Inside the Smart Buddie - Turbo charge your RO system

[N1Husker]

I love mine. I wish there was a diagram showing how to hook it up to the BRS 5 stage. It’s a little confusing.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Send me an email at [email protected] and I can take a look at helping you out.

 

[btmedic04]

Mine just arrived today. I'm looking forward to hooking it up to my brs 4 stage ro/di and moving past 40-44 psi. I just need an extension cord as the power cable is a bit short.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Let us know if any questions. Will be glad to help out.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

A look into the Smart Buddie Booster Pump internals.
Top view of the Smart Buddies shows from left to right, the High Pressure switch, the Auto Flush Valve and Flow Restrictor combination and the Shut Off valve and Low Pressure switch.

The Booster pump is located under the top switches.

The Smart Buddie was designed to boost the supply water pressure in units ranging from 50 to 100 gallon per day RO unit.

• The typical boosted pressure is 100 PSI.
• The flow restrictor is 300CC.
• Low pressure switch activates in the 4.35 - 7.25 PSI range
• High pressure switch activates in the 33.35 - 36.25 PSI range

Very cool

 

[ReefBeta]

The limit on the Smart Buddie is that it produces 550 ml of water at 70PSI. So you can use 2 - 100 GPD membranes but the pressure will be reduced to both membranes. It should show a PSI or 70 - 80 when running 2 - 100 GPD but it may be more beneficial to run 2 - 75 GPD.

The flow restrictor used in the Smart Buddie is 300 CC so there is already a big reduction on waste water. As we use 450 CC with 50 GPD membranes and 800CC with 100GPD membranes that are not pressurized.

If run two 100 GPD membrane, the smart buddie was not enough to provide enough flow rate to keep the pressure up. My source water is 65 psi. When running one membrane, it goes to 80. When run two membrane, it runs at 65. The pump is too underpowered for a dual 100 GPD membrane.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Yes with the added membrane area the pressure increase is not the same as the single, if any at all. You also would need to consider the TDS concentrate too. Running two membranes with the a single 300 CC flow restrictor, kind of doing the same thing twice, with running the second membrane on the waste water line and then the 300CC flow restrictor.

If running the membranes in parallel it would be similar but it least the TDS would not be increased to the second membrane.

The internal pump is rated at 550 cc per minute so it is limited to certain membrane sizes.

I'm wondering if there is a demand for a larger version to work with between 150 - 200 GPD RO units? Thoughts?

 

[pirate2876]

I'd be interested in a larger model capable of being used with dual membranes.

 

[btmedic04]

I would eventually like to add a 75gpd water saver upgrade to my 4 stage so from my perspective, I think there would be a demand for a larger unit or especially an upgrade kit to enable these to be used on larger units.

 

[pirate2876]

And to add to that, maybe a model dedicated to dual membrane RODI units with detailed directions for hooking it up. Make it easy on all of us.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

And to add to that, maybe a model dedicated to dual membrane RODI units with detailed directions for hooking it up. Make it easy on all of us.

We would be willing to try but the variety of RO units in all markets has proven difficult to make detailed instructions for the what seems like endless possibilities and configurations.

 

[Ajsvmax]

The Smart Buddie was designed to boost the supply water pressure in units ranging from 50 to 100 gallon per day RO unit.

• The typical boosted pressure is 100 PSI.
• The flow restrictor is 300CC.
• Low pressure switch activates in the 4.35 - 7.25 PSI range
• High pressure switch activates in the 33.35 - 36.25 PSI range

[/QUOTE]

So, if I hav a 150 GPD unit do you have another unit that will work as this one?

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

It depends on your situation. The concern is the pressure created with the larger membrane area or the two membranes. If you only have 40 PSI, it will increase the pressure to the membrane in our experience close to the 60 - 65 PSI. If you already have the 65 PSI you would not really see an increase. The pump will produce around 750 ml of water at 60 PSI output. A single 150 membrane or double 75 would have around 395 ml of output per minute and then you need to add in the 300 CC/ml flow restrictor per minute. So 695 combined.

So it really would depend on your situation. Let me know your parameters and will be glad to help figure out if it will work in your situation.

 

[TheHarold]

I'm wondering if there is a demand for a larger version to work with between 150 - 200 GPD RO units? Thoughts?

There would 100% be a lot of demand for that. Many users (such as myself) cannot use the RO Buddie because of the GPD limitation. A high flow version would mean people could run their BRS Water Saver Pro RODI systems, etc.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

I've been looking at this option for a while. Increasing the pump size and then needing to increase the flow restrictor size.

We run our 100 GPD membrane's with an 800 CC flow restrictor so that gives us around 1 filtered to 3 drain. People seem to want the lower waste water but its not always producing the lower TDS filtered water when you reduce the ratio.

My one thought to solve this and different membrane sizes would be to use a on/off valve internal to the Smart Buddie to bypass an external flow restrictor to keep the initial flush function. This way the customer could decide what amount of drain they want to produce with their specific flow restrictor size.

 

[infinite0180]

@AquaticLifeProducts

if im getting 65 psi at my tap already, roughly how much more will i get if i add the booster to a 100 gpd membrane? The reason i ask is because when i first moved into my house my water pressure was 90 psi from the tap. My ro production was great but i soon realized this was a problem for all my faucets and appliances. I installed a water pressure regulator at my main supply and dialed it back to 65. Im hoping to boost ro pressure back up to enjoy faster and more efficient water production again!

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

My Smart Buddie is running around 80 - 85 PSI with a 100 GPD, supply to the unit is 60 PSI.

I also could not figure out why the wash machine kept leaking, until i measured the house pressure and found I was at 90+ too. Had to replace the regulator.

 

[btmedic04]

Thinking about things, it would honestly be pretty cool if you made the larger pump and increased gpd ratings available as upgrade kits. Like keep the base unit as is and say if someone wants to connect it to a dual 75gpd serial membrane set up, they buy kit A that comes with an increased sized pump and appropriate flow restrictor + whatever else would be required. Or if someone is running a single 75gpd but wants to reduce waste water, they buy upgrade kit B that has the flow restrictor or whatever else is needed to make that happen and so on and so forth.

That would be great for the end user, but it might be a bit of a logistical headache for your company. Just some ideas to kick around for you guys

 

[Ajsvmax]

It depends on your situation. The concern is the pressure created with the larger membrane area or the two membranes. If you only have 40 PSI, it will increase the pressure to the membrane in our experience close to the 60 - 65 PSI. If you already have the 65 PSI you would not really see an increase. The pump will produce around 750 ml of water at 60 PSI output. A single 150 membrane or double 75 would have around 395 ml of output per minute and then you need to add in the 300 CC/ml flow restrictor per minute. So 695 combined.

So it really would depend on your situation. Let me know your parameters and will be glad to help figure out if it will work in your situation.

I have approximately 40 PSI water pressure and ai have an RODI unit with 2-75 GPD membranes With the waste water feeding the second unit.

Thanks
Drew

 

[ReefBeta]

I'm wondering if there is a demand for a larger version to work with between 150 - 200 GPD RO units? Thoughts?

The whole reason I want a booster in the first place is to run the dual membrane system more efficiently. It's trading slightly higher end TDS to water saving. Thus want to boost pressure for better rejection rate to counter the TDS raise. I got a Aquatec 8800 Booster Pump for it instead.

Also if water pressue in house is enough (60 psi), a water saver upgrade kit to add a second membrane produce both more water and save more, also cost less than the Smart Buddie. So if choose only one, it's only logical to go with water saver upgrade.