Goo in my RO

[Woodsrover]

So my little Nextgen RO unit didn't seem like it was moving sap like it did when I first got it. I've run a few thousand gallons of sap through it and I'm pretty good about giving it a good rinse at the end of the day and I've given it a soap bath three time so far. I ran 400 gallons through it Friday night (three times) and rinsed it out and stuck it in the basement. This morning I decided to give it a soap bath again and it went as normal. Just for giggles I decided to pull the cap off the top of the cylinder and look inside. I pulled the membrane out and the cylinder and outside of the membrane was full of / covered in clear gooey liquid, about the constancy of syrup. It was almost perfectly clear and didn't smell like anything.

I dumped it out, rinsed out the cylinder and rinsed off the membrane and put it all back together. Am running fresh water through it for 30 minutes as I type.

Any idea what it is? Where it came from? I'm guessing this is why the unit slowed down lately but I'd like to know how to prevent it in the future.

Funny, it seemed to stay in the bottom of the cylinder and didn't get into the sap at all. I boiled last night and the concentrate coming from my head tanks seem just like always.....

[jmayerl]

Yuck, that sounds nasty! Picture? When you wash do you use hot water, 120-130F?

[hodorskib]

I have had that happen when running cloudy warm sap. I see you are also in NW CT and if your sap was like mine it made some dark robust syrup. Never really figured out what it was but I found that I had to change my 5 micron water filter more often when it gets warmer out and it hasn't happened since.

[BAP]

What are you using for water to wash, tap water or permeate?

[Woodsrover]

My sap is in pretty good shape all things considered and I change my intake filter at the start of a new day. I use permeate to rinse at the end of the day but I do use tap water when I do my wash. Its good well water but maybe the lye has a reaction with it?

And yes, Hodorskib, very dark syrup this week. I have 3 gallons to bottle this morning and then out to the shack to boil 140 gallons of concentrate. Funny how quickly it turned dark but I'm hoping this cold snap will "reset" the trees. Guess well find out in a few days!

[bowhunter]

Be very careful using hot water on your membrane. Each manufacturer has a maximum temperature recommendation. I would check that out before doing a warm rinse. I think most are listed as 113 F.

[Burnt sap]

Any idea what the slime was? Bacteria from old sap left standing to long?

[mellondome]

If it was a 4 in ro... most of them do not push around the outside of the membrane. So what ever gets in there stays till you pull the membrane out. It was probably a mix of water and sap from start of season that has gone ropey.

[ihsnipe2]

This is just the gunk in your sap that becomes ropey as the season progresses. It collects around the membrane because of the seal that doesn't let it pass. I usually run my rinse water for a while then let it sit for an hour and start it up and it is cloudy because this stuff is coming out. Not a big deal but will slow the membrane down. I use a citric acid wash to freshen the membrane. Seems to speed it up some