Storing DI resin

[ramsey]

Hey Russ,

I just ordered 5lbs of DI resin to refill my cartridge. I'm not going to use all 5lbs at once so I'm wondering how best to store the extra. I remember reading something about it in the past but can't find it. Thanks!

[BuckeyeHydro]

Hi Ramsey - your order came through fine and will ship Monday. Thanks!

What you'll receive is four 1.25 lb packages. Just leave each unopened until needed. Keep them in a box/drawer/etc out of bright light.

Russ

[ramsey]

That's too easy! :) thank you sir. I have a couple more questions, others may want to chime in.

I have some extra parts laying around and I've seen people do this. What is the point of running two RO membranes and how do you hook them up? Is it just refiltering the waste water from the first membrane so you have less waste? Also, if I ran two canisters with DI resin, in theory it should last twice as long, right? Sorry for the dumb questions, just curious to see if I can make a frankenRO unit and if it'd be worth it.

[BuckeyeHydro]

This is an exercise you'd go through to make your RODI produce water FASTER. Contrary to what you may hear elsewhere, this is NOT something to do if your goal is to reduce the proportion of waste water produced. More on that later if anyone is interested.

You can plumb two membranes in parallel or in series.

PARALLEL
You'd split the feedwater line after the last prefilter (usually a carbon block) and feed both membranes. Each membrane has its own flow restrictor.

SERIES
You'd feed the second membrane with the waste water from the first membrane. A single flow restrictor is placed in the waste water line leaving the second (downstream) membrane.

Russ

[350gt]

Time to order up!

[350gt]

Which is better in parallel or in series?

[BuckeyeHydro]

I prefer to set them up to run in parallel.

Russ

[BuckeyeHydro]

If you have a sum total more than 150 god, as in two 100 gpd's , or two 150 gpd's, think about going to 3/8" tube, fittings, and prefilter housing ports

[ramsey]

Alright cool, that makes sense. I don't really have a need to make water faster. However, what about two DI canisters? Would the DI last roughly twice as long? That might be something I'd be interested in. I exhausted my resin really fast since I'm making small batches of water ATM. I planing to change this in the near future, but for now I need small batches.

[BuckeyeHydro]

Two DI carts work. It typically works best if you monitor the TDS after the first cart, and after the second cart. When the first climbs above 1, move cart No. 2 to the first position, and put a new one in position No. 2. This way you make sure nothing but 0 ppm TDS water makes it to your tank.

Russ

[ramsey]

Two DI carts work. It typically works best if you monitor the TDS after the first cart, and after the second cart. When the first climbs above 1, move cart No. 2 to the first position, and put a new one in position No. 2. This way you make sure nothing but 0 ppm TDS water makes it to your tank.

Russ

Awesome, that's a great idea. I think I'm going to do that.

Yet another question for you! I'm planning on making some changes to my unit, one being running two DI, the other involves using solenoids to get more life out of the DI resin. My plan is to have a minimum of three solenoids hooked up. One from the main supply going into the unit and hooked up to my float switch, another connected to a T after the RO. My thought is, have a solenoid turn on to let water flow straight form the RO and into the waste water. The have the other solenoid turn off to keep that water at the RO membrane. Essentially, I want to just drain the first minute or so of water coming out of the RO, then have it go through the DI for my production water. Does this make sense and does it sound like a good idea?

One more thing I just thought of, I bought the maxr membrane about six months ago and in getting about a 96% rejection rate. Should it be higher than that? Would flushing it help?

[BuckeyeHydro]

The set with the solenoids could work.

Could you call in with some additional info on your MaxR?

Russ

[ramsey]

Sounds good, Russ. I'm going to double check the TDS and my math tonight to make sure. What hours are best to call?

[ramsey]

Oh yeah! I changed out my DI resin yesterday and noticed that some areas where brown and other areas were still purple/new looking. It almost looked like water was only flowing through part of it. I thought I went through it really fast. Could it be that it wasn't packed enough or packed too tight? I did the "tap it down" method and crammed it full. By full, I mean it compressed the sponge down a lot.

[BuckeyeHydro]

As long as the cation and anion beads didn't separate, it was tight enough. That pattern you saw seems pretty typical.

[BuckeyeHydro]

8 to 8 eastern time, 7 days a week.

[ramsey]

Awesome, I'll give you a call later in the week. Thanks again for the help! This is why I give you all my RO/DI business and I'm a huge BFS promoter! In fact, a friend that's getting into reef tanks just bought a unit from you last week because I told him you guys are top notch! I think you guys should offer customer service lessons as a side business. I know I'm ranting, I just love getting great customer service, it's rare these days.

[bugj51]

this thread just made me a customer.

[BuckeyeHydro]

Thanks for the feedback - love it! :)