RO information

[spike in wi]

We bought a used Deer Run 125 RO this season. The manual explains pretty good at how to do certain operations on it such as soap washing, acid cleaning etc. There is no info on what to do if it will set for one day, two days, week etc. I don't want to screw something up by just plain not knowing why. Where can I find as much info on RO's in general as possible?? Just looking for an information source,. Thanks

[bmbmkr]

This RO requires constant attention, I watch it and my float box constantly but as you get used to it, it's really a good feeling to see that permeate tank fill up and realize how much steam you didn't have to make.

To start it up, make sure the the pressure valve is all the way open, counter clockwise on mine. Connect your hoses, open your feed tank so the pump will prime. start the motor, let the membrane vessel fill up and you will see the flow meters start to work as the sap fills up the machine. Slowly close the control valve- (clockwise) and watch the gauge and flow meters. I usually ran mine at 200 psi. You will see the pressure increase over time as the sugar fouls the membrane.

The tighter you squeeze it, the more often you will have to flush. when you open the re-circulation valve, your overall sap processing rate will go down some, but your concentration % will go up. When you flush, just open up the pressure valve. On my list for next season is to put a 3 way valve into my head tank feed to change the flow back to my feed tank when I flush so I'm not diluting my head tank that is already concentrating.

My evaporator is only 20 gph, so I never had to worry about not keeping up- the lowest setting on the conc flowmeter is .5 gpm = 30 gph.

There are 50+ pages in the RO section of this forum, and some of those threads have multiple pages, I've read every single one of em. RO's are very simple once you run your machine a few times and realize it's just a water separator. Get your do's and don't committed to memory. Take note on the performance of your machine. I was really disappointed with mine the first run- I'd been reading about guys getting 8% in one pass- mine took 1% sap to 2.5% - I ended up recirculating and getting to 6% in one pass, but had to flush a lot. My disappointment quickly dissolved as I realized I still saved 80% of my firewood, and had doubled, then this year nearly quadrupled the # of taps we were able to put in.

www.mapleexpertsolutions.com has a very handy App that has an RO calculator. It's a free download.

Good luck with your season!

[Jeff E]

This is a good place to get info on RO's in general. I am not familiar with that particular RO. However, in general letting the RO sit idle is no problem as long as the membrane is clean, and stays wet. Never let the membrane dry out.
So after using it, do a wash cycle and rinse with permeate water. It can sit in this state for a week or 2 no problem. The only risk of extended down time is bacteria growth. So for extended (end of season) storage most (if not all) of us remove the membrane and store it in a storage solution that inhibits bacteria growth.

[maple flats]

A Deer Run is the only RO I'm familiar with. Mine is a 250, so the numbers will not match yours, but the procedure should. When you start up, Open the high pressure valve about 2 full turns. Then only run the feed pump until you get at least 20 PSI on the low pressure gauge, then engage the high pressure pump. Give it 30-45 seconds then start closing the high pressure valve. I run mine at 270 PSI, +/- 5 PSI. On my 250 that give me about 3 gpm permeate and 1 GPM concentrate. A 125 has the same pumps so your totals it seems should be close, but the relationship of Permeate to Concentrate will not be 3 permeate/1 concentrate because you only have 1 membrane. While the total flow should be about 240-260 GPH depending on sap temperature, I suspect that will give you more like maybe 2/2.You just wo't squeeze as much water out with just 1 membrane 4x40". If you run it way down at 200 PSI your flow might even total higher but you will get fewer gal/hour of permeate out.
Make sure you never let the RO freeze, it must be stored above freezing all year or in the off season it can get both preservative and glycol to prevent freezing.
I only wash mine with soap before the season and after the season, I do not use soap in season unless performance drops. I do a permeate wash after every use. I start with a cold permeate flush, pushing the sugar into the head tank for 5 minutes. Then I do a hot permeate wash (110-113 F) for 10-12 minutes. During that I keep the pressure valve adjusted so both flow meters are essentially equal. As the membrane gets cleaned the valve needs to be adjusted several times. I then do a cold permeate rinse, until the concentrate discharge is cold, again, with the 2 flow meters equal. This time the flows do not keep changing. This may take 5 minutes, maybe 8 or 9 on a 250, likely less on a 125.
I did it this way for 3 seasons and then sent my membranes in to Lapierre for professional cleaning and performance testing. The report came back that they passed no sugar and the performance was at 103% (I'm not sure how it was over 100% but that's what the report stated. This is my 4th year since that cleaning, test and report. After the 2020 season I plan to again send them in, maybe 2021.
Once the RO is cleaned it can set (without freezing for at least 2 weeks, if longer I'd suggest another wash like the first way I stated. After the season, do a cold permeate rinse for 5 minutes, then a how soap wash (again 110-113 F) for at least 10 minutes, then follow that with a cold permeate rinse for a minimum of 5 min, I sometimes do that for 10 or even 15 minutes if I'm doing something in the sugarhouse. Many locations require the soap discharge to be vrought to the PH of your water source, use a PH meter or test strips to verify. Even areas that do not require it (yet), that's still a good practice.
Have I sent you an RO manual for the Deer Run RO? If not, send an email requesting one to: dave@cnymaple.com

[spike in wi]

Yes Dave you did send your version of the manual to me. I believe we've got it figured out now. I do still have a couple of questions. When doing the wash cycle do you run through both concentrate and permeate or just concentrate? And acid wash? and preservative? Thanks for all the replies. Mike