New Flow Meter setup

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

My 2 post RO has been a Frankenstein project of mine the past few years. I had a NextGen Hobby RO and decided to upgrade it and turned it into a 2 post 200+ gallon per hour system.

Ive noticed I had slow down during processing as I don't have a recirculate line setup, but I do recirculate straight from the concentrate tank until I get the % I want, usually 8%. Generally the slowdown has been my prefilter becoming clogged after running 400+ gallons through it. I wanted a way to tell if my filter was clogged and also wanted to monitor my flow rates. I had a piece of stainless that used to cover my old ProCon motor housing and decided to build flow meters into it and I will mount this to the top of the RO dolly. My issue that I still have is the 1/2BSP threaded ports of the flow meters weren't exactly easy to find barbed female couplings for them. I found a set and the inlet ports ended up being way too small, so I finally found a place in Buffalo that had the 1/2BSP Female couplings with 14mm barb which is close to 9/16". So I ordered those last night and now I will just wait until they get here and finish putting this together.

Pix for your enjoyment, 3 meters, Raw Sap, Concentrate, and Permeate.
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[darkmachine]

looking for flow meters for my build did you find that the 5 gpm meters you used to be sufficient? I think they still sell the ones you used on amazon.

[JoeJ]

Do you filter your raw sap before your prefilters? I know some people who do not filter before the RO prefilter, but I always have. I have a 2 bag (100 micron) filter system that filters the raw sap into a small tank that feeds the RO. After using RO's for 16 years, I have never had my RO prefilters plug or even noticeably slow down. Depending on the quality of the sap, some days the bag filters remove only a little junk and then other days, they remove a lot of junk.

Joe

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I do not filter it before my prefilter. With the costs of the prefilters being so low I just prefer to stop and swap them out after I notice a slow down. Adding an extra filtering step when I have 500 gallon plus days would just add too much more time to the process.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

They worked great for me, Ive already swapped them out though as I upgraded my RO again. I now am using 20GPM meters.


looking for flow meters for my build did you find that the 5 gpm meters you used to be sufficient? I think they still sell the ones you used on amazon.

[darkmachine]

Good to know, i want to make sure the flow meters i get are good for up to 2 4040 membranes even though i'll have just one for the 2022 season. One less thing to have to add when i grow one step bigger!