hey i was just wondering if any of you guys that use the cr spotless units have any old resin they would like to donate to me. i would like to try and recharge. i ordered some new resin but i would like to see if i can get some old resin and try to recharge. i have read a couple of guides that show how to do it. pm me if you do have some.
Unless you have some very expensive equipment yourself or at your disposal I don't think you are going to be able to recharge. Now for regeneration. These systems could be regenerated at home if the resins were not mixed, but it would take using Sulphuric Acid and Caustic. The Acid would be used to regenerate the beads that remove cations and the caustic would be used to regenerate the beads that remove anions. The process would work if the beads were in seperate canisters. If they were in seperate canisters you would put a 30% solution of Sulphuric Acid in the cation one and a 30% solution of Caustic in the anion one. Let them sit for about 1 hour and then thouroughly rinse. This process would cause the beads to be regenerated thus making it much easier for them to take on the cations and anions again and your TDS reading would drop. For mixed resin systems like the CR the process would be extremely difficult as you would have to seperate the resins on your own for it to work and that wouldn't be very east without dedicated equipment for doing so. Don't be fooled that a strong saltwater solution will do it as it won't. That process only works for water softener systems not demineralizing systems. Soft water filtration systems take calcium out of the water by exchanging the sodium for calcium since it's easier to lose the sodium and pick up the calcium. To recharge these systems you use a very strong salt water solution. When you flush these systems with salt water and the solution is so strong that now the sodium overpowers the calcium and attaches and the calcium can be flushed out and you are right back where you started. Here's a good thread that explains it and how one member tried the saltwater regeneration on the CR and it was a disaster. http://www.detailingbliss.com/forum/f39/recharging-cr-665.html
i was going to try the acid recharging method. we keep acid for cleaning bronze and copper with it. i have read a couple of thread where we have to separate them and then rinsing with Reverse osmosis water. They said it works so i would like to try it.
Well with as tiny as these resins are I really don't see how you will be able to seperate them and how are you going to know which ones need acid to regenerate and which ones need caustic to regenerate? Not trying to be a negative Nancy here but I just think its pretty much impossible to do this. I know companies that do this on a large scale like for power plants have equipment to do it but its very expensive. Maybe the two resins have different specific gravities and you could seperate in water that way but I doubt it or the resins would seperate like that in the cartridges when left with water in them. I'd be really interested if you were able to be successful in seperating the resins.
This article goes into how to separate the two. How to Recharge DI Resin by David Sanders - Reefkeeping.com
Wow that is a TON of work to recharge. I can see where his method works with resins for a fish tank but the CR holds a lot more and would take you forever using the tools he uses. As far as your time invested and buying enough Caustic and Acid to do it I have to wonder if you really save much money at all. I guess if you were burning through resins at an alarming rate it would be worth it.
Has anyone found another source for Mixed bed resins, other than CR spotless? THere has to be a cheaper source, 215$ for a cubic foot. Cheers, GREG
Hmm... this seems like the same resin we use but a different color: Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Deionization Resin Mixed Bed Color Changing 5 Lb Bag If you look at that same website under Spot Free Car Wash, they also have a smaller scale system similar to CR's. Here is how I found out about the above website: http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28931
