bmbmkr
01-18-2019, 09:34 PM
I bought a second or third hand DR 125 last year, it worked great and was the equalizer for us having a 22 gph evaporator and 250 taps on 3/16 on steep hills. This year I replaced the Honda gas engine and piston pump with a 220v, 1 1/2 hp and 330gph Procon and 1 HP sprinkler pump for feed. I added another vessel in series, and two brand new XLE4040's. Ran it today with permeate from last year, 36F. I used the benchmark data from the MES website. After letting about 200 gallons through, I adjusted it to 150 psi and read 3.6 gph Perm and 2.4 gpm Conc for a total of 6 gpm, which is 360 gallon per hour- I was surprised that it exceeded the HP pump specs especially with all my plumbing past the filter being 1/2". I was worried about restricting the flow.
Running with the concentrate valve wide open, I really couldn't tell what the gpm was because both meters are 0-5 gpm, and the ConC meter was pegged at the top past the scale
I did play around a little, opened the recirc valve til the main pressure came down to 100, then tightened the conc valve until HP was back to 150 psi- This gave me 0.5 Conc and 3.5 Perm. I punched these #'s into the MES RO calculator with 1.5% Sap the Conc brix should be 10%- my expectation for this machine is 8% in one pass, but if it will do 10 without plugging, I will be ONE happy sugarmaker!
I have a question for those who are running RO's, It won't matter next week because I will be running sap through it and getting what I get-so I know permeate and sap are a bit different because of the sugar/mineral content, but i can't find the %- isn't it like 10-15% less efficient with sap than water?
As soon as I get the leaks fixed, I'll be tapping
Running with the concentrate valve wide open, I really couldn't tell what the gpm was because both meters are 0-5 gpm, and the ConC meter was pegged at the top past the scale
I did play around a little, opened the recirc valve til the main pressure came down to 100, then tightened the conc valve until HP was back to 150 psi- This gave me 0.5 Conc and 3.5 Perm. I punched these #'s into the MES RO calculator with 1.5% Sap the Conc brix should be 10%- my expectation for this machine is 8% in one pass, but if it will do 10 without plugging, I will be ONE happy sugarmaker!
I have a question for those who are running RO's, It won't matter next week because I will be running sap through it and getting what I get-so I know permeate and sap are a bit different because of the sugar/mineral content, but i can't find the %- isn't it like 10-15% less efficient with sap than water?
As soon as I get the leaks fixed, I'll be tapping