RO Unit working properly?

[flyfishfordiscus]

Hello everyone,

I just have a quick question about my new RO unit. I'll try and be as clear as possible about my wording on this post. I hooked it up yesterday and let it run for a bit. At first, the ratio of waste water was about 10:1 After about an hour of running, the unit was closer to 3:1 bad:good water. I have the sink turned on full blast, and I was wondering if it is possible to use too much water pressure? If I use too much water pressure, will the quality of the water suffer? Or will the unit just work more efficiently with the higher water pressure? Supposedly, the unit can produce 105 gallons/day, but I had a 5 gallon bucket filled in about 45 minutes (approx 160 gallons/day). Am I blowing the water through the unit too fast? Is this even possible? I'm running moderately hard tap water with a high pH through the unit. is a 3:1 ratio pretty decent, or is it possible to make this unit more efficient? Anybody getting a 1:1 ratio out there? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[ronrca]

Hi and Welcome to Simplydiscus,
Here is a thread that you may be interested in reading:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=34285

From what I have read, pressure and temp make a big difference in RO output. Usually a RO unit is designed to operate on your tap pressure. What kind of RO do you have?

[RandalB]

Best I've ever seen is 2.5:1 Waste to Product. You probably have real high water pressure. I'd bet in the 90-100PSI range. Congrats, you have a free booster from your water utility. As long as your RO unit is not leaking, you're all good.

Only other thing: Check the TDS of your product water, you can also have a leak inside the membrane housing. If the TDS is high, this is probably what's going on.

A few comments:

The membrane is rated up to 350PSI, the more pressure the better. Unless you blow seals on the RO unit itself.

There is no such thing as a 105 GPD membrane... It's a 75 or 100GPD.

HTH,
RandalB