Intro, first post, RO/DI question

[Arn24]

First post to a great and informative forum!

I just bought my first saltwater setup, a used, already running, rimless 29g BioCube. I've done planted tanks in the past, coworker lured me back into the hobby.

The setup came with an Air, Water & Ice Typhoon III RO/DI system. I've never dealt with one of these before. I changed all the filters, the membrane, and DI media and plumbed it up in my basement. I seem to have just as much water coming out of the waste line, if not more, than out of the primary 'out' line. I'll post a picture of the setup, but of course you wont be able to see all of the connections. I'm just wondering if this is normal?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Cake_Boss]

Welcome. Your waste water ratio is not normal. What's the units GPD rating? Incoming PSI?

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[deboy69]

Could be normal most Rodi units are 1 gallon Rodi to 4 gallons of waste. Give or take

KCCO

 

[Arn24]

Don't know incoming PSI, I'll see if I can rig up a gauge in the near future. I bought a 75 GPD membrane, but there's nothing on the setup to say otherwise.

Thanks.

 

[Arn24]

I sent them an email asking the same question, so we'll see what they respond with. 1:4 seems kinda high?

 

[Cake_Boss]

Could be normal most Rodi units are 1 gallon Rodi to 4 gallons of waste. Give or take

KCCO

My bad, somehow I got to thinking waste water was the 1 in the 1:4 ratio.

You can call AW&I to optimize your unit

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[Arn24]

My ratio is definitely off then. Also, 2 of the canisters are leaking around the threads. Is this fairly common? The setup looks like it was well taken care of?

 

[Dapozer]

Looks like a nice unit, you will get more waste to RO. as for the leaks they probably need a new seal washer or cleaned. They should be tight and not leaking.

 

[Arn24]

Yeah, I'll try some new o-rings.

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[fishguy69]

New o-rings should work. Usually these canisters only need to be hand tight to work and not leak. We usually do an additional 1/4 turn with the supplied plastic wrench. Sweet lookin unit!

 

[Arn24]

I believe the o-rings are a #340. Can anyone confirm that?

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[jagermeister]

I have that same unit. It's completely normal for the waste line to flow a lot more than the clean ro/di line. My ro/di water comes out at a dribble while the waste line is streaming pretty good.

My unit didn't come with o-rings and there are no grooves in either the housing or the cap to fit one. I've always just tightened the caps really well. You might try not using the o-ring and see what happens. I did try using o-rings once for 'added security' and couldn't get them on without having the unit leak. So I went back to not using them.

 

[Arn24]

Thanks for the info! I'll try that, although my canisters do have o - ring grooves.

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[jagermeister]

Weird, I was just google searching about this unit and o-rings and it seems everyone's unit but mine has the groove and o-rings. My unit is over 10 years old so maybe they switched things up over the years.

I don't know what size o-ring is on the unit but you should be able to find it at Home Depot or Lowes since they carry the 10-inch ro housings. If not there, then definitely Ace Hardware, or if you want to wait Air Water & Ice will have them.

 

[Blindrage]

Normal RODI runs 1 part good to 4 parts waste (1:4) with average input water. If the water coming in is very dirty, then you might not even get 1:4.

Some of the newer units run 1:2 with average water. Some of the best unit on the market (read very high priced) claim 1:1.

I bought a SpectraPure unit rated at 1:2. The water in my house seems to be pretty good because my simple test showed I was getting closer to 1:1.7 after original flushing the day I hooked it up. TDS meter in showed about 29ppm and out at 0ppm.

Your milage may vary based on a whole lot on things.

 

[kmellon]

I am running a BRS 5 stage with the additional 75 gpd membrane. with the home psi, i get tons of waste, but with the booster pump i can achieve a 1:1 ratio and when i run a mix of warm and cold water I can do a little better than that. BRS recommend 60-70 psi if you are using the 2nd ro membrane and considering that you are taking the waste from one and adding it to the 2nd, it makes sense. I get around 90 psi with the booster.

 

[Arn24]

According to AW&C, I should get 1:3. Also, running without an o-ring doesn't work at all. :shame: I thought I found some Culligan brand o-rings at Ace that were going to work, but they were way too big.

I'll definitely have to look into making it more efficient, but right now I just want it to make water....

 

[Arn24]

FYI #340 O-rings are not correct. I'm thinking one size too big diameter, one size too big cross section. AW&I was no help. I asked them for the o-ring size, and the reply I got was "I believe it is around a 3.5” diameter...." That's verbatim. Apparently the service dept does not correspond with the purchasing dept. The search continues.

 

[kmellon]

AW&I is a sponsor here. Does anyone have a contact with them that could help out Arn?

 

[Off The Deep End]

http://www.amazon.com/iSpring®-O-Ring-Water-Filter-Housing/dp/B00867ED1Q Looks like 3.5 inch