RO Power consumption & recommendations

[Wilf]

Our property has no power so everything needs to be generator, wind, or solar. I'm working on an accurate power budget for the sugaring but can't find specs on the R.O. units.

Does anyone have any actual readings (measured running amps vs. rating plate or start-up amps)?

If a unit is rated at 150GPH does that mean it can RE circulate 150GPH or is that 150 in and 150 out in an hour? What is the BRIX at the end of processing 150gal & 1 hour?

What units should I consider for 1000 taps?

Thanks!

[Haynes Forest Products]

You will need to keep the heat on 24/7 Is power that far away that its not cost effective to bring it in. Im thinking that if the RO processes 150 GPH down to 50 gallons of concentrate and your rig evaps 100 GPH you will need to have a steady 550 GPH RO to keep the rig running steady or run and store and then cook.............But heck I have know Idea what kind of power you need

[Russell Lampron]

Wilf,

My RO is a Lapierre 150 Turbo. It requires a 220 volt 30 amp circuit. I don't know the actual power consumption though. You will need to keep it in a heated room and the power that the heater uses will need to factored in as well.

A 150gph rating means that it will produce 150 gallons of permeate in one hour at if I remember correctly 55 degrees. When the membrane was new I could run it at just under 500psi and get about 40 gallons of 8% concentrate out of it in a single pass. As a membrane ages it becomes clogged and the production numbers drop.

For 1000 taps I would go with a 300gph RO or bigger.

[maplemat1]

i'm setting my r.o. up right now mine is a 600 a hr . take the amps off the tags add them up then multiply them by 240 then that is the min. watts you what for a genarator . for example my r.o. take 44 amps times 240 =10560watts . my new genarator is 14400 watts . for the heating part pull your membrian in off season store under your bed (because we know it won't freeze there) and drain all pumps. in season have a small propane heater with pilot lite to keep r.o. room warm. i have r30 in the ceiling and r16 in the walls.

[Jeff E]

Just to clarify, every RO I have looked at, the rating is the best case scenario for input volume. They also have a rating for water (permeate) removed, usually as a percentage.

Mine (a CDL 600) is rated for input of 600 gph, with a removal of 75% of the water. Under normal conditions, I would be OK saying I average 450-500 gph, and I have never been under a 75% removal rating.

I think it is better to match your RO with your evaporator, rather than a tap rating. Just make sure it is an evaporator you plan on keeping for a while!

For example, my evaporator can process 100gph, so I want my RO output to be about that, or a bit higher. If I am running 500 gph at 75%, the concentrate output will be about 125 gph. Good match. The RO finishes processing and I have a feed tank full of concentrate to finish running through the evaporator, to finish the day.

Regarding power, the RO feed pump is 5 HP, the Pressurizing pump is 5HP, the recirc pump is 1 HP, if memory is correct. 220V 50 amp circuit.