4 inch membranes- wow!

[claytski]

A customer came into the shop last week looking for 4 inch membranes. He had purchased two membranes from me a few weeks ago and wanted to bring one of his existing membranes up for me to look at. He bought these XLE 4040 membranes new last year, 3 of them. He used them and was having issues. He sent them to Leader to have them inspected/cleaning.

I don't normally do this, but would like to share these pictures with you. You will see the XLE 4040 side by side with one of my new membranes. The MES membrane is coated in fiberglass just like 8 inch membranes are. The XLE 4040 was wrapped with a yellow electrical tape. This is exactly as they came from XLE 4040. Its almost as if they are cutting corners by not fiberglassing them or maybe they forgot???
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[wiam]

That is how they come. I have 2 pair. One set has I think 5 years on them. The other pair has 2 seasons. They still flow as new. They are not pretty but they work. If I was not switching to an 8" machine I would replace with the same thing.

[Maplewalnut]

Yep, this is how they come from non-maple suppliers. And they may or may not have posts/plugs you need to adapt to your maple RO. Lesson learned for me, I will pay the extra money for piece of mind and technical support for a plug and play FIBERGLASS membrane.

[Russell Lampron]

The XLE's come like that but the ones in your pics look like they have been beat to crap. When I have used the XLE's I have pushed them hard enough so that they were almost completely plugged and they still didn't look like those. The NF 90 and NF 270 are fiberglass wrapped just like your membrane.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

yep Atlantic Ro look just like them, now my H20 membranes are fiberglass wrapped. they work for me no problem

[PARKER MAPLE]

That's like putting duck tape on a airplane wing and hoping for the best. You no sooner or later something bad is going to happen.

[wiam]

That's like putting duck tape on a airplane wing and hoping for the best. You no sooner or later something bad is going to happen.

Big difference. Nothing catastrophic will happen with a taped membrane. Nothing outside that tape other than concentrate. I buy membranes based on flow and price. I don't look at them when they are in a vessel.

[markct]

I agree wiam. If they work and last well, and are priced right i couldnt care less what they look like. Im not gona brag to my friends that inside that stainless vessel are membranes i paid extra for just cause they look nicer.

[wiam]

Don't get me wrong. After looking at MES prices they are cheaper than xle's. I would try them

[madmapler]

I bought some MES membranes to try this season. The price is lower than the xles but I would have paid more because they are a lot tougher and I've heard good things about them. Similar flow rates to the xle. Definately worth looking into. Clayton seems to be a good guy to do business with. Very talented and knowledgeable and willing to share. He's not out to gouge his customers. He also set me up with the right vfd for my vacuum pump and took all the guesswork out of it. He programmed it like he does it in his sleep. He also answers his phone when you have questions. All his prices and services are on his website. Now how about that discount?:)

[TunbridgeDave]

I think you have it all wrong as far as the picture of the exploded xle's. They look like they were put in the vessels backwards. If they were put in a vertical machine with the brine seal at the top, you would have an air-lock between the outside of the membrane and the inside of the vessel. At 200-300 psi it's going to do some damage. Installed correctly sap fills that space and the pressure is equal both inside and outside of the yellow tape you see. That being said, when my xle's eventually lose performance, I'm going with MES for the longer runtimes.

[mellondome]

As the outside of the membrane has no effect on how they work..

these pics are not if exploded membranes, but of one that the wrapping was abused during cleaning with a machine that recirculate inside the housing.

[TunbridgeDave]

Flow is within the core of the membrane, not along the outside of the yellow tape, so how could it have been damaged? What type of setup re-circulates outside of the wrapping?