RO/DI clearner valve left open,, is water bad?

kyle4201

kyle4201

Active Member
Hello all,, I never stop amazing myself in the different ways I can mess up something I have done 100 times and how many things there is to mess up in this hobby. I turned on the main valve to my RO/DI system to make some water, my res was down about 15 gal cuz of my ATO and I thought, hey, Ill top off the res while im at work. After turning on the water I figured Id turn the clean out valve on top to clear my membrane for like 5 min. Well, I walked away, showered, went to work and just remembered. Im not worried about the water waste, it goes to my pool (THANK GOD IM SO SMART, LOL). Im worried about the water in my RES,,, is it good water or bad now since the pressure was prob down? I know that some water comes out of the "GOOD" hose even when cleaning the membrane. Was hoping the good water will still be good and I dont have to scrap the whole 40 gallons of RO/DI.
 
mikecc

mikecc

Member
I would guess it be ok, if it causes any problems, dump it and make new, if you will sleep better at night if you dump it, do it. But I'm guessing it be ok, got a hand held TDS meter? But just observe, see what happens, IMHO.
 
kyle4201

kyle4201

Active Member
really?? I always have just a little bit that comes out in my res. hummmm,,
well,, it was on for 6 hours and only about 10 gal went into my res,, so I think its going to be ok. Id hate to waste all that water,, however if any1 on here tells me that its absolutely bad and will harm my fish/corals,,
I will in a min.
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
A little confused myself. When you flush an RO/DI system 100% of the water should be going to waste, nothing should be going out as 'product' water. So in theory you shouldn't have had any water added to your reservoir. Something is amiss here, sounds like a faulty or partly open valve on the RO/DI output but I'm not familiar with your system.

A handheld TDS meter is pretty cheap and worth it IMO. I have dual TDS meters and alarm on my RO/DI unit but the handheld is good for a sanity check. I also used it to test TDS from every tap in my house and they were all different.
 
reefle

reefle

Active Member
I also get a residual water when I turn the cleaning valve on although its just a little trickle.
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Humm, which unit do you have? Maybe it is only RO water coming out, w/o the water going through the DI stage? Would be good to find out from the manufacturer, lets us know.
 
kyle4201

kyle4201

Active Member
this is the response I got,, so I guess a little water coming out the good tube is normal.

Hi Kyle,
The flush valve on the units should be used before and after each use for about 10-30 seconds. For most people that isn't too practical, however I usually just open mine for about 5 minutes once a week or so. When the flush valve opens it will bypass the flow restrictor and a pressure drop will happen. When the pressure drops the membrane cannot produce as much water however it will produce a little usually as their is still some pressure pushing on the membrane. The water that comes out of the membrane when it is flushing may be slightly higher TDS than when the unit is running normally (1-5%), however if it goes through DI resin then it should be good to use if it is coming out at 0TDS after the DI.
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
I still don't get it, must be a difference in the design between the BRS units and the Air, Water & Ice unit I have at home.

The pressure drop from opening the flush valve I understand but not why some water is allowed to pass through the DI cartridge. On my unit there are separate valves to shut-off the output for RO/DI and RO-only water - so long as both those valves are shut all the water is forced to go out through the fast flush.

Anyway, sounds like you got the answer you were looking for. Maybe got your DI cartridge dirtier than you would want but at least you should be able to use the water you made.
 
goma

goma

Well-Known Member
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My BRS 5 stage plus allowed some water to come out while I was flushing it as well. I installed a valve before the DI resin and now shut that before flushing so no water leaves the unit.
 
Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
I flushed mine for about 24 hours, Sat/Sun. Didn't realize it 'till I heard water running when I was in the bathroom. BRS 5 stage - nothing went into the barrel.
 
saltydog51

saltydog51

Member
hey kyle,they are 100% correct.i have a barracuda ro/di from aquafx 200gpd a x-mas gift,but if you go on there web site aquafx.net they have videos on the units.even though yours might differennt,still they show things about flush valve kits and other cool vids.or you can go on you tube also for the vids.
 
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