Express Water RO System

[centralpabrewer]

I purchased an Express Water RO system and hooked it up today. When doing the initial startup and pressure test, I had a leak at the T that goes between the Post Activated Charcoal filter and the storage tank. The T has a long male end that inserts into the filter. No matter what i tried i could not get the leak to stop. I also tried another T, still leaked. Then i tried trimming about an 1/8th inch off the male end, still leaked. Anyone else have this issue. Any suggestions?

For what its worth, the water pressure is 70psi

Here is what the T looks like

And this is where it leaks. When the T is inserted into the filter, it seems very loose. Both T's seemed this way.

 

[day_trippr]

I'm a bit suspicious of the groove in the stem on that "T" fitting, it doesn't seem like it's a great idea for a PTC fitting.
I have lots of PTCs in my RO system and none of them have grooved stems.

Consider replacing it with one of these all female 1/4" PTC "T" fittings (available at Big Box hardware stores) with a short piece of 1/4" tubing to the left. It'll work the same as that weird T and I'm betting it won't leak...

Cheers!

 

[centralpabrewer]

I'm a bit suspicious of the groove in the stem on that "T" fitting, it doesn't seem like it's a great idea for a PTC fitting.
I have lots of PTCs in my RO system and none of them have grooved stems.

Consider replacing it with one of these all female 1/4" PTC "T" fittings (available at Big Box hardware stores) with a short piece of 1/4" tubing to the left. It'll work the same as that weird T and I'm betting it won't leak...

Cheers!

Ah, great idea. Why didnt I think of that I have an extra T. I will give your suggestion a try and let you know how it works. Thank you very much.

 

[centralpabrewer]

No luck. After replacing the original T with a short piece of tubing and a regular T it still leaks. I guess I will call Express Water on Monday

 

[day_trippr]

Ugh. Sorry that didn't get you through. Obviously something amiss with the end of the "finishing" carbon filter.
If you need brewing water you could bypass that same filter while you're waiting for the vendor to resolve the defect...

Cheers!

 

[mabrungard]

Be aware that the inner collar on Guest fittings should be pulled out slightly to help the sealing. There special shims available that hold those collars “out”.

Maybe that’s the problem??

 

[day_trippr]

The OP's picture shows the blue clips installed...

Cheers!

 

[centralpabrewer]

You can see here that I do have the blue clip in place. However, on this connection I am able to swivel the blue clip all the way around in circle. It seems very loose. I am not able to swivel any of the other clips on the system. The only thing I have not tried is another filter. I have one, but I hate to try it and it not fix the problem. Then I am out two filters. I will call Express Water tomorrow. Hopefully they have a fix.

 

[day_trippr]

It's a pretty sure bet that housing has an issue, and I would rather give the other a try than have it just sitting there...

Cheers!

 

[centralpabrewer]

I replaced the PAC filter today with my spare and that one does not appear to leak. So far so good.

 

[day_trippr]

Good call

 

[mabrungard]

The OP's picture shows the blue clips installed...

Yep, Oops!

One other thing that could be a problem is the length of that stub sticking out and the groove. I've not seen a Tee with that sort of male stub, but it's possible that the length of the stub places that groove too close to the seal in the fitting. Consider shortening that stub by about 2 or 3 mm to see if it helps.

 

[day_trippr]

We covered that - and he tried sticking standard 1/4" tubing in the same orifice with no joy.
It's gotta be a defective cartridge....

Cheers!