Beginning of season RO rinse and Deionised Water

[Father & Son]

OK RO guru's and techie's, here's the question of the day.
I have read and also been told that it is not a good idea to rinse a RO with well water. So, what do you use for start up to do your first wash and rinse prior to maple season? Would the system in the link below filter well water enough to be safe for rinsing the membranes before you have any permeate?

http://www.uswatersystems.com/commercial/us-water-di-220-ec-with-dual-2-5-x-20-di-filters-1-gpm.html

Larger producers have told me they rinse at the beginning of the year with their first sap. For me that would eliminate a good chunck of my final product.

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

[bowhunter]

You don't need to buy any additional filter. I'm sure your unit includes a 5 micron pre-filter and that should be adequate for filtering well water. RO membranes do not tolerate chlorine, but there shouldn't be any in well water. I have attached a link to a Leader RO unit operating manual. You can refer to the section on initial startup where they say using spring or well water is ok. http://leaderevaporator.com/pdf_files/springtech_micro_50gph_manual.pdf

[TunbridgeDave]

It's true well water is not ideal, because typically it has a lot of minerals in it that will clog the membrane. I happen to have a spring on the farm which has much "softer" water than what comes out of a drilled well. You kinda have to use what's available though. Someone told me rain water would be better than well water since it tends to be acid and wouldn't contain all the minerals.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We use well water on a Filmtec Mark E8 for the first rinse and it seems to be OK.

[maple flats]

I just used city water to rinse mine. I pumped it into my permeate and let it set a day to get rid of the chlorine, then I rinsed and got all ready to run. As soon as I had sap, I was ready to concentrate.

[mapleack]

It doesnt take that much sap to rinse a small RO. Get tapped early and save the early run crap that has a green tinge to it anyway to flush your membranes. The value of a couple hundred gallons of crap sap is nothing compared to a new membrane or reduced performance all season from mineral clogging.

[maple2]

we run well water through at low pressure to make permeate, then rinse with that

[Dan W]

Jim, I have an XLE and rinse with City water right at the beginning of the season. I do use a charcoal filter for the chlorine and very low pressure for about 30 minutes to flush out the preservative solution and it works just fine. With the low pressure there isn't any permeate being made and I think it works just fine.

[MISugarDaddy]

Is it better to use softened water or plain well water for the beginning of the year rinse?