R/O won't stay on.

[Justin Turco]

My springtech mini elite on first start of the year won't stay on. I had treated it with the proper anti freeze when I put it to bed last year. I put a new prefilter in it and I am sure I've got the valves positioned correctly for the rinse. But she won't stay on. Prefilter pressure comes up to 10. (That alone is reason enough for it not run.) I think 20 might be the minimum pressure for the pressure switch. The membrain pressure is pegged at 500 and staying there even after I release the start switch?????? Not sure if there is a max pressure switch in it somewhere.

Any thoughts?

Justin

[trackerguy]

Don't own that model, but sometimes the little orfices in things like pressure switches and gauges are full of water and don't get antifreeze mix in them if you don't leave the mix in for a __LONG__ time, then you drain, the water stays there and freezes and breaks the gauge or switch come winter. Happened to the gauge on my RO - read 400 psi all winter long full of what... 2 drops ?? of frozen water now it reads 80PSI too high all the time.

[Justin Turco]

That's a good thought. Makes perfect sense that the antifreeze might not find its way out the little tube that feeds the high pressure gauge.

I think that the prefilter guage is working properly. When I do a rinse on this machine i should see around 20 psi prefilter pressure. Anyone have a thought on why I'm not getting that. I normally would only see that if I was trying to run a dirty prefilter.

[maplwrks]

Justin--If you have low feed presuure, you have a feed problem. You are either blocked, or you have something in your feed pump impeding flow. Check your feed line for any obstruction, you might be surprised at whats in there!! Little critters have a way of finding their nway into places you don't want them.

If you are pegging the pressure pump, check to be sure all valves after the RO are open. Can you pull the membrane to check it out? I'm kind of baffled as to why you would have high pressure. I hope others on here can chime in on this.

[mountainvan]

I had a case of prefilters a couple years ago that didn't let enough sap flow to keep up with the high pressure turbine. Got another box, solved the problem, which was the same as yours. Except the 500 psi part.

[danno]

I was having the same problem with mine, I don't know if the pressure switch went bad. We checked the hose feeding the pressure switch and there was plenty of fluid pressure.

I just manually engaged the pressure switch and pump stayed on and RO ran fine. Of more importance, at the end of the run, pressure switch did work and both pumps turned off.

[Justin Turco]

I removed the high pressure guage today, sure enough it stayed pegged. I've got another one on it's way from Leader...

Bruce up at leader said that if you've got a good filter then prefilter pressure should read low and rise as the filter becomes blocked. I've got a prefilter pressure switch that is set to a minimum of 8psi. I was showing 10 on the guage so I separated the electrical portion from the base plate exposing the diaphram. It is fairly dried out and near failure I believe. I cleaned out some of the yuckyness and worked the diaphram with my fingers and put it all back together..that seemed to do the trick, she fired right up and stayed running.

Did a rinse, then wash, then rinse and now just hope to see the sap start rolling in.

I also should say, it is possible there was somewhere in the R/O that had something frozen. (I had treated it with glycol.) but maybe.... So possibly just sitting in the now once again heated R/O room solved part of my problem.

Thanks for the input. I'm sure I'll be hitting you guys up again soon. Appreciate you all.

Justin