Extend the life of your DI Resin - Degassing RO Water Works!

[Irsug1]

I learned this from BRS and have applied it to my own water making system.
I purchased (2) 65 gallon storage containers at Farm & Fleet. I run my RO system and fill the first container. I then have a 1/4 inch rigid tube going to the bottom of which I run an air pump through it. I bubble the water for 48 hours to degas the carbon dioxide out of the water. Apparently all city water has some level of it added by the water plant..
Next I use the Avast Marine diaphragm pump (thanks SkullV) and pump the water through my DI Resin filter into the 2nd container at a rate of something like 8 gallons per hour.
Now I use about 1/10th of the DI Resin that I used to! I was getting sick of buying and constantly replacing the resin and I am glad I found this solution.
If you are constantly replacing your resin you may want to give degassing a try.

 

[jrpark22000]

Doesn't St. John use Hammond lake MI water too? Or do they have their own supply?

 

[Joe5688]

I learned this from BRS and have applied it to my own water making system.
I purchased (2) 65 gallon storage containers at Farm & Fleet. I run my RO system and fill the first container. I then have a 1/4 inch rigid tube going to the bottom of which I run an air pump through it. I bubble the water for 48 hours to degas the carbon dioxide out of the water. Apparently all city water has some level of it added by the water plant..
Next I use the Avast Marine diaphragm pump (thanks SkullV) and pump the water through my DI Resin filter into the 2nd container at a rate of something like 8 gallons per hour.
Now I use about 1/10th of the DI Resin that I used to! I was getting sick of buying and constantly replacing the resin and I am glad I found this solution.
If you are constantly replacing your resin you may want to give degassing a try.

Interesting! I'm getting tired of replacing DI all the time too. When I make water it's usually 30gallons at a time and it seems like I'm replacing the DI every few fill ups.

 

[Irsug1]

I believe Dyer and St . John get lake MI water. However, I'm in unincorporated and we get well water sent from Kankakee via Aqua Indiana.

 

[100LL]

Doesn't St. John use Hammond lake MI water too? Or do they have their own supply?

JR Josh, is this a Lake MI thing?

If so, it explains my DI risen changing from new to used as fast as Cex to NO Cex after marriage... I'm not sure I want to go through this process, but it does explain my situation... Y'all are great... Thx, CR!

 

[Irsug1]

I think it's everywhere. It's added by the water plant. IDK why though..

 

[jrpark22000]

I believe Dyer and St . John get lake MI water. However, I'm in unincorporated and we get well water sent from Kankakee via Aqua Indiana.

Sorry to hear, the Lake water isn't that bad at about 165 tds locally. My resin lasts quite a while.

 

[100LL]

#waterplantbastards

 

[jrpark22000]

JR Josh, is this a Lake MI thing?

If so, it explains my DI risen changing from new to used as fast as Cex to NO Cex after marriage... I'm not sure I want to go through this process, but it does explain my situation... Y'all are great... Thx, CR!

Nope, Ira is not on lake water. If you resin if going that fast on lake water, I'd check your membrane(s) and efficiency.

 

[Irsug1]

Just to be clear, here are the numbers.
Incoming Water is 430tds
RO filtered water before DI at 4tds
I was going through a canister of DI in under 70 gallons before degassing. Now I am up over 600 gallons before exhausting the resin.

 

[jrpark22000]

Just to be clear, here are the numbers.
Incoming Water is 430tds
RO filtered water before DI at 4tds
I was going through a canister of DI in under 70 gallons before degassing. Now I am up over 600 gallons before exhausting the resin.

WOW! Glad you found a cheap fix to save you a butt-ton in resin. In comparison my TDS is 1 out of my membranes going into the resin.

 

[Jason13]

Hmmmm....I'm not 100% that I buy this. I've put probably 1000 gallons through my rodi and it is just now starting to creep to 1 tds out of the do stage.

My secret is simple. I unplug the do from the ro unit and run water through the ro until the tds drop. The first 5-10 minutes my ro is pushing water out that is very high in tds. It drops off once the system gets going. Down to 4-7 tds. That's when I plug the di in and start filling up.

 

[Joe5688]

HMm I have 140 I think coming in, and 28 out of membrane into di. Pretty sure even with new filters its around 28 coming out if membrane

 

[Irsug1]

I open the flush valve for the first few minutes. Here's a link to the video.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/index/view/id/280/

 

[Joe5688]

Yeah I run mine open occasionally also

 

[r33fswagg3r]

If you buy the 3 way valve BRS has and put it inline between ro and di then you can skip the first few minutes of high tds creep by draining it into the waste line. Turn the valve and allow it to hit DI and fill.

 

[r33fswagg3r]

Forgot to mention, I open the flush valve before I make water and after I make water for 2 minutes. The "creep valve", 3 way, just when making water after the flush of the membranes.

 

[Irsug1]

If you buy the 3 way valve BRS has and put it inline between ro and di then you can skip the first few minutes of high tds creep by draining it into the waste line. Turn the valve and allow it to hit DI and fill.

That's a good idea, never thought of that. It would be another good precaution to take.

 

[kawicivic]

Yes, if you aren't flushing your first few minutes of water, you are flushing money down the drain as TDS tends to be very high for a bit. I run 2 TDS meters. 1 that monitors water in and out of RO and 1 that monitors water before my second DI canister and the other after it.

I will have to check out this gas exchange thing - one question first - does the video state that this gas is not measure by TDS or something to that effect? I really don't monitor how much water I get out of my DI, but I did find out last year that when the ground water gets cold, my RO puts out super low TDS but has a terrible waste ratio.

I know you can recharge DI resin as well, but I am not sure it is worth it unless you go through a lot of it. I've been saving mine for awhile to try recharging it one of these days - maybe spring when it gets warm again.

 

[Irsug1]

I am not sure if the video mentions that, but IME it does not affect the TDS because I got the same reading before and after I started degassing.
I haven't changed anything in my RO system other than degassing for the past 7 months or so with great results.