In the market for an RO

[Mead Maple]

Hi all,
Decided to take the plunge and purchase an RO as opposed to build one. I've read some about the Deer Run 500's (not a ton of information on here about them). I have some units in my local area, Deer Run 500, Lappiere 250 Turbo, CDL 250, CDL 200. I'd like to be in the 400-500 tap range and ideally be concentrating between 10-12% before it hits the float box. Can anyone shed some light and help me out? Being able to process fast isn't as big a deal as concentrating high. I've read good things about the Turbo 250 but haven't found anything bad about the CDL 250 other than pumps being susceptible to failure due to running dry. Any help would be appreciated.

[coyote]

I have a Deer Run 500 electric. I have 850 3/16 taps at my cabin 3 hours away. I am not there everyday so its common to have 1500 gallons of sap to process when I arrive. I rarely see 2.0% sap. Generally start at around 1.8 or 9 and steadily fall to 1.2 to end the season. The first pass thru with better sap gets me to around 6.0 at very close to 500 gallons per hour. I second pass to 12% but flow goes way down. About 250 per hour. Obviously those flow rates slow down as the sugar content falls. Overall I am happy with it. It seems bulletproof, haven t had an issue in 6 years. It does take time to process to the desired concentration though. Hope that helps.

[Mead Maple]

That helps a ton, coyote. Did you but the electric unit or did you convert from the gas option? Those numbers are more than acceptable for me. What do you think raw sap gallons you'd need to perform an adequate flushing of the membrane with regards to permeate?

[BAP]

As far as permeate to flush, a rule of thumb for RO, is same amount of gallons as the GPH of the RO. Couple other brands to check out would be MES dolly’s and Next Generation Maple.

[Super Sapper]

I have a Deer Run 250 and you can do a warm rinse by flushing for 5 to 10 minutes and then recirculating heated permeate for about 15 minutes and then flush with fresh permeate. Doing this I can get by with 100 gallons of permeate. I throw some caustic in to wash it every other time to keep it cleaner since it takes the same amount of time.

[coyote]

I bought it as an electric model. I always use 650-700 gallons of sap as a minimum to run the RO. That will give you pretty close to the 500 gallons of permeate that is suggested. I also do the hot permeate rinse as Super Sapper said. Ray also makes a 375 model but not sure of the membranes. I think that is multiple 4". Mine is a single 8".

[heus]

The 375 that I owned from Ray had 3 4" membranes. It worked well, I just can't take the noise of the piston pump.

[maple flats]

My Deer Run 250 was bought as gas engine, when I converted to electric I didn't notice any gph change. I also go from 1.9-2.1% in, 7-8% out in first pass and 11-12% out on recirculate. Doing a true second pass would require another tank.
Yes, you will want about 1000 gal for a complete wash, rinse some times. Many times you can run short some on times and thus save water. Personally however, I have a 1000 gal tank, for permeate for my 250, but it is mounted at an angle (tilted lower towards the drain port), likely only holds about 900-925 the way is set up.
The only times I'm light on permeate is the first boil if it is only 3-400 gal of sap to start. By the second boil I'm regularly over the 500 gal that I might use.

[Mead Maple]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Really helpful. My biggest concern was not having enough sap to create perm for washing. But naturally the last thing I wanted was to buy one this year and end up needing to upgrade next year (though I recognize that'll happen eventually regardless.) My thought was if I could wrangle up enough taps and possibly wait till I had enough to run it after a couple days would be best. Then at least I know I can grow with it instead of grow out of it.