Burning through DI resin quickly

[rhitee93]

Update: I've made about 45 gallons of RO/DI water with the additional cation/anion beds in place. You can see in the pic that there is some consumption of the anion bed , but virtually no change to the cation or either of the mixed bed cartridges. This is a much happier situation for me

Assuming the consumption is "linear" it looks like I can make well over 200 gallons of water on a $15 change in resin.

I still don't know if it is dissolved CO2, or chloramines that are making it through to the resin, but at this point I'm calling it good enough.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

ammonia would be hitting your cation resin.
co2 hits your anion resin

Russ

 

[rhitee93]

Thanks Russ. That would mean if I start seeing the cation getting used up quickly that my carbon blocks are giving out.

 

[Frozen Tundra Reef Dreams]

Sorry to bump an older thread, but I have similar issue, but it is my cation resin that is burning up.

Well water, high iron. 350 incoming tds. From what I'm gathering it's most likely the iron giving me grief? Or ammonia?

I'm currently researching iron curtains and other variations of iron removing equipment.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[BryanM]

That seems obscenely fast. Like others said that could possibly be CO2 or a whole lot of Chloramines. One recommendation I have is possibly using the Dual cartridge Anion/Cation DI resin. I upgraded to that for my Liquagen unit and it's working very well and lasting much longer than my dual bed canisters did.

I did this as well, and it is quite clear one of them is depleting a lot faster than the other.

 

[14 foot reef]

Sorry to bump an older thread, but I have similar issue, but it is my cation resin that is burning up.

Well water, high iron. 350 incoming tds. From what I'm gathering it's most likely the iron giving me grief? Or ammonia?

I'm currently researching iron curtains and other variations of iron removing equipment.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

See above from Russ @Buckeye Hydro

Copied here
ammonia would be hitting your cation resin.
co2 hits your anion resin

 

[Frozen Tundra Reef Dreams]

See above from Russ @Buckeye Hydro

Copied here
ammonia would be hitting your cation resin.
co2 hits your anion resin

Thank you for the reply, other elements hit cation also. Considering I have well water with iron issues, I'm thinking most likely culprit is iron.

Ferrous and ferric iron are removed by cation.

Hoping to hear others that may have had similar issues

 

[BryanM]

Thank you for the reply, other elements hit cation also. Considering I have well water with iron issues, I'm thinking most likely culprit is iron.

Ferrous and ferric iron are removed by cation.

Hoping to hear others that may have had similar issues

I switched to having them separate rather than a dual-resin canister simply because I thought the idea of throwing out a good amount of one part because the other was depleted faster seemed silly.

I suppose I could add a 3rd, with dual resin, for a final "polish", but with this setup I'm already getting 0 tds water, so I'm not sure if it adds any value really.

 

[14 foot reef]

Thank you for the reply, other elements hit cation also. Considering I have well water with iron issues, I'm thinking most likely culprit is iron.

Ferrous and ferric iron are removed by cation.

Hoping to hear others that may have had similar issues

Just ask Russ directly at @Buckeye Hydro - He is a genius on this stuff and has the best customer service in the industry !!!!

 

[Uncle99]

When DI uses up fast, that’s usually a sign the membrane has failed or at least not removing 95% or greater DOC

 

[exnisstech]

I suppose I could add a 3rd, with dual resin, for a final "polish", but with this setup I'm already getting 0 tds water, so I'm not sure if it adds any value really.

It can help if you have one that gets depleted before changing it out. Basically it allows you to be a bit lazy and not change one depleted cation or anion and still get 0 TDS untill you change the depleted resin.

 

[rhitee93]

I can't add much, but since I started the thread, this is a good opportunity for an update. I have run for a year since this, and have to replace the anion media every 150 gallons or so. (I don't track it that close) I have not replaced any of the other DI resins, and they show nearly no sign of color change yet.

I did replace the sediment and carbon blocks at the 12 month point, but I just did that prophylactically. I have no idea if I needed to or not.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

If iron is making it through to the DI, I'd hate to see the condition of your membrane.

Membranes and iron don't get along - not even a little bit. Iron should be dealt with prior to the RO. And if you have enough iron to be problematic, you'll probably want to treat it at POE rather than POU. We spec and sell these POE systems.

 

[Frozen Tundra Reef Dreams]

If iron is making it through to the DI, I'd hate to see the condition of your membrane.

Membranes and iron don't get along - not even a little bit. Iron should be dealt with prior to the RO. And if you have enough iron to be problematic, you'll probably want to treat it at POE rather than POU. We spec and sell these POE systems.

Turns out I was mistaken. It's my Anion di resin depleting fast.

I stopped at Culligans water and it turns out my iron is nowhere near what I thought it was. (Sediment filter caked with reddish sludge and metal flakes) Iron is 1.4 before sediment and undetectable afterwards. Looking like it's most likely CO2 or silica perhaps?

Looking into icp testing or in depth well water analysis of some kind.

I know the suggestion is if DI takes care of it why bother, but I have other hobbies- gardening, etc that I wish to better understand my water chemistry.

Any further help is much appreciated

Thanks!

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Gross.

Test you water before you do anything else. We use this: https://www.buckeyehydro.com/drinking-water-test/

Just from your pic above, your iron non-detect after the sediment filter is likely not accurate - you can see the iron on the filter to the left. I'm assuming that's iron, and not just sediment.

If your water is doing that to your sediment filter, imagine what it is doing to your water heater, washing machine, and dish washer, plumbing fixtures, and pipes. You'll want a whole-house solution for the iron. Where there are iron problems, there are often other problems as well (e.g., hardness, manganese, hydrogen sulfide). In the water treatment world, we can treat almost any contaminant, but we have to know what the contaminants are, and their concentration.

Russ

 

[Frozen Tundra Reef Dreams]

Gross.

Test you water before you do anything else. We use this: https://www.buckeyehydro.com/drinking-water-test/

Just from your pic above, your iron non-detect after the sediment filter is likely not accurate - you can see the iron on the filter to the left. I'm assuming that's iron, and not just sediment.

If your water is doing that to your sediment filter, imagine what it is doing to your water heater, washing machine, and dish washer, plumbing fixtures, and pipes. You'll want a whole-house solution for the iron. Where there are iron problems, there are often other problems as well (e.g., hardness, manganese, hydrogen sulfide). In the water treatment world, we can treat almost any contaminant, but we have to know what the contaminants are, and their concentration.

Russ

I should mention this pic above is after 9 months of use, and the water tests were after new filters. 5 micron string wound and 1 micron pleated carbon filter. Off the test spigot they said my hardness wa 20 grains, and iron was 1.4. Which I found surprising, but my ro membrane does last a long time hinting that iron might be mostly removed by the sediment filters.

stupid question, but In your link above, this is the test you would always use to determine what is present? Like if I order this, there will be no need for other tests? Searching water testing on the internet is quite daunting and overloaded with options and recommendations. This is why I sincerely appreciate your help, direct from a water treatment pro!

Thanks much!

 

[coralbeauties]

In which order should the anion and cation filters be run? I know brs says cation first but I remember reading somewhere that that is wrong. I am currently running three separate canisters, anion, cation, and mixed bed. I regenerated my anion and cation to save on the resins costs. Takes a bit of time but seems to work well.
Jeff

 

[rhitee93]

I run cation first based on advice I received here.

@Frozen Tundra Reef Dreams
BTW, I married into a Sheboygan family. Go Pack Go.