7 DI System Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make

7 DI System Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make

Owning a deionized water system — we’ll refer to it as a DI system for short — involves more than just the purchase and installation. Here is a list of the top 7 mistakes we’ve seen other owners make, including smart tips for keeping your system running smoothly.

We’ve blogged extensively about what is deionized water, and we’ve given you plenty of specific examples of how DI water systems work – including this post on factors that can reduce your DI resin lifespan

We’ve pulled from these posts and others to create the mistakes that can affect your ability to meet standards and ultimately impact your bottom line. Let’s dive in:

1. Ignore Testing and Monitoring of Your DI System

A deionized water system requires the use of a digital resistance meter or a water quality light. The meter should be calibrated annually by a trained technician. On a daily basis, you should conduct a quality control check: Read and document your meter or verify the water quality on your resistance light to ensure you’re in an acceptable range.

2. Use an Old Outdated Analog Deionized Water Meter

Today’s digital resistance meters provide exceptional accuracy. However, many DI water system users still have an old meter that hasn’t been calibrated in years. The impact this can have on your system will vary based on the standards you’re trying to meet, but the old meters are difficult to read and not nearly as accurate.

3. Increase Your Water Usage Without Adjusting Your DI System

We’ve blogged about ways to reduce your water usage, but what if you increase it?  If your business is booming from a manufacturing standpoint, you should review your current water system with your vendor. An increase in water usage of 20% should prompt a review.

Water usage increase of 25% should prompt a review.

4. Ignore Your DI Resin

Based on the purity you need in your facility, you will want to ensure your DI resin isn’t damaged or fouled in some way.

Your water treatment vendor should upgrade their resin at a frequency level that correlates to your targeted purity.  Ask your DI water treatment vendor to review the age of the DI resin with you.

5. Use Fouled Resin

The ion exchange process exchanges hydrogen and hydroxl ions for all charged ions in the water like magnesium, sulfates, etc. If the resin ages (as noted above) or becomes fouled from contaminants, it loses its ability to hold hydrogen or hydroxl ions.

Chlorine or chloramines, along with iron content or debris, can foul and/or break down the resin. If not regenerated correctly, the contaminants will reduce the capacity of the resin and make the process less efficient.  This ultimately increases the DI costs to the consumer.

6. Batch DI Resin Regeneration

If you need high-purity DI resin, then your vendor should not batch regenerate the resins. This process occurs when resin is removed from multiple exchange canisters, then mixed and regenerated together.

Avoid "Batch Regeneration."

The danger occurs when 2 or 3 of those canisters contained fouled resin. If that fouled resin is redistributed through various canisters (it might be 20 to 30), then a vendor has no way of tracking the fouled resin. This process ultimately increases the DI costs to the consumer.

7. Use a Vendor What Doesn’t Have an FDA Protocol

To properly meet water standards, a water treatment vendor should adhere to an FDA protocol.  An FDA protocol will drive the need for quality system requirement (QSR) procedures. Make sure your vendor has an FDA protocol in place.

With these 7 DI system mistakes, we’ve highlighted the typical errors encountered with deionized water users. Click here to learn about how you can take a deionized water system to a whole new level.

We’ll do more than give you a quote—we’ll visit your site to analyze your industrial water needs.

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