Darveau Turbo Compact

[mapleack]

I'm looking at a used Darveau Turbo compact 600. Approx 10 years old. Can anyone tell me about these units? Reliable? Easy to operate, etc.

[mapleack]

bump for replys

[chipa]

I run my sap through a Darveau 600 alpha at a farm near me.The owner of the machine has had it since it was new(its 10 years old) and it has been very reliable.It is as simple to run as any other make of RO.

[802maple]

They are a good machine as long as they don't need service, especially with the high pressure pump. There is a collar in there between the pump and the motor that is next to impossible to fix in the field.

[Bradenfish]

I like mine- its the only one i've ever used but it worked great for me. Only used it one year. I thought it was pretty easy to use too.

[Amber Gold]

I wanted to give this thread an update. I found a good deal on a Turbo Compaq 600...no recirc. pump, but it has a feed pump. Just wondering if anybody else had any opinions on these...good machines or not, and any issues??

Thanks

[maple connection]

The Turbo compac 600 is a nice compact machine. Is easy to operate and does a nice job. The negative side is the high pressure pump. The person I worked for had two of these machines and every other year I was installing a new high pressure pump. I think they were $800.00 to $1000.00 from Darveau. Some machine without the recirculation pumps had a update done to them in the membrane canister and plumbing to help fix the problem. It help some but not completely. We did run the machine pretty hard @ 500 psi and we had 15000 taps. Keep the pressures down and I think you will do fine. I would use a low pressure membrane like a xle 4040 or a comparable one. Good luck!!!

[Amber Gold]

Thanks Kevin. This is the model w/out the recirc. pump and I was told it's the updated model...guessing they fixed that issue. A local producer I know has the version w/ the recirc. pump, and he's hammered his w/ minor issues, but I wanted to get some other opinions on them. It comes with a Mark 1 membrane.

[Mathieu]

TurboCompak 600G is a great first RO... if you does't have to fix the high pressure pump during season. The integrated recirculation pump is not very powerfull and it will be difficult to concentrate more than 6% without have to rince during the concentration cycle.

[Amber Gold]

I found this to be a nice machine and worked great for me last season. I ran low pressures and got the sap up to 14%. The machine was oversized for the sap I was getting, so I had time to recirc. and take it easy.

I've always pulled the membranes out and put them in the storage containers w/ preservative. This season, I got a Darveau Turbuo Compaq and the membrane comes out the bottom. The end cap is held in place with a huge snap ring, which I didn't have the right size pliers for. Since I can't get it out, I hook it back up, do a final wash/rinse, fill the wash tank back up, add preservative, and run the RO for 5 min. This was a month or so ago.
Is there any rush now to get the membrane out and in the storage canister? At this point, I'd like to leave it in until the cold weather comes. The machine is heavy, and needs to be pulled outside to pull the membrane out.
I bought a large needle nose pliers w/ a 90 degree bend on them that I'm hoping to get the snap ring out with. Anybody else have experience with getting the end cap off?