How Hard is it to Install a Water Maker?

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Which ac watermaker did you choose?

CruiseRO from Rich Boren.

Mark

[Canibul]

Our house is not connected to town water. All our water is rain stored in cisterns. I put in a whole house filtering system. The stuff I see in the filters tells me that rain water is not that pure by the time it hits the earth. The fine dust in the filters is reddish brown. The dust here is limestone light tan. So this blew across the Atlantic from Africa.

I thought of a first-wash system to divert the early rain away from the cisterns but never got around to building it. A commercial first wash valve guy in Australia wrote me that he has used it on a bunch of installations into existing systems. How long does your charcoal filter last ? Do you divert the first few gallons to clean the catchment?

[nimblemotors]

You can use the non-salt-water RO filters to clean up marina water
if that is an issue. They are waay cheaper way to solve the problem.

Originally Posted by simonpickard

The problem I'm finding though is that in a lot of marinas I'm staying the water you'd fill this new 100gal tank up is undrinkable also.

I know for showers, cooking, etc, that's not an issue but we were hoping to be able to drink the water from the water maker reducing our time spent lugging water bottles + the cost of this.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Greenhand

1) That is neither pure nor distilled. It is most often potable, though.
2) It doesn't fall around here. Haven't seen it in months.

Hmmm... water evaporates, becomes clouds, falls as rain... isn't that a form of distillation?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Hmmm... water evaporates, becomes clouds, falls as rain... isn't that a form of distillation?

Yep, sort of - but when the water vapour condenses it forms on "cloud condensation nuclei" which are a mixture of mineral dust, carbon, salt particles, VOC, bacteria etc.

It is then exposed to and absorbs more of these particles in its fall through the atmosphere.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by simonpickard

Price mostly + it gets very solid reviews from what I've managed to find.
We have a good amount of spare solar during the day so can run it for hours on end if needed.

I do see your point though, if there's any better products on the market that can be run from 12volt, in a small space, for the same money, I'm all ears.

Thanks for the info as well, sounds like this is something I could do on my own then.

Regards,
Simon

You may want to rethink your sizing. A water maker is not something you want to leave running all day long...they use a fair amount of power, and some of them are noisy as well. Most people size them so they can run them for an hour or two or three every few days. At 1 gph, you'll potentially find yourself needing to run it a majority of the day just to keep up with your daily usage.

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the higher volume water makers are more efficient energy wise. You should probably be looking at something with 6 gph or higher, depending on your specific needs.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Canibul

You just talked me out of the engine-driven watermaker idea. Boat already has a mounting plate with threaded studs for an engine accessory. Orig was refrigeration compressor I think. The mounting plate is well installed for an engine driven something, but thinking about being up poop creek with engine issues made me immediately adopt your idea.

I'm planning to move the watermaker out of the compartment with the charging systems anyway. Previous owner installed the MPPTs and ac charger about a foot to the left of it. It's a PUR 35 and has a manual handle backup, so I can turn that into an emergency spare, or sell it. I got a Honda. Which ac watermaker did you choose?

We sell engine driven water makers...at least that is when I can't talk the client out of it and into an AC power unit!

The "Make Free Water Myth" of an engine driven water maker negates the increased cost of installation and frankly pain in the A$$ of having to run your main engine at anchor to make water. I've had both (engine and AC) and the day I booted my engine driven unit was a very happy day! With a 20 or 30GPH water maker powered by a 1.0Hp motor, you have a few options of powering it. A ships diesel generator, Honda 2000 generator or through a 2000W inverter when underway with the alternator running as a back up to a dead generator or when you are motoring.

If you already have a Honda 2000......Hmmm....someone I know designed their water maker around that very generator....but in fairness being the owner maybe I'm a little biased...

It's really not fair to try and compare our 20GPH or 30GPH water maker to the 40E 1.5GPH water maker. They may both be called "water makers", but ours definitely takes more power and has a larger footprint, but the amount we under rate our water maker production is larger than the over rated actual production of the 40E. Apple to Orange or BB to Beach Ball.

[Tellie]

Been doing this for a long time. I have built, worked on, serviced, and sold more watermakers than most. I've installed, serviced, watermakers on small 28' sail boats and 180' M/Ys and most in sizes in between. These are but a few truths I've learned over the years.

1) There is no one size fits all watermaker.
2) The watermaker your dock buddy has and swears by probably is not going to be your best bet for a first choice
3) AC powered DC powered, it does make a huge difference depending on YOUR personal needs, YOUR wants, YOUR cruising intentions, and YOUR boats capabilities, not your dock buddys.
4) Yes you can install a watermaker that makes too little water as easily as you can install one that makes way too much water. If you want to save about $1,000 and buy a 1.3gph at 2.8 amps per gallon watermaker instead of a far more efficient 6.5-7.5gph at 1.2 amps per gallon watermaker fine. It makes zero sense to me but if that somehow makes sense to you go for it. If you want to run a small gas generator and make all the water you want I can get you into a watermaker that will do 80 gallons per hour operating on 120Volts at 7.5 amps per hour. Wanna go 220V and I can do 120 gallons per hour on 5.5 amps.
So, absolutely yes you can buy too small and certainly too large.
5) There are some people that want to cruise like the Pardys and then there's the larger group of cruisers that aren't trying to beat the worlds record of three showers with less than a pint of water and prefer a more comfortable lifestyle cruising.
6) Are they hard to install? Depending on your skills and boat based system knowledge there is no system that is hard to install. But it does take time.
7) Not all cruising sail boats are 28 foot Bohemian specials that chase every rain cloud they see for water. Todays modern cruisers are getting bigger and more expensive. The thought of installing the cheapest watermaker they can buy on a $300,00+ boat and crawl under bunks, bilges, engine compartments, etc. to operate their watermakers each and every time is just not going to happen. They not only want fully automated systems they insist on them. Some are comfortable living like Charlie Allnut, most are not.
8) Do watermakers have issues? Yep, but then so do engines, generators, electronics sails, A/C units, refrigeration, etc. It's a boat with many systems, you learn to take care of it. If you take care of it you still might have some problems. If you don't take care of it you'll have a whole lot more problems. But like a good diesel mechanic you can rely on, you want to have a good watermaker company you can rely on.
9) And for the naysayers that claim "You don't need a watermaker" they are correct, you don't need one.
But then again, you don't need a boat either.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by simonpickard

Hello all,

I'm thinking of buying and trying to install a 40E water maker. Just wondering how easy this would be for someone who's very keen to try but hasn't really got any experience of such things.

I'm going to be installing on my Hanse 385. I think there are a few places I can place the system and I'm hoping I can tee off of exciting plumbing?

Like most threads around here this one was done by post 5. This thing looks dead simple to install.

My only thought would be why not stretch to the 80e - it's the exact same concept, it consumes some more of that free power you have so much of except - of course you may not have 8 free amps vs. 4.

In the first 4 posts you had a guy who makes his living at this tell you to go for it - I presume he doesn't have a hidden agenda like the "worldwide conspiracy of watermaker sellers"

Then you got a whole bunch of people telling you what they do.

It's a phenomena of the forum that everyone makes it about themselves and not you - strange...

If I had 47 or so boat bucks laying around (and a boat already tanking 86 gallons), I'd put in a watermaker.

Good luck with it.

[Ocean Diamond 2]

Hi Guys,
New to the Australian market is a portable unit called Rainman.
Looks pretty neat and dosent need installing.



It even has a boat wash down hose.
Not affiliated
Derek

[simonpickard]

Thanks for all the advice. I've had a look at the install guides and I think it's not going to cause too much loss of sleep to install.

I do agree with people who are saying the 40E might be too low output though. I'll take a look at the 80E, and other unit's around this size.

Thanks again!

Regards,
Simon

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by lorenzo b

" lifestyle, comfort, and convenience "

You gotta be pulling my putz, dude. The damn things are a nightmare to install, operate, and maintain.

Now if you happen to be selling those $6000 gizmos, no doubt you love them.

Expensive yes, but not a "nightmare" to install, operate, or maintain. Installation is reasonable for anyone with decent plumbing/electrical skills. Mine took a few days of part time effort. Operation is easy (just push the button on my Spectra...fully automated). Like any electro/mechanical device they require maintenance, but hardly nightmarish levels. Only twice in 10 years have I had to take on water because of water maker issues. I had to do some significant maintenance in the last couple of years as the unit has gotten older (installed 2004), but now its fully rebuilt and humming along producing water consistently at 300PPM or less.

"Water tastes awful half the time". Simply not a true statement. RO water is distinguishable for quite the opposite reason...it has no taste at all. If an RO system is producing poor quality output then something is wrong. My Spectra has been making great water for a decade now. Only a few times has water quality degraded due to maintenance issues.

"Paying insane amounts per gallon". If I amortize the cost of the unit and maintenance over the 10 years of service it comes out to pennies per gallon. Energy use is only 1AH/gallon so not high cost per gallon from that perspective either. And in the end its not about cost anyway, its about comfort and convenience. If cost were a primary determinant for cruising then the most effective strategy would be to get rid of the damn boat.

"Lifestyle, comfort, and convenience". Absolutely. I installed a water maker after our first round of cruising many years ago when I learned water was our primary constraint. It eliminates the need to go on the quest for water (can't always depend on rain), be a water Nazi, and hump jerry jugs. Extends the time we can spend in remote anchorages...even in dry season. We can take showers every day. On those rare occassions when the system has been down, I've been unpleasantly reminded of why I installed it in the first place (had to jerry jug water once last season for the first time in a decade....man that sucks).



(disclaimer: no affiliation with a water maker vendor)

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Like most threads around here this one was done by post 5. This thing looks dead simple to install.

My only thought would be why not stretch to the 80e - it's the exact same concept, it consumes some more of that free power you have so much of except - of course you may not have 8 free amps vs. 4.

In the first 4 posts you had a guy who makes his living at this tell you to go for it - I presume he doesn't have a hidden agenda like the "worldwide conspiracy of watermaker sellers"

Then you got a whole bunch of people telling you what they do.

It's a phenomena of the forum that everyone makes it about themselves and not you - strange...

If I had 47 or so boat bucks laying around (and a boat already tanking 86 gallons), I'd put in a watermaker.

Good luck with it.

I like it "worldwide conspiracy of watermaker sellers"

Not sure where I fit in there, but that being said, and just in case some don't know, I am a watermaker distributor for full disclosure. The 80e is still twice the power at half the production of a basic Spectra Ventura 150. Defender has the 80e at $4,695.00 The extra $225 a Spectra Ventura 150 costs for twice the watermaker, at half the amps per gallon and a far easier system to service is a no brainer.

[Cheechako]

Actually much of the world drinks rainwater. Many others drink well water. There is a lot of contamination in the ground too. Like a lot of things the devil is in the detail. You just need to know what you are drinking. Chromium levels in the PNW ground are naturally higher than the EPA allows in waste in some places. Most all wells have E coli in them and are only tested when new. Some level of Ecoli is deemed acceptable.
I think the bottom line is don't drink rainwater from contaminated areas like Mexico City, LA etc! Tahiti? I'll take the rainwater collected from a boat tarp any day.

"Rain Water That Is Safe for Drinking"

"Most rain water is safe to drink. Actually, rain water is the water supply for much of the world's population. The levels of pollution, pollen, mold, and other contaminants are low -- possibly lower than your public drinking water supply. Keep in mind, rain does pick up low levels of bacteria as well as dust and occasional insect parts, so you may want to treat rain water before drinking it.
The risk of getting sick from rainwater may be different depending on your location, how frequently it rains, the season, and how you collect and store the rainwater. Dust, smoke, and soot from the air can be dissolved in rainwater before it lands on your roof. Roofing materials, gutters, piping, and storage materials can introduce harmful chemicals like asbestos, lead, and copper to the water, though building standards minimize some of this. Dirt and germs can be washed into collected rainwater from the roof, especially when rain follows several days of dry weather."

[Canibul]

So.....which boats work better with watermakers......monohulls or multis........