How to maintain a dormant water maker?

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Got about 10 years out of my first one with reasonable care. It was still working after 10 years but TDS numbers were climbing. Had a full factory rebuild of the unit done and installed a new membrane...back to low numbers.

You got my number. Use it at will.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Tellie

You got my number. Use it at will.

Thanks.

Life interfered with this past cruising season so mine has been pickled longer than planned (at least it was using Propylene Glycol)...so I may indeed be giving you a call. 😆

[Julian Alcorso]

Waste...........

[svrodeorm]

How to know which kinda glycol (antifreeze for cars?) to get at the local supermarket? I am in French Polynesia, so don't think i am likely to find RV antifreeze...

I have looked around a bit, and as with so many other consumer products, the info on the label is very eh, minimalistic. Sodium bisulphide isn't that easy to find either. At the only vendor of desaliantors here, they charged me $ 70 for a little plastic jar good for some 25 l of H2O!

Well, there are some little drawbacks while enjoying a paradise

Oh, before actually buying it, I tried paint stores and pharmacies, but without success. Who else is using this stuff? Food processing industry? Must be a largely better source somewhere ...

[Julian Alcorso]

Sodium or potassium metabisulphite. NOT bisulphite!!
Pure alcohol diluted to 70% by volume is the a good storage medium although care must be taken to maintain the strength. Not always easy to get. In Australia you need a licence, not sure about other countries. Hence my recommendation to use SMS or PMS.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by svrodeorm

How to know which kinda glycol (antifreeze for cars?) to get at the local supermarket? I am in French Polynesia, so don't think i am likely to find RV antifreeze...

I have looked around a bit, and as with so many other consumer products, the info on the label is very eh, minimalistic. Sodium bisulphide isn't that easy to find either. At the only vendor of desaliantors here, they charged me $ 70 for a little plastic jar good for some 25 l of H2O!

Well, there are some little drawbacks while enjoying a paradise

Oh, before actually buying it, I tried paint stores and pharmacies, but without success. Who else is using this stuff? Food processing industry? Must be a largely better source somewhere ...

You are looking for polypropylene glycol, which is spelt almost the same in French. It is used in food processing and some antifreezes. Antifreeze for autos are often ethylene glycol, which is poisonous.

[gwoiler]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

The Best Preservative for long term storage is Propylene Glycol in a 40-50% concentration...hands down.
Next best is the pickling reagent recommended by your water maker manufacturer. I would say 1yr is tops before flushing it out and re-pickling, but that's because I have a Warranty Membrane to lose if it goes bad as a manufacture, so of course I'm going to err on the side of caution rather than an upset cruiser with a dead membrane in Tahiti. Can it go longer...sure maybe, but you're on your own with that risk.

Now why do some folks tell stories of a membrane being pickled for two years being DEAD and another guy tell a story of a 6yr pickled membrane being as good as new? Easy....one pickling job was done well and was able to kill all of the bacteria in the system while the other pickling job wasn't. It's really that simple.

I know this thread is old, but maybe someone will give me some advice.
I bought a sailboat that was stored 3 years. The membrane was pickled. It is a single 2.5" x 40", echotec. I calculated I am getting 25 gallons per hour at 800 psi. Should I slow it down? After running for 3 hours, the TDS was 540. Does a bad membrane pass too much product water? Will the TDS get any better over time? Should I replace the membrane now? Thank you for giving me some direction.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by gwoiler

I know this thread is old, but maybe someone will give me some advice.
I bought a sailboat that was stored 3 years. The membrane was pickled. It is a single 2.5" x 40", echotec. I calculated I am getting 25 gallons per hour at 800 psi. Should I slow it down? After running for 3 hours, the TDS was 540. Does a bad membrane pass too much product water? Will the TDS get any better over time? Should I replace the membrane now? Thank you for giving me some direction.

It's time for a new membrane Amigo.
After 3hrs of running, your TDS is probabally as good as it is going to get.
Your product flow is about right, maybe a but TDS above 500ppm....ime for a new membrane.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

It's time for a new membrane Amigo.
After 3hrs of running, your TDS is probabally as good as it is going to get.
Your product flow is about right, maybe a but TDS above 500ppm....ime for a new membrane.

I agree, new membrane. The fact that you are getting 550ppms from a three-year-old stored membrane is usually a very good indicator that the rest of the system is working well. I'd be willing to bet that you change this membrane out, your PPMs go down, and all is good.

[Sparx]

Tellie,

What is the lead time for a new membrane for the Spectra Cape Horn?

My Cape Horn has been properly pickled for 18 months now and will be recomissioned in January as we start our trip south. I am planning on doing a good flush then see how well it performs. I am trying to delay commissioning it while we are the Chesapeake, but once we leave the Chesapeake we will quickly be far gone. But if weeks are required to get a new membrane I may need to reconsider.

Your thoughts?

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Sparx

Tellie,

What is the lead time for a new membrane for the Spectra Cape Horn?

My Cape Horn has been properly pickled for 18 months now and will be recomissioned in January as we start our trip south. I am planning on doing a good flush then see how well it performs. I am trying to delay commissioning it while we are the Chesapeake, but once we leave the Chesapeake we will quickly be far gone. But if weeks are required to get a new membrane I may need to reconsider.

Your thoughts?

Hi Sparx,

No worries, these are not proprietary membranes. Though we do carry these at all times, probably have about 200 in stock now. They are standard SW2540 membranes. If you do want to initially test your watermaker I do not recommend that you do it in the Chesapeake. Lots of bad water there, and plenty of new systems have died there in short order. Remember, all watermakers are "OFFSHORE" pieces of equipment. The CapeHornExtreme (CHE) units have their own peculiarities. If you need any advice or help just PM me here and I'll be happy to help. In my opinion, and I've worked on pretty much every watermaker built is that the CHE is thee knock down drag out watermaker to RTW with. It applies all the commonsense factors into its design of the easiest to work on, cheapest to maintain, spares are relatively inexpensive, and it is thee most energy efficient watermaker made, even in the Spectra line of watermakers. This doesn't mean trouble free. No watermaker and I mean NO watermaker is trouble free. Add in Spectras service by phone (they will talk to you for hours for free to help you get up and running) Check the distributor list on their website to see where they are located around the world and compare this to other manufacturers. Remember as well that for every distributor there are many dealers and service techs in each of the distributor's network.

[Sparx]

Thanks Tellie,

Thanks for confirming the membranes are easy to come by. Our CHE as been a nice bit of kit.

Hopefully it will come right back to life after a very good flush and a gradual pressure rise.

[gwoiler]

Originally Posted by Tellie

I agree, new membrane. The fact that you are getting 550ppms from a three-year-old stored membrane is usually a very good indicator that the rest of the system is working well. I'd be willing to bet that you change this membrane out, your PPMs go down, and all is good.

Thank you. I will change it out. However, I do have a mind that possibly over thinks things, such as... By running it at 800 psi, and the flow rate was 25 gal per minute, and TDS 550, and at times more... Would letting it sit with salt water so some critters would grow and plug it up a bit help it out? I don't know enough about what is happening along a membrane's life cycle. Flow goes down, you acid wash. Flow goes up, you replace? Sorry.... Just trying to understand this beaste.

[gwoiler]

Originally Posted by Tellie

I agree, new membrane. The fact that you are getting 550ppms from a three-year-old stored membrane is usually a very good indicator that the rest of the system is working well. I'd be willing to bet that you change this membrane out, your PPMs go down, and all is good.

I changed it out. In the first ten minutes I thought to see what it was doing and it was 142. 10 minutes later it was 136, and after an hour it was 140ppm. I'll dump another hour before saving the water. So where is a good source to buy another housing? This is engine driven and there are high hours on the engine, so a second housing would cut run time in half. I have the black echotec housing. They want a pretty penny for it. Do you know of a more economical source? Thanks.

[gwoiler]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

It's time for a new membrane Amigo.
After 3hrs of running, your TDS is probabally as good as it is going to get.
Your product flow is about right, maybe a but TDS above 500ppm....ime for a new membrane.

I replaced the membrane this morning. It was tough to get it apart. Glad there were some new o-rings in the spare parts of this sailboat. Although I have another hour to run and dump the water, the initial readings were 142 and down to 136 and now averaging 140ppm. My pressure gauge must be wrong because at 20gpm the high pressure reads 600. Thanks