Answer Center Contact Us About Us Careers

WaterSolutions Membranes Troubleshooting - High Differential Pressure

Symptom	Possible Causes	Solution
Low Flow (High Feed Pressure)	Calcium Carbonate Scale	Clean elements. May need repetitive cleanings for excessive scale. May not be economical to attempt repeated cleanings, therefore replace elements. Weighing tail element can give a measure of extent of scaling. Refer to scale control (30KB PDF).
	Calcium, Barium or Strontium Sulfate Scale	Clean elements. May need extensive and repetitive cleanings. May not be economical to attempt repeated cleanings, therefore replace elements. Weighing tail element can give a measure of extent of scaling. Refer to scale control (30KB PDF).
	Calcium Fluoride Scale	Clean (279KB PDF) elements. Refer to scale control (30KB PDF).
	Phosphate Scaling	Overfeeding phosphate, difficult to impossible to clean, replace elements.
	Silica scale	Clean (279KB PDF) elements.
	Membrane Plugging and Surface Abrasion with Foreign Material (like sand)	Probe will indicate the damage. Correct pretreatment and replace elements.
	Silt or clay fouling	Clean (279KB PDF) elements. Refer to prevention guidelines (32KB PDF).
	Silica fouling (colloidal)	Clean (279KB PDF) elements. Refer to prevention guidelines (32KB PDF).
	Biological fouling	Clean and sanitize entire system. Refer to prevention guidelines (28KB PDF). Weighing lead element can give a measure of extent of fouling.
	Carbon fines or sand	Permanent flow loss will occur. Individual element cleaning may partially restore performance using procedures from FILMTEC™ Cleaning Technical Bulletin (279KB PDF).

Request Information