RO seems to be not working well

[tapdrinker]

Sap in is 3 and sap out is 4.1

[maple flats]

We need more info. What do you have for an RO, what pressure do you run it at? Any other info that might help us find the issue?

[tapdrinker]

it's homemade. I use an 8800 pump and 1 membrane setup. I had 4 membranes before I started to troublshoot.
I'm starting to wonder if the membranes were frozen/damaged. The membranes are arian which are supposed to be really good.
I've flushed them with lukewarm water and permate water. I run at 100psi or a little lower even thought it can handle 150psi but flow is horrificly slow.
I've replaced the membrane with another membrane but no improvement in sugar brix/flow. I've brought the system inside last night to make sure
the membranes weren't flozen. I know my system isn't supposed to be a big improvement in brix but I thought I should be able to get rid of at least 1/2 the water on 3% brix sap.

[jrgagne99]

A 150 gpd is not going to remove half the water in one pass. I'm not sure about the 400 gpd ones, maybe they can. What membranes are you running? We aren't mind readers. :-)

[maple flats]

The lukewarm water, did it have chlorine in it? Running such low pressure might be the issue. Can you get the pressure higher?

[Sugar Bear]

it's homemade. I use an 8800 pump and 1 membrane setup. I had 4 membranes before I started to troublshoot.
I'm starting to wonder if the membranes were frozen/damaged. The membranes are arian which are supposed to be really good.
I've flushed them with lukewarm water and permate water. I run at 100psi or a little lower even thought it can handle 150psi but flow is horrificly slow.
I've replaced the membrane with another membrane but no improvement in sugar brix/flow. I've brought the system inside last night to make sure
the membranes weren't flozen. I know my system isn't supposed to be a big improvement in brix but I thought I should be able to get rid of at least 1/2 the water on 3% brix sap.

Were your membranes shipped/delivered at a cold time of the year when they could have frozen during the shipping process? I imagine that could be more of a problem in Vermont. I ordered mine back in early January and was worried that that might have happened. However my four 150GPD membranes went from 1.5% to 6 or 7% all season on one pass. I ran at 125 PSI ( one turn clockwise of the screw )