Booster pump plumbing

[PSU4ME]

Hey All,
I’ve never used a booster pump as my old house was around 50 psi and water was cheap so I said fine.

Now that water at my new house is expensive, I’ve been looking at ways to be smart with it. 55 psi out of the tap is good but.....

RO booster pumps seem awesome and I can’t believe I never used one before! Faster, better water with less waste, sign me up.

Now for my question. Lots of videos show it inline before the entire unit so Tap-Booster-RO Unit. But then I saw some comments from buckeye hydro that said it should be after the sediment and carbon blocks but before the membranes which makes sense because it’s the membranes that need it.

So how do people plumb it? If you’re before all filters, how do the sediment and carbon filters hold up to the pressure? It’s super easy to do it right after tap so I’d prefer that but not if it blows the filters. BRS videos show it this way so I assume it’s ok?

Thanks!

 

[Chris A.]

I always thought it went in front of the sediment filter. Do you have a link to the brs video? I need to set mine up as well. Thanks

 

[PSU4ME]

Hey Chris,
I see videos showing both lol but I know the membrane needs the higher pressure but not sure about the others. Do we have a sponsor here who might know? I was going to email someone like air water ice

 

[GraniteReefer]

I build/service these for a living, it goes post the prefilters and before the membrane, and it would preferably have a low pressure switch installed before the 5micron prefilter to protect the pump from a no water scenario and if looking for automated shut off a high pressure switch on the product water would sense when a float valve closed etc.

 

[PSU4ME]

Sweet that’s what I was looking for. Makes total sense for it to be before the membranes but the BRS video shows it inline with the feed line, really surprised to see that!

 

[GraniteReefer]

If unsure a really fool proof product would be the aquaticlife booster pump which is plug and play. It’s more expensive and likely less serviceable but definitely fool proof

Aquatic Life Smart Buddie Booster Pump for 50-100 GPD Reverse Osmosis Systems

Description The smart way to REDUCE WASTE WATER, DECREASE RESIN CONSUMPTION and EXTEND MEMBRANE LIFE! YOUR Water MADE Better - Increase the effectiveness of your RO system, and REDUCE waste water by up to 65%! Reverse osmosis booster pumps are used to increase the pressure going into your RO or...

aquaticlife.com

 

[PSU4ME]

Cool machine but I already picked up the 8800. Dumb question but I assume that unless I install the low pressure switch I’d have to unplug the transformer when I shut off the water supply to the unit?

 

[CrypticLifeStyle]

Yes, and here is a picture of how mine has been setup since end of March.

 

[jsak1976]

Yes the booster pump only needs to go before the RO membrane and also the RO membranes don’t like cold water if you put a mixing valve before the rodi unit the water will go through much faster around 70 degrees. Here’s a pic off my setup.

 

[Robert M]

So I’ve installed my pressure pump “wrong” (before the pre-filters). But I think the reasons to put them after the pre-filter are to keep sediment out of the pressure pump and because the pre-filter housing is the most likely component to leak under high pressure.

My housing pump starts leaking around 120psi+ but my pressure pump can only get pressure to about 75psi, so I don’t worry about it. Also I’m on MWRA water supply from Quabbin reservoir, and haven’t noticed sediment problems... I’m not even sure I need to use RODI.

Also the pressure switch that came with my pressure pump didn’t seem to work (or more likely I installed wrong), so I added an Apex solenoid shut-off to the water supply and a flow meter. If water turns off or not enough water comes through the lines, the solenoid and pressure pump turn off which keeps the pump from running dry.

 

[jsak1976]

So I’ve installed my pressure pump “wrong” (before the pre-filters). But I think the reasons to put them after the pre-filter are to keep sediment out of the pressure pump and because the pre-filter housing is the most likely component to leak under high pressure.

My housing pump starts leaking around 120psi+ but my pressure pump can only get pressure to about 75psi, so I don’t worry about it. Also I’m on MWRA water supply from Quabbin reservoir, and haven’t noticed sediment problems... I’m not even sure I need to use RODI.

Also the pressure switch that came with my pressure pump didn’t seem to work (or more likely I installed wrong), so I added an Apex solenoid shut-off to the water supply and a flow meter. If water turns off or not enough water comes through the lines, the solenoid and pressure pump turn off which keeps the pump from running dry.

I also installed installed a separate 24v solenoid valve using a relay off the pressure switch, works great if the pumps off the valves closed.