Anyone using the Culligan MFP's Reverse Osmosis units to treat water used for Haemodialysis? I need to contact someone using such equipment so that to exchange some information.

I've got a service tech working for me that knows the Culligan's inside and out. What do you want to know? Personnally, I left Culligan in 1975 so I'm not up on the MFP.

Life is GOOD

Willie B

quote:

Originally posted by WaterBoy:

Anyone using the Culligan MFP's Reverse Osmosis units to treat water used for Haemodialysis? I need to contact someone using such equipment so that to exchange some information.

You may need to run your RO every day to cut down on growth. (1)Do not store 2% renaline in your system as you were advised due to fact that it will burn small holes in your membranes that will eventual let menerals to bleed through. (2)You can use Minncare instead of rennaline in your RO, it is cheaper and made by the same manufacture (Minntech). (3)Both chemicals are to be used in a 1% solution and the membranes must be cleaned first according to which type they are (Ca or Pa) you may need to clean with an acid/ alkaline solution. (4)You should circulate each solution for a minimum of 15 minutes and then rinse. For the disnfection I would circulate for at least 15 minutes and the dwell for at least 1 hour. You may also need to replace your hoses and once replaced make sure that they are drained after each use so that there will not be any water for biofilm to grow. Some acute units auto clave their hoses weekly(5)You should not let your unit go more than a month without a cleaning and disenfection and in your case I would Try weekly until it is under control. I have help other unit that are facing your same delima and you are not alone.There have been some problems in the past with these and other small vender units. If you need or want a dependable unit the you may want to try a unit similiar to the Osmonic/Zyzatech machines. You can opt for a stand alone in a cart that can handle two beds or a model that mounts to your machine. If you have anymore problems or inquires you can contact me at yngnsep@hotmail. I have installed and serviced ROs for 8 years and have experienced many different problems that may and will occur.

Thanks to those that replied.

What I really need is detailed information on cleaning the membranes installed on our MFP 350 Units. These membranes have never been cleaned and disinfected, but I wish to change this trend.

Due to this I need to ask some questions:

I intend to proceed as follows for the first treatment.

- clean the membrane with a low ph cleaner to remove mineral scale. I intend to use Minnclean AC.
- clean the membrane with a high ph cleaner to remove organic deposits. I intend to use the Minnclean TF cleaner.
- Sanitise the system with Minncare after having cleaned as mentioned above.

What do you think on this plan of action?

Bacterial counts in our product post ROs vary between 10 - 20 cfu/ml, while bacterial counts from reject water are around 3000cfu/ml in contrast to those of RO feed water which are in the range of 2000cfu/ml.
Is this indicative of fouling, and if so how serious is this?

The RO feed water does not show the presence of iron. Therefore I do not intend to clean the membrane for iron deposits.

The clean function of the MFPs can be performed at ATM pressure by taking the solution from a cleaning tank. Must the cleaning tank always be at a level higher than the lowest level at which the RO unit is installed? What is the minimum height at which this cleaning tank can be lowered in relation to the lowest level at which the RO unit is installed? Must this tank be always at a level higher than the highest point of the RO membrane? I am asking this question as I am restricted in relation to vertical space as the plant room's roof is very low.

I also intend to maximise the crossflow rate of the cleaning soution by opening the reject valve fully while reducing the pressure from the RO pump as much as possible by opening the bypass. This procedure would be done during the "CLEAN" procedure available on the MFP 350. Increasing the crossflow rate would also increase the differential pressure. Therefore I need values for the maximum acceptable differential pressure that the MFP 350 membrane can withstand so that I wouldn't go over and damage it. The membranes installed are those from Culligan (However I think that these are Filmtec membranes although having the Culligan mark).

The membranes in question are about 2 years old.

Can someone suggest from where I can find good computer software that can be used to monitor RO performance over time? In our case it is very difficult for one to normalise and interpret RO data as there are many variables involved. It is therefore often impossible to determine whether the membrane really needs cleaning or not.

Can anyone suggest any suppliers that can provide us with membranes which are fully compatible with our Culligan MFP 350 in addition to Culligan?

In regards to the height of the tank:

In my experience, it just needs to be high enough to keep the pump flooded - usually a foot or two off the ground.

I do not use reject water colony counts to determine fouling. Considering the bacterial count of the feed water, the RO is doing pretty well. I would recheck the post-RO counts after you disinfect.

The procedure you outlined looks good to me.