backyardsugarer
04-11-2011, 07:31 PM
My 2500 model cost $3,700 with a plymbing kit and vertical permeate tank. Overall it is a solid unit for the cost. On average I start with 2% sap and like to take it to at least 8%. This takes several passes through the RO since it runs at such low pressure compared to commercial units (225 psi).
At 2% sugar the unit is getting rid of 1.5 gallons of water per minute or 90 gallons per hour. As the sugar goes up the permeate goes down and I was running about .75 gallons of permeate per minute or 45 gallons per hour. At that point I was putting it into my concentrate tank and boiing. I made a lot more syrup with a lot less wood and and a lot less time invested this year. I ran a 350 gallon feed tank and needed to start the RO at least a couple of hours before I wanted to boil.
I followed the manufaturers rules with my first membrane which was to rinse throughly after every use and only wash at the end of the year. Of course this was poor advice as I found out half way through the season my membrane was clogged and I could not get it clean at that point (I will be acid washing it this summer to get in back to full capacity). I was forced to buy a second membrane for around $300 for following the manufacturers advice. I was not happy about that, but at $4,000 total invested in the machine it is still a bargain.
With the second membrane I washed everynight and never saw the efficiency go down. The biggest downside to the machine is that is does not have an auto wash cycle. So I had to stay up or wake up to go and shut it down once it started to wash. The commercial models also allow you to RO sap and go to bed and they will shut down when they run out of sap. This model will not do that and you have to make sure it does not run dry or else it could damage the pumps.
To me it was worth the money and I will probably use the same unit again next year unless a really nice commercial RO comes up for a good price. I am addicted to RO now and eventually would like to take the sap to 10% plus. About the highest I went with this unit was 9.5%
On other thing, I did not like cloudy sap. When we had a warm spell and the sap got cloudy the efficiency was not very good. I decided not to make much commercial syrup at the end of the year because of this.
Nice little unit but wash it every night if you get one no matter what the waterguys tell you in the literature they send you.
I would buy it again and wash it every night.
Chris
At 2% sugar the unit is getting rid of 1.5 gallons of water per minute or 90 gallons per hour. As the sugar goes up the permeate goes down and I was running about .75 gallons of permeate per minute or 45 gallons per hour. At that point I was putting it into my concentrate tank and boiing. I made a lot more syrup with a lot less wood and and a lot less time invested this year. I ran a 350 gallon feed tank and needed to start the RO at least a couple of hours before I wanted to boil.
I followed the manufaturers rules with my first membrane which was to rinse throughly after every use and only wash at the end of the year. Of course this was poor advice as I found out half way through the season my membrane was clogged and I could not get it clean at that point (I will be acid washing it this summer to get in back to full capacity). I was forced to buy a second membrane for around $300 for following the manufacturers advice. I was not happy about that, but at $4,000 total invested in the machine it is still a bargain.
With the second membrane I washed everynight and never saw the efficiency go down. The biggest downside to the machine is that is does not have an auto wash cycle. So I had to stay up or wake up to go and shut it down once it started to wash. The commercial models also allow you to RO sap and go to bed and they will shut down when they run out of sap. This model will not do that and you have to make sure it does not run dry or else it could damage the pumps.
To me it was worth the money and I will probably use the same unit again next year unless a really nice commercial RO comes up for a good price. I am addicted to RO now and eventually would like to take the sap to 10% plus. About the highest I went with this unit was 9.5%
On other thing, I did not like cloudy sap. When we had a warm spell and the sap got cloudy the efficiency was not very good. I decided not to make much commercial syrup at the end of the year because of this.
Nice little unit but wash it every night if you get one no matter what the waterguys tell you in the literature they send you.
I would buy it again and wash it every night.
Chris