[cleaning up mud]

I just put in new membranes and my ppm's is 3.0. if membranes a 9 years old, I say replace them. remember some membranes flow more water then others but do not remove as much from the water so you might not get your ppm below 10 like it should be.

 

[John_Thomas]

I just put in new membranes and my ppm's is 3.0. if membranes a 9 years old, I say replace them. remember some membranes flow more water then others but do not remove as much from the water so you might not get your ppm below 10 like it should be.

Sorry guys but I have not done anything yet. My system uses membranes that are 4x40. Whats in there now is Filmtec TW30-4040 which Kleen rite sells for $250 each. What brand are you using and are they 4x40?

Thanks.

 

[John_Thomas]

Contact Jim Barton; he's been in the water filtration, softening business for 15+ years. He's my goto for softeners and RO units. Tell him Dirty Dawg sent you.

Jimmy Barton
MidAmerica Water Technologies, Inc.
8003 N. Wilshire Court, Suite E
Oklahoma City, OK 73132
jimmy.barton@midamericawatertech.com
PO Box 720715, OKC, OK 73172
Office: 888-490-1106
Cell: 918-991-8818

I just saw this, Im assuming he does service calls? I used to use a company on the southside but they sold out to Culligan.

 

[John_Thomas]

RO System problem

Ok, I put in 3 brand new high efficiency membranes plus replaced the regulator.

The system pressure is still running 200 PSI and I am not able to regulate the product/reject water. The gauges are maxed out. Does anyone have any other thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[MEP001]

Gauges or flow meters?

If you mean flow meters, what's maxed out, product or reject, or both? What's the scale on the meters? Is it possible someone added a membrane and they're just exceeded?

 

[John_Thomas]

RO Problem

Gauges or flow meters?

If you mean flow meters, what's maxed out, product or reject, or both? What's the scale on the meters? Is it possible someone added a membrane and they're just exceeded?

Hello,

Both flow meters are maxed out and the gauge is reading 220 PSI. It says on the board that the system is not to exceed 195 psi.
The scale on the flow meters is Reject- 1-5GPM with it being maxed at 5 and for Product 1-10 GPM with it being maxed out at 10.

The system I have is a high capacity system with 3 membranes. We just replaced the membranes last Friday and we replaced the RO regulator about a month ago.

Thoughts?