Osmonics Osmo 43 Series RO ? [Archive]

briansickler

04-04-2011, 01:19 PM

I have a chance to get an old Osmonic Inc. RO in trade for a few gallons of syrup. It has four 4" membrane vessels and are about 7 feet long. Each one holds two 4"x40" membranes. The pressure pump has a 5 H.P. single phase motor and there is a 1 H.P. feed pump. The machine has not been used for years. It looks to be in excellent condition and still in its own little room at an old sugar house not more than 10 miles from my place. The owner passed away some time ago and now his brother pretty much just wants it out of there. Does anybody on the trader have any knowledge of experience with one of these old dinosaurs? I'd like to get any info I can before I go get it. Joe, at Atlantic Membranes says he can set me up with new membranes at $220 each. He also mentioned that until my operation grows, I could just use one or two of the membrane vessels for now. I hope that I can make this thing work...The price is right that's for sure. Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Brian

wiam

04-04-2011, 02:06 PM

Go for it. I hve a 1984 memtek mro 225. It has a 3hp high pressure Magista m38e pump and a feed pump looks to be a very common water pump( 1 horse). Last year I made 425 gallons with it and this year I have 230 so far. I put xle membranes in it and have been very pleased. High pressure pump is louder than it should be but pump and parts are available still( I guess it is a vary common pump in car washes. I would not be afraid of an older ro.

William

briansickler

04-04-2011, 02:37 PM

If I installed all eight 4"x 40" membranes in this machine wouldn't that be a 600gph r.o.? I'm new to this ro stuff. I love the thought of having shorter boiling times and being able to handle a lot more sap.

Bucket Head

04-05-2011, 12:11 AM

I don't know how all the four inchers would compare to a current 600gph unit, but for a few gallons of syrup, who cares?! Lol. Get it and you can experiment all you want. I can tell you from experience that after you boil RO'ed sap you'll wonder why you did'nt get an RO sooner. It sounds like a good deal to me. You could use it now at "half capacity" and later on if you add taps you could get all the membranes on line. I would'nt hesitate to get it.

Steve

Brent

04-05-2011, 04:09 PM

briansickler

04-05-2011, 09:02 PM

First, if you put 8 of the XLE 4040s in it, I'm guessing you'll have nearly a 1000 GPH machine.:)

Second, you better have a lot more trees to tap for next year than you indicate in your signature. You'll be running it for 15 minutes a day and not have enough permeate water left over to clean it.:o

I plan to run one or two vessels at first and expand as needed. I hope to have 1000 taps next year. It sounds like I could make 4 decent machines out of this one. But I plan to keep it together. We'll see.

Vernal Patches

04-09-2011, 02:35 PM

Come on Syrup-ie, listen to the nice people on trader here and lets go get this beast! Then all that needs to be done is some more tapping for next year, on the steep side of the valley.....race ya to the top! ;)

syruplover99

04-10-2011, 03:01 PM

I LUV IT Hahaa nice uncle Vern haha

syruplover99

04-10-2011, 03:05 PM

DAD just get da chucker haha listen to uncle vern and all the other maple addicts on here Hahaa just do it!

Bucket Head

04-10-2011, 09:22 PM

Can we have an explanation on the "One disgruntled neighbor and sugarhouse owner"? I had to laugh at that one!

Steve

briansickler

04-11-2011, 06:46 AM

Everthing on Vernal's borrowed list belongs to me....I'm the neighbor and sugarhouse owner, but not digruntled. Anyone willing to help out is always welcome.

gmcooper

04-11-2011, 07:47 AM

Sounds like Vernal is the smartest maple producer out there! No $ investment! LOL
SO did you get the RO?

briansickler

04-11-2011, 05:38 PM

I don't know about Vernal being very smart. I'm still the boss and all of the syrup belongs to me.:lol: He sure does enjoy making maple syrup though.

I made an offer on the R.O. Waiting to finalize it when he calls me back. He is trying to get the manual back from another party who was trying to sell the R.O. for him. Apparently this person hasn't been trying very hard as it has been a couple of years since he took the manual. So I am just waiting to here back from the owner.

Vernal Patches

04-13-2011, 07:05 PM

Now that's not very very nice Syrup-ie! Digging on my intelligence like that, you said you loved that I had a strong back and a weak mind.... Ahhh point taken :lol: And yes all the equipment is Brian's (aka Syrup-ie) and he was gracious enough to let me be a HUGE part of his operation this spring without hardly knowing me, or my skills in the maple production world (which aren't very extensive). Don't let him fool you folks either, he's very disgruntled, running around barking orders, making me feed the arch, take drom readings, empty buckets, and scrub pans. Could you all convince him that next year we should run at least some lines!

briansickler

04-19-2011, 06:55 AM

I made an offer on the R.O. Waiting to finalize it when he calls me back. He is trying to get the manual back from another party who was trying to sell the R.O. for him. Apparently this person hasn't been trying very hard as it has been a couple of years since he took the manual. So I am just waiting to here back from the owner.

YAHOOOOO!
Well, the seller called me and I cut a deal with him for the R.O. The deal is 1.5 gallons of syrup and 1 lb. of cream per year for the rest of his life. He's in his 70's I'd guess. The cream really clinched the deal. I'll have to get my buddies together and go get it....maybe this weekend. I think we have to take part of the end wall out of the room that it's in in order to get it out. It is about 8' long 6' tall and 3.5' wide. Looks heavy too. Anyway, I'm tickled to death that we worked out a deal. I can't wait to get her home and start tinkering with it.:D I'll post some pics as soon as I can. Oh yeah, I get 3 tanks with it too. A small wash tank-plastic, a tall cylinder tank 3' dia. x 7' tall fiberglass-permeate tank and a 300 gal s.s. bulk tank that has had the outer shell removed. The bulk tank was there feed/concentrate tank and is up above. Also, the large feed pump and 2 small pump. The plumbing is all there with quick connect fittings etc.:)

Brian Sickler

BobU

04-19-2011, 08:04 AM

YAHOOOOO!
Congrats on your find, keep us up on how it works. Good for you.!!

Well, the seller called me and I cut a deal with him for the R.O. The deal is 1.5 gallons of syrup and 1 lb. of cream per year for the rest of his life. He's in his 70's I'd guess. The cream really clinched the deal. I'll have to get my buddies together and go get it....maybe this weekend. I think we have to take part of the end wall out of the room that it's in in order to get it out. It is about 8' long 6' tall and 3.5' wide. Looks heavy too. Anyway, I'm tickled to death that we worked out a deal. I can't wait to get her home and start tinkering with it. I'll post some pics as soon as I can. Oh yeah, I get 3 tanks with it too. A small wash tank-plastic, a tall cylinder tank 3' dia. x 7' tall fiberglass-permeate tank and a 300 gal s.s. bulk tank that has had the outer shell removed. The bulk tank was there feed/concentrate tank and is up above. Also, the large feed pump and 2 small pump. The plumbing is all there with quick connect fittings etc.

Brian Sickler

Brent

04-19-2011, 09:33 AM

briansickler

04-19-2011, 11:34 AM

If that's the same rig that I have seen, you better be budgeting a set of ear muffs and ear plugs. I think the pump is a piston style and you can't hear yourself think when you're near it.

Great deal ! I've just heard that the FDA is increasing life expectancy to 172 years.

I have plenty of good ear plugs and muffs. That's great news about life expectancy....That means I can make syrup for another 128 years. If this thing works out for me, the price will be well worth it for the increased production and decreased boiling time. Thanks, Brian

briansickler

04-19-2011, 11:49 AM

Looks like this one but has 4 membrane vessels. I'll post pics of it as soon as I get it home....Brian

mapleack

04-19-2011, 01:01 PM

Congrats on your deal. Just wait until you sit back and say " I got rid of how many gallons of sap in two hours?" with a big smile on your face!

briansickler

07-12-2011, 09:09 PM

We went and picked up the old R.O. Sunday morning. After reading all the paperwork it looks like the last time it was used was 2001 season. There is some liquid I can see in the plastic permeate lines. I was told that it was professionally stored with some kind of anti-freeze for the long 10 year nap. Is there any possibility that the membranes are still good? Any thoughts or advice will be appreciated. Also, I am lookinng for ideas on how to test this unit out without damaging anything now...So I have time to tinker on it way before next season. Everything appears to be in very good condition. I can't wait to see if it works. I'll have to take some pics and post them.

wiam

07-13-2011, 11:59 AM

find some "clean" (preferably not hard) water and try it out. Then you could send the membranes out to be profesionally cleaned and they come back with flow numbers and sugar rejection rates.

William

briansickler

07-19-2011, 08:11 PM

If that's the same rig that I have seen, you better be budgeting a set of ear muffs and ear plugs. I think the pump is a piston style and you can't hear yourself think when you're near it.

It's definitely not a piston pump. It's a Tonkaflo 32 stage centrifugal pump. Max pressure of 460 psi. The book claims it to be a quiet running pump...at least by 1981 standards. We'll find out.

Brian

oneoldsap

08-11-2011, 08:30 PM

They sound alot like a Chinook helicopter , on the inside !

Thad Blaisdell

08-12-2011, 05:03 AM

I would discard those membranes and start fresh. 10 years is a long time to sit when the storage solution today is only good for about 6 months as I have been told.

Amber Gold

08-12-2011, 10:57 AM

Thad, does that mean the storage solution should be drained about now and new solution put in?

briansickler

08-12-2011, 08:22 PM

Good news.....I hooked up a feed pump and fired the old girl up. She Lives!:D It pumped right up to pressure and ran very well. This tankaflo pump was surprisingly quiet. Again, this is not a piston pump. My feed pump was louder than the high pressure pump. I'm very pleased with the test run. I plan to get new membranes before the upcoming season. Probably xle membranes from Joe at Atlantic. The question is how many. I'm thinking of running 2 or 4 membranes this year. Full capacity is 8 - 4"x40" membranes. There are 4 vessels with 2 membranes in each vessel.

wiam

08-12-2011, 08:27 PM

If what is in your signature is your tap count I would go with 2.

William

briansickler

10-01-2011, 07:52 PM

After pulling the old membranes out I discovered them to be 39" long. There's no way 2 - 40"s will fit in the vessels. I gave Joe at Atlantic RO a call. He has a way to adapt and use 1- 21" x 4" and 1- 40" x 4". In fact he has done this before with the same vessels for Wood's Maple. We will do 2 vessels this way. It should give us around a 300 g/hr machine. Joe said Osmonics made odd-sized products so everyone had to go back to them for membranes at very high prices. I've attached photos from Joe of the one he did before. The white rod is solid...not a tube, and is on the feed end. No fluid has to pass through it.

Brian

metalhead62

10-02-2011, 08:50 PM

brian what is the model number of the tonkaflo pump if u dont mind the hassle of looking it up

briansickler

10-03-2011, 06:54 AM

The Tonkaflo pump model is ss-1832B-12400.

briansickler

10-04-2011, 03:00 PM

The xle's will be here tomorrow with the adapters Joe made for me. :D That's Joe @ Atlantic RO. I'll have about $1,100. invested. If it all works out I should have about a 300 g/hr unit. Plus with the two other vessels it could be expanded if needed. Now I have to get my tap count up. There should be about 700 taps across the road we have never touched, yet. It's pretty darn steep and faces North. My neighbor says his run good on that side. There are a lot of nice big sugars and some reds up there too. Chances are I'll be runnin' lines in the snow. Too busy with work 'til then. Have to make the green backs to support my bad habit. Can't wait to boil some concentrate.:)

briansickler

10-07-2011, 07:27 AM

The XLE membranes and adapters were delivered. I put them together and they are right on the money. Joe did a great job with the adapters. I had everything in less than a week from the time I called him. I highly recommennd Atlantic RO for membranes, vessels and adapters. He makes adapters for any RO.