Horizontal or vertical? which is more efficient?

[Rhino]

Friend of mine just called me and he wanted me to post this question on traders. (he never got hooked on traders yet). He wants to get feed back on why most, if not all of the factory r.o's place their membranes in the vertical position when so many other r.o's used in non maple applications have their membranes layed horizontal such as cheese factories, and city water plants? He runs the same r.o as what i bought and both have their membranes horizontal, so in a way i am curious also if there is a drawback or advantage to how the membrane is fitted. I can see it might be easier on the pump being horizontal and not having to push the column of sap up, and maybe better performance also along with that in mind????

[mapleack]

I don't think there's any performance difference, but a matter of two things, space and membrane replacment. It's easier to replace horizontal membranes, but most sugarmakers cram their ro's in small rooms for heat, so a small foot print is more important than ease of membrane removal.

[Brent]

The only advantage I can see with a vertical is that it might help get the air out of them easier on start up. Mine are vertical with the business end at the bottom .... a real head scratcher ... so they take what feels like forever to get the air out and DOW does not want you to crank up the pressure until the air is out.

I'm seriously thinking of flipping them, drilling and tapping the "new" top end and adding a bleed valve. Longer hoses needed of course but I'll live with that minor loss.