[paul mather]

I have an Ro-Man Ro (200 gpd) which has served me well for the last 5 years. Because our water in Warrington is under 130 ppm it has run without the need to replace the resin.
That was up until about 6 weeks ago. I now have to replace the resin on a weekly basis to keep the tds in single figures. I am assuming the membranes are starting to fail putting more strain on the DI cannister. That's not a problem as I don't think the RO machine owes me anything.
But it has also started to produce significantly less water. It used to take around 2 days to fill up my 1000 litre tank in the garage. Now it is taking around 3 and a half days which is a problem.

So after all that I have 2 questions.
1. Is the reduction in water production due to the membranes failing or is it down to my booster pump which was bought around 18 months to 2 years ago.
2. As my son now works with me 2 days a week & I am using more water am I better changing over to a Merlin or similar?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Dave Garrett]

Hi whats your water pressure coming in at ? have a 4040 system from purefreedom only takes 4.5 hours to fill up no booster pump fitted but water pressure ok ...

[Ian Lancaster]

Significantly less water and high TDS says the membranes are at the end of their life.  Probably blocked with years worth of calcium build up.  As you say, it doesn't owe you.  Buy a new set of membranes - you  could add another one (with an additional housing) to make it a 300gpd to account for the extra usage.  Change the prefilters at the same time and while it's dismantled, wash everything out with a strong bleach solution and then rinse carefully.  This will kill any bacterial build up before you install the new filters/membranes.  According to June at Gapswater bacteria is the single most important reason why membranes fail prematurely.

I follow her advice - see my other thread, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working for me

[paul mather]

Thanks for that advice Ian I think you are probably right.  Just one more question Pure freedom have replacement 10 inch 100gpd membranes for £23 or 150gpd membranes for £43. Would it not be cheaper to upgrade it to a 300 gpd machine by buying 2 x150 membranes?

[steven ainger]

I had a RO-MAN 200gpd ro, which i upgrade.
I brought another membrane housing, then replaced all the membranes to 150's, to make the ro a 450 gpd.
I brought the membranes from daqua, quality gear. It takes my tap water, 416 tds, down to 8.
This is using a booster pump

[Spruce]

Thanks for that advice Ian I think you are probably right.  Just one more question Pure freedom have replacement 10 inch 100gpd membranes for £23 or 150gpd membranes for £43. Would it not be cheaper to upgrade it to a 300 gpd machine by buying 2 x150 membranes?

I would also go 1 step further and buy another R/O housing along with John Guest connectors and 1/4" tubing and plumb that into the system to make a 450 GPD system. You may have to upgrade the waste restrictor. See Ro-man's site.
We have used one of these upgraded membrane units for about 6 years without issue.

Spruce

[paul mather]

I had a RO-MAN 200gpd ro, which i upgrade.
I brought another membrane housing, then replaced all the membranes to 150's, to make the ro a 450 gpd.
I brought the membranes from daqua, quality gear. It takes my tap water, 416 tds, down to 8.
This is using a booster pump

Thanks for your reply Steven, you will be well placed to answer my next question. When you upgraded to a 450gpd machine did you find that it significantly increased your water production ie did it double it. It's just that I have reservations about how much these type of RO machines can really produce.

[steven ainger]

To be honest i cant remember how much it increased production, as it was several years ago.
But to give you an idea on speed of production, i would say it takes about 8hrs to fill my 500ltr holding tank.
May be a little slower in the winter
Hope this helps.
Steven

[paul mather]

To be honest i cant remember how much it increased production, as it was several years ago.
But to give you an idea on speed of production, i would say it takes about 8hrs to fill my 500ltr holding tank.
May be a little slower in the winter
Hope this helps.
Steven

Wow that's pretty quick. My 200gpd RO would take about 24 hrs to make 500 litres. Are you sure?

[Spruce]

Yes
the system will keep up with 3 x 150GPD membranes no problem.

And yes again, what ever you were getting with your 200GPD system in the early days will be done in less than half the time.

But you do have to plan to change prefilters more often now as there are 2 of you and you are using more water.

[steven ainger]

No i just made it up  
Seriously, i filled my van up this morning, at 7 oclock, probably took 400 ltrs to fill as there was some water still in there.
When i got home at 3ish the pump had shut off.
So to be on the safe side, say it takes 12 hrs to do 500 ltrs, thats still 1000 ltrs in 24, double your old output.
Dont forget this is using a booster pump at about 90 psi

[paul mather]

Sorry mate I don't mean to doubt you. Was it tricky adding another housing to your system. Not the best DIYer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[steven ainger]

Piece of cake,
Just use waste pipe from your existing top membrane to feed your new one, and link
All your product water pipes in order
Hope that makes sense

[Spruce]

http://www.ro-man.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=34&product_id=1816

Flush kit and restrictor
http://www.ro-man.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=23&product_id=308

This works fine on my system.

Instruction manual
http://www.ro-man.com/instructions/RO-MAN%20Reverse%20Osmosis%20manual%20for%20200%20and%20300%20GPD%20systems.pdf

[paul mather]

Thanks chaps