Watermakers: Where do you have your Product Water Plumbed?

[rebel heart]

I recently just got my Katadyn 40e installed and I'm pretty happy with it. I've already learned that despite what I thought was an easy location for the pre-filter I need a really easy location for it. It's going right on the bulkhead above the head sink. Easy to get at, easy to see, and when you open it up and a bit spills it goes right into the sink.

Curious how you guys have your product water plumbed.

I've got mine temporarily running out a loose hose that I can refill our drinking water container thing that we keep in the galley, but I'd like to do something a bit more pro so that it's easy to get into the main tank.

[Jacko]

Hi Rebel Heart I have a two way valve on the product water so that I can send the water to a spout ( no valve type that is usually supplied with a sink filter) over the sink that way I can fill any containers it is easy to fit a hose to fill your water less mates jerry cans also great for testing and checking the out put of the system. The valve turned the other way sends the product water to a tee up high in the deck filler hose for dock water. ( yes yes I know about the chance of raw water back flowing so have put a loop up to the deck to stop this ) I find this works really well.

Cheers Jacko

[Dulcesuenos]

We have the same unit though ours is in our starboard bilge which is quite deep. It goes to a two way valve We can switch it either fill a drinking container or 5 gal jug, or bucket to get rid of initial flush, or once product water tests good enough we can flip the switch to fill the 33 gal tank in the starboard hull. I plumbed the brine discharge into our sink thruhull. Its a n extra valve but its nice.

[Capn Morgan]

Two way valve. One side with a flexible pipe which I deploy to the sink for initial product and testing, the other side connected straight to the top of the tank (under the floorboards. All Parker fittings, pipes and valves. Didn't want any complicated automatics.

[belizesailor]

Straight to main tank, but a valve to divert for other uses (like test samples) would be handy...its on the low priority project list.

[rebel heart]

So nobody is doing the temporary day tank kind of approach? That's what I've seen recommended as the "best" solution, although definitely not the easiest to fit space wise.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Straight to main tank, but a valve to divert for other uses (like test samples) would be handy...its on the low priority project list.

We're doing the Pacific crossing in the Spring and the idea of a failure dumping sea water into our tanks could be seriously bad. It just seems like a huge risk.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

We're doing the Pacific crossing in the Spring and the idea of a failure dumping sea water into our tanks could be seriously bad. It just seems like a huge risk.

That's the reason the 3/way valve mentioned several times above is the proper installation of your product tube directly from the membrane vessel. Anyone who is doing a crossing or long distance cruising with a manual unit should absolutely have this set up. I always insist on any installation I do. You can either route one line to your galley sink or just attach 15-20' of coiled tube to one output of the 3/way valve and the other output line directly to the top of your tank. This way, as with all manual watermakers, you can test the quality of the water coming out of the membrane (as you should) before you direct it to your tank. This test line is also very handy to fill those extra blue 5gal. water jugs and smaller bottles of water you'll drink directly from or drop in the fridge for a cool drink every now and then. Also you can fill a separate container for the fresh water flush instead of taking back a few gallons from your main water tank. As slow as a 40E produces water this is important.

[MarcHall]

With a PUR 80 installed in the cabinet in the area below the head sink I just fed the product water normally to a 5 gallon water jug that sat on the head floor/shower sump. All water was sampled before pouring it into deck feed of either of the 2 main water tanks. With a PUR 40 its going to take about 3 hours for you to fill a 5 gallon water jug so the same approach might work for you.

Using the same hose the initial product water was fed to head sink.

Had a number of gallon and quart bottles that were used for drinking water and filled them directly off the hose from water maker.

The waste water was run aft and tee'd into one of the cockpit drains.

System worked well but you get tired of listening to the pump run and dealing with the electrical demand can be an issue. We had enough solar to meet all other electrical needs including refrigeration but when depending on the watermaker for water we needed to run the engine to make up for the electricity used. Would frequently run the watermaker the day before we knew we were going to be motoring and/or ran the watermaker while motoring.

In places like Zihuatenjo rather then run the water maker we just had bottled water delivered to the boat in 5 gallon jugs typically 40 gallons at a time. The cost was pretty minimal and we could get by with a weekly delivery. For showers and washing down the boat in Zihua we would pick up tap water available at the fuel dock - had a number of sun showers for this purpose.

In the Sea of Cortez the watermaker ran quite a bit.

Marc

Crazy Fish - Maintaining, Upgrading and Sailing a Crealock 37

[Cheechako]

into the main tank via a vent hose. 3 way valve for test.

[Sailmonkey]

We go to the foot pump faucet in the galley sink for a per run and post run test, when tests are good the water is run directly to the tank.

My thinking is that we keep the tank full, and running the unit four hours a day, any membrane rupture won't dump enough water into the tank to ruin it. It may not be ideal, but it works.

[rjgmt1]

I am questioning which water maker to get. Thinking the Katadyn will run often. Saw your note about getting tired of hearing it run. The Cruise RO Water at 20gph for $3800 seems like a good option.

What say you?

[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?

[Sailmonkey]

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?

Nothing different yet. I just hope to stave off filling g the tank with salt water if I catch it at the beginning of the daily run, or stop using it of I find it has gone salty by the end.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by rjgmt1

I am questioning which water maker to get. Thinking the Katadyn will run often. Saw your note about getting tired of hearing it run. The Cruise RO Water at 20gph for $3800 seems like a good option.

What say you?

I've got the Katadyn 40 and it's not that loud at all. It's under the v berth and in the salon it's almost un-noticeable.