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Old 24-02-2016, 10:31   #16
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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How about this one?

If anyone else is interested, it can be had as a 12V lamp or 120V, it draws 25W which is only about 2 amps at 13VDC. 10,000 hour lamp life
They have one that is 18" insertion depth.
Unless the thing cost $1,000 bucks or something, I don't see a downside
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Old 24-02-2016, 10:36   #17
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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Looks ideal, I think. Need to call the manufacturer and get specifics.


But what am I missing? wouldn't a way to disinfect your water tank, without chemicals be desirable? With aluminum tanks, I'm afraid of chlorine, so that is my primary consideration, but other than the power required to run it, whats the drawback with UV disinfection?
The drawback may be that high intensity UV can break down some things like plastics, coatings, paint etc. into undesirable stuff (like the sun does) hopefully not something toxic. I do not have knowledge about this sort of thing but you may find if what you expose to UV does this before you use it.
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Old 24-02-2016, 10:38   #18
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

This is the cheaper replacement cartridge for the Seagull filter, I do not have experience with it

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-...cartridge.aspx
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Old 24-02-2016, 10:41   #19
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

Regarding the UV disinfection, there is nothing in my tank except the aluminum tank, even the water level sensor is an all metal tube that works I believe off of capacitance, IE no plastic float.
But good point as nothing ages "stuff" like UV will.
But I'd think you would only need to run the lamp for some period of time, like maybe 8 hours, once a week or say for 8 hours whenever you refill the tank? Surely you wouldn't need it on 24/7?
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Old 24-02-2016, 11:09   #20
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

An immersed UV light will not disinfect a high percentage of the water. The UV intensity drops fast the further away from the bulb. That's why most UV systems are made with a high UV intensity flow through section.

But the reality is that chlorine is more effective and cheaper. If you use the right concentrations it is not harmful to your health. A carbon filter removes the taste/odor.
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Old 24-02-2016, 11:42   #21
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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An immersed UV light will not disinfect a high percentage of the water. The UV intensity drops fast the further away from the bulb. That's why most UV systems are made with a high UV intensity flow through section.

But the reality is that chlorine is more effective and cheaper. If you use the right concentrations it is not harmful to your health. A carbon filter removes the taste/odor.

What I read too, and from what I can find they are more effective disinfecting the airspace above the water, which is fine to me, it's the tank I want to keep clean, not the water in it. Seems you would want the light on when the tank is nearly empty
Apparently if you want to use UV for water disinfection, a flow thru device is the way to go, meaning it disinfects in seconds, not hours.

Chlorine has been the preferred method for longer than I have been alive, and were it not for the fact that I have an aluminum tank that pretty much requires major surgery to replace, I'd go the chlorine route, but I want that aluminum tank to last.
Water source when we go will be RO water, which I believe is filtered even down to the bacteria level? If so water source will be pure, it's the tank I don't want "stuff" to start to grow in.
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Old 24-02-2016, 11:46   #22
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
What I read too, and from what I can find they are more effective disinfecting the airspace above the water, which is fine to me, it's the tank I want to keep clean, not the water in it. Seems you would want the light on when the tank is nearly empty
Apparently if you want to use UV for water disinfection, a flow thru device is the way to go, meaning it disinfects in seconds, not hours.

Chlorine has been the preferred method for longer than I have been alive, and were it not for the fact that I have an aluminum tank that pretty much requires major surgery to replace, I'd go the chlorine route, but I want that aluminum tank to last.
Water source when we go will be RO water, which I believe is filtered even down to the bacteria level? If so water source will be pure, it's the tank I don't want "stuff" to start to grow in.
Doing an occasional shock treatment with chlorine water in your AL tanks is not going to cause an issue. Just flush the system with fresh water afterwards.
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Old 24-02-2016, 13:54   #23
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

I have a Seagull lV which uses a RS-1SG cartridge. I have taken to using a "NEOPURE" NP-1SG cartridge.
https://www.freshwatersystems.com/s-...r-filters.aspx

Neopure claim that they have a restrictor (Orifice) that limits the rate of flow over the element to insure correct contact time with the medium in the filter. Prices are a little more attractive as well.

In addition, every time I fill with water I run the dock water through a home domestic cartridge 5 micron filter before it enters my tanks. I only use the Seagull at the galley sink for drinking and cooking. All other water runs direct from the tank to the respective outlet. A rough calculation seems to indicate around 800 gallons per filter.
Good Luck.
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Old 24-02-2016, 15:15   #24
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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You did not say anything about the tank.
I'm not following. What other tank are you referring to? In my OP, I said, "The stainless water tanks had been inspected and sanitized, and the water pressure tank was new." The seagull filter housing is also clean and in excellent condition.

I decided to replace the Seagull IV filter today (Part no: 788222 RS-1SG, Lot no: 009322), which was installed on 10/12/2015. We stopped using the water on December 22 when the taste went south, but it still had great pressure. The filter was only 2 1/2 month old. And the Seagull water was only used for drinking, cooking, and making ice cubes in trays, so not a lot of water went through the filter.

Before I replaced the filter, I took PPM readings from several sources.
Bottled water: 5 ppm
Dock hose water from Puerto Los Cabos Marina, Mexico: 315 ppm
Cold tank water: 339 ppm (It is a 49 gallon tank and had 5 teaspoons of original (non-scented) Chlorox bleach added to it during filling. (We have been using tank water for dishes and showers.)
Old Seagull filter: 340 ppm

The new Seagull IV (Lot no: 009662) was installed. The water was allowed to run for two minutes.
New Seagull filter: 332 ppm But, the taste of the water is excellent. Again. I'm at a loss. Suggestions?

I'm going to test the Seagull water regularly with the ppm meter to see if anything changes. If it does, I'll follow up with a post. Anyone else care to test their Seagull IV filter water with a ppm meter and share the results?

Thanks again.
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Old 24-02-2016, 15:53   #25
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
This is the cheaper replacement cartridge for the Seagull filter, I do not have experience with it

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-...cartridge.aspx
I've had one of these for 6 months while we've been cruising. Flow is a bit slower now but flavor is still fine. We've used municipal water from marinas as we traveled.

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Old 24-02-2016, 16:03   #26
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

Sailor647, I think that you are a bit confused about what you are measuring with your "ppm meter". You don't specify, but those are usually units for dissolved solids. When they are dissolved, that means they are at molecular levels, and those can not be removed by a mechanical filter, and that explains your readings pretty well.

Taste anomalies are likely from organic sources (not always, but commonly) and most filters use activated carbon to remove these things. This is an adsorption process IIRC, and when the available adsorption sites are full, it stops working, hence the possibility for sudden appearance of bad tastes. Thus, use of a less expensive carbon prefilter might well extend the life of your expensive Seagull elements. And FWIW, the presence of the bad tasting elements in your water is not likely an indicator that the microbial filter is not functioning, if that is your main worry.

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Old 24-02-2016, 16:07   #27
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

The meter is only going to display dissolved solids I believe which any filter cannot filter, they are in solution, think trying to filter out salt for instance.
To reduce dissolved solids I think you need to distill, de- mineralize or run through a reverse osmosis process.
Activated charcoal which I think is what pretty much any filter uses to improve taste removes I think organics.
Some filters, probably the Seagull have colloidal silver I believe to kill bacteria.
To improve taste, go to a home improvement store and get a generic under sink filter that uses the standard 10" cartridge.
Probably many times more charcoal than the Seagull and they cost like $7 ea or so.
Then if you desire, run that water through the Seagull, that way your using the cheap generic filter to do most of the work, and the Seagull to finish the job.


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Old 24-02-2016, 16:08   #28
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

Well JIm, I guess we think alike


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Old 24-02-2016, 16:17   #29
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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Well JIm, I guess we think alike


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Old 24-02-2016, 16:44   #30
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Re: NEED ADVICE! How to extend the life of the Seagull IV water purification filters?

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Originally Posted by Jim Cate View Post
Sailor647, I think that you are a bit confused about what you are measuring with your "ppm meter". You don't specify, but those are usually units for dissolved solids. When they are dissolved, that means they are at molecular levels, and those can not be removed by a mechanical filter, and that explains your readings pretty well.

Taste anomalies are likely from organic sources (not always, but commonly) and most filters use activated carbon to remove these things. This is an adsorption process IIRC, and when the available adsorption sites are full, it stops working, hence the possibility for sudden appearance of bad tastes. Thus, use of a less expensive carbon prefilter might well extend the life of your expensive Seagull elements. And FWIW, the presence of the bad tasting elements in your water is not likely an indicator that the microbial filter is not functioning, if that is your main worry.

Jim
My setup is a dual 10 inch cartridge system. First is a 5 micron "charcoal" filter. The second is a .05 micron which is supposed to remove 99.99% of lead, pesticides, cysts, etc. I used to just use the .05 micron and I would get a year out of it before the water would start slowing down. I never had bad taste, but with the dual system it costs almost nothing to replace the charcoal filter. my only worry is that the .05 filter has a limit to removing the heavy metals. I'm going on maybe 3 years no restriction as far as I can tell.
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