CDL Hobby RO

[red maples]

I have seen around that CDL has come out with a new hobby RO I think its 125 GPH but not sure and it mounts on top of the tank. Seems to be set up with vertical membrane and I think Iread it doesn't require a heated room. Curious if anyone has seen or used them and how much $$$ they are?

[whalems]

found this but no prices

http://www.mapleguys.com/index.php?item=202&ret=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mapleguys.com%2Findex.php%3Fp age%3D1%26maincat%3D23

[Father & Son]

I was told last January that it was around $6200

[wiam]

I was told last January that it was around $6200

You can buy alot of used RO for that.

[red maples]

it s not that on th emaple guys site,I saw it somewhere I will go look around and see what I can find.

Here it is on you tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnAmbjLfab0

This one mounts on top of the tanks and the membrane run verticle.

Ha I watched the video again it has the price right on it. so much for affordable for the smaller producer geez!!! $6495

[Dennis H.]

That is the same one that I saw running at Richard Patterson's when they had thier open house.
Neat little RO. I agree it is a little pricey and I think that is for the smaller of the two meant for the hobbiest.
I like the fact that it is smaller size and uses 120vac

[markct]

over the summer i bought a used, from member morrillmaple, 2 membrane model of the cdl hobby ro, i havent used it yet but it appears well made, and he said he had good results with it just ended up with way more taps so had to upgrade.

[Daren]

I went to CDL in St. Albans this past spring and looked into them. The 250gal/hr machine was around $6500 and did nto have any way to adjust pressures or flow rates. That machine just looped the sap and doubled the concentration with each pass. The claim to fame on that machine was the "no need for heated room" as the machine was supposed to drain completely when you opened the drain. The CDL guy was right up front and reported that there was at least one guy that had his freeze up and messed up the machine. They were getting right out there, but he was down for the count for at least a while until they could either replace the broken parts or get him another unit. They were going to sort of "reverse engineer" that machine to see where things went wrong...but in my book, a little heat is good insurance that you dont end up with a broken RO during a good sap run. With only 6 weeks or so of "season" any downtime is a real bummer! I ended up shooting the breeze with someone I work with and he had an old hobby RO that i picked up for less than half of the price of a new one and he thru in all the tanks for permeate and an extra 300gal round poly sap tank, a gas powered sap pump and some 1xvarousx16 rough cut boards to side my new sugarhouse with. I do have to admit that the value of used RO's seem to be holding fairly well these days.

[Bucket Head]

I'm with William on the used RO's and their prices. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the new CDL hobby units. They look good and they will certainly enhance any sugaring operation. I'm saying that there are older machines out there that will do the same thing, or even better the output of the hobby unit, for less money. I recently bought a twenty year old Airablo machine for less than half of the hobby unit price. It will process over two hundred gallons of sap an hour at 475psi and put out 9% concentrate on one pass. It has two 4" membranes on it and its capable of running three.

The previous owner sent the membranes out to be cleaned prior to me buying it. I disassembled it so I could clean it up and paint it. I replaced all the hoses, clamps and O-rings. The high pressure feed hose looked a little tired so I got a new braided stainless line for it also. The reasonable selling price, along with some new stuff and some elbow grease, has given me a very good machine. It amounts to a comparable machine with a "50% off" price tag. The money saved allowed for investments in other areas of the operation.

Look around, ask around, watch the classifieds and look at Craigslist. There are units out there looking for a good, new home. And the sap won't care what model year the machine is!

Steve

[nymapleguy607]

I think if I were going to by an RO I would go with one from the waterguys I think they advertised machines in that range for around $3000, I can't remember for sure thought. I believe that there machines work on the same premise, the will only double the concentration with a single pass.

[maple connection]

I agree with Steve,
The price on those new R.O. Are to steep.
Its like a new car let someone else take the loss of driving it off the lot.
From what I see my 20 year old coster has the same production per hour as a new machine.
I still have a piston pump for a high pessure pump. Only down fall is its loud.

[red maples]

I have been hearing not so good things about the waterguys RO, that they need a little more fine tuning and some more gadgets so you don't loose pumps and things and they need to watched over pretty closely, I have been hearing good things about the memtech RO's.