[neil100]

I have decided to get a booster pump for my RO. It as a low pressure membrane.

The highest I get my water pressure to from the tap is 45psi. I think a lot of time the water board are reducing the pressure below this which is effecting the Efficiency of my RO unit.

I have my valve set at about 70% waste at the momment, 30% pure. I live in a soft water area where the TDS averages around 100, After going through the RO it averages around 10 TDS.

I spoke to someone at Gaps and they said thats about right if the pressure is low. A booster pump should take it down to 0 TDS or there abouts.

I have seen a 70 LPM pump at Gardiner for £152 + vat. I have just seen this on Ebay. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tool-Madness_Water-Pumps_Booster-Pumps_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ5619582QQftidZ2QQtZkm


Will this be ok?

Or should I buy the 70LPM from Gardiner?

Any advice would be welcome. Thankyou.

Nel.

[MNWC]

What about this onehttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Booster-Pump-Reverse-Osmosis-Water-Filter-System_W0QQitemZ330053625429QQihZ014QQcategoryZ20758QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Pj]

Hi Nel

I was advised to go for this one a year ago.  Finally got round to it about a month ago.  It is perfect.

I use the 40 x 40 RO but Di as well.  My water pressure is low:  35 - 45 psi into RO.  With the Booster it sometimes goes to 75 psi!  The RO loves it!  
TDS in = 356,  TDS out of RO = 22,  TDS out of Di = 0.000.  
500litres done in hour and half max.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=051011132

I looked into them all.

[neil100]

Cheers Pj.

That looks a good pump.

I have been searching the web for the last hour on booster pumps.

Yours does not have a water tank with it does it? If Iunderstand it right most come with a 24ltr watertank which is pressurised and stops the pump running out of water. But yours does not have a tank but its controlled electronicly not to run dry.

Do you know what the actual operating pressure is of your pump?

I have seen some others and they say between 2 and 3.5 bar. I have just seen a diffrent model and its 3.5 to 5.2bar.

Can you adjust the pressure yourself?

If it fills your static tank will the pump switch off or continue going?

I have a shop of theirs about 25 miles away so I will go and have a look at the pump at weekend.

Oh one last question,sorry to be a pain, Whats the clear cannister for on the end of the pump?

Many thanks, Nel.

[Pj]

Cheers Pj.

That looks a good pump.

I have been searching the web for the last hour on booster pumps.

Yours does not have a water tank with it does it? If Iunderstand it right most come with a 24ltr watertank which is pressurised and stops the pump running out of water. But yours does not have a tank but its controlled electronicly not to run dry.
It is self priming
Do you know what the actual operating pressure is of your pump?
It says up to 90psi, realistically it is 75psi, not sure BargI have seen some others and they say between 2 and 3.5 bar. I have just seen a diffrent model and its 3.5 to 5.2bar.

Can you adjust the pressure yourself?
No, not a problem, just go full!
If it fills your static tank will the pump switch off or continue going?
I don't have a static tank, it fills so fast I fill my van tank and away I go.  Rarely I run out, head back, have half hour, 200l pure!
I have a shop of theirs about 25 miles away so I will go and have a look at the pump at weekend.

Oh one last question,sorry to be a pain, Whats the clear cannister for on the end of the pump?
Little pre-filter from mains to pump, keeps the pump clean.
Many thanks, Nel.

Hope the above makes sense Nel.  It really suits my way of working.  With every change, you need to rethink your method.  I strongly recommend this, it's just fastfill.

[DaveBrown]

Hi Neil, I bought one of the blue draper ones a few weeks ago for £120 delivered. Will get you the name of the company if interested?

Dave

[freshwater]

Pumps,

Remember you need pressure & flow.

Ask the supplier for the pump curve, its a graph which shows the flow at various pressures.

To get the ultimate from a 4040 you need 115psi with a flow of 40 litres per min, this should give you about 5000 litres per day at 98% pure. Any reduction in pressure and/or flow will result in a corresponding drop in output and quality.

steve@freshwatersystems.co.uk

[neil100]

I take it then I will have a poor flow rate as my water pressure is only 45psi at best.

So I take it that whatever pump I buy will not be as good as it could be becuse of my poor water pressure

Also these pumps that I have looked at all seam to have  1" female connections. I have a half inch hose before my filters then high pressure fittings like John Guest but better,I dont need to put the inserts in the tubeing to make the seal watertight. But the water tubeing is about 9mill on my Ro.

Will this slow the flowrate and reduce the pressure even more?

Will I need to buy special adapters for the pump and where from?

Do I fit the pump after the filters but before the Ro?

Do I position the pump below the RO or above it?

Nel.

[Ian_Giles]

I've nothing to add as it's outside of my needs, but a good thread, and answers some good technical questions, Steve at Freshwater really knows his onions And great replies from PJ.

Ian

[freshwater]

Neil,

Not necessarily, Flow and pressure are two different things. eg you can get a pressure washer that will give 200psi, but the flow is low. Or you can tip over a 50 gall butt of water the flow is high but the pressure is low.

If you have 45psi a portion of this will be added to the output of the pump.

You will have to adapt down from the pump to your ro. The tube on the ro will should be big enough to carry the correct flow.

Fit the pump before the filters & the ro. If you want to protect the pump you can fit a pre-filter before it.

Above or below not important.

Adapting to the pump will be a bit of a bodge job. If your pups in & out are threaded then its not difficult, but if its a 1" hose conn then you will need hose reducers and various bits of hose till you get to the size required.

steve@freshwatersystems.co.uk

[neil100]

Thanks Steve and everyone else for their replys.

I am going to have a look at the pump PJ recommends from machinemart tommorw if they have it in stock.

Steve this model from machinemart as a prefilter fitted to it. Seeing as you know your onions on the subject would you recommened it, If not which one would you go for?

By fiiting the pump before the sediment and carbonblock filters will this reduce their effectivness because the water pressure is higher or shorten their lifespan? I have been changing my filters every 3 months at the momment.

Nel.

[Pj]

You've probably sorted it by now Nel.
If you haven't, the Pump in the link I showed you:

Max flow = 101litres per minute
Max pressure = 8 Barg which is about 115 psi

I just tested mine, mains water pressure is at it's lowest ever at the moment, I guess for a few reasons 1) I live on a family estate and pressure seems to drop at this time of day, 2) It has got very cold suddenly here, maybe Water Co. turns the pressure down to minimise leak risk.
Anyway:

Mains pressure = 25psi !  (useless!)
Straight into Booster pump, then into RO then into Di out into Van tank
Pressure out of Booster pump into RO = 75psi

That's not great, ok though.
I rechecked my figures that I posted to you last night, they need correcting.
Average mains pressure here is 35-45 psi.  Not very good, but even at that rate
Pressure out of Booster pump into RO = at least 85 - 90 psi.
The 40 x 40 RO performs really well at that rate.
It's a really quiet pump too, it purrs

I haven't bothered finding out the calculations psi to litres per min, but on a good day I produce 500 litres of pure in just over an hour!

Nuff said!

You will need to get the right fittings, its not hard though.  I use a right old mixture, inc bog standard hozelock.  Nothing leaks......yet

[freshwater]

neil,

The filter on the pump will be ok.

Yore pre-and carbon filters on your ro block up as water passes through them, its the total volume that matters the higher pressure should not cause any problem.

If you can do this, fit a pressure gauge on the inlet and outlet of your filters, note the difference in pressure accross the filters, eg 10 psi. when it gets to 15 or 20 psi difference change the filters.

Note what pj says about the pump he has, max pressure 115psi (max is the important word) but he only gets 75 to 80psi and at least 20 of that will be his mains pressure.

When you see Max it means max, not what you will get in the real world.

steve@freshwatersystems.co.uk

[Pj]

How did you get on Nel?

[Moderator David@stives]

Steve

Have you got a website

Dave

[paul mather]

Hi Neil

Not sure if this helps you but my friend ordered a 450 gpd Roman system from Gardiners & a pump to go with it (the one recommendeed by Gardiners, costs about £65)

Anyway he had real problems with the RO unit  as it was in Gardiners words an ex-dispay model, so he exchanged it for a Merlin. Now Gardiners never said anything about the pump so he just connected it up to the Merlin & the last I heard from him it was working fine.  But according to what I have read these different RO systems need different pumps, so I don't quite understand it.

Neil I also have poor water pressure so I have one of the £65 pumps from Gardiners, & its the best £65 I have spent. Before it my reading would only stay at 2 or under for a few days & then slowly climb, but I think the last time I replaced my resin was about 7 weeks ago, not bad for a resin cannister that has a capacity of 250ml.

[Pj]

My last word on this Neil,

Speak to Gapswater about the pump I mentioned.  Ideal for use with 40 x40!

[freshwater]

Dave,

yes its

http://www.freshwatersystems.co.uk

Neil,

a standard ro pump on a standard ro like roman450 is ok, they will run for anout two to three years. A Merlin has much bigger membranes so it will apear to produce more water than the than a standard ro, however it wont be as higer quality (more tds in the output).

steve@freshwatersystems.co.uk

[sair]

all i use is a 100/150 psi pump  sure flow 12 volt and there  van mounted and produce at least 4 lt a minute through 40x40 then i fill from any where any presure

[neil100]

Pj, I have not bought the booster pump yet.

I just phoned machinemart at Preston to see if they had it in stock. No but they can get it for next week.

phoned their branch at Bolton, They have one in stock but I am not sure if I want to drive the extra distance.

I have decided to buy one and I will have it before the start of the next  Ashs test.If I dont get it today.

Thanks for all the help.

Nel