Poor performance from my RO booster pump

[lakerat37]

I am in the final stages of building my fish room and one of those last tasks involved is the setup and test of my RO system. After finally getting a couple of leaks fixed, I turned on the booster pump to insure I had all leaks fixed and to measure my pressure on the system. Everything looked great except for the pressure. I can't get more than 40 PSI. Let me give a description of the system and maybe someone can tell me if I have over-looked something.

1. incoming pressure to my system is low at 37 PSI

2. I have a 4 stage system with 4 sediment/carbon filters starting at 25 microns with the final filter at 1 micron

3. I have 2-75 gpd membranes with the first membrane's waste water running into the second membrane.

4. I have a 100 psi booster pump pushing water through the system with a "800 pressure restrictor" on my final drain line (waste)


I have this system connected to a manifold so that I can isolate the RO system, or mix the RO water with filtered water (to 1 micron) into my aging barrel. My booster pump (photo attached) has been in storage since we moved (3 years ago) to our new home and has about 1 year of service on it. Is it possible to replace the diaphragm on this pump? I purchased this pump from airwaterice about 4 years ago. I plan to call tomorrow to get some help from them, but I wanted to get any and all advice possible.

Thank you in advance, Ken

[Ryan925]

Is there an inline filter or anything in that pump that could be clogged? Have you opened it up to see if maybe something has seized inside while sitting?

[lakerat37]

Thanks for your quick reply, No clogged filters. everything is clean and brand new (filters). I have not opened the booster pump. I wanted to talk to airwaterice before I start to do any repairs.

[brewmaster15]

Have you ran the booster pump not hooked up to the Ro system to check its functioning? If it works fine that way...you will have ruled out the pump itself.

[Second Hand Pat]

Make sure you check that the flow of water is correct throughout the system.
Pat

[Neptune]

To start trouble shooting take all the plumbing off and just run a line to the in side and from the out straight to the RO.
Does the pump make the normal purrrrrr as it pumps?

[Fishquake]

Are you using a brand new RO membrane? Membranes will clog if they have been out of use for even a short period of time with bacterial growth reducing drastically the permeate.

[Megalodon]

Is there a screw to adjust pressure? My booster pump has a Torx screw that adjusts pressure.

[lakerat37]

OK so here is what I learned. I called Airwaterice and they told me that there is NO diaphragm repair kit for this booster pump I wish I could determine the manufacturer, but there are no markings to help me there. Airwaterice told me that at $120.00 there was no need for a repair kit...PLEASE

I have determined that although I max out at 41psi I am still getting a good volume of product water. When that stops I will consider another booster pump. I have not measured a 24 hour level of water yet, but I am satisfied with my volume since I do mix with filtered water from my 4 stage filter system.

Thanks for the suggestions...they were very helpful.

Ken

[RogueDiscus]

I'm not an expert at all, but I'm surprised you're running the waste from the first RO membrane into the second membrane. Do you get much out of that?

[Neptune]

I'm not an expert at all, but I'm surprised you're running the waste from the first RO membrane into the second membrane. Do you get much out of that?

That's running them in series. I do that as well. Twice the product water output with half the waste water. My final product water is between 2-4 TDS but that's OK with me for not wasting so much water.

[RogueDiscus]

OK, I may have to try that. I'm running two in parallel. Kind of like voltage drop, would the pressure into the second membrane be reduced significantly?