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Changed Sediment and Carbon Filters Now RO water smells like Sulfur HELP!


tk3445

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I changed my pre-filters today and did a Membrane flush and now my RO water smells like sulfur but the water from the source does not....?

 

 

What just happened?

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How old were the filters you replaced? Did you do the annual disinfection of the system when you changed the filters? Did you flush each filter individually when you installed them? Do you have DI?

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I do not have DI, just RO. I washed out the pre filter housings with dawn dish soap before i put the new filters in. the filters I replaced were less than a year old at roughly 2-3 gallons of good water a week.

 

 

I disconnected the RO hose and ran water thru them for about 5 min. while this was happening I switched the output hoses on the membrane to do the flush. I did the flush and noticed some smell then but didnt pinpoint it to the RO unit at this time. I did a 10-15 min flush switched everything back turned it on ran it for about 15 min or so when i noticed the smell was coming from my gathering jug.

 

 

I just disassembled the system and the Carbon hosing and carbon block is where the smell is coming from. I rinsed everything out really good and seemed to not smell in the housing or filter anymore... and fired it back up... Still not enough water made currently to tell if it smells yet or not.

 

 

InputTDS - 130ppm

OutputTDS - 4-5ppm

 

 

 

Tom

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You say you switched the output hoses on the RO and flushed it? By that do you mean you ran tap water backwards through the membrane? This is not a good idea if so. I know one of the vendors publishes this in their manual but its a stupid practice and should not be done, why put tap water on the treated water side of the membrane on purpose?

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Yeah that is how the manual from the manufacturer suggest the unit be flushed...But i don't think maybe i am explaining it clear...

 

Like i have a red hose (waste) and blue house(good) The blue elbow is just an elbow the red elbow has a flow restrict or in it. I put the elbow with flow restrict-or on the good water port of the membrane house and the blue with no restrict-or into the waste water port so water comes flying out of the waste port at full speed and nothing comes out the good water port.

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Again, don't do that.

No other vendor suggests that method since it makes no sense. Your membrane is flushed via the 4:1 waste ratio and that is all it needs.

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Yep after letting both tubes run down the drain for a couple hours and rinsing all the housings out water no longer smells and am down from 4-5tds to 3tds with no DI so I think that flush idea must have been the issue.

 

 

SO basically never flush just run the membranes?

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The 4:1 waste ratio when the system is operating is the flushing it needs. It is continously flushed at the membrane manufacturers recommended rate and method.

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Should be fine if the TDS is as low as you say.

If you have a reef I would highly recommend getting an add on DI though to get that TDS down to 0. There are things RO only is not paticularly good at removing and some do not register well on a TDS meter. The combination of RO and DI will remove them effectively.

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  • 4 years later...

I have a whole home to system and since it was installed a year and half ago I have had nothing but issues, the company comes out monthly to service the system which consists of changing a filter and adding dry chlorine into the holding tank. It seems now that it is out of warranty Everytime they come out something breaks and has to be fixed, my question is does the filter need to be changed every month and should they really be adding chlorine back into the water doesn't that defeat the purpose of the system, the other thing is a year after install because I had so many complaints they reinstalled my water softener onto the to system and of course charged me for it when had they tested my water in the first place they should have known it never should have been taken off my home, my latest problem is the float switch had to be replaced they came out said it was fixed once they left and the tank filled it was still over flowing so they said turn it off again and they would come replace the switch this time my husband said he would do it since they should have done that earlier when they were out, while replacing it he noticed a lot of alge in the tank so apparently they don't clean the tank as part of the monthly service and the reason the are putting the chlorine in is moot because it isn't working, he also noticed the water in the tank smelled like sulfer so now they tell us the membrane probably needs to be replaced does any of this sound correct?

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