Buy New RO Membranes or acid wash?

[dogwasher]

My RO unit is dumping 4 gallons for every 1.5 gallons of spot free it makes.
Pressure is good at 250 ....TDS is 20 and there is a new filter in the disposable cartidge core. The RO unit is about 11 years old.
Does this sound like its time for new membranes? If so can I clean them? The three new cores are $270 each for this unit.

 

[PEI]

My suggestion, is if you just can't swing the money for new filters right now, then try to use acid to remove the scale. If it works and does not damage the filter your out the cost of the acid. If it fails, then you will have to replace the filters any way. This said, if you can afford the new filters, it will sure make things easier in the future. The acid will just buy you some time, but eventually, you will have to replace the filter or accept poor quality RO water.

 

[jcollins]

I'd try to clean them too. On all three membrane systems I've seen, 250psi on system pressure is not good, 200-225psi is the recommended max on a lot of R/O units.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

My RO unit is dumping 4 gallons for every 1.5 gallons of spot free it makes.
Pressure is good at 250 ....TDS is 20 and there is a new filter in the disposable cartidge core. The RO unit is about 11 years old.
Does this sound like its time for new membranes? If so can I clean them? The three new cores are $270 each for this unit.

If your membranes are 11 years old, cleaning may not help all that much.

As said before, if you have been running your system with a pressure of 250psi cleaning may be mute point. At that pressure, your membranes aren't long for this world anyway. You should never have to run it any higher that 220psi.

 

[washtubman]

A couple years back my TDS went way up. I called a friend of mine who owns a Culligan shop and he told me to check the TDS at the ouput of each membrane, meaning they may not all be bad. I did that, and only one of them had a high reading. I replaced the one membrane and its been good ever since. Just a thought.

 

[MEP001]

If you replace your membranes, check or recharge your carbon filter. Eleven years is a long time and it's more than likely overdue. You wouldn't want to ruin new membranes over $50 worth of charcoal.

 

[BoomerSooner]

I also believe that if they are 11 years old, they would probably be replaced. Have YOU owned the system for that long or did you buy it from someone else. It won't really hurt anything to do an acid wash on them. If it works then you buy some time. If it doesn't, you have to buy new ones. Generally, membranes will last about 2 acid washes, sometimes 3.

 

[dogwasher]

I also believe that if they are 11 years old, they would probably be replaced. Have YOU owned the system for that long or did you buy it from someone else. It won't really hurt anything to do an acid wash on them. If it works then you buy some time. If it doesn't, you have to buy new ones. Generally, membranes will last about 2 acid washes, sometimes 3.

The RO unit was purchased new 11 years ago. Where do you buy the Acid cleaning kits? Also where is the Charcoal located and is it hard to replace?

 

[BoomerSooner]

You just need to get some muratic acid. You can get that at your local hardware or pool store. It is about $5 a gallon. For the carbon you could probably get it from you distributor and if they don't have they should know where to get it. You could also talk to the manufacturer of the R.O. unit.

 

[dogwasher]

You just need to get some muratic acid. You can get that at your local hardware or pool store. It is about $5 a gallon. For the carbon you could probably get it from you distributor and if they don't have they should know where to get it. You could also talk to the manufacturer of the R.O. unit.

How much do I dilute the muratic acid? Also where exactly is the carbon located in the RO equipment?

 

[BoomerSooner]

You don't have to dilute it. Just turn on the RO unit and let it go thru the flush cycle. When the flush cycle is done, unplug the float, do not turn it off, and fill up the pre-filter with acid then plug the float back in. Make sure you put the product line in a drain to let the acid out. Let the cycle run for about 20 minutes. Take the pre filter out and wash it out. Put it back in and then let it run for about another 10 minutes. After that put your product line back in and you should be good to go.

As far as the carbon tank goes, it should be a small tank that the water runs into before it goes to the R.O. unit. In some cases, you can buy a whole new carbon tank for around the same price as it would cost to change the carbon.