Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: dazmond on June 14, 2025, 12:49:26 pm
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I've read conflicting information on this....some so-called experts say don't flush at all it makes no difference(or even worse can affect your membrane negatively)and others swear by it at least once a week for 30 mins....
My tap tds has dropped to around 120-130 and my RO is getting it down to 004 before DI...im perfectly happy with this.
I've not flushed mine for 2 weeks but did yesterday for 45 mins.
So what is your flushing regime? If you flush at all?
By the way my membrane is a HF5 4040 axeon membrane
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I have came into the habit of flushing for at least 5 minutes at end of fill and for at least 5 minutes before I fill. Many on the other forum did this and I just copied them. I think it means the membranes don't get a chance to clog up.
Spruce seems to be the guy because his membranes have been going for years.
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I used to, but have got completely out of the habit, havn't done it for years, cant say ive noticed any difference to anything as a result.
edit.. mind you, my membranes are £35 plus vat, yours are a crazy price arnt they? Didnt you say your membranes are £500 or something ridiculous like that? or was it a typo?
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No need to flush. You’re just wasting your pre filters life.
You should have enough waste water flowing over your membrane to keep it clean. ie roughly 70/30 or 60/40. That should be your sweet spot for low tds out anyway.
I only flush for 5/10 minutes when I change the pre filters. And flush with no booster pump if you’ve got one. Just mains pressure. Full waste.
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We flush for 10 muinits before filling
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I used to, but have got completely out of the habit, havn't done it for years, cant say ive noticed any difference to anything as a result.
edit.. mind you, my membranes are £35 plus vat, yours are a crazy price arnt they? Didnt you say your membranes are £500 or something ridiculous like that? or was it a typo?
An axeon HF5 is currently £475 to replace
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I used to, but have got completely out of the habit, havn't done it for years, cant say ive noticed any difference to anything as a result.
edit.. mind you, my membranes are £35 plus vat, yours are a crazy price arnt they? Didnt you say your membranes are £500 or something ridiculous like that? or was it a typo?
An axeon HF5 is currently £475 to replace
Shocking price! At that price I wouldn't have even asked the question on here, just do exactly what the manufacturers tell you to do.
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I used to, but have got completely out of the habit, havn't done it for years, cant say ive noticed any difference to anything as a result.
edit.. mind you, my membranes are £35 plus vat, yours are a crazy price arnt they? Didnt you say your membranes are £500 or something ridiculous like that? or was it a typo?
An axeon HF5 is currently £475 to replace
Shocking price! At that price I wouldn't have even asked the question on here, just do exactly what the manufacturers tell you to do.
Once a week flush for 30 mins is the recommendation
Spruce s HF5 is 13 years old if I remember correctly so not too expensive. I think it's more important that I change the pre filters 3 times a year to stop the membrane from getting damaged.🙂👍
It's cost Spruce £36 a year if his cost £475 when he bought his 13 years ago but I bet it was a lot cheaper back then.
These membranes are well worth it if they last that long.
Buy cheap,buy twice
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I have a £180 4040 membrane. Two years old (I think, may be three) never been flushed. Flow rate unchanged, output TDS unchanged.
Vin
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I bought cheap this time. Not paying £500 for a membrane if I can help it.
Bought one of these over a year ago off good old Amazon for £199:
Vontron ULP21-4040 Reverse Osmosis Membrane Element 2400GPD
Still working great.
Tds in 182ppm
Tds out 1ppm
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I used to, but have got completely out of the habit, havn't done it for years, cant say ive noticed any difference to anything as a result.
edit.. mind you, my membranes are £35 plus vat, yours are a crazy price arnt they? Didnt you say your membranes are £500 or something ridiculous like that? or was it a typo?
An axeon HF5 is currently £475 to replace
Shocking price! At that price I wouldn't have even asked the question on here, just do exactly what the manufacturers tell you to do.
Once a week flush for 30 mins is the recommendation
Spruce s HF5 is 13 years old if I remember correctly so not too expensive. I think it's more important that I change the pre filters 3 times a year to stop the membrane from getting damaged.🙂👍
It's cost Spruce £36 a year if his cost £475 when he bought his 13 years ago but I bet it was a lot cheaper back then.
These membranes are well worth it if they last that long.
Buy cheap,buy twice
It was June from GAPS Water who said that it wasn't necessary to flush a membrane every time we use it.
I occasionally flush my 4040 membrane for a few minutes. I do this about once every couple of months or if I feel my pure tds is a bit higher than normal. But then our water is soft to medium hardness at 125ppm. I would think/hope I would be a little more conscientious with flushing if our water was harder.
I built my own 4040 with what I saw as necessary for me at the time. The cost of things 13 years ago was relative. Back then, 3 x 150gpd Filmtec membranes cost hardly anything when compared to the cost of an Axeon 4040 HF5 membrane. And yes, the price of this membrane is considerably more now than it was 13 years ago. For the first time I became paranoid about changing my carbon block filter to the manufacturer's specifications as I perceived the cost of this membrane to be astronomical back then.
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Not flushed RO in 7 years.
Replace membranes once per year 450gpd ro so costs like £150 ish a year. Peanuts really.
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Not flushed RO in 7 years.
Replace membranes once per year 450gpd ro so costs like £150 ish a year. Peanuts really.
I'm hoping to get at least 10 years out of my RO membrane before it needs replacing
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Can’t compare a 4040 to one of those piddly little 450gpd’s.
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Can’t compare a 4040 to one of those piddly little 450gpd’s.
Yeah thats fair, but we are still producing and using 1000 litre per day on a 450gpd RO so i think to get 12-18 months before replacing is pretty good. Costs only slightly more than a bag of resin these days. So cheap.
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Mine's nearly 3 years old.......I have at least a week off every month.......anytime I'm not using it for more than about 3/4 days I flush to waste using pure so that filter is stood in pure rather than contaminated......takes about 3/4 minutes to get pure coming out of waste......other than that I never flush.
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Mine's nearly 3 years old.......I have at least a week off every month.......anytime I'm not using it for more than about 3/4 days I flush to waste using pure so that filter is stood in pure rather than contaminated......takes about 3/4 minutes to get pure coming out of waste......other than that I never flush.
How & why do you flush with pure?
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Mine's nearly 3 years old.......I have at least a week off every month.......anytime I'm not using it for more than about 3/4 days I flush to waste using pure so that filter is stood in pure rather than contaminated......takes about 3/4 minutes to get pure coming out of waste......other than that I never flush.
How & why do you flush with pure?
Pump pure from the tank through the fill port and open the waist fully on the ro. The pure water helps desolve and remove any dirt in the membrane, we were told by Ionic’s to do this back in 2003 when we had our first system installed.
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Well if Ionics say so it must be true!🤣🤣
Best get myself some nuclear resin & a ppb system too. Maybe a few more pre filters as well, just for the overkill.
On second thoughts I’ll stick to mains pressure flushing once in a blue moon & rely on my waste ratio to keep enough water flowing over the membrane to keep it clean.
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Well if Ionics say so it must be true!🤣🤣
Best get myself some nuclear resin & a ppb system too. Maybe a few more pre filters as well, just for the overkill.
On second thoughts I’ll stick to mains pressure flushing once in a blue moon & rely on my waste ratio to keep enough water flowing over the membrane to keep it clean.
I was just answering your question, don’t shoot the messenger 😂
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I havent flushed mine for years, i dont even bother with pre filters i just change the membranes once every 1 to 2 years at a cost of £100. Use a sack of resin a year and on a water meter, the cost is so little i dont bother worrying about trying to save a few pennys.