CDL hobby working slow

[Asa Matras]

Thanks. I got it soaking with acid now. We'll see if that helps.

[Asa Matras]

So I soaked this twice. Once with a store bought acid and again with cdl acid, no difference. Still slower than a single post 125 gph hobby. Again these membranes are only about two seasons old now. Any clues?! Thanks.
By the way we're upgrading to at least a 600 next year. Currant ro cant handle the sap even working at full bore plus we're adding 700+ on vac next season.

[n8hutch]

What are your pressures like? Seems like if your Membrane was fouling that your pressure would be climbing? Running higher than the normal? I just got an R.O. this year so I don't really know that much about them. But is it possible that something mechanical is going on ,and not so much Membrane related?

[nymapleguy607]

Are you checking the ph of your wash solution a little bit after the initial mixing? If the PH is dropping you might not be getting all of the biofilm from the membrane. I just did an acid wash and soak on my ro, after the final soap wash I am getting flow rates better than when the ro was new.

[Asa Matras]

What are your pressures like? Seems like if your Membrane was fouling that your pressure would be climbing? Running higher than the normal? I just got an R.O. this year so I don't really know that much about them. But is it possible that something mechanical is going on ,and not so much Membrane related?

Yes the pressure is higher like 225+ which is high for this machine at 50 degree sap.

[Asa Matras]

Are you checking the ph of your wash solution a little bit after the initial mixing? If the PH is dropping you might not be getting all of the biofilm from the membrane. I just did an acid wash and soak on my ro, after the final soap wash I am getting flow rates better than when the ro was new.

No. Can you get a meter without sacrificing an arm and a leg? So you test the soap wash water a few mins into the wash?

[Russell Lampron]

No. Can you get a meter without sacrificing an arm and a leg? So you test the soap wash water a few mins into the wash?

You can get ph test strips at hardware and pool supply stores. Amazon and ebay may have ph meters that aren't too expensive too.

You test the wash water after it has had a chance to clean for a little while and add soap as need to get it to 11%. You want to test it before it gets too far into the wash cycle so that it will be right for part of the cycle that does the best cleaning.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Asa Take it from and old pro When the poop is hitting the fan and things are going south and you have tried every trick in the book and things are still on fire and things are running on the floor and your wife is looking at you as if you just sold her first born you haven't had a good sit down for about 3 days.

THERE AIN'T NO STUPID QUESTIONS

Unless its your mother in law asking what your plans are for next Wednesday around 5:00 to 5:32 depending on when Harold gets home from his Fracking protest and what you want as a side dish. REALLY go away.

[maple flats]

For the acid wash did you circulate it for at least 5 minutes before letting it set? Then after, you followed that with a soap wash and a permeate rinse, how long did you rinse? I do mine for at least 10 minutes.
In regular use what is your end of day routine for the R.O.?
I may be all wet since my RO is a different brand, but you say it normally gets 2 and 2 gpm, at what pressure are you running? I also have a 250 and I push it harder most of the time, so my flows with 40F sap are about 1.1 conc., and 3.1 permeate. I run at 270-275 if I am going to be near the R.O while it runs, if it is running unattended I turn it back to about 250. At that I still get about 2x permeate compared to concentrate and the total flow picks up slightly.
Many on here say they do a complete wash cycle at the end of each day, I do not. Unless performance tells me to, I start by pushing cold permeate thru and the conc. goes to the head tank for 5 minutes. Then I run a hot permeate wash (no soap), recirculating both conc. and permeate to the wash tank, except I start by adding more hot water while it is running and until the membrane canisters get warm, I send the permeate portion back to the permeate tank. Once the membranes are up to at least 105F to max 113F start my timer for 10-15 minutes. Then I run a cold permeate rinse for 8 minutes minimum but since I have a lot of permeate I often run it for 15-20 minutes. When I do that part, the concentrate is going to drain and the permeate is going back to the permeate tank.
While I run at 270-275 to concentrate sap, when cleaning in all stages I set the pressure so both flow meters are essentially equal flow.
For me this method has worked perfectly since my second season in 2013 on my R.O. (the first I used a soap wash then a rinse). After I had done my method for 3 seasons I send my membranes to Lapierre for commercial cleaning and testing. The report came back that they were at 101% (not sure how they got to better than 100%).
Unless I have an issue where the flows change from normal, I only need a soap wash and then an acid wash (2-3 weeks), followed by a long permeate rinse, then I put my preservative in and then close the flow control needle valve, drain the pumps, drain and rinse the wash tank and put it to bed til next season.
Flows, my biggest day ever , I only had 2600 gal of sap, and I ran all day, from about 10 AM til 11PM, but it was all gone. (that was 1800 gal of my sap and 800 I processed for 3 other producers on shares.)

[Asa Matras]

First time: Ran the acid in for 10 mins and let soak for 48 hrs did a soap wash and rinsed with 200 gals. of permeate. Second time per cdl rep. instructions: used cdl acid and ran that like a soap wash up to temp let sit over night and just rinsed that out with 200 gal. of permeate.