hodorskib's Small Scale RO Build

[deitzd]

So I was able to run sap through each individual housing today and sure enough, number 2 of 5 was passing sugar. It was showing 3 brix with all the 4 of the others at 0. I bypassed that one and ran the rest of my sap through the other 4. Tomorrow will be warm so I don't expect to get a run and I wanted to boil everything off today.

Right now I have 90 gallons of permeate at 1 brix. When I run it through the 4 menbranes I get 2.5 brix so I'm running that back to my holding tank. Tomorrow I'll use it to figure out what's wrong with number 2.

Thanks everyone for the great advice here. I'm feeling much more confident that this system can make a big difference.

[carls47807]

Glad to hear you found a problem.

I would put the membrane from #2 in a different housing and do a second test (to isolate a membrane or housing problem). After that, it should be pretty straight forward.

Carl

[deitzd]

Glad to hear you found a problem.

I would put the membrane from #2 in a different housing and do a second test (to isolate a membrane or housing problem). After that, it should be pretty straight forward.

Carl

Yes, I plan to swap the membranes in 1 and 2. That will tell me if it's the membrane or the housing. I have new ones ready to go.

Thanks Carl

[deitzd]

So, I swapped the membranes between housing 1 and 2 and testing the permeate indicated a bad membrane.

Pulled it from the housing and immediately noticed that the plastic wrap is slightly wrinkled at the seal. Not sure if that's the problem.
20190408_154821.jpg
Upon further inspection I found a crack in the wraps. I'm pretty sure that's a problem.
20190408_154941.jpg
It seems to be throughout the length of the membrane.
20190408_155039.jpg
I put in a new membrane and let it soak for a few minutes. Tested it and everything is working great.

Thanks everyone for the great help. Some great knowledge here in Mapletrader.

[carls47807]

It looks like it came delaminated from the permeate draw. Sap was probably flowing into the crack (circled in red), and running into the permeate discharge. badmembrane.jpg

Glad you are up and running, and nice set up! Should save you a lot of time in the long run.

Carl

[deitzd]

It looks like it came delaminated from the permeate draw. Sap was probably flowing into the crack (circled in red), and running into the permeate discharge. Attachment 19993

That area you circled is actually just a shadow. I noticed the hole here.
20190408_155039_LI.jpg
That hole is straight through from the one on the other end.

Thanks.

[deitzd]

I sure do love this system. Since I replaced that 1 membrane it's been running great. 2.9 going in, 0% coming out the permeate line and 7 going into my head tank. Awesome.

[hodorskib]

Glad it all worked out!

[Jara]

Hey all,

I'm sure most people are in the thick of syrup season right now - hope all is going well. I've still got a couple weeks to go, so I'm trying to finalize some things this week.

I was planning to build this RO setup and have bought everything except the pump already.
https://sites.google.com/view/mattat...ts-list-for-ro

Power from the grid is 700' away from the boil site, so the plan was to go solar. It's all 150 taps on 3/16 gravity, so the main usage for power right now is for the RO.

I didn't notice the recommended aquatec 8852 is 24vac until after reading this post. Now I'm not sure how to proceed, or if a generator is my only option to power the 8852.

Though after going through several queries, I managed to find this information saying that the 8800 series pumps can also be powered by a 24dvc 5amp transformer. However, I can't seem to find one online. The ones that come up are either VAC or only 1 or 2 amp rated.

I'm at a bit of a standstill, and any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[carls47807]

the aquatec 8852 will run off 24v AC or DC. We sell pumps and transformers, I can get you a 5A 24v DC transformer. email me at sales@therobucket.com.