Making my own flushing kit for a RO/DI filter

[Anonymous]

Can anyone tell me exactly what a flush kit for a RO/DI filter does? I can see that it changes the direction of flow, but which line do I put pressure in to back flush it?



I am thinking that setting up some valves and such to run source water into the output water line would force it to backflush all the gunk on the membrane which would then run out the waste line.

Is that correct?

 

[Anonymous]

My flush kit simply bypasses the flow restrictor on the RO waste line. I believe it's supposed to temporarily increase flow to be wide open and remove all backpressure so that all of the flow is used to remove surface scale on the membrane without any water actually going through the membrane.

 

[Anonymous]

My flush kit simply bypasses the flow restrictor on the RO waste line. I believe it's supposed to temporarily increase flow to be wide open and remove all backpressure so that all of the flow is used to remove surface scale on the membrane without any water actually going through the membrane.

I thought the restrictor was on the product line?


Maybe I am wrong about that, I will check...

 

[Anonymous]

My flush kit simply bypasses the flow restrictor on the RO waste line. I believe it's supposed to temporarily increase flow to be wide open and remove all backpressure so that all of the flow is used to remove surface scale on the membrane without any water actually going through the membrane.

I thought the restrictor was on the product line?


Maybe I am wrong about that, I will check...

heh heh, that would be a problem 8O

 

[Anonymous]

Done checked


Its on the waste line, the orange one....

Now, here is my question to you....



If all your kit does is bypass the restrictor, can I just remove the restrictor and run it for a while once a month or so until I can afford the flushkit?

 

[Anonymous]

Yep.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool beans!

 

[Anonymous]

My RO unit has one of these bypass switches. How often should I bypass the flow restrictor and how long should I let the water run?

You'd think I'd already know this, but I don't recall reading about it in the RO units installation instructions.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

My instructions don't say, they just say it should be done regularly....


I call them destructions...

 

[Anonymous]

I run it for 30 seconds once a week.

I also go through about 100 gallons of RO water a week so your results may vary.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, The man with the disclaimer!

Woot!

 

[Anonymous]

It depends on the usage. Ideallly, you should run your RO 24/7 8O , and have it flushed every few hours for 5 minutes. You got the idea.

The basic idea is a compromise between convenience, extra cost, and longer product life and better RO quality when you increase the frequency and duration of flushing. Overdo it, and you get the opposite result in one or more attributes. Not much science there, just tried and get the data.

 

[Unresistible Blue]

If you were using the unit in a lab, you might flush it each time you turned it off. No one in this hobby does that, so once a week is better than once a month is better than once a year.

B

 

[Anonymous]

There are gadget that automatically flush the RO periodically. These are for RO that run pretty much continuously.