RO/DI waste won't shutoff

[Slickdonkey]

My water bill was sky high for the last two months. Eventually I figured out the cause is my RO/DI waste water is not shutting off. It was working fine for awhile. Anyone have any ideas which parts to check? I've never really studied these things in detail to figure out exactly how they work.

Basically the purified water goes into a Brute can on a float valve. Used to work fine, not sure what happened...

 

[mungus]

Do you have a pressure gauge after your prefilters? I have had this problem in the past and it was caused by low incoming water pressure. It was always caused by a .5 micron carbon filter clogging prematurely. Since I replaced it with a 5 micron I have not had that problem. It could also be your auto shut off valve. They are just a simple diaphragm. If they somehow get something in them they will fail.

Brian

 

[Meche]

My water bill was sky high for the last two months.

You pay for water?

 

[DonW]

You pay for water?

:lol: :lol: You dont? Mine goes up the more I use.

Don

 

[Meche]

You dont? Mine goes up the more I use.

I pay about $30-50 bucks a quarter. I would never notice a faucet wide open for a month by looking at the bill.

 

[trido]

I pay about $30-50 bucks a quarter. I would never notice a faucet wide open for a month by looking at the bill.

My bill that I just opened. For two months is $106.71 That will go up quite a bit in the summer if I water my lawn. I costs the State alot of money to catch all of that rain up here in the Pacific Northwest.:lol:


Regarding the RO/DI. My unit has a valve right after the RO membrane that has two purposes. One is to keep pressure on the membrane and allow waste water to pass. If I turn It 90 degrees it will let pure tap water run through the RO chamber to clean the membrane and beleive me it flows like crazy. This could be one potential issue if yours has the same.

 

[DonW]

Regarding the RO/DI. My unit has a valve right after the RO membrane that has two purposes. One is to keep pressure on the membrane and allow waste water to pass. If I turn It 90 degrees it will let pure tap water run through the RO chamber to clean the membrane and beleive me it flows like crazy. This could be one potential issue if yours has the same.

That is call a flow restrictor bypass or flush valve.

Don

 

[Slickdonkey]

Do you have a pressure gauge after your prefilters? I have had this problem in the past and it was caused by low incoming water pressure. It was always caused by a .5 micron carbon filter clogging prematurely. Since I replaced it with a 5 micron I have not had that problem. It could also be your auto shut off valve. They are just a simple diaphragm. If they somehow get something in them they will fail.

I will check it out. I have a pressure gauge lying around somewhere but it is not hooked up.

:lol: :lol: You dont? Mine goes up the more I use.

Me too. It is a tiered system, so if I go over a certain amount in my billing period, I am billed even more per cubic foot over that amount

That is call a flow restrictor bypass or flush valve.

I do have one of these.

 

[Slickdonkey]

I've noticed the output from the unit start to drop drastically in the last week or so. One of the filters must be plugged or something. How can I tell which one it is? I have a 5-stage.

 

[twilliard]

Hey Brian. One way to test the system is to valve off the RO line and any other "clean" line. Once the system reaches cutoff pressure it should shut off. If it doesnt I would look into the auto shutoff valve.

How old is the membrane?
Do you have a water softner?

 

[Slickdonkey]

Hey Brian. One way to test the system is to valve off the RO line and any other "clean" line. Once the system reaches cutoff pressure it should shut off. If it doesnt I would look into the auto shutoff valve.

How old is the membrane?
Do you have a water softner?

I bought the unit new about 6 months ago and have been using it pretty steadily since then. Since I'm starting to see the output drop as well, I'm guessing it's one or more of the filters and/or membranes. Not sure which it is though, and I hate to replace them before they're due.

This is a 100gpd unit and I'm getting maybe 30gpd.

No water softener.

 

[DonW]

I bought the unit new about 6 months ago and have been using it pretty steadily since then. Since I'm starting to see the output drop as well, I'm guessing it's one or more of the filters and/or membranes. Not sure which it is though, and I hate to replace them before they're due.

This is a 100gpd unit and I'm getting maybe 30gpd.

No water softener.

Is this thing still not shutting down the asv for you? Take out the first filter and give it a shot. Do not remove the carbon filter.

Don

 

[Slickdonkey]

Is this thing still not shutting down the asv for you? Take out the first filter and give it a shot. Do not remove the carbon filter.

Still not, but I haven't replaced anything yet. I have a new ASV to try out but haven't installed it yet. Just this week I noticed the output has really dropped off and figured it might be the membrane, per Mungus' advice above.

I will try your suggestion first before replacing anything; that way I know what the problem was.

 

[jesshimom]

That might be a good thread... what are your utility costs.

Our water bill for two months - $186

Our power bill (no electric heat or electric water heater) - $585

I think it's almost sinful.

 

[Slickdonkey]

Wow Colleen, what are you guys growing up there? My gas and electric combined is no more than $350 for the worst month out of the year... and this is a 1975 pre-energy code house and $100 of that electric cost is the tank.

My two-month water bill is usually not more than $80, but with my malfunctioning RO/DI it was $175. Two months of waste water shooting down the drain for no reason, no doubt.

 

[jesshimom]

Well that was for two month on the power bill, does that help? We also have a hot tub we never use but runs all the time. The PUD says let it run, cheaper to maintain than turn down and up. I think we could reduce the lighting periods; and hey lights and tv's are on all the time... halides, chillers, pumps....

 

[Scooterman]

Usually the pre-filters are the first to go, then carbon, then Di the RO should last about 20k plus if you take care of it. Wast water is produced only when the unit is making the RO/DI, It should be off otherwise, so this is confusing from what your saying. If your getting a steady flow of waste something isn't correctly plumbed in your unit, the fact that you are getting a slow down in production means enough is working to at least make some good water, I take it your testing for TDS right? Maybe your restrictor is messed up, depending on the rating of the DO membrane is how the restrictor size is determined, they have to be a match. I have a small gauge on the inlet of the RO so when pressure drops It has to be either the pre filters or the carbon .

 

[Slickdonkey]

That's odd Scooty, it's been working fine for months so I don't think it's a plumbing problem. I have a pressure gauge somewhere; first I have to find it.

My TDS is still zero but I don't think that tells me much since I have a DI stage. Nothing put pure blissful clean water gets out of that.

 

[Slickdonkey]

As long as we're on the topic, I was thinking of replacing my 100gpd membrance with a 75gpd membrane. I don't need that kind of speed and I've heard the 75's will last longer and produce less waste water. Is there any truth to this?

 

[DonW]

If your getting a steady flow of waste something isn't correctly plumbed in your unit, the fact that you are getting a slow down in production means enough is working to at least make some good water,

It takes pressure to shut off the asv. All asv have a minimum pressure and they need any where from 60 to 90 percent of that pressure to operate. The combonation of lousy output and asv not working is a definate sign that the 1st filter is plugged.

Don