Water Filtration Q&A: Hot Water, RO Membranes, Softeners & More

Hey guys, it's AJ with Crystal Quest. We're back again for another Q&A for the month of September. Let's go ahead and jump right into it. So, let's go ahead and jump in with does one accidental hot water exposure mean that the filter is ruined? And a little bit of context, customer said, "Do you sell the three-stage countertop water filter in white?

I've been ordering them from you for years. The one I'm using had hot water that ran through it. Um do I need a new one?" And the answer is possibly. Um but I wouldn't say one accidental hot water exposure is going to give me enough information to say that your filters are completely ruined. Um but I also wouldn't tell you that they're definitely okay.

Uh we do advise that you use cold water lines for any potable drinking water application. Um that's what these systems are designed for. The cartridges, seals, housings, they all have operating limits to the temperature. So, you want to be conscious of how hot that water is running through. That is the most important part.

How hot was the water that was running through, how long it ran, and which system and cartridges do you actually have. For now, I would say stop sending hot water through it. If anything's leaking, distorted, or warped, then I would have a cause for concern, and I'd probably assess the unit again before you use it. Uh but we do still have the white single, double, triple countertop options in any variety that you choose. So, if you do want a replacement, you're more than welcome to grab one on the website.

[Editorial note: The recorded promotion discussion is omitted.] Hi, I have questions about the undersink RO system. What does the base undersink RO system already do, and when do optional cartridges add value? So, this customer is asking because they see a lot of options on the Thunder undersink RO system, and they're asking, "Why do we need all those add-ons if the RO system is supposed to remove those contaminants?" The answer is pretty simple. Um and I'll start by by kind of framing it like this. Uh no, the optional cartridges do not mean that the base RO system doesn't do anything for those contaminants.

That being said, the base system has pre-treatment and then the reverse osmosis membrane and post-treatment, which are meant to reduce contaminants before they hit the RO membrane to improve the efficiency of the membrane. So, when you see like a nitrate add-on or an arsenic add-on, it's not because the membrane's not removing that. It's because we want to kind of hyper-focus on certain contaminants that we know are in our water so that we can improve of the membrane and reduce them before they hit the membrane. It's It's really in The optional stages are really in place to address a particular treatment goal, um, kind of as support for the RO membrane to finish it up and and do the final round on it. So, I would really just start with like, what is in your water and what do you need?

And then kind of selecting those pre-filters as needed rather than checking every box on the page. So, hopefully that helped. The next question that we have is, "Can the portable off-grid system be configured to desalinate seawater?" This is a really open-ended question. I mean, in theory it could. Uh, we're capable of doing it, but we don't offer that.

And the reason is because when you receive the off-grid unit, it has a very specific pump on it and very specific membrane sizes. Those are spec'd for freshwater application primarily. When you're talking about desalination and handling seawater, we need a much bigger pump and more comprehensive membranes or uh, desal membranes to be able to actually address that TDS. The problem is, with a portable system, you only have so much power. The pump that you would need for a desal membrane and desal system is going to require a much higher power draw that we just cannot supply in that small of a form factor.

So, for those reasons, it could be configured to desalinate seawater, but in reality, uh, not really. Next, we have a question. How do I verify whether a salt based softener is actually softening? And a little bit of context on this is that their salt level in their brine tank is the same level that it was six months ago and now they're wondering if there's a definitive way to figure out if the system's working. Uh, yes, there is a direct way to test if your softener is working or not.

Best way to do that is to test the water before it hits the softener, so your raw water essentially. Also test a specific point where you know treated water's going. So if you have a softener, check before it hits the softener and check it like through a sink or something like that. Then you can compare the hardness levels in the pre-filtered or pre-softened water and the post-softened water figure out if it's working. Hearing that your salt level's the same place as it was six months ago kind of leads me to believe that it is not, especially if you haven't refilled the salt because you should be going through that salt in sooner than six months.

That's The testing is going to give us a much more accurate read of like if it's actually working. Salt level's a great way to kind of get an idea, but it's not going to be definitive because salt consumption depends on your water use, your regeneration frequency, and your incoming hardness. But another thing they mentioned is that they did a manual a manual backwash. There's a really important difference between backwashing and actually regenerating the system. Backwash is only one part of the entire regeneration process.

The system also needs a draw brine, rinse, and refill properly done. Hearing water move during a backwash doesn't necessarily prove that the resin has been regenerated. Uh, so I would go through the entire regeneration process rather than just a backwash. Next we've got, can an RO system fill a tank and supply automatic watering for my school's greenhouse? Yes, an RO system can fill a storage tank and supply automatic watering.

We just need to design the connections and delivery side so that they work together. Any suitable system you'd be able to connect piping or spigot to provided that the fittings, pressure, and incoming water quality meet the requirements that you need for the greenhouse application. For the water tank, I would make sure that you have float switches to probably kick the system on and off. That way you have water and it's not overfilling and you have basically just proper water levels. For the automatic waterers, I would probably say that you should make sure you have the right flow and pressure.

So, depending on the arrangement, that could mean having a delivery pump or a pressure control after the storage tank. With using an RO system, I make sure that you review the plants, the nutrients, and all the things that you need for those plants since RO can change the water composition. You want to make sure that you are not using like bland RO water and it's going to kill your plants or something like that. Um and make sure you have drainage, proper overflow protection, and you should be good to go. An RO system should work perfectly fine for this.

So, that wraps up our questions and answers for the month of September. If you have a question, drop one in the comments, give us a call, or send us an email at help@crystalquest.com and we'll be more than happy to feature it in the next video. Until then, we will catch you guys on the flip. We'll catch you guys on the flip.