CDL expansion kits

[Jeff E]

Anyone put an expansion kit on a CDL RO?
I have a CDL 600 and am considering putting an additional membrane on line to increase my speed/concentration of sap.

Any advise on value and results would be appreciated.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Theron had one on his. I'm considering the possibility. Probably wait another year though. Can only do so much each year. My understanding is that it will increase flow by about 50%.

[PATheron]

Jeff- It will make the machine run at right around 900 gph like everyone says. To get to an honest 1200 you need to upsize the high pressure pump to a 7.5hp. Theron

[maplecrest]

how old is your current machine? if 1 or2 seasons trade it in on a new one or sell the one you have and get a new 1200.you will save time and money in the long run and have a machine that is covered with a 2 years warranty

[Meridian Maples]

We expanded ours last year, it worked out okay. We run about 800-900 gallons through it an hour now. I've got a mark 1 membrane in our old post and a mark E membrane in the new one. The mark E is the in the first post. A friend of mine expanded his also last year and put another mark 1 in. My flow rates seemed to be better. We are concentrating in 1 pass with the 2 membranes from 2% up to 14-15% on a digital refractometer. I got my expansion from Adamski's Sugarbush and my friend got his expansion from Roths. You would think that when they expand them it would be done the same, but it wasn't. We had another prefilter installed and another flow meter installed on the panel. Roth told my friend he didn't need that stuff, but I would disagree. It sucks changing prefilter socks every hour later in season like he was doing. Also he had no idea what kind of flows he was getting out of one post. We also put a bi-pass on the the unit to bi-pass the pressure pump. It seemed to make wash's better and faster. Overall it was $8,000.00 well spent for the output. You're pressure won't run as high with the 2 posts because of the 5 horse motor.

[Jeff E]

Thanks for the replies.
My machine was purchased in late 2008, has 3 seasons run through it, about 100,000 gallons of sap. Still works great.
Meridian Maples, with those concentration levels, I would guess your sap goes from 1 membrane to the second, then to your concentrate tank. Thats impressive volumes and concentration. Not sure how the second flow meter fits into that though. What output flow is your concentrate and at what pressure?

I am usually running 3gpm of 8%, running my RO at 400 PSI. This is what my evaporator can keep up with. I would guess if I concentrated to 12% I would be able to keep up with 4GPM. Seems like a good fit.

I will look into the costs of selling the unit and buying a new 1200.
Meridian, if you would be ok with it, I would like to see how yours is set up. If you could take some images, or I could stop buy some time. Maybe PM me and we could work out a convenient time for you.

Jeff