hodorskib's Small Scale RO Build

[Greenthumb]

Speaking of the needle valves for these homemade ro’s. Do you want the needle valve fairly close to the unit or is it ok at the end of the tube that feeds the ro sap.

[wobbletop]

Speaking of the needle valves for these homemade ro’s. Do you want the needle valve fairly close to the unit or is it ok at the end of the tube that feeds the ro sap.

It should be in the concentrate output line.

[Greenthumb]

It should be in the concentrate output line.

I know that but I guess what I meant was is there a advantage to having the valve close to the last membrane and the longer side to the collection tank vs the tube coming out and the valve at the end of the discharge tube.

[wobbletop]

Ok, I just didn't want other people to be confused.

At the flow rates these normally operate at, there shouldn't be a large pressure drop through the hose, so wherever is most convenient for you would be best.

[seanmacc]

I have a question about membrane storage. I know that they can't freeze and I don't have a heated sugar house so I'm trying to think of options. I've built a system with three 400gpd membranes and one thought I has is can I remove the membranes from the housings and place them in a plastic bag and put them in my refrigerator to keep them cool and moist and just leave the rest of the system at the sugar house or do I need to bring the whole thing in? I can do that but I'm just wondering about options.

DaveB,

This is how I built mine (video below)- It's strapped on to a small hand dolly. I don't remove the membranes. I store mine in our mudroom which stays at around 43 degrees and make sure that I perform the 20-30 gallon permeate cleaning before and after processing. Last year, I wheeled it into the house each night and left it by the door.

https://youtu.be/kMCmam8-UO0

[CaptT820]

I need help with my homemade RO. I am almost certain that I hooked everything up correctly, but I could be wrong. When I began to run water through it on the initial run to clean the membranes I started to build pressure up to about 40 psi, so I shut it off. I disconnected my needle valve to eliminate that as a possible problem and ran it again. It again built up pressure to 25 psi when just running water. I then removed these little blue clips form the tubing connections to the membrane housing that I thought were locking tabs, turns out they were creating a blockage with the tubing and building pressure. Once removed, the pressure went to zero. I reattached the needle valve, but could not get the pressure to zero, it stays at around 45psi. I am assuming I need a new valve? Anyone have a valve setup that they really like?
Just want to help others with my experience.

Thanks

[to100]

What I do is open condensate needle valve 100% and let run and get air out of system then start to close it and force out air in permeate side then adjust to get equal flow rate for 50/50 flow. I have 2 half pint jars in both buckets to see which is faster and fine tune. Save those blue clips that help seal John Guest fittings. Be careful where you put these when you want disconnect a hose, I PUT them back on fitting right away. I almost lost mine and looked at hardware stores NOT.
GOOGLE of a bag of 25 or more.

I think that if you are using well water for flushing, there will not be any pressure since the is nothing to squeeze out.

I am new to RO’s this year and have used it about 8 times.

If I am wrong please let me know so I can understand better.
Thanks

[CaptT820]

To100 thanks for the information. What kind of needle valve are you using? I have a standard 1/4" brass needle valve, but it seems to restrict the flow too much. I ran the system with well water to flush w/o the needle valve and no pressure. I attached the needle valve in the same setup with the valve wide open and it builds pressure to about 45 psi. I am going to try another type of valve (John Guest Poly, push connect) to see if that helps matters. The valve should obviously close all the way or be open all the way to allow full flow. I just think that the needle is too restrictive without some type of regulator on the pump speed.

Thanks

[to100]

Mine is a John Guest type push on. Go to Bucket site there is a video on needle valve. Use “therobucket”

[hodorskib]

You may have over tightened the compression fittings on the needle valve causing the tubing to compress. Not a big deal you can get new ferrules and reinstall.