Pressure max for gasket?

[vmiller]

Brian,

I hole punched a new gasket perfectly and the reactor is still leaking with this gasket. It's hooked directly to the output of my ro/di unit which has water going through it at 70 psi. Is this amount of water pressure too much for the gasket to handle? Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Vin

 

[Anonymous]

if you are filling for the first time you need to loosen the gasket to let the air out. I think i nearly blew mine up before i realized what was going on.

louey

 

[vmiller]

As it was filling, I left the output tube open until water started to come out of it. I then closed it off and waited for enough backpressure to develop to shut off the ro/di unit. It's ok for a few minutes once it's full, but I don't think it can handle the full 70 psi required to stop the ro/di water from coming in. I'd like to know if this is to be expected, or if I somehow screwed something up.

 

[Anonymous]

I dunno. Good ?

Louey

 

[fergy]

Um, you're lucky you aren't making the entire thing explode. Don't do that. That's why it's leaking.

These aren't meant to be run at 70 PSI. Max I set my regulator to is 30 PSI. There's no reason to expect that seal to hold 70 PSI. It's not a high pressure seal. Be glad it's not holding, or you'd probably pop the flange off the entire unit.

BRIAN
_________________
Cooking message board

 

[vmiller]

8O 8O 8O

Well that explains it. Then I only want to reduce the output pressure on one branch of the ro/di output. From what I understand, 70 psi is a good pressure to have going through the ro/di unit.

Would a John Guest valve on the ro/di output being about 2/3 closed do the job, or is there a more accurate and reliable way of doing this?
Edit: DUH! This won't work. No matter how much the ouput flow is reduced, enough back pressure (which will equal the ro/di input pressure) still needs to develop to stop the flow.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Vin

 

[fergy]

Vin, are you using this as a kalk reactor?

BRIAN
_________________
Australian Forum

 

[vmiller]

Yes, I'm trying to use it as a kalk reactor. I have the ro/di output connected to the reactor pump plumbing. The bubble counter is completely bypassed.

I spoke to the maker of my ro/di unit, and they said that the pressure is dropped to about 40-50 psi after going through the ro membrane, but as you said, this is still too much. Maybe this explains why the top didn't fly off .

I was hoping to get this thing running this weekend. They suggested to call back on Monday when their vendors are open and they could find me a plastic pressure regulator.

Did you have somthing in mind to reduce the pressure, or another way to hook up the reactor?

Thanks,
Vin

 

[fergy]

First off, you should never connect your RO/DI directly to your system, no matter what those guys who sold it to you said. That's asking for serious trouble. I know MANY people who have lost their entire systems from doing that. You should always feed the RO/DI water into a separate reservoir, then use a pump from there. Those units can and do stick on, and it usually happens when you're not around.

I would hook this up using some sort of peristaltic or diaghram pump, feeding from some sort of reservoir. The LiterMiter works well for this, and there are many other similar units.

There are pressure regulators. Inland Reef sells one. But, again, I would definately not hook the RO/DI up like this. Ever.

BRIAN
_________________
life during the great depression

 

[vmiller]

Good point. Currently I have the ro/di hooked into my sump through a float valve. If the float valve were to fail ... I don't even want to think about it. I guess this would be a good opportunity to better the situation.

Thanks,
Vin

 

[fergy]

Yes, there's really no safe way to hook the RO in directly like you have it. They do make pressure differential-based valves, which use a float, but it's still not safe. I know people who have lost giant systems because of this...

BRIAN
_________________
blue moonshine strain