Mark I Membrane Storage

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Good night Irene...They say

[802maple]

We were probably as hard on our Mark 1 membranes as anybody was and we would wash 3 times after the season with just a regular wash and rinse them out good and then pack them in straight permeate for the year. All 6 of them are still over 100% of there rated capability and they are 7 years old. I am not recommending that you do this as you are to close to Vermont if they screw up,I'm just saying that is what we did and had good luck. They were sent back to be washed as I remember 3 times in that period maybe 4 and they didn't do anything to improve them and that was the only acid washes that they ever got. They were never acid washed by us, but they certainly got alot of regular washes, most of the time twice a day. We were told by Lapierre that we shouldn't change what we were doing as it was working.

[Russell Lampron]

I do what Jerry says with my NF90 membrane and it has slowed down alittle bit after 4 seasons. I think I will send it to Lapierre to have it cleaned this year.

[powerdub]

The glycerin is just for freeze protection. If you store them in a place that they are not going to freeze you should not have to add it. As far as I have heard it has no other storage function.

[gearpump]

Glycerin is used to keep the membrane from drying out, and help keep it moist. Glycol is used for freeze protection. I asked this same question at the dealer last year.

Marty

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[mountainvan]

I talked to Nick Atherton this weekend about the glycerine, said I needed to use it. Bascoms would'nt ship it down, liquid, but Lappeirre is sending some. I have sent mine out in the past to be cleaned, to cdl, but now you need to pay extra to get a report on the membrane preformance. Anyway, I was told they just run the membranes through an acid wash for a long time. I can do that myself.