Question on homemade RO system

[Andy_C]

Me and my buddy have a small hobby setup, a mason 2x4, wood fired, and I swore I never wanted an RO system. However, this year has me thinking more and more about taking the plunge...

Question is, has anyone ever tried modifying an in home/under sink reverse osmosis, which is made to purify drinking water, to accommodate sugaring? I imagine the process is the same, with the exception that we would be discarding the purified water. (using it for cleaning, most likely).

our concern is that the filtration system would leave us with unusable sap.

[gmc8757]

Check out this site. He was kind enough to list exactly what he did for his small diy maple ro setup. Worked out great for me last year but out grew it this year.
https://sites.google.com/site/mattatuckmadnessmaplesyrup/home/homemade-reverse-osmosis-system


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[Andy_C]

That looks exactly like the diagram for a home water purification available at home depot, for around the same cost. Doing a little more research but thinking I might do this for next year. The main reason I do this is for time spent in the sugar house with friends and family, but <1% sugar content makes for a lot of boiling.

[hodorskib]

Using an undersink RO can work but you will need to remove everything except the RO membrane and the 5 micron filter. The carbon and polishing filters will produce off flavors. This will leave you with only 1 membrane. By building a system you can add additional RO membranes increasing your speed of production as well as a higher % on your concentrate. You will also need a pump to provide the necessary pressure since the systems you are looking at work off your homes water pressure.

[Andy_C]

ok, thanks. Some actually come with a pump, which is what I would have bought, but what you said about the 2 filters makes sense. That's what I was worried about. the design in the previous post doesn't seem that difficult anyways...Thanks for the help!