[rb4no]

hi all, i have a pure freedom 200gpd system, been making nice water for a few months, however haven't used the system for three or so weeks, gone to make some water and getting hideous tds. checked my filters etc and my first pre filter is full of mold I guess from standing water and a little sunlight exposure. I've changed all my prefilters and after the ro I'm still getting mid 40's reading which isn't good. Do you think I've fouled up my ro from the dirty prefilters? Is there anyway to clean the RO other than just flushing out which i did by the way?

thanks alot. dickie

[[GQC] Tim]

Chances are your membrane has been ruined by microbial fouling. Open the membrane housing, if it's slimey it's a dead giveaway. Bacteria thrive in the post pre-filter de-chlorinated conditions.

There are complicated cleaning procedures, but it's more practical to replace the membranes.

[Spruce]

................ and bleach all the components, including the pipework and prefilter housings.

[rb4no]

i've opened up the RO membranes and cant find any evidence of fouling, should i get rid of these and start over with fresh filters everywhere? can i clean all filter housings and pipe work with diluted bleach followed up with fresh water in order to disinfect the whole system? many thanks, richard

[8weekly]

Did you run it for a good while to flush it out. I recall there was a flushing process to use after a period of non use.

[lozsing]

I had the same problem after leaving everything stood while I was on holiday for 2 and a half weeks in warm weather , I had to replace my ro , I treid to run it a while but resin costs were killing me .like ppl have said bleach everything when you put new in .
When I looked at mine you couldn't tell any damage but was coming out of ro at 50 .

[SPE]

I was always advised when changing pre filters to flush them through first before connecting to the ro, did you do this ? and how much water did you try to produce before you realised how high the tds was ? possible you may be able to remove the membrane, clean the housing and rinse it.

[rb4no]

guys i've taken all filters out, cleaned out backwards and forward with bleach, then rinsed fora  few hours, installed all new filters and membrane, backwashed again for 2 and a half hours, now filtering for a few litres and still getting mid forties!!! which is the same as before new filters and membranes and clean out!!!! please help got to make water for monday. tds at the tap is around 420 which is typical for around here!

[dave0123]

Personally i dont think the pure feedom small RO's are any good binned mine over the same sorts of problems years ago.

Do you have low water pressure? or  low water flow from your tap.

[Spruce]

I would disconnect the membranes and test the performance of each unit individually. It could either be a faulty membrane, housing or you have reconnected the lines up incorrectly - ie the pure of one has been joined to the waste of the other.

[rb4no]

haven't noticed the water pressure diminish, maybe i reconnected the tubes incorrectly although I thought i checked these. Can someone please take a look and advise, the filters are housed below out of picture however the tube on the bottom right hand side is out of the last filter .

[rb4no]

tried loading an image but says it's full or something. please adivse, only a small image to load.. dickie

[formb]

Use the link at the top 'select photo' not the link at the bottom.

[rb4no]

here,s the image

[rb4no]

.

[formb]

Do'h.

You need to make sure the cursor is in the text box. Click the 'select photo' link choose your photo then wait till it comes up in the box. It won't be a picture just text but when you press post it will appear as a pic.

[rb4no]

[rb4no]

thanks mate, yeehaaa by the way the image is upside down

[Spruce]

I don't see anything wrong with the way you have connected them up. What I don't like is the waste from the first membrane being diverted to the input of the second membrane to be filtered again.

Whilst this saves water it means that the second membrane is having to do a lot of extra work. The tds of the water entering that second membrane will be much higher than your original tap water's tds.

Firstly, are you getting a waste to pure ratio of about 3 to 1 when you throttle the tap back on the waste? This means that over the same period of time, say 5 minutes, you should have 3 times more waste water than pure water produced.

If this is correct, then I would test the performance of each membrane without the other. You need to identify which membrane is giving you the high reading.

[rb4no]

ok checked this morning after leaving it on to make water but not through the DI. TDS has dropped about 10 and now reading 25ish. I've back washed again this morning for a couple of hours and now making water again. The waste to pure ratio is about 3 to 1.