Watermakers: Where do you have your Product Water Plumbed?

[whatever]

Tellie, Thanks for the info, as soon as I(the Admiral) can get in the ER with my digitial camera, I will send you those pics and any other info I can. The installation and operation book we have from the PO makes us think it was probably purchased and installed 2004, but not sure. But will ck. Unfortunately for this thread ONLY, we are not in So Florida, we relocated to the St Johns River area the last part of May, or we would have been in Naples! Will send a PM as soon as I can figure out how to!LOL Thanks so much for your response, and then if you could just give us pointers on what to do to ship pickled if someone far away buys!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Rebel,
If you really need to change out your pre-filter every day on a 40e then you need better pre-filtration or not run your system in these conditions. If it is truly clogging that fast even the best pre-filters are eventually going to let you down. Pre-filters are just not that perfect. High amounts of whatever, that clogs a pre-filter that quickly will work it's way past the pre-filter and allow an unacceptable amount of particulate past too quickly. Where in normal conditions the small amounts that do get by can be flushed out during use, (another reason longer run times instead of more frequent and short run times are good for membranes) but heavy amounts all at once can overwhelm the designed flushing capabilities of the membrane. Then the membrane will not be able to pass it all through the brine discharge, leading to early clogging of the membrane.

It's not a clogging issue but rather I can smell the goop in it after a day.

I'm not running it where we are here primarily because of the seawater quality. But most everyone I know in the sea of cortez is cleaning their prefilters daily. It's not that bad. Just empty, wipe housing clean, drag filter in the water, let dry in the sun. Which here takes about three minutes.

[Albro359]

Originally Posted by Palarran

It's interesting that you all test your product water regularly. Does the sample ever read different? And if so, what would you do to correct it?

On Diva we plumbed the output from the Schenker via 3 way tap to the tank vent.
Sample the output with a TDS meter everytime we run it, before diverting to the tank. We did have high TDS readings once and it was caused by a leak in the membrane housing between the salt-in and the product...it was an O-ring seal that failed....easily fixed and no salt water in the tank.
We also kept the tank full to the brim...ran the watermaker every two days until the tank was full...that way if it did fail we had full tanks to be going on with.
On Elyse the watermaker is in the engine room with controls and a sampling port in the galley...the product is plumbed through a flow meter in the galley directly to the 1000 litre tank. We keep it pretty full and if a sample is bad when first running the watermaker, the salt contamination in 1000 litres is minimal before we shut it down...hasn't happened yet.

[Sailormantx]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Out of range is relative. 150-200PPM difference either way is pretty insignificant if the operating ranges are normally in the 200-300 PPM range. Plugging a membrane, or bio fouling, is usually more a result of both non use, improper storage, and not properly flushing a watermaker. But membranes can be damaged by too high of a flow through them. They rely on a certain amount of flux across their surfaces to operate properly and it is interrupted when increasing the flow beyond the membranes rated capabilities and can damage the surfaces . This happens more often to salt water membranes when used in fresh water if the pressures and flows are not adjusted accordingly and to many DIY systems that use high pressure plunger pumps that can easily deliver massive amounts of flow if not controlled properly. Again checking your PPM levels every few run times is a good idea more for an idea of the condition of the membrane because in a good working system membranes don't usually fail all of a sudden but over a long period of time. If in a good working system your PPMs rise to say over 700PPM over time it's a good indication that the membrane is on it's last leg and it will need replacing probably within the year if not sooner. This buys you some time before having to replace it right away. Remember checking the PPM serves the purpose above but you really can't compare one watermaker to another. If you had ten identical watermakers in ten identical installations and conditions, you'd get ten different PPM readings.

To add some numbers- the folks at Offshore Marine Labs advised me to adjust the watermaker by the flowmeter to rated output of 8 gph when in brackish or fresh water to avoid excess flow. Usually comes out at about 200 psi in freshwater vs setting by pressure at 800 psi in seawater.

[impi]

Originally Posted by whatever

We have a Spectra 400 gal per day water maker that we are interested in getting off our boat, was on board when we purchased in '05 was installed we think a yr earlier, we used once and repickled, also have some spare filters and parts, looks like new!no rust at all! What would be a good asking price?

Our boat is getting heavy but a second water maker may be something to look at as 'back-up'.
What model is it and what condition ... and where is it?

[impi]

By the way Forum members ... I would like to make it known ... all be it that this may embarrass him, that I had started writing to a member on this forum to get advice on our water maker. I never purchased the water maker from him as we lived in a different country but recently needed some technical assistance from the factory as our water maker works long and hard every day ...
I wrote to this individual explaining our situation ... he took the query up with the factory and the response has been overwhelmingly helpful and positive ...

So at the expense of embarrassing him ... right her on the forum I would like to extend my huge gratitude to you for going the extra mile for us ... thank you TELLIE !!!!

[whatever]

Originally Posted by impi

Our boat is getting heavy but a second water maker may be something to look at as 'back-up'.
What model is it and what condition ... and where is it?

Ours is the Spectra Newport, 400 gpd, and looks to us to be in excellent condition. I am about to go into ER to take photos and Tellie is going to give us his opinion on condition, etc...we are on the St John's River in Satsuma, FL..will be posting on Classifieds as soon as we get some concrete info posted

[whatever]

Originally Posted by impi

Our boat is getting heavy but a second water maker may be something to look at as 'back-up'.
What model is it and what condition ... and where is it?

Wanted to let you know that we have finally tested and confirmed operational values of our Spectra Newport 400 Watermaker. You had asked previously and wanted to let you know, I am about to list on Classifieds. Any ?'s, please PM us. Thanks