Help buying an ro???

[butler]

I am looking at buying a used ro.... preferably a cdl model 250 or bigger... I am in Ontario and only cdl has a dealer close by...any recommendations for cdl or other info that will help me learn would be great... next year will be first time running an ro.
We have about 500 taps on vacuum and hoping to expand to about 8-1000 total taps

[n8hutch]

If you think a CDL hobby unit is what you want I would go to St Albans next weekend for the open houses , they are sure to have one running on display and lots of guys around to ask questions about them, they also almost always have a few used units there for sale. I will be going to St Albans Saturday myself.

[ennismaple]

I am looking at buying a used ro.... preferably a cdl model 250 or bigger... I am in Ontario and only cdl has a dealer close by...any recommendations for cdl or other info that will help me learn would be great... next year will be first time running an ro.
We have about 500 taps on vacuum and hoping to expand to about 8-1000 total taps

I assume the CDL store near you is in Lanark? If so, make plans to talk to Steve Skinner and now that the season is over he'll have the time to talk you through the decisions you need to make. Our CDL unit has been good to us. If you order now you'll get the early order discount.

I would say a 250 GPH unit is the right size for you. If you've got 2 GPT of sap in front of you it'll run for 4 hours. The only problem would be if you only have 300 gallons of sap you want to boil you might have trouble getting enough permeate to wash the membrane. If you're at 1,000 taps a few years from now and have 2000 gallons of sap the RO will run for 8 hours - which isn't an issue a few times a season but you don't want to do that every day.

[wiam]

RO size also depends on what you plan to concentrate to. If you are going to 7-8% a 250 would be enough for 1000 taps. If you plan to double pass and go higher I would suggest bigger than a 250. I usually don't run a soap wash on very low flow days. I do a hot water wash then run what I have for permeate for a rinse. I figure if it only ran for an hour then it did not get membrane very dirty.

[butler]

Thanks guys.... great info!!

[butler]

I'm hoping that on avg days I will have around 4-500 gals of sap.. is that enough to justify running the ro..

[butler]

Might be more stupid questions... but how many tanks will I need... would 2 250gal totes be enough?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I'm hoping that on avg days I will have around 4-500 gals of sap.. is that enough to justify running the ro..

That is more than enough to run that model RO. I had two customers that used them this year and one made 260 gallons with his.

[Russell Lampron]

I am looking at buying a used ro.... preferably a cdl model 250 or bigger... I am in Ontario and only cdl has a dealer close by...any recommendations for cdl or other info that will help me learn would be great... next year will be first time running an ro.
We have about 500 taps on vacuum and hoping to expand to about 8-1000 total taps

A 250 will be fine until you get closer to the 1000 taps especially if you are still using the 2x6 in your signature. With my 125 RO I'm pretty much maxed out at 700 taps and generally have 600 to 1000 gallons of sap to squeeze on a good run. My RO starts out processing at a rate of about 180 to 200 gallons per hour on the 1st pass and slows down as the sap gets sweeter. I concentrate to 14% and usually do 3 passes. My RO runs just about all day concentrating and just about all night washing and rinsing. With the NF 270 membranes, which I use, you can probably double my numbers with a 250.

As far as tanks are concerned you will need storage for twice as much permeate than what your RO is rated for. With a 250 you will need 500 gallons. If you are going to do more than one pass you will also want a tank to send the sweet to also. I have one 275 gallon tote for a sweet tank and two 275 gallon totes for permeate. I'm going to replace those with 330 gallon totes to solve the overflow issue I'm having now when I get a big run.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Russ, why do you need that much permeate? Just pipe an overflow pipe in the top of the permeate tank and run it to a drain if needed or just on the ground outside of OK to do so where you are.

[Hop Kiln Road]

I run an operation close to Russ in size, 750 taps and a 200 RO. I have two 350 gal permeate tanks and two 260 gal head tanks. Permeate is valuable stuff. If have a weak 150 gal run, I can run it through the RO and wash. If the forecast says 5 days in the single digits, I can drain one permeate tank and let the other freeze without losing any operational capacity on the 6th day. After every boil the head tanks, pipes and syrup pan can be rinsed/soaked with permeate. What permeate that does go out the side of the building, runs through the backup syrup pan first. And new this year - I haven't told Russ yet, I'm going to spring it on him - I've connected a pressure washer to the permeate tanks.

[Russell Lampron]

Russ, why do you need that much permeate? Just pipe an overflow pipe in the top of the permeate tank and run it to a drain if needed or just on the ground outside of OK to do so where you are.


I run an operation close to Russ in size, 750 taps and a 200 RO. I have two 350 gal permeate tanks and two 260 gal head tanks. Permeate is valuable stuff. If have a weak 150 gal run, I can run it through the RO and wash. If the forecast says 5 days in the single digits, I can drain one permeate tank and let the other freeze without losing any operational capacity on the 6th day. After every boil the head tanks, pipes and syrup pan can be rinsed/soaked with permeate. What permeate that does go out the side of the building, runs through the backup syrup pan first. And new this year - I haven't told Russ yet, I'm going to spring it on him - I've connected a pressure washer to the permeate tanks.

Like Bruce said permeate is valuable stuff. It works great for cleaning things because it wants to re-absorb the minerals that were removed when you were concentrating. It is also good to have some on hand for cleaning the RO after a small run. I do have my plumbing set up so that switching a couple of valves diverts the permeate flow to the drain.