[chez]

Hey guys.
Trying to cut a long story short but bought a new R/O Axeon 40/40 hf5 cos they are really good. My tap psi is 58/60. Run  it through the system with a 40/60 rejection rate but more than often a 50/50.  My TDS is 330 from the tap. My old R/O s TDS started to rise - for the last 4 years which is [which is how long this one has lasted] has consistently produced 95% rejection so just 5% taken out by the resin.
So put new one in ran it in as you do but couldn’t get the TDS down any lower than 40. Tried again and again with higher waste and more flow over the membrane and will not shift below 40. Contacted the place I bought it from and basically she said that Axeon rep has said you should never run it at 50/50 as it won’t work it will still be trying to recover. The psi is far too low it needs to be 80 in order for the 95% rejection rate. They claim I have just been lucky the last 4 years as I am using it outside their recommended parameters ie. a minimum of 14 litres /minute flowing over the membrane [my flow rate is about 6litres maximum - my system wont allow for any more turned to maximum when I’m flushing]
So basically I’m stuck with this inferior running r/o which I paid £280 for. Incidentally I put my old one back in and it instantly went down to 25. When I pointed this out they said that each membrane is different as there can be a + or - 20% difference in each membrane, but still within their tolerances.
So I’m gonna go through the resin twice as quick if I leave it in. They are telling me I need to bypass the waste valve in order to up the amount of water flowing over the membrane. End of. Won’t accept that there is anything wrong.
Any comments would be much appreciated.

[deeege]

Sounds like a dud to me. I recently bought a HF5 and my tap water is also 330ish.  The RO is bringing the water down to 005 or 006 before resin. Rejection rate is also roughly 50/50 and tap pressure is 55psi.

I wouldn’t be happy with having to use twice as much resin with a brand new RO.

[SB Cleaning]

I bought a Axeon once...worse RO I ever bought...wasn't from Gardiners was it?

[dd]

I have Axeon membranes in my 300gpd ro. brings water to around 004 from 200. My tap pressure is approx 55psi.

I find it takes a couple of weeks or so with new membranes for them to work at their best, not sure why but is in accord with what June at Gaps told me.

[chez]

I bought a Axeon once...worse RO I ever bought...wasn't from Gardiners was it?

No it’s from gaps water. Must admit I’ve let my frustration be known to June and she has been extremely helpful, but at the end of it they are saying that I should not be getting the results I’ve had in the last 4 years I’ve been lucky!

Sounds like a dud to me. I recently bought a HF5 and my tap water is also 330ish.  The RO is bringing the water down to 005 or 006 before resin. Rejection rate is also roughly 50/50 and tap pressure is 55psi.

I wouldn’t be happy with having to use twice as much resin with a brand new RO.

Yes that’s what I think, I’m really reluctant to put the new one in and hope that it comes good but meanwhile it eats up the new resin I’ve just put in. Then my old one which will do a better job will dry out and so I’m stuck with a duff r/o they say is working perfectly fine and how they expect it to with the limitation of my system.
Can I ask which r/o you bought please I don’t think I’ll ever buy an Axeon again if this is the way they treat their customers?

I have Axeon membranes in my 300gpd ro. brings water to around 004 from 200. My tap pressure is approx 55psi.

I find it takes a couple of weeks or so with new membranes for them to work at their best, not sure why but is in accord with what June at Gaps told me.

Dd, can you let me know what your initial readings were and did it come down to 5% [your tap TDS and what it is now] cheers

[dd]

Cannot remember exactly initial readings, but they were better than yours. I do find a small variance between different membranes when I have changed them in the past, but once the membranes have settled down my readings have always been in single figures - highest around 006 (unless the prefilter needs changing).

Also I find the tds comes down a little after I change the pre-filter.

I flush the membranes for an hour or more when newly fitted to get the reading down.

My ro is a smaller unit than yours, not sure if this makes a difference. Tap pressure 55psi. Input tds around 200.

[CleanClear]

Membrane in the housing the right way round ?

[chez]

Cannot remember exactly initial readings, but they were better than yours. I do find a small variance between different membranes when I have changed them in the past, but once the membranes have settled down my readings have always been in single figures - highest around 006 (unless the prefilter needs changing).

Also I find the tds comes down a little after I change the pre-filter.

I flush the membranes for an hour or more when newly fitted to get the reading down.

My ro is a smaller unit than yours, not sure if this makes a difference. Tap pressure 55psi. Input tds around 200.

Ok cheers. I’ve had mine flushing for at least 2 hours still won’t come down. Think I’ll have to either dump it, have a word with my credit card provider to see if I have any rights. But apparently business to business deals have less rights than a normal consumer. I asked June about this and she quoted these rights to me. Damn it!!!

Membrane in the housing the right way round ?

Yes made sure of that. But thanks for the suggestion

[andyM]

Could you buy a Booster Pump?
Or better borrow one to see if it would make a difference?
I know it's not an ideal solution to the problem but at least if you could get your water pressure up to at least 80 psi you would know for sure if the membrane was a dud or not.

[John Mart]

Could you buy a Booster Pump?
Or better borrow one to see if it would make a difference?
I know it's not an ideal solution to the problem but at least if you could get your water pressure up to at least 80 psi you would know for sure if the membrane was a dud or not.

That’s a good idea. Buy one mail order and send it back within 14 days if it doesn’t work.

[chez]

Could you buy a Booster Pump?
Or better borrow one to see if it would make a difference?
I know it's not an ideal solution to the problem but at least if you could get your water pressure up to at least 80 psi you would know for sure if the membrane was a dud or not.

That’s quite a good idea. Might have a look into that. Really frustrating tho as I’ve been using the system for 7 years and each r/o I have bought has consistently provided 95% rejection rate at 50/50 waste pure ratio.
Can you suggest one as I’ve never used one before?
Better than spending another 280 quid on another membrane 😁
Perhaps having one handy would at least mean I could use it again to check future membranes
Cheers

[John Mart]

Could you buy a Booster Pump?
Or better borrow one to see if it would make a difference?
I know it's not an ideal solution to the problem but at least if you could get your water pressure up to at least 80 psi you would know for sure if the membrane was a dud or not.

That’s quite a good idea. Might have a look into that. Really frustrating tho as I’ve been using the system for 7 years and each r/o I have bought has consistently provided 95% rejection rate at 50/50 waste pure ratio.
Can you suggest one as I’ve never used one before?
Better than spending another 280 quid on another membrane 😁
Perhaps having one handy would at least mean I could use it again to check future membranes
Cheers

Keep in mind you won’t get much change out of £300.

[andyM]

Can you suggest one as I’ve never used one before?
Better than spending another 280 quid on another membrane 😁
Perhaps having one handy would at least mean I could use it again to check future membranes
Cheers

I use a Clarke cbm240e which has been reliable but perhaps not the cheapest option available:
 https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cbm240e-1in-multi-stage-230v-booster-pum/

It is a 230 volt pump and will require mains electricity.
Other forum members might be able to recommend other suitable pumps?
The only other thing that could work in your favour also if you do have a reasonable booster pump capable of maintaing pressure up to 100 psi would be that you could use a HF4 membrane over a HF5 in the future which retail at around £50 cheaper.
As i said earlier it's not an ideal situation that you find yourself in but a pump would be a tax deductable expense and i do reckon it will be useful to you in providing a lower output TDS and faster production.
 

[CleanClear]

Bought one of these about six weeks ago.


Its replaced the same pump we bought six maybe 7 years ago, bearing just started to get noisey.

[John Mart]

Bought one of these about six weeks ago.


Its replaced the same pump we bought six maybe 7 years ago, bearing just started to get noisey.

Only problem with that is that there's no auto stop.

[mufcglen]

are these pumps noisy lads and i have auto shut off on my controller will they work with that?
i use an hf5 membrane and tap pressure was about 65psi until this summer when i presume the water board turned the pressure down and now im getting about 40psi, still taking tap ppm from 75 to 2-3 ppm but taking longer to fill at moment!

[Dry Clean]

You're being fobbed off, if nothing has changed with your water pressure, tap tds and so on then there's no reason why you shouldn't be getting the same results or close, even with a 20% difference it wouldn't go from 5 to 40.
I would run it on flush for a few hours and see if that makes a difference, if not you have been sold a dud, also try a differnt set of pre filters just to be sure that they arent the problem.
.

[Topclean]

I have also had the same problem this year, I am onto my third membrane, my latest one came in better packaging, air sealed and this one is bringing my water down to 009 which I am happy with. Only had this a month but it’s getting better results and for longer so far!

[Topclean]

One was also from gaps and she said the same old crap to me!