Aquatec Permeate Pump

Aquatec Permeate Pump

“Permeate” is industry jargon for product water: the purified water that has passed through the reverse osmosis membrane, the water you will drink. The water that is rejected by the membrane, the waste water, is called “brine.”

A permeate pump is a special device for undersink reverse osmosis units that uses the hydro power of the brine, or waste water, to pack the permeate, or product water, into the storage tank.

Permeate Pump Ordering

Part #	Description	Price
RP100	Aquatec Permeate Pump. Includes instructions, screws and mounting bracket.	$77
RP101	Permeate Pump Upgrade. Aquatec Permeate Pump added to Black & White, Gold Series, Q Series RO unit at time of purchase.	$70
RC302	Special 90% Shutoff Valve. Part # ASO90. Includes installation instructions. Please see note above before ordering. This is an optional part. The pump itself will control and shut off the RO unit without a shutoff valve.	$18

All prices include shipping!

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90% Shut-off Valve
for Permeate Pumps

Although the pump controls the unit completely and does not need a shut-off valve to shut down the unit, some prefer performance with a shutoff valve. There is a special 90% shutoff valve designed to use with the permeate pump. It shuts the unit down when tank pressure reaches 90% of the inlet pressure. We do not recommend that you use it without the permeate pump.

Part #	Description	Price
rc302	90% Shut-off Valve for Permeate Pumps	$18.00

A standard reverse osmosis unit is controlled by an automatic shutoff system that shuts down water production when pressure in the storage tank reaches about 2/3 of the inlet water pressure. In other words, if your city water pressure is 60 pounds (psi), your reverse osmosis unit will stop producing and storing water when pressure in the storage tank reaches about 40 psi. For most household purposes, this is plenty of pressure and the RO unit will run wonderfully.

The same RO unit with a permeate pump and 60 psi coming in will continue to produce water until pressure in the tank reaches almost 60 psi.

This is especially helpful for low-pressure installations. If, for example, you have a well that yields only 40 psi, a standard RO unit will run with your pressure, but it won’t run well. The unit will shut down when tank pressure reaches 25 psi or so. With a permeate pump, the unit will put almost the full 40 psi into the storage tank.

What’s best about the permeate pump, though, is the increased efficiency. With a standard shutoff system, as the storage tank fills, the RO unit must push against an increasing amount of storage tank pressure. With the permeate pump, the unit is shielded from this pressure and the membrane works in a virtually pressure-free situation, even when the tank is almost full.

Purmeate Pump Pros & Cons

Among the pump’s disadvantages are:

• A slight intermittent thumping noise—not really loud, but you’ll know when it’s running.

• It’s not easy to install on an existing RO unit (it makes new units no harder to install). We don’t recommend that you attempt to retrofit an existing RO unit to permeate pump operation unless you’re willing to go to a little trouble.

• A slight increase in TDS (total dissolved solids) reading under normal household operation. Because the pump starts the unit literally every time you take a thimble-full of water from the unit, total rejection of dissolved solids will not be quite as good as with a standard unit. This is normally not a significant disadvantage, and it is offset by the greatly enhanced pressure performance, especially with low-pressure installations. And, if you take lots of water out of the tank at one time, you’ll actually experience improved TDS performance.

Advantages to the permeate pump are:

• The greatly improved water pressure from the RO tank, especially in low-pressure installations.

• No electricity used, and no electrical connection (as compared with electric booster pumps).

• Much greater efficiency. The unit does not have to push against the pressure of storage tank. The ratio of product water to waste water improves significantly.