RO/DI Troubles

[Rcpilot]

I just hooked up my brandy new RO/DI unit and I can't get but a trickle of water out of it.

Got a supply line hooked up under the sink. It has a shut-off valve. Then it runs into the RO unit. Got the drain line plumbed.

The only thing I can think of that I did was I put a 25' piece of tubing on the discharge side. I did that so I could run the thumb valve over to the tank and top off every morning.

I can't see that making a difference though.

Do these things need to break in? Will it loosen up and flow better after a put 10 or 20g through it?

:frustrat:

 

[akfirefighter]

you might not have enough pressure for 25' there is quite abit of friction with 25'

 

[Bifferwine]

You should get water right away... Something is wrong. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I didn't install mine myself. That's what the men-folk are for!

 

[SSalty]

I would think that 25' is too long. On the other hand, RO/DI produces water at a slow rate.

 

[Rcpilot]

That didn't do it.

I changed the 25' line out to the factory tube. It's about 4' long. No change in flow.

:frustrat:

Am I going to have to buy a friggin PUMP to push water through my RO unit? OHHHH thats gonna chap my ass. :grumble:

 

[Bifferwine]

I have a 25' tube hooked up to mine. So I can run it from the kitchen to the dining room. No differences in my unit from switching out the tubes. It's gotta be something else.

 

[Rcpilot]

I'm getting a lot of bubbles in the system.

I am going to start cracking fittings and see if I have good flow through the whole unit. Maybe I'll open a fitting and find a restriction somewhere?

This sucks. I just got my big bucket-o-salt from the 2 Docs and I was gonna change some water tonight. My tank really needs a water change. It's been almost 3 weeks.

Looks like I may be doing one last wtaer change with tap water, unless I can get this RO unit working. :grumble:

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oh well. It's frustrating now, but I'll figure it out. Right? It's supposed to be fun.
:^:

 

[Rcpilot]

I found the restriction.

I have good flow through the 3 canister on the bottom. Good flow UP TO the RO membrane. But coming out of the RO membrane it slows to a trickel.

I went back and did some reading on the web. Seams this unit needs 60PSI to function properly.

Now what?

 

[joeman]

It's really difficult to say without looking at the actual unit. I have set my own unit up and needed to adjust it until input pressure, waste-water and output were correct.

Do you have a pressure guage on your unit? I don't know what is the norm where you are, but it's difficult to believe that a main water supply would not have enough pressure - I need to resrict mine otherwise it's too much.

If you are sure you dont have enough pressure I would guess you would need to buy a pump or something - but I would call the manufacturers of your RO/DI unit first and get their input.

Maybe you could try posting some pictures of the current setup, focussing on the main compnents and how they are connected (ie direction of check valves etc...

 

[yote]

You may have to install a pump to get enough pressure to push the through the RO membrane.
Those thigs are made to basicaly take every thing out of the water,so the filter is so tight that the water has to be forced through it.

 

[bobby]

I agree. If your water line doesn'y have enough pressure you will need a pump.

 

[Rcpilot]

I ordered a pump. 'nother $100 + shipping. :grumble:

Found out our water pressure is 37psi

 

[Bifferwine]

Wow!!! That sucks man, I really am sorry things ended up not working like you had planned! That better be some pure ass water coming out of that thing when you are done!

 

[fishbait]

yup, most municipal water supplies only crank out about 40 lbs. i think that's pretty much the norm.