[Griffus]

I have just bought a van with this system already installed.

Tried out today and water marks left on the glass. I'm assuming the water had either been in the tank a while or the seller had just filled directly from the tap, most likely the latter going on something he let slip whilst we were talking.

As the water was leaving marks I drained the tank and vacuumed the dreggs leaving the tank as clean as possible. I then started refilling at aroung 630pm. Over three hours later and the tank isn't even 1/3 full, is this normal? Pressure is fine and the drain is trickling out. An added pain is that when I took the lid off for an inspection I saw loads of contaminants floating on top of the water in the light of my torch.

Does the slow speed of filling and the conaminants mean that my RO system is buggered?

More questions to follow.

Thanks for your help.

[CLEANCARE WC]

630 ppm!  where do you live?..chenoble?

[CLEANCARE WC]

you may well need new resin? whats the product tds?

[Griffus]

you may well need new resin? whats the product tds?

Ah, this is one of the problems I have. It is my first system and only having picked it up today I haven't yet bought a TDS Meter. I'll be getting one, and a few other bits and pieces first thing Monday.

630pm = 1830 hours  :

[Griffus]

Other questions on this system: -

1)   The power comes from the van battery. Is this OK, I assumed a seperate leisure battery was best.

2)   I need to buy (100 metre?) hose and a reel, for between the van and pole. Any recommendations?

3)   This came with a few brodex poles and vikan brushes. These were of various length and condition. The longest is around least 48 feet. I am used to using long aluminium poles for high level trad work but can't imagine eating enough shredded wheat to use this at full length. Is this just me, is there a technique? I can get all but the bottom two sections up in the air but no chance beyond that, no matter how I try.

[colley614]

Do you have the vacuum formed red tank with black panel? Which poles do you have?

By what I've read your filters are all knackered. Any chance you can take a photo of your set up and I will be able to tell you exactly what you need to know. I've worked with 3 different brodex systems and every one of them was different. I have seen 2 trailer systems with there own batteries but the van mounted system went straight to the van battery. The only charge it recieved was while the vans driving so the van had to be left running all day or the battery would run out by lunch time.

[Griffus]

Hi Colley, thanks for your reply. I've posted a link to the ebay page where I first saw the van.

It has a few pictures of the system.

Tried again today after emptying and refilling and still leaving water marks on the glass. It ended up taking 5.5 hours to fill, seems a bit excessive for 250 litres but  as I'm new to WFP I can't be sure.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160773720205?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

The blue filter (DI I think) has a gauge which is pointing to the left of clean, I understand this to be new.

The brush head that I used has one jet less eager than the other. I have to have the pump on at least 5 to see any decent flow. Is it worth replacing the brush as it looks past its best anyway?

One final point, the windows I have tried this out on do have a bead of leading about 2 inches all around the edge, is this also a possible factor?

Thanks again

Ian

[gto]

that may well be as fast as the RO will ever be, until you get a TDS meter is just guessing.
get a meter and go from there.

[colley614]

Sorry mate my router went down. First port of call is to get a tds meter and check your tap water, check the water coming out your RO and the water coming out of your DI which is the big blue canister at the side of the tank. From the pics I'm guessing that you have threaded connectors rather than the other type like the connectors on the outside van ports. These are a pain and if you can afford it I would change to the push fittings as the threads tend to split and you tend to also loose the 'O' rings whilst changing your resin and end up with a leaking system. As for your pressure old RO membranes tend to slow your flow going into the tank. I found with most brodex systems you tend to need your pumps on almost full to get good pressure out of your brush. If you find one jet is working better than the other try sticking a sewing needle in there as there might be crap in your jet.

[Griffus]

Sorry mate my router went down. First port of call is to get a tds meter and check your tap water, check the water coming out your RO and the water coming out of your DI which is the big blue canister at the side of the tank. From the pics I'm guessing that you have threaded connectors rather than the other type like the connectors on the outside van ports. These are a pain and if you can afford it I would change to the push fittings as the threads tend to split and you tend to also loose the 'O' rings whilst changing your resin and end up with a leaking system. As for your pressure old RO membranes tend to slow your flow going into the tank. I found with most brodex systems you tend to need your pumps on almost full to get good pressure out of your brush. If you find one jet is working better than the other try sticking a sewing needle in there as there might be crap in your jet.

Hi Colley

Thanks again for your help. I've been out all day but ordered a TDS and a new reel / hose yesterday so should be here Tuesday at the latest.

Fingers crossed I'll get resolved then. I had hoped to hit the ground running as we have a fair few windows tomorrow and the rest of this week. Looks like sticking to our trusty scrims for a few days yet.....

Thanks again

[Griffus]

OK, TDS meter arrived today and readings as follows: -

Tap water = 244

Top of open tank = 11

Glass of water drawn from tank = 0

Based on these finding then I will try again but on windows without any lead.

Can lead be problematic with WFP?

[colley614]

I find unless your just cleaning double glazed units with PVC frames then anything can cause problems. Metal frames, wooden frames with chipped paint and lead on glass can all harbour dirt that can run down the window. Best thing to do is has your flow rate quite high and give them a good scrub then afterwards give them a really good rinse. Even the best of frames can take can take a couple of cleans to get right.

[Griffus]

Really please the reading is zero, was worried that I was going to have to start spending even more..........

Thanks again Colley, really appreciate your help and advice.

Time to get practicing then!

[colley614]

Just read your pole question. Personally I find there are 2 ways to get your big poles up but first your not just trying to stand them in the air are you?

First of all find yourself a building big enough for your pole then..

1 fully extend the pole on the ground and get somebody to stand on the base of the pole while you do what I call the monkey run and lift the brush over your head then grip further and further down the pole so the poles lifting in the air. Once the pole come high enough the guy at the bottom can grip the pole and help you lift it. I cheat at this and wedge the bottom of the pole against a building but be careful if you do this because if the bottom of the pole slips it's coming straight back down. This has never happened to me but I've seen it happen.


2 extend about 4 sections then lift the pole against the building and stand back away from the building so you can reach the clamps then extend the rest of the sections this way. This is the easier method on most poles but I find if your using a pole where the clamp levers are poo then the other way sometimes needs to be done.

Sorry I had to edit this I wrote it on my iPhone and it deleted part of the post so I've just had to knick my laptop off the kids now they've got their arms folded and are sulking. HA! 

[Dean Taberner]

Hi Ian,

5 hrs to fill 250litres although not as ideal as you would perhaps want isn't actually too bad. 50 litres an hour is a lot more than you would get from a standard 3-400 gpd RO. They usually fire out around 25-35 litres max an hour depending on the time of year.

Enjoy your van,

Dean.

[Griffus]

Just read your pole question. Personally I find there are 2 ways to get your big poles up but first your not just trying to stand them in the air are you?

First of all find yourself a building big enough for your pole then..

1 fully extend the pole on the ground and get somebody to stand on the base of the pole while you do what I call the monkey run and lift the brush over your head then grip further and further down the pole so the poles lifting in the air. Once the pole come high enough the guy at the bottom can grip the pole and help you lift it. I cheat at this and wedge the bottom of the pole against a building but be careful if you do this because if the bottom of the pole slips it's coming straight back down. This has never happened to me but I've seen it happen.


2 extend about 4 sections then lift the pole against the building and stand back away from the building so you can reach the clamps then extend the rest of the sections this way. This is the easier method on most poles but I find if your using a pole where the clamp levers are poo then the other way sometimes needs to be done.

Sorry I had to edit this I wrote it on my iPhone and it deleted part of the post so I've just had to knick my laptop off the kids now they've got their arms folded and are sulking. HA! 

Hi Colley, I hope your kids have forgiven you by now 

Thanks for the ips but I think the pole in question is just not fit to use at full height. I recon I can manage all but the bottom two sections which should be enough for what we need.

Likely to use it on a couple of small jobs tomorrow, fingers crossed I don't get sacked!!

[Griffus]

Hi Ian,

5 hrs to fill 250litres although not as ideal as you would perhaps want isn't actually too bad. 50 litres an hour is a lot more than you would get from a standard 3-400 gpd RO. They usually fire out around 25-35 litres max an hour depending on the time of year.

Enjoy your van,

Dean.

Hi Dean, after the TDS showing zero today I am a bit happier, not really too much of a problem when parked up but I had hoped to top up throughout the day as 250 may not always be enough. Time will tell.

Thanks for your post

Ian