Ro cartdridges/dts meter

[ChrisB]

My cartridges are 6 months old. I make 10 gallons a week . what does a dts meter do and are a necessity?

 

[KathyC]

My cartridges are 6 months old. I make 10 gallons a week . what does a dts meter do and are a necessity?

A TDS meter tells you the amount of Total Dissolved Solids in your water..chlorine, flouride, heavy metals...etc.
The output from your RO (or ro/di) unit should be zero so that all of the bad 'solids' are gone from the water.

Without one - you will not know when to change the cartridges in your unit and you will likely promote algae growth in your tank.

They only cost about $10 and you can get them locally at places like Walmart, and I think someone mentioned Walgreens also carries them.

Without knowing what unit you have, it's hard to advise you but units with more 'pre-stages' will have a longer life, as will units that have a longer life based on how many GPD they are supposed to produce. Life of the cartridges is also based on the quality of the water going into the unit. For some folks their water starts off with very high TDS and from other areas it starts off much lower.

Bottom line - you must have a TDS meter to know

 

[ChrisB]

A TDS meter tells you the amount of Total Dissolved Solids in your water..chlorine, flouride, heavy metals...etc.
The output from your RO (or ro/di) unit should be zero so that all of the bad 'solids' are gone from the water.

Without one - you will not know when to change the cartridges in your unit and you will likely promote algae growth in your tank.

They only cost about $10 and you can get them locally at places like Walmart, and I think someone mentioned Walgreens also carries them.

Without knowing what unit you have, it's hard to advise you but units with more 'pre-stages' will have a longer life, as will units that have a longer life based on how many GPD they are supposed to produce. Life of the cartridges is also based on the quality of the water going into the unit. For some folks their water starts off with very high TDS and from other areas it starts off much lower.

Bottom line - you must have a TDS meter to know

Thank you kathy , I will pick one up . My cartdriges are all from Spectra pure.