RO Supplies Required

[New Hope Mapleman]

Bought a RO and man, they don't put an awefull lot in the manuals. Can anyone tell me what all I need to purchase for regular maintaining of one. (ie. filters, wash, etc)
Also I met a fellow who told me about heating the permeate before a wash to help keep the unit clean. He told me he hadn't needed any cleaning agent yet, and yes he does check the flow and it was right on the money. Any suggestions. I didn't see anything whith my new unit.
Thanks, there is more to learn every year.
Dan

[maplwrks]

First, What kind of a unit is it? Springtechs and Seprotechs have "on board" wash tanks that have heating elements in them. Lapierre and CDL have separate wash tanks. Your friend is right, you need to wash your membrane with hot water AND SOAP!! You wouldn't wash your clothes or your dishes without soap,your membranes need soap also. Most soaps don't become effective until the water reaches 90 degrees. Call your dealer of the make of machine that you bought and they should be able to help you. Remember to get the pH of the water/soap solution to 11-11.5 pH to get a good wash. There was a previous thread that delt with washing an R/O that might be of help to you.

[mapleguy]

Yes you will need supplies such as extra filters, soap and SMBS preservative. You should also have a heated wash tank for washing, which can be built if not supplied with your unit. this should be kept at about 90F and piped so it will circulate through your machine. Kepp wash filters seperate from sap filters. The SMBS is to put in the machine during storage and between long spans between sap runs to keep bacteria from building up in the membrane. It must be rinsed out before running sap through it again.

[Russell Lampron]

Mapleguy,

What is SMBS?

Russ

[oneoldsap]

New hope mapleman : You didn't buy a Lapierre did you? Their manual is premo, it's like R.O.s for dummies. When you rinse put as much permeate through it as you can. We save 1200Gal. to rinse one membrane. It's 4 years old and still flows 14GPM.

[mapleguy]

SMBS is a chemical powder used to prevent buildup of bacteria growth in the membrane when not being used for several days between runs and between seasons. MUst be rinsed from membrane before use again.