Reverse Osmosis acting up

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dunkinidaho

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Have a 7 yr old RO system. Over the years you get used to how the flow and regen' works. Lately it seems to be flowing stronger and regenerating quicker. Can the valve in these stick or otherwise malfunction? All the 4 filters are but 3 moths old.

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dunkinidaho

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It was working as usual since April when the filters were changed. It's only the last couple weeks that it has been "outperforming" itself. My concern is that somehow the membrane is being bypassed and I'm getting well water in my holding tank. Is that even possible?

Brian
 

Reach4

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While it is not a direct answer to your question, I suggest that you do a TDS and/or hardness test on the output water. That should answer the question.

What if you put a higher throughput membrane in 3 months ago, but did not notice the higher throughput until later?

TDS meters can be very cheap. You really should get one.
While it is not calibrated for the purpose, you could use your ohmmeter to compare water samples from your RO and your input water as a cruder test. The input water should be much more conductive. Be careful to use the same probe depth and distance for taking your readings.

You, or somebody in your group of friends, maybe should have a hardness test kit too. It is useful to monitor the effectiveness of your water softener if you have one. It is useful to see if you should have one if you don't. The Hach 5-B is well-respected. If you do have a water softener, the RO system should be fed with softened water.
 

dunkinidaho

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Thanks for the response. I keep a list of manufacturers and part #'s so I get the same ones each year. I'll pick up a tds meter .

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dunkinidaho

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While it is not a direct answer to your question, I suggest that you do a TDS and/or hardness test on the output water. That should answer the question.

What if you put a higher throughput membrane in 3 months ago, but did not notice the higher throughput until later?

TDS meters can be very cheap. You really should get one.
While it is not calibrated for the purpose, you could use your ohmmeter to compare water samples from your RO and your input water as a cruder test. The input water should be much more conductive. Be careful to use the same probe depth and distance for taking your readings.

You, or somebody in your group of friends, maybe should have a hardness test kit too. It is useful to monitor the effectiveness of your water softener if you have one. It is useful to see if you should have one if you don't. The Hach 5-B is well-respected. If you do have a water softener, the RO system should be fed with softened water.

I got a tds meter and have a reading of .o95 at the spout and 400 from the unfiltered side. The spigot at the sink for the RO is metal. Will that raise the reading just by going through a metal spigot? It's funny that I get a reading of 076 from the refrigerator water. Thanks
 

Reach4

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I think your readings are 095 ppm and 076 ppm.

You want to test the ppm for the incoming water also. http://www.purewaterproducts.com/docs/using-tds-tester and others say that the ppm for the RO water should be 10% of the incoming water or less.

Regarding the difference in the faucets, I don't know. Could it be that the fridge also has a built-in filter also?
 

IsopureWater

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If the reading is about 95 ppm then you are probably having an issue. It's hard to determine with the information provided so far but your probably looking at a need to replace the RO membrane or replace the auto shut off valve. Sometimes there is a hole in the auto shut off valve which will cause a spike in the TDS and will also give you a noticeably stronger flow to the faucet. What I would do is listen for drain water. Also you can flush the tank completely empty and time the refill. If it fills in less than a few minutes and the water continually drains then it's a hole most likely a hole in the ASV. Replace that and it should fix the issue. Otherwise, we need more info.
 

dunkinidaho

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If the reading is about 95 ppm then you are probably having an issue. It's hard to determine with the information provided so far but your probably looking at a need to replace the RO membrane or replace the auto shut off valve. Sometimes there is a hole in the auto shut off valve which will cause a spike in the TDS and will also give you a noticeably stronger flow to the faucet. What I would do is listen for drain water. Also you can flush the tank completely empty and time the refill. If it fills in less than a few minutes and the water continually drains then it's a hole most likely a hole in the ASV. Replace that and it should fix the issue. Otherwise, we need more info.

I am in Florida until may which is when I replace all 4 filters. I believe the problem to be the auto shut off. I will replace that piece al OK no with the filters in may and see what PPM reading is.

Thanks
 
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