Smart Buddie 150 GPD version with dual 100 or 150 GPD membranes?

[Muffin87]

I live in a small apartment and need to produce water fast. I also have a tight undersink space, which is why I'm upgrading to a Smart Buddy Booster Pump.

In my current setup, I run two 100 GPD membranes in a series. With tap water TDS around 330 TDS, I get 7 TDS, with 98% rejection. ("Run in a series", as in, feeding the waste line from the first membrane to the second membrane)

Two questions:

• What size is the flow restrictor on the Smart Buddy 150 GPD version?
  
  
• I'd really like to upgrade to a different membrane configuration for faster water production.
  What's the fastest producing configuration that I can use with the 150GPD smart buddy, while keeping 98% or 99% rejection?
  • Dual 150 GPD membranes, parallel or in a series?
  • Dual 100 GPD membranes, parallel or in a series?
  • Dual 75 GPD membranes, parallel or in a series? This configuration is suggested by the smart buddy 150 GPD version amazon page, but maybe there's a faster configuration?

Thanks a lot for all the help and information!

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Be glad to help.

The flow restrictor is an 800 ml per minute.

Running the 2 x 75 GPD would be our only suggestion and I would run them parallel. This way the TDS to both membranes would be the same. Running in series you would likely see higher TDS fed to the second membrane.

The pump is rated at 1,100 ml per minute and the combination of the 800 ml and the 394 ml of the 150 membrane is slightly higher output already for the pump.

Let me know if you have additional questions.

 

[Muffin87]

Running in series you would likely see higher TDS fed to the second membrane.

Replacing one of the membranes more often wouldn't necessarily be an issue.

Since the flow restrictor is an 800 ml, it could work with two 100 or 150 GPD membranes run in a series. The issue is the pump wouldn't be powerful enough, correct?

If I install a larger pump and a more powerful 24VDC transformer in the smart buddy, could I run two 100 or 150 GPD membranes in a series?

Thank you!

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

That is correct. The pumps flow rate is rated at 1,100 ml per minute. So using the 800ml and 530 ml for 2 x 100 you would be over the pumps output. I see pump gaskets go out when they are over their ratings. I think of it like you can rev a car engine but revving it all the time will likely damage it at some point.

As for the bigger pump this is the largest that will fit in the housing. Plus going with the larger pump and membranes you would likely want to increase the flow restrictor size.

Right now with the 800 ml and the 2 x 75 membranes we are looking at around 1 filtered to 2 waste ratio.

Glad to help.