Hobby R/O question

[boondocker]

Anybody on here using a CDL hobby R/O? If so how well does it work and is there any downfalls to it? I really need a R/O and that one may be in budget this spring. I figure that it will hold me over for a few years and they claim it will handle up to 2000 taps. I figure once I breach 2k taps I will move up to a 600 gph unit and the used hobby units seem to sell rather quickly . Somebody try and talk me out of this........

[halladaymaple]

I am roughly the same size as you maybe a few more taps. This is my first year with an RO, should have done it long ago. If your looking for a tier 1 Ro, the CDL Robby Ro is a great unit but most manufacturers hobby RO's are very simple to operate. I went a different directtion with a commercial RO. I have followed this form for years and even my lapierre dealer agrees the best hobby RO is made by CDL. You won't regret the purchase

[n8hutch]

You can usually find used CDL Hobby RO'S too, I saw one last week at the "pick and shovel" in Newport vt, seems like they usually have 2 or 3 at the Maple Festival in St Albans as well. I've been thinking about buying one myself. Or an MES unit. I really like the Leader mini extreme but it's hard to justify the money.

[boondocker]

I will definitely buy a new one.....I sometimes i have a hard time spending a good amount of money on a used piece of equipment that may or may my not have been properly used and taken care of. I try and and stick with CDL, they have treated me very well over the years and CDL just opened up a super store not to far from me here in maine. Leader in my opinion is over priced and to me there finish and attention to detail is not there. They make some nice stuff but they need to keep there prices in check.

[nymapleguy607]

One thing to remember is that the hobby machines are generally designed to remove only 50% of the water per pass. So the most concentrate you will get per hour is 125 gallons, and that is with sap at 60 degrees. You will get less output with colder temps. I would take a look at the MES dolly unit. The pressure and recirc. pump are the same style as the CDL machine. MES uses a larger pump HP pump (290gph @ 200PSI) If budget allows you can get a machine that has 3 membranes. I have ran roughly 5000 gallons of sap through my dolly 300 this season and I love it. I generally start by recirculating the raw sap tank to about 3.5-4% then move it to the head tank making 7-8% concentrate. I will say that if you can get to 1000 tap fairly soon, you would be better going with a 600GPH unit right from the get go.

[wiam]

One thing to remember is that the hobby machines are generally designed to remove only 50% of the water per pass. So the most concentrate you will get per hour is 125 gallons, and that is with sap at 60 degrees. You will get less output with colder temps. I would take a look at the MES dolly unit. The pressure and recirc. pump are the same style as the CDL machine. MES uses a larger pump HP pump (290gph @ 200PSI) If budget allows you can get a machine that has 3 membranes. I have ran roughly 5000 gallons of sap through my dolly 300 this season and I love it. I generally start by recirculating the raw sap tank to about 3.5-4% then move it to the head tank making 7-8% concentrate. I will say that if you can get to 1000 tap fairly soon, you would be better going with a 600GPH unit right from the get go.

Second the bigger RO. I started with a 250 that I expanded to a 375ish. Was always waiting for RO to start boiling. That was with roughly 900 taps. Now I have a 900 with close to 2000 taps.

[chuck]

I fully agree with going with a bigger RO that you can grow into if you can swing it. A hobby RO might be fine for your current situation but if you are seriously looking at 2k taps in the near future I wouldn't waste my time or money on one. I too have a MES 3 post RO. Great unit but with 1100 taps on high vacuum, I often times am waiting on the RO to catch up. Looking back, I should would have tried to scrape up the $ for a bigger rig to improve efficiency and save time.

[wiam]

Good part is the smaller ones seem to hold their value when you do upgrade. I double pass and bill 17-20%. Hate to wait for a 4" machine. I found a god deal on a used one.

[VT_K9]

We have a Hobby RO 250 from CDL. We screwed up last year and forgot to drain it. Two membranes and two pumps later we hope it will be back soon. Fortunately we timed it right and have a used loaner until it returns. It was our fault.

With that said we bought it when we were crossing over 300 taps with a sap puller. We are now crossing over 400 with vacuum and looking at going to about 800 next year. We plan on holding at about 1000 taps the year after. We will you wil 250 for a few more years, but have our sights set on a CDL 600. One person I spoke with mentioned a second 250 when we expanded.

As mentioned above the CDL Hobby RO units remove 50% of the fluid as water (permeate). As mentioned a 250 will process 250 gallons per hour at a set temperature which leaves you with 125 gallons concentrate at twice the sugar % as you had before. So your 250 gallons of 2% (for simple math) is now 4%. You can recirculate or push it again. The instructions talk about 8% being max. We are setup to run our sap through twice with the final run pushing it to the tank which feeds the evaporator. When the sugar % is lower than 2% to start I will often recirculate the sap in the second tank before pushing it to the feeder tank.

For us the Hobby RO is a good machine. I cannot say the third tube model would be that much of an upgrade. It is likely not work adding the tube to a 2 tube machine. That is why we are looking at using our machine at 1000 taps to start and then going to the CDL 600.

You definitely can make progress with the hobby. If you can afford a 600 and are at 1000 taps you can handle run a 600. Remember whatever your machine is rated for, you need the same amount of permeate for a wash cycle. 1000 taps on vacuum gets you in the reasonable ball park.

Mike