Waterguys RO

[backyardsugarer]

I am looking at buying an RO from the waterguys who make RO's for all applications. It has all the stainless parts, pump, concentrate and permeate controls that the other RO's have. That includes maple sap membranes. The unit I am looking at makes 35 gallons of concentrate and hour (2% to 8% with 1 run) and over 100 gallons of permeate. The cost shipped to my door brand new is $2995. Anyone have one of these? Heard of these? It seems too good to be true when all the maple companies want over $7k for a comprable unit. Thanks for any input before I pull the trigger.

[TF Maple]

If you do a search for waterguy you will come up with a couple threads about him. While there is confusion about the gallons produced between making drinking water and concentrating sap, it seems to be a good company and equipment.

[green4310]

I don't mean to be a wet blanket but based on what I have learned in putting together my own system, Those numbers can be duplicated with two xle2540 membranes and a Procon pump @aound 250psi. That's the good news. The rest of the story is that those numbers are for water @65 degrees. If you try running maple sap @45 degrees you can pretty much reverse the numbers ie 100gph concentrate and 35gph permeate. The above is my experience only and you should make your own decision. Only fuel for thaught, but at least pin them down on their specifics. Good luck.

[backyardsugarer]

good point, I am in the process of setting up construction of the unit now and I will be sure to ask them about the temp of the sap. So far so good with the rest of the unit and the questions I have had. I will be sure to share my full experience (good or bad) with all of you so you can decide if such a unit would be right for you.

A new hero costs around $5,600. If this unit can produce about 50 gallons of concentrate an hour (for half the cost) that is all I need to keep my 2X8 rolling.

Chris

[hhbf]

I got on here to check if anyone had any info on the waterguys ro system. If you're experience is good - I will probably buy one for next season. It would sure be nice to have someone use one of these who has experience with the Lapierre and other standard maple ro units.

[mapleack]

It doesn't appear that the Mapleguy RO's have recirculation pumps. Does anyone know if thats the case? Having recirc is absolutely a must.

[chipa]

They do not have recirculation pumps.

[backyardsugarer]

That is correct so to recirculate the sap I will have to run it back to the feed tank and through the unit a second time to get it up to about 8%. The unit is supposed to take 2% sap and make 35 gallons of 8% per hour. It is run under relatively low pressure so I will have to run it through twice to get the sugar content where I want. I am very happy with the construction quality and technical support that I have received from these guys so far. It apprears to be the perfect little unit for a guy like myself with 600 taps and a 2 by 8 rig.

Chris

[mapleack]

Recirulation pumps aren't for reaching higher concentrate levels, they work by keeping sap constantly moving across the concentrate side in a loop type fashion. This keeps the membranes cleaner longer, keeping performance up.

[brookledge]

Exactly without a recirculation pump you are not going to be able to get anywhere near the amount of sap through the membrane. Will they work, sure but not very productive.
To look at it another way the recirculation pump keeps the sap agitating in the collum. Without it the membrane begins to plug quicker and thus need to be cleaned more often.
Keith

[twobears1224]

how hard would it be to add a recir pump to one of these ro,s??

delbert