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Ro/Di, pressure, and TDS (1 Viewer)

Myclang

Myclang

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Dec 1, 2012
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So i finally picked up a dual tds meter, and a pressure Guage. I'm getting a good 58 psig for pressure. I'm getting 216 ppm in for TDS and 3-4 ppm out after do chamber (bounces). I know 0-3ppm is generally considered good. Now I did buy a full filter replacement kit from brs. I saw the DI resin had turned brown. Should I go ahead and replace filters and di? Or am I good still?



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I would, I know its extra money but it will make everything like brand new so your water is very clean.
 
IMO, the color change doesn't work as it should for the DI. I had my DI resin turn brown in a week (maybe 50g of water produced), yet I still get 0 TDS out of the system and I am at 2-3 TDS right after the RO membranes.
 
Kyle T. said:
IMO, the color change doesn't work as it should for the DI. I had my DI resin turn brown in a week (maybe 50g of water produced), yet I still get 0 TDS out of the system and I am at 2-3 TDS right after the RO membranes.
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That's why I purchased the TDS meter to get the most out of my di and filters. So i take it the 3-4ppm really isn't that big of a deal? Or is it when it goes over 3ppm should start looking at replacing di?

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Alexchristi15 said:
I have 3 ppm right now and its not a problem!!
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That's what I assumed. Wanted to be extra positive that my diatoms on my sand bed were not ro/Di related. Sigh.... Looks like just gotta keep pushing through! Thanks for all the input guys.

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Btw I have bad cyano and customs but it has nothing to do with the water I dont think Idk... Anyway good luck with your ro di water ha
 
I've been dealing with these diatoms for 12 straight months. Lol.... Been looking at every possible angle

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I am getting 1-2ppm out of my RO and that is with fairly new filters. Always 0ppm out of DI. When it goes above 0ppm it is just downhill from there.

I did what you did and got the in-line double TDS. I then went a step further about 4 months ago and got a 2nd DI chamber and another double TDS in-line meter. Now I can see what is coming out of the source (375 or so), coming out of the RO (1-2ppm), out of DI 1 (0ppm) amd out of DI 2 which I have labeled tank.

As soon as DI chamber 1 shows 1ppm I know it is exhausted. I put the DI 2 resin into DI 1 and brand new resin into DI 2. This way I can tell when the first chamber is exhausted and the 2nd chamber catches anything the first misses. I then switch over the almost new resin from the first chamber to continue to be burned up and then have brand new resin to grab whatever the first one misses when it is burned up.

I bought the sruff used so it was a $75 investment and I figure I save that pretty quick by getting every bit of use out of the DI without any disolved solids making it into my water. Nice piece of mind as well.

I would recommend this for you in the future as you continue to build your system.
 
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That's actually a pretty good idea. I may just have to do that when my 180 gets set up.

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My input water quality is bad but my 3ppm after membrane was at .1ppm phosphates so should try to keep it at 0 after Di. If it is above that di needs to be changed

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If at all possible you want to take a reading after membrane and after DI , this will give you the best indicator. As long as after DI is < membrane then its not fully exhausted. However, if you don't have a second DI to pick up the slack your letting a little water quality slide. For me, 3 tds is what my post membrane reading is so If I when I see DI =3 I swap DI 1 with DI 2 and refill DI 2. However my total output is always 0 since DI 2 picks up the slack when DI 1 is full exhausted.


I don't buy the color indicator anymore. It always shows exhausted visually before it actually is. I can usually get another 2 weeks out of it just by reading the TDS meter. Thus, save a couple bucks and get the non-color indicating kind.
 
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Well it looks like the best thing to do is invest in a second DI chamber. I think I should swap my sensor from the supply side to the exit of the membrane for better readings. I'm sure I'm going to get a bit higher readings of TDS before the DI. So with that being said I will probably just replace all my cartridges and DI resin today.

Thanks so much for helping me understand my RO/DI a bit better.
 
Before membrane is useful. If money / budget allows I'd just another inline TDS and leave the first one. You might find that different times of year ( at least in my case ) the tap water TDS will vary by 100-200+ tds. On average mine will be in the 200s sometimes 300s and even spike to 600s occassionally. For whatever reason springtime seems to be the worst for me. So when you see your after membrane reading go a bit higher than normal you can easily dismiss membrane issues if you see the tap water tds is higher than average. If that doesn't explain it then it might be an indicator that your membrane is nearing end of life or needs flushed.



I totally agree that a 1-3 tds is probably not an issue as food and other input will have far greater levels. But to be sure, I'd test it to confirm since you have no idea what is making up the 1-3 tds reading.

But if you go with your plan of a second DI not only will you be more confident that it isn't the problem, long term it will save you money as well since you can fully exhaust DI 1 chamber and still maintain high quality.
 
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Once again David, thank you for putting it in a NO NONSENSE terms for me. I think for now, I will Keep the TDS probes where they're at. Down the road I will put another in, but I will be purchasing another DI chamber and at least if I'm getting a reading out of DI #1 I know to change over #2 and replace/refill DI #2.

With my wedding coming up, and hoping to get my 180 at least filled by mid summer, I can't spend too much on other things right now.

I'm wondering if the higher TDS readings in the spring are directly related to the fire departments flushing city hydrants? Or just the more use of water with sprinkler systems, pools, etc being used once again?
 
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I think is has to do with the temperature changes in the water supply ( lake/river whereever ) stirs up the bottom sediment but just a guess.
 
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So um.... How about my sediment filters? I did not think they were as bad as I thought, until I took them out. Definitely glad I bought a full replacement kit. Also changed out my DI resin.


Tests 3 TDS Before DI chamber, and 0 after DI resin. w00t!

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