The pressure in my R.O. has dropped!

Discussion in 'Filters, Pumps, etc..' started by Matt Rogers, Jul 26, 2005.

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  1. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Is it normal for the pressure gauge reading to go way down after installing new filters in my R.O.?

    (I installed new prefilter, carbon and DI filters, but left the R.O. membrane which is 2 years old.)

    I have gone from 25 psi to about 5 psi.
     
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  3. allaboutfish37

    allaboutfish37 Feather Duster

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    :thinking2 did you install them the right way?or the right ones for that unit?what was the psi before you change 25psi or 25 when the unit was new??did you open up the water all the way up like you had it before?just brainstorming hehe :thinking2 :drive:
     
  4. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    I didn't add a pressure gauge until later so I didn't have any readings when it was new. I changed them last year and prior to changing them this time the pressure was around 25. I am quite sure the new ones are installed correctly and I got the air out. Kinda weird, probably should call SpectraPure. :anxious:
     
  5. chetrod

    chetrod Peppermint Shrimp

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    Mine is at 40 psi. I had to put a valve on the waste side to help it out a little it still throws out the waste but restricts the flow to allow for more pressure to travel through the lines. The red Line is the Main line and the other with the blue vale is the waste line.
     

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  6. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Huh. That's a lot higher. Did yours come with instructions? Mine said to put it inbetween the output of the carbon filter and the input of the R.O. membrane.
     
  7. allaboutfish37

    allaboutfish37 Feather Duster

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    mine is at 40 psi too I have a 25gpd
     
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  9. greyhawk

    greyhawk Astrea Snail

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    mine is at 80 psi I have a 100gpd they told me for the system to work right the pressure had to be 40 or above
     
  10. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Yep. Just spoke to Spectrapure and they said the same thing.. it needs to be 40-60 for my 60gpd model or else the membrane doesn't reject as much and the result is less pure water. :p

    He told me to try it out on a neighbors line and see if the gauge goes up. If not, then try it without the prefilters to see what it reads to determine if it is them. I need to determine if it is the gauge being faulty, my water line, or the filters. :worried:
     
  11. chetrod

    chetrod Peppermint Shrimp

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    My guage is set before it enters the prefilters I have a 100 gpd membrane in it it works great the way I have it set up it was really slow at first until I added the valve to the waste line to restrict the flow.
     
  12. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Thanks everybody!

    Giving this some thought, I just figured out my problem. I realized I hooked up my R.O. to a line that was split with my washer. I turned off the line to the washer and WHAM suddenly my R.O. got over 70psi!!! Sweet! I turned it down water down a bit until I had 60psi, I thought the guy at Spectrapure said 40-60 was the range I wanted for my model, but I will confirm tomorrow.

    Thanks again!


    matt