How to Choose the Right 4040 RO Membrane

You know what, guys? I recently messed around with a 4040 RO membrane, and let me tell you, it was quite the ride. I’ve been wanting to upgrade my water purification setup at home for a while now, and I figured, why not dive into the world of reverse osmosis?

So, I started by doing some digging online. I read through a ton of articles and forum posts about RO membranes, trying to figure out what the heck a 4040 even was. Turns out, it’s a pretty standard size for commercial or industrial systems, but hey, I like to go big or go home. It is about 4 inches in diameter and 40 inches long, which means it will give you more water than other sizes.

After ordering one online – which, by the way, wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be – I waited impatiently for it to arrive. Once it finally did, I cleared out a space in my garage and got to work. I’m no plumber, but I’m pretty handy, so I followed the instructions that came with the membrane, along with a few YouTube tutorials, to install it into my existing water line.

• First, I shut off the water supply and drained the existing lines.
• Then, I disconnected the old membrane housing – which was way smaller, by the way – and prepped the new 4040 housing.
• The connections were different.
• Putting the new membrane in place was a bit of a struggle, I won’t lie. It’s a lot bigger than I expected, and getting everything to line up took some serious elbow grease.

But eventually, I managed to get it all hooked up. Then I tested the system’s pressure to ensure that it falls within the 40-80 psi range, which is the optimal working pressure for my 4040 membrane.

The Moment of Truth

I turned the water back on, held my breath, and… it worked! Well, sort of. There were a few leaks at first, which I quickly fixed with some Teflon tape and a wrench. But after that, it was smooth sailing. I tested the water pressure – around 60 psi, which is what I was aiming for – and then I let the system run for a few hours to flush out any impurities. So I tested my water before and after, so that I could see how effective the membrane was at filtering out impurities. To calculate the rate, divide the amount of permeate water produced in one minute by the amount of feed water entering the system in one minute, then multiply the result by 100. The formula is as follows: Recovery Rate = (Permeate Flow Rate / Feed Flow Rate) 100. I found that the recovery rate of this 4040 RO membrane is pretty good.

Now, I’ve got crystal clear, delicious water on tap, and I feel like I’ve conquered the world of home water purification. It was definitely a learning experience, but hey, that’s what makes life interesting, right? I’ll keep you guys posted on how the 4040 holds up in the long run, but for now, I’m pretty darn pleased with myself. I’m thinking, I should have done this sooner, you know?