RO

[Forrest hunters]

I have just started tapping this year and have 24 taps out. I have an old RO until that i used to use on my salt water aqaurium. Is this something I could take the DI cartridges off from and run my sap though and then boil that down? If so how would I do it as I will need a pump im sure and a bucket to feed from and empty into.

[Gary in NH]

I don' know how many GPD your RO is rated for but lets say it's a 50 GPD. I don't think it would be worth the effort. The system is probably rated for a maximum of 125 psi feed so you could get a small booster pump designed for residential RO systems. Shur-Flo makes several, estimated cost $70.00-80.00. The waste or concentrate flow from the small RO's is controlled by a very thin tube on the waste side of the membrane called a capillary tube. To get different flows you swap out the tubes for a slightly smaller or larger diameter tubing so you have no adjustability on the waste (concentrate) side without changing the tube. Most recover at +/-25% so you would need to run the sap through three or four times to concentrate it and it will be a slow process. You could boil off more water in an hour on a kitchen stove than the RO would remove in two hours.