Spectra pure or Typhoon III

[rrodd89]

i am getting a RO/DI and wanted to know what people thought was better Typhoon III or Spectra pure

[192clark]

I have a Typhoo III and Customer service at air water ice is great!

[xenon]

Spectra seems to be #1 from all the research I have been doing. I will be ordering the maxcap rodi in a few days.

[Acroholic]

Both are great units.
I have the Spectrapure 90gpd w/ the new MaxCap cartridges, which in my opinion is a most excellent product. Also my experience with SpectraPure has been 1st class.

[rrodd89]

think i will go with Typhoon III but are there any sponsors that sell it? still would also like to hear your opinions on the two but the Typhoon III is cheaper and seems about the same in quality. thanks

[Jayreefer]

I just got a MAXCAP unit from spectrapure. It is great. They are also local here in Tempe and the LFS sells the units as well. I am getting 350 TDS after prefilters, 2 TDS after RO, and 0 TDS after the first DI. It has dual DI as well.

[AZDesertRat]

Spectrapure hands down. It only a little more initially then the Typhoon but you will more than make it up on the first DI replacement.

[crumbletop]

Originally posted by AZDesertRat
Spectrapure hands down. It only a little more initially then the Typhoon but you will more than make it up on the first DI replacement.

That may depend on your input TDS and how much water you make. The total cost of ownership looks to me like it would cost more to run a maxcap on a yearly basis when you include pre-filters in the mix. For me with an input TDS of 150 on a Typhoon, I get 1 year out of my DI (about 2500 gallons/year RO/DI produced). Replacing the prefilters every 6 months comes out to $30/year for filters, and $12/year on the DI resin for a total of around $50 (if you include shipping). For the maxcap, it looks like the prefilters would cost $50/year without shipping and that doesn't even include _any_ DI resin. I know the MaxCap gives better output water, but I am skeptical as to whether there is any actual advantage to this for the aquarium. So for my water requirements, it looks like the MaxCap costs more initially, and more per year. In fact, I'd need to more than double my requirements in order to come close to break-even. I may have the pricing wrong on the spectrapure units as it is hard to tell what filters one would use, but I figured the $50 on a $7 sediment filter and a $18 carbon block.

[Steadyhand]

I just ordered/received my MaxCap 90 from Spectrapure -

The unit appears top notch and the customer service has been great - they put up with me for 15 minutes of Q&A - they're angels.

If you order the pieces parts you need with it, they will install them for you before shipping, too!

Great buy on the MaxCap before January 31st............

v/r

Rich

[houser]

Not to complain but either way double check the assembly of your system. My specrapure works great for me now and I am very happy- but when I bought it a long time ago I didn't pressure check the unit before hooking it up and I was definitely surprised to find multiple little leaks. Nothing tearing it apart, some teflon tape, and about 30 minutes couldn't fix.
It does say right there in the manuals that they're not responsible for leaks, but straight from the factory!!

[Jetdrvr]

I just got a maxcap 90 and I love it. Their support is second to none.

[AZDesertRat]

Crumbletop, if you are looking at it that way factor in the cost of a membrane or two for you ststem. With the better prefilters and carbons the MaxCap membrane will outlive yours about 3 to 1. Just ask Dr. Randy over in the chemistry forum, he has one going over 10 years now on the original membrane.

[crumbletop]

Okay. This is how it looks to me with the membrane factored in...

Typhoon estimated 10 year maintenance cost (3 membranes per 10 years):
Membrane (~$45 x 3) = $135
Prefilters (~$35 x 10) = $350
DI resin (~$15 x 10) = $150
10 year total = $635 = $63.50 per year

MaxCap estimated 10 year maintenance cost (one membrane per 10 years):
Membrane (~$99 x 1) = $99
Prefilters (~$55 x 10) = $550
MaxCap DI Resin (~$70 x 3 ??) = $210
10 year total = $859 = $85.90 per year.

I fudged some of the above figures to include my estimate for shipping cost (except for the membrane which is simply the listed price for that item). I also guessed at ~2.5x improved performance for the MaxCap DI. Don't get me wrong. The MaxCap looks like a great system -- I just think the payback in maintenance costs will depend on how much water you make and your source water TDS.

[AZDesertRat]

Spectrapure has been testing the MaxCap in their facility for well over a year now at 800+ TDS tap, and I can personally tell you that the 3.5x number is a conservative estimate on their part. I beta tested one for them and never did exhaust it at 3x my old DI sytems output using purolite nuclear grade resin. I think they really have something here and my old RO system of choice was the Typhoon III so it took a lot for Charles Mitsis to convince me.

[crumbletop]

But I don't have 800 TDS tap, so the #s aren't so good for me Even if I figured on changing the MaxCap DI resin only once in 10 years (10x performance), the maint costs are still lower by a few $/year for the Typhoon.

[swedish steel]

I plan to use the Spectra Pure MaxCap RO/DI to obtain what I believe will be the best quality water, despite the the above discussion about cost/year being slightly more. I want to avoid fighting any water quality problems any way possible.