Will this work to feed the RO?

[bison1973]

I have my RO about 40' from the 1250 gallon raw sap tank (which sits outside). Both are at the same level. The problem I have is to get the plumbing from the sap tank to the RO i have to go across the evaporator area. But I don't want a hose just laying on the floor going through the middle of the room getting in the way. So I want to plumb the line to the RO around the perimeter of the room to the RO. The only thing is it will have to go up and around a standard door to accomplish this. The Top of the door will be a little higher than the top of the tank.

Will this work? Will it be able to feed the RO?

[meadster02]

From what I know no it wont work. Sap tank has to be higher so that sap will gravity feed to the RO.

[bison1973]

i thought maybe it would work because last season i had a CDL 200 which actually sat HIGHER than the sap tank and it would draw sap out and up to it. it was about 18' away.

This year it is a much larger H2O unit.

[wiam]

I have fed an RO from a lower tank. It will work. I do not think it is best for your feed pump to run it dry for any longer than necessary. Like when priming from a lower tank

[Russell Lampron]

I think you will have a hard time getting the RO to prime if it is even possible. I am assuming that you are using the feed pump on the RO to suck the sap out of the tank. If you weren't going over the door it would work but priming would still be an issue. Maybe if you could put a pump at the sap tank to push the sap to the RO.

[brookledge]

I think you will always have a hard time to get a prime. It is one thing to have the feed tank lower. but since your feed line is going to be higher than the tank where it goes over the door, dont see how it will work for you. Your feed tank can be chuck full and it will not go any higher than that level in the pipe over your door. Unless you have a way of using a vacuum line to get a prime(siphon) then the sap would flow up and over the door until it sucked air.
How about raising the feed tank so it is higher than your door yo need to go over?
Will your permiate tank be the same issue? Because that will be the same issue when you need to do a rinse.
Keith

[inthewoods]

you will have no problem, as soon as you get any amount of sap in your tank above the inlet of your ro you start to make head pressure. your not going to start your ro up with a couple inchs of sap in it anyway, your going to start with a 1/2 tank or more . just make sure you dont trap anny sap by your door sill so it dont freeze. my sap tank outlet is slightly lower than my intake on my H2O ro , my feed pump has no problem at all starting, or loosing prime, and it will suck ever drop from tank and when it runs out of sap and sucks air and shuts off about 3 gal flows back into tank. go for it, just dont trap any sap.

[Super Sapper]

Trust me it will be a very big headache to plump it that way. We replumbed two areas at work that some young idiot engineer designed that way. You will air lock over the door and cavitate the pump. One application was 8 inch pipe with 15 feet of head above the high point in the line and it still air locked.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Why not run a 1" pipe right up against the threshold of you door so when you walk in you are already stepping over threshold. Door will probably clear 1" PVC when it opens.

[bison1973]

you will have no problem, as soon as you get any amount of sap in your tank above the inlet of your ro you start to make head pressure. your not going to start your ro up with a couple inchs of sap in it anyway, your going to start with a 1/2 tank or more . just make sure you dont trap anny sap by your door sill so it dont freeze. my sap tank outlet is slightly lower than my intake on my H2O ro , my feed pump has no problem at all starting, or loosing prime, and it will suck ever drop from tank and when it runs out of sap and sucks air and shuts off about 3 gal flows back into tank. go for it, just dont trap any sap.


Inthewoods,

I like your idea... it was my original thoughts too. But everyone else on here seems to think it won't work. I just felt it might because my small CDL used to draw it up right out of the tank with no issues. Hmm not sure what to try...

[maple flats]

My RO has always drawn sap by pulling it up over the side of a tank. It had to lift the sap up and over but then it was downhill from there. The tank sides were about 20-24" higher than the RO feed pump. It worked OK but for this season I've changed it so the sap is coming off the bottom of the feed tanks for simplicity.

[Super Sapper]

If you run a supply pump at the tank and pump it up over the door to the RO you should be fine then but otherwise you will have to deal with air locking when drawing it up over a door. I would still put a Tee on the highest point with a valve to purge the air occasionally if using a supply pump at the tank.

[jrthe3]

i take the feed pump off the ro and mount it at the tank and push sap over the door to ro

[brookledge]

That would be a good idea. i think that would be best put the feed pump at your tank and just pump it up and over your door. the only other issue you would have to do is extend the wiring from the ro also. The RO is not going to know where it is located as long as the wiring is not altered. You want to make sure that when your feed pump is out that it trips the high pressure pump
Keith

[Russell Lampron]

That would be a good idea. i think that would be best put the feed pump at your tank and just pump it up and over your door. the only other issue you would have to do is extend the wiring from the ro also. The RO is not going to know where it is located as long as the wiring is not altered. You want to make sure that when your feed pump is out that it trips the high pressure pump
Keith

I was thinking a separate pump at the tank with a float switch and leave the RO as it is. When the pump at the tank shuts off the feed pump on the RO would suck the pipe dry.