sounds Like Di... the golden bead stuff.... Golden meaning its shot.... Its suppose to be black
Not true, many colors of beads, some don't change much color.
Does the color of the resin affect the water quality?
No. All resins are of different color and color has no affect on the quality of the water nor does color provide any indication of the quality of resin.
There are a few things that you can do to diagnose a potential ion exchange resin problem in the field. The first thing that needs to be done when a problem with a system makes itself apparent is to verify that the unit is functioning properly mechanically. You should never blame the resin right off the bat. Most resin samples that are received for analysis are in good working condition or are recoverable by cleaning processes. Too many samples are sent and analyzed as good working resins, which indicates the service technician missed something during his system check.
Cation resin
After the mechanical system has been confirmed to be in proper working order, the first thing to know is the resin type: Cation or anion. Let’s first talk about cation resin. The next thing is the age of the resin. Resin does not, as much as many would like it to, last forever. The next thing is to check the physical appearance of a core sample of the resin in the unit.
Rubbing the beads between your fingers will tell a part of the story — if the beads crumble or break to pieces it is likely in need of replacement. If you have a microscope (there are small portable ones out there and some are offered at a reasonable price to hook up to your computer), look at the batch of sample beads and note how many broken or cracked beads there are. If broken beads are more than 5 percent of the total, increase the backwash to get them out. If more than 15 percent, check the resin bed depth, backwash those out and then add replacement resin.
Look for indications of fouling by looking for color on and in the beads different from the color of the new resin. If the color of the beads has changed and you suspect iron fouling, put a sample of the resin in an acid solution and then test the solution for iron content. Any amount more than 50 ppm of iron would indicate some measure of iron fouling. The color change of the resin due to iron fouling you would look for is a reddening of the beads. This is easy to see in amber, blonde or light-colored resin, but not so easy in black or dark-colored resin. These are the typical colors of cation resin.
Metals fouling of cation resins are typical where metals are present in the feed water. The next thing to look for is a lightening of the resin color. This is typical of resin being oxidized by chlorine. Resin does not like chlorine in any form — neither total nor free chlorine. Conversely, this is easy to see in black, amber or other dark-colored resin, but not so easy in blonde or light-colored resin.
The next thing to look for is resin mushing. The resin sample forms a ball and holds that form when squeezed in your hand to make a ball. This is indicative of resin decrosslinking. Chlorine will decrosslink the DVB crosslinker much like pouring acid on the steel cross members of a bridge. The steel is dissolved away and replaced with air. In resin, the DVB is dissolved out and its physical presence is replaced with water. In other words, the hard beads become little water balloons. This is also evidenced by an increase in the expected pressure drop across the resin bed. Know what the pressure drop should be and then, using pressure gauges, check the pressure before and after the unit.
Though there are other things to look for, the last cation check would be if you suspect oil fouling. Put some of the resin sample in a saucer of water, stir the mix and look for the familiar "rainbow" in the water. If not seen but still suspected, scrape some flakes from a camphor stick (available at the local drug store or pharmacy). If the flakes spin, no oil is present. If they lay there like dead ducks, oil is present. Cleaning the resin bed with a nonionic detergent is necessary. Some folks use a popular, high performing dish detergent successfully. Just add an ounce to the unit, put it in slow rinse, look for suds at the drain, stop the rinse, soak for an hour and then let the unit rinse until the detergent is gone.
Anion resin
Now anion resin. All of the above applies to anion resin. In addition, anion resin is easily hardness fouled. If it ever sees hard water, assume hardness fouling. It can also be identified by a white cloudiness to the backwash water or by backwash with soft water; test the backwash water for hardness. Hardness fouling can cause short runs.
Anion resins used in chloride anion dealkalizers can be treated for hardness fouling by using an acid resin cleaner like you would for iron fouling of a cation resin. If the dealkalizer also uses sodium hydroxide as part of the salt brine regeneration, be sure to totally exhaust the anion resin before defouling with an acid.
Another problem to look for is organic fouling. This can be easily detected by looking at the resin color. Most anion resins are very light in color; as they foul with organics they will darken. As they are organically fouled they will experience short capacity. Defouling can be done by mixing ¼ pound of soda ash in 1 gallon of warm water. That will do 1 cubic foot of resin. Add the mix to the unit’s brine tank. Put the unit into regeneration and then stop the regeneration after brine draw. Allow it to soak for two to four hours ... overnight is even better. Then let the unit finish the regeneration. Check the resin bed for color removal. If color is still present, the bed is likely irreversibly fouled and should be replaced.
