Periodic descaling may be necessary for areas where the water supply is highly mineralized. Scale build-up in the AquaTru Pump and the Reverse Osmosis filter may result in reduced flow rates or in some cases a complete loss of flow. (See also: What is waste water? Can AquaTru filter hard water?)
It is important that these steps are taken before you experience a complete loss of flow. Descaling an AquaTru unit with no flow may not be successful. Using an AquaTru with a very low flow rate might permanently damage the pump.
When should descaling maintenance be performed?
When the flow rate has become so slow that the filtering time is over 25 minutes for one tank. Depending on the mineral content of the water, a new unit should filter one tank in about 10 to 15 minutes.
Tools needed:
- Descaling kit. Which you can purchase on our website
- 1 gallon of Purified Water (2 tanks of purified AquaTru water or any water with low TDS and zero chlorine such as distilled water.
- 2 packets of AquaTru's Descaling Powder
- 1 Tea kettle or pot for warming the water
- 1 Thermometer to check the water temperature (if you do not have a thermometer handy, just make sure that your water is not boiling, as long as there is steam coming off of it, you should be good)
- 1 new AquaTru RO filter, only if your filtering time is slow (exceeding 25 minutes). If you are just descaling to complete regular maintenance, you do not need to replace the RO filter when completing this descaling process.
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Descaling Procedure
Before starting this procedure, make sure that the tap tank is clean and free of any hard water deposit. If you live in an area with hard water, it is important that you always keep the tap tank clean and free of scale. The scale in the tank can come loose as small scale-flakes that block the pump. We recommend that you clean and remove any scaling from the tap tank once a week.
- Remove the filter cover, wait for the filters to depressurize for 60 seconds, and then remove each filter by turning counter-clockwise.
- Install the AquaTru Descaling Filters by inserting and turning clockwise until the red arrows align. Slide the filter cover back on.
- Heat purified water to around 100 to 120-degrees F (similar temperature to hot water from the tap). Do not use boiling water.
- Fill the tap tank to about ½ inch below the handle.
- Add 2 packets of AquaTru Descaling Powder to the water. Stir for 30 seconds to fully dissolve in the water.
- Place the tap tank on the AquaTru base, and let it start filtering. After about 5 minutes of filtering, turn off the power and let it sit and soak for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes are up, turn your AquaTru back on back on and let it complete filtering the descaling solution.
- Next, pour all of the water from the clean water tank into the tap water tank, and let it filter the descaling solution through the system one more time.
- Once filtering is complete, and you see a full blue circle at the top of the display panel, discard the water from both tanks.
- Run 2 more full tanks of cold tap water through AquaTru, discarding the water from both tanks after each cycle.
- Slide the filter cover off, and remove the Descaling Filters. Then, re-install your filters. If your filtering time exceeded 25 minutes before you started this descaling process, you should replace your RO filter with a new one at this time.
- Clean both tanks with soap and water before using the AquaTru again.
For regular maintenance, and to prolong the life of the RO filter, we recommend that you do this once a month. If done regularly, the life of the RO filter will be increased.