RODI Membrane Questions

you can try back flushing the membrane as far as you getting salt in to the water the watersoftner will go in to back wash it will suck up 12 -14 pounds of saltwater out of your brinetank after it cleans the resin in side then tank it back flushes the saltwater and gunk down the drain then it fills its self back up with clean water and goes it to what is called the final rinse to make shure all the salt is out of the tank so thair that you dont get salt in to your drinking water you can get a permate pump that will help big big time on your membrane and water waste if you take out the membrane the unit is worthless a good membrane is only 30.00 with free ship if you use like the menard fillter them are cheap cheap and wont last you need a really good fillter look up pentex gac-10 is what i use for carbon and p5 for a prefillter and a tfm 100 membrane did you check your tds ?  you might just need to put new carbon fillter in thair good ones

 

If you remove the RO membrane it should be fine for drinking water.  Most of the units made for household use are just a sediment and a carbon filter.  That's how mine is.

 

By the way, if the ro unit is plumbed to your refrigerator for ice/drinking water, the fridge may have its own filter that needs changed.

 

Do you have a tds meter to check the output from the ro stage?

 

From most of what I've read, a membrane will last a couple of years for most people. If you have really hard well water, I'm sure that it reduces the life span. Your sediment and carbon filters should probably be replaced at least every 6 months...maybe even quarterly for well water. If the taste/smell is bad, replace the carbon filters and see if that helps.

Your membrane takes out more than just salts. It takes out other trace elements, bacteria, and other stuff that may be in the water as well. Living in Iowa, there's all sorts of great stuff that can be in the water from chemical run off and stuff. Here's a link to the CDC page about well water (http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/). There may be some helpful into in there. If I used a private well for drinking water, I *would not* remove the membrane as it's what does the majority of the filtering work.

An RO membrane will reduce output when it gets old and toward the end of life. Also, you can look at the rejection rate. Measure water going into your RO unit, then directly after the membrane. If your membrane is rated for 97% rejection rate, then your output should be around 3% of what the water going into the RO unit is. As your membrane gets older, it will not reject as much and your TDS will creep up. Whatever your TDS is right after your membrane is what your DI resin will need to handle. The higher the TDS, the faster you'll burn thru the resin. I wouldn't use a membrane that had TDS output higher than 20 or so.

If you need to borrow a TDS meter, let me know. I have one you can borrow.

--AJ

 

After a new membrane is installed, your TDS should go down to 10 to 15. You ordering from AWI? If so, let me know and I'll split shipping with you as I need some new filters and DI.

--AJ

 

Air, Water, Ice. They're a club sponsor (as is BRS), but specializes in water filtration. Great prices and customers service...plus, members get 10% off. See Power Buys in member forum.

--AJ