[paul mather]

My water pressure on my RO system reads around 40. It seems that is not enough. Is the only drawback that the system takes ages to fill tank or is the low pressure affecting my TDS Readings. After water has  been through attached DI Unit it never reads less than 4 & this is a brand new system, so filters or resin doesn't need replacing.

[Simon Carter]

I've been struggling with the same problem for ages, fretting all the time about having enough water. I think generally the production promised by most RO's is optimistic to say the least. Certainly, good psi is essential. I was on the verge of buying a second tank with the intention of filling that & then feeding my RO via a pump to up the feed pressure, until I tried something else today. I've put a restrictor on the waste pipe. This has increased the pressure in the system to 60 psi ( you can control the reading by how much you close the valve ). As a consequence I am getting significantly more pure water. I have also reduced my waste ratio which is important being on a meter. My only concern is how this may effect my membranes & pre filters.

[Simon Carter]

One other point. Did you run off the first 5 litres or so if the system is new 'before' running it through the DI. If not the DI resin could already be depleated & need replacing even though it is new.

[JM123]

I wouldn't worry about the resin yet - you need a bit more pressure to get the ro working correctly - hence why I recommend merlin or 4040 units instead of the smaller 200gpd ro-man etc, your best bet now is to get a booster pump from ro-man, plus make sure the flush valve is fully closed and there are no leaks when you run the system.  Any probs e-mail me j.mills175@btinternet.com

[Alex Gardiner]

Hi Paul,

It does sound like you have low water pressure, 40psi is really below the recommended operating pressure, however it is still possible to produce water with this low pressure. It sounds like your DI chamber has been depleted or is your tds meter reading taken from before the DI chamber if so it needs moving to after the DI chamber (simple to do).

It is quite alright to clean windows with 004 tds so no worries there, if you had higher psi your output would probably be 000-002.

The only other issue is how fast it will produce water if you have a big enough holding tank ie 1000l, and only you cleaning you should be able to build up a big enough reserve, the other option with such low pressure is to fit a membrane upgrade which will turn it into a 300gpd in about 10mins. This will increase your output and is relatively low cost.

Hope that this helps

Alex

[paul mather]

Thanks Alex have spoke to Kirsty about it this afternoon. The TDS reading has now gone down to 1 sometimes 2 so I'm happy with that & on Kirsty's advice I have just marked the tank & gone back 1 hour later. If my sums are correct I should be able to produce 350 - 390 litres in 24 hours. As my tank in the van is only 400 providing I don't use loads of water in a day I should be OK but as tomorrow is my first full day I can't be sure how much I would use.
Kirsty@s advice if I struggle is to get a booster pump, will decide on that after I see how much water I get through in 1 day