Catalytic Carbon Cartridge in RO .. is it safe for drinking water??

XeoNoX · May 2, 2013

AZDesertRat said: ↑

Again I ask, how are you judging the effectiveness of chloramine, or more accurately the chlorine portion of the chloramines removal with the carbon? Carbons do not remove the ammonia, regardless if it is catalytic, coconut based, bituminous or whatever. It will only remove the chlorine and help break the bond with the ammonia which the membrane removes much of and the DI removes the rest. What do you have for data showing it was or was not effective or are you going by what a vendor is telling you?
Chloramines really are not that big a problem for a good carbon block and more importantly good DI for the ammonia.
If you are seeing chlorine breakthru in the finished water then I say yes you have a carbon problem, if you do not see chlorine and you are still getting short DI life or ammonia in the finished wate rthen you have a membrane and/or DI problem. I am confident the carbon is not the issue if you used a 0.5, 0.6 or 1.0 micron carbon block and protected it with an equal sized sediment filter so the pores did not get fouled.

And yes you are correct a 1 micron or better yet 0.5 micon sedimnt filter will plug faster after the granular carbon but it does a 10x better job of protecting the RO membrane which is its sole purpose at this point in the process. The cleaner the membrane is the better it will function (ie ammonia removal) and the longer it will last, costing you less to own and operate.
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i have my LFS test the as i do not own any testers. So my LFS checks the chloramine/ammonia/TDS upon request.

like i said ill try this sediment filter i have right now since i dont wanna waste it, but next time ill experiment with the 1 micron or 0.5 micon sediment filter and see how long those lasts. With my current setup the only thing im really wondering now is how often should i "flush" the RO Membrane?

AZDesertRat · May 2, 2013

If you keep the waste ratio where the manufacturer recommends, usually 4:1, then you never need to flush your membrane, the waste ratio does this continually when its making water.
Flush kits have no documented proven value other than to lighten your wallet.

XeoNoX · May 2, 2013

AZDesertRat said: ↑

If you keep the waste ratio where the manufacturer recommends, usually 4:1, then you never need to flush your membrane, the waste ratio does this continually when its making water.
Flush kits have no documented proven value other than to lighten your wallet.
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well thanks for all the info AZDesertRat....if u dont see me back on in the forums in about a year that prolly means the water poisoned me j/k

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Catalytic Carbon Cartridge in RO .. is it safe for drinking water??

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