explain this please? DI resin depleted already

What I think you did is you replaced both at the same time! When you replace a membrane you are supposed to remove the DI filters for 30 gallons and discard that water that water has chemicals that preserve. The membrane.

What I think you did is you left the DI in when you flushed the membrane. Ran up all your DI. Also what are you testing your Tds with?

Is it still producing 4:1 that will tell you If it is cracked or malfunctioning membrane.

 

We need more information.
What is your well water TDS, RO only TDS before the DI and of course the RO/DI TDS is around 32 as you have stated.
What is your water pressure at the membrane and your water temperature? You never blend hot and coldwater do you?
What is you exact measured waste ratio?
What membrane did you purchase and install?

Being on domestic well water and you telling me it is somewhat soft tells me you very probably have an issue with CO2, they often go hand in hand. CO2 is tough on DI resin but there are resins that perform better than others in this situation. Do you happen to know the pH of your well water?

 

One thing to note is that the previous resin was the factory resin from spectrapure. I think it was their silica buster type?

What is your well water TDS- 130-150 TDS
RO only and TDS before the DI- 32 TDS (This is odd though because it used to hang between 1-9 TDS before DI chamber. Dont know if its related or not?)
and of course the RO/DI TDS is around 32 as you have stated.
What is your water pressure and your water temperature?- Meter is reading 45 and temp is 62.1 F.
You never blend hot and coldwater do you?- Nope
What is you exact measured waste ratio?- Have not measured recently. Can later tonight if need be.
What membrane did you purchase and install? purchased from BRS: Nuclear grade color changing DI resin.

 

If you replaced the RO membrane it may not be seated correctly inside the membrane housing. The insert further than you think so you may want to remove it, check closely for rolled O-rings or gaskets, check the housing for discoloration which could be indications of plastic cracks, then if you have some, very lightly lubricate the O-rings and gaskets with silicone grease and reinsert the membrane. It will go in and seat easier with the lubrication. If the RO only TDS is still high you either have a bad membrane or a bad housing or both. CO2 will not show up as TDS so is a different issue but probably contributes to the short DI life.

 

I think we need a clarification here. Did you replace both the RO membrane and the DI resin?...because, although there is a lot of talk about membranes here it sounds like you only replaced the DI resin to me. In which case the issues/solutions may be different.

 

I replaced the DI resin only.

 

I will be tearing apart here soon and rechecking all seals. Would it be a bad idea to replace both the pre-filter and the carbon filter also?

 

If you didn't disassemble anything else I doubt that there are issues with the membrane being seated properly etc.

With regard to the resin, BRS sells "good" resin, but it's not the same as/good as some of the stuff SpectraPure sells/uses. My guess is there is something in your well water that has exhausted the "lower grade" resin faster.

Pre-filters should be replaced fairly often. Again it depends a lot on the type/quality of the sediment and carbon filters, but typically they don't last all that long and they are pretty cheap to replace vs. replacing the membrane. Keeping the pre-filters replaced is cheap/good protection for your membrane.

 

OK, I misunderstood as you mentioned the membrane earlier.
The sediment and carbon block filters should be replaced every 6 months like clockwork since their sole purpose is to protect the RO membrane which is the most expensive and most important piece of the system.

How old is the system? Have the sediment and carbon block filters been replaced before? Have you ever checked and/or adjusted the waste ratio from the beginning? You said at one time your RO only TDS was much lower, when was this and when did you notice it was going up and DI life was going down?

I would suggest contacting Spectrapure technical support either by phone on their toll free number, via email or they also have a Sponsors Forum here and on many of the other reef forums for questions and issues like this.