For Sale: Two Spectra Watermakers for Sale

[autumnbreeze27]

Was your wave pump boat based or shore based? Just curious. Sorry to hear about the accident.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by rancher44

Sounds like both units for 3K would be about right since they are so old . When was the last time they were in operation??

Originally Posted by cinderella1965

then jump on it, most would rather buy new for $3500 then used.

And what was this wave energy nonsense? desalination has nothing to do with wave energy.

Obviously a couple of armchair sailors....

I bought a used Spectra and I live near the dealership in San Rafael, Ca. They are a top class operation. Maybe you can buy a Katadyne toy 40 for $3500 but not a Spectra. I think you price for working units are good. If they need new membranes, you can buy filmtec membranes for I think $200.

[captain58sailin]

Please post photos and don't let the chicken pickers derail you. I would like to see the units. dimensions would be nice also. Thank you.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by cinderella1965

for $3500 you can buy all the parts you need to make a complete watermaker, and a very nice one at that. A very high flow unit.

your 13 year old water maker will be full of corrosion in the pump. The pump is the single most expensive part. so no, not worth 3500. This is the best part of CF classifieds. everyone can point and say good deal, bad deal, sketchy deal. Not calling this sketchy, just not good, And the story makes no sense.

Can you make one for $3500 that runs on DC using an amp/gal/hr? If not, then your comparison information is meaningless, and you do not understand what you are saying or doing.

The pump may or may not be in good shape. The OP states that he plans to check that out and post pictures. If the pump is unserviceable, allow the OP the chance to adjust things from there. Right now, those are good prices for a Spectra unit that works well.

The OP stated that they were researching wave energy to provide power - some of which would be used to power desalination plants for areas with little water. The watermaker was chosen as a test bed because it uses the least amount of power to run of all options available. He never said he was using wave energy to run a small watermaker as a product.

Mark

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by cinderella1965

Here is what real wave energy looks like. It does not involve a spectra pump.
CETO Commercial Scale Unit Overview

for $3500 you can buy all the parts you need to make a complete watermaker, and a very nice one at that. A very high flow unit.

your 13 year old water maker will be full of corrosion in the pump. The pump is the single most expensive part. so no, not worth 3500. This is the best part of CF classifieds. everyone can point and say good deal, bad deal, sketchy deal. Not calling this sketchy, just not good, And the story makes no sense.

This is the road I started going down until I was educated. There are a lot of Joe Smoes out there who use a three stage, high pressure plunger pump they found on ebay. They have little knowledge of how to size them to the rest of the system, need a needle valve to adjust the pressure, manually....constantly, due to the primary filters getting dirty. The DIY's are not a hands off unit. The HP pumps are difficult to mount on an engine with an automotive electric clutch and the clutches fail often.
You see these plumbing schematics usually on someones blog or website. So who do you call when things go wrong or the system is component poor?
The cheapest Spectra is $6K. And yes...they work. While out cruising, there seemed to be 3-4 big players in the HR systems that I saw on other cruising boats. I highly suggest figuring out how many amps per gallon you are getting.

Originally Posted by colemj

Can you make one for $3500 that runs on DC using an amp/gal/hr? If not, then your comparison information is meaningless, and you do not understand what you are saying or doing.

The pump may or may not be in good shape. The OP states that he plans to check that out and post pictures. If the pump is unserviceable, allow the OP the chance to adjust things from there. Right now, those are good prices for a Spectra unit that works well.

The OP stated that they were researching wave energy to provide power - some of which would be used to power desalination plants for areas with little water. The watermaker was chosen as a test bed because it uses the least amount of power to run of all options available. He never said he was using wave energy to run a small watermaker as a product.

Mark

That's right and there are trained Spectra Technicians all over the world. It will be easy to have the Clark pump tested as well as the feed pump(s).

[Celestialsailor]

It sounds like it is spec'd out already component-wise then. Is this correct?

[rancher44]

Gerry V I was not trying to be neg . I am looking for a water maker and I know the ones you have are great if working . You would sell these in a heart beat if you took them to a dealer and have them checked with an estimate of what it would take to be up and running . We are all leary of water makers that have been sitting or are old .
Please post pic's and get a dealer to check them .
Very interested if they work

[Dulcesuenos]

We had the 380c in the cat we purchased. It had sat at least two years maybe 3 unused. With Tellies incredible customer service over the phone. The Spectra was operating and making good product water.in no time , His customer SVC alone is worth owning a Spectra!!!

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[GerryV]

Thanks for the patience everyone. I managed to get them out of storage today and take a few preliminary pictures with my iPhone but they're pretty lousy because the light was poor and not closeup enough. I'll attach them now only to provide an idea of what parts are there but will take a better camera in, add some light and get more closeups.

I do think that there are some valid concerns about things like seals because of their age even though little used and also because they've not been cycled for a few years.

Therefore, after reading of these concerns, I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to at least re-plumb them and run them for a bit to make sure they cycle okay and hold pressure without leaking so maybe I need to take the time to do that - assuming the SWRO membranes still allow water to pass. I have no experience with that so don't know what to expect.

It was my understanding that the Clark pumps have a lifetime warranty so it may be best if I contact Spectra to see about that and parts availability. I could perhaps order two service kits which I "think" I recall were available as either minor or major overhaul kits. If I added those costs to my price and perhaps then made a video of them running then the risk should be much lower for potential buyer(s).

I'm hesitant to do the SWRO membranes though because a new owner might not want to absorb the full cost of those if they're already used so I'd be out of pocket quite a bit.

Sorry for the ramble.

P.S. The big filters were added in front of the standard ones because we wanted to be sure that we didn't pull any sand into them.

Edit. I forgot to mention that two of the PVC valves are missing from one of the control units. I'll need to see if I can find them and I can ask spectra. They look like standard issue stuff.

[Tellie]

Hi GerryV, I also like the lumber in the background. (Oh, and by the way let me be the first to welcome you to CF)

Thanks for the pictures. I would say so far you have been very upfront with what you have. The pictures match what you have claimed. These are older model Clark pumps as you mentioned but they do look new and appear to have seen very little use. The two important parts are the Clark pumps and the membrane vessels. These are the Santa Cruz framed models Spectra made years ago but have been discontinued for a long time. I see you also have some of the SS high pressure fittings but the high pressure hoses are not shown which would have the other SS pieces that go with the ones shown. Having them would add value to your lot. The single feed pump is probably going to be a problem as it is a diaphragm pump head that is probably going to fail only because of age. The diaphragm itself will dry out, become brittle, and crack. But I'm sure the feed pump motor is fine and only the feed pump head will need replacing. That being said, both systems were originally designed to use two feed pump modules each. So there are three that would need to be sourced. The watermaker will work with only one feed pump and produce 7-8gph at one amp per gallon made which is the most energy efficient system bar none. But having two feed pumps would allow this system to make 14+gph with very slightly higher amp usage. As I stated in an earlier post used Spectras rarely come up for sale because they are highly valued and repairing them usually makes more sense than throwing them away. I would also say that most of the used ones that do come up for sale have been for the most part pretty bad off. You can not even buy a Clark pump unless you have a Spectra system already. Too many private rocket scientists DIYers have tried to build their own systems around one and have caused us far more aggravation than it is worth. But if I were to advise a person in the market for a slightly used Spectra that needed some parts to make it complete I would consider your two incomplete systems at this point a fairly rare find. I won't suggest a price point for what you have because they are yours and you know what you want for them. A modern Spectra equivalent to your system will retail for $7,500 But I as a distributor I would work a bit with that price as would some others. But I would say, as shown, that a person who bought one Clark pump, one membrane vessel, the one feed pump motor and the assorted fittings from you would be looking to spend around another $1,000-$2,000 to complete the system. The higher estimate would include the Clark pump being sent back to Spectra to be checked out and seals re-placed at the buyers expense. If it were me and I was in the market for a real top of the line engineered watermaker, and this is the first time I've stuck my neck out on a used system, I think I would do it for the right price. I might save 2k or a bit more, but then if it is properly taken care of it will hold it's value more than any other watermaker out there. If it was properly and lovingly taken care and up for sale in five years from now, if you lost more than 20-25% on your initial investment I'd be surprised. Making this a far better deal than any other option offered r that I can think of. Good Luck and let me know if I can help you or anyone else interested.

[GerryV]

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been in and out of the hospital since last posting so have not had the chance to do anything further on this. I understand the risk concerns some have stated so I’m going to reoffer them "as is" for $4900 USD for the two plus shipping costs. That will hopefully make it ideal for someone handy or in the rebuilding business. I'm guessing that with Spectra's full maintenance kit installed that the second one could be resold and recoup most of the $4900.

That is very firm so if it doesn’t work out then I plan to approach Spectra about overhauls not sure whether I’d do it or have them do it yet. Sorry I can't promise that it will happen quickly though.

Oh yes, I came across one of the missing Sch. 80 PVC valves and will look for the other one. Those are very inexpensive though and available at pretty much any plumbing supply store. However I was not able to find any high pressure, SS flex hose so that would need to be replaced by the buyer.

Thanks again,
Gerry

[GerryV]

Hi, very sorry I missed responding earlier. The units were designed such that the wave energy converter would operate in shallow water near shore with the desalination module on shore. The goal was to drive down the total installed costs and maintenance. More recently, I built a couple of what I'd call alpha prototypes that could be sold profitably for under $5k excluding the cost of Spectra modules. With no electrical requirements or fuel required they eliminated the energy cost so could produce freshwater at extremely low cost. finally though I had to abandon my granted and pending international patents because the mounting costs could not be carried on a disability pension and I tired of all the con artists and legal beagles trying to diddle me out of everything so I walked away. Too bad as there was 40 countries at one point wanting the systems. Such is life. Thanks much for asking though; it was a pretty exciting time with many good memories too

On a brighter note, Here's an excerpt from a message I just got this info from Spectra so there's a pretty good chance I may go that route after cycling and doing some basic tests on my units at some point.

"We have a standard $425 Clark Pump rebuild charge to replace all the seals and rebuild the pump. We also upgrade some external fittings in this process, as we've changed some from stainless steel to nickel bronze."

Originally Posted by autumnbreeze27

Was your wave pump boat based or shore based? Just curious. Sorry to hear about the accident.

[borvaprops]

Originally Posted by GerryV

Hi, very sorry I missed responding earlier. The units were designed such that the wave energy converter would operate in shallow water near shore with the desalination module on shore. The goal was to drive down the total installed costs and maintenance. More recently, I built a couple of what I'd call alpha prototypes that could be sold profitably for under $5k excluding the cost of Spectra modules. With no electrical requirements or fuel required they eliminated the energy cost so could produce freshwater at extremely low cost. finally though I had to abandon my granted and pending international patents because the mounting costs could not be carried on a disability pension and I tired of all the con artists and legal beagles trying to diddle me out of everything so I walked away. Too bad as there was 40 countries at one point wanting the systems. Such is life. Thanks much for asking though; it was a pretty exciting time with many good memories too

On a brighter note, Here's an excerpt from a message I just got this info from Spectra so there's a pretty good chance I may go that route after cycling and doing some basic tests on my units at some point.

"We have a standard $425 Clark Pump rebuild charge to replace all the seals and rebuild the pump. We also upgrade some external fittings in this process, as we've changed some from stainless steel to nickel bronze."

Hello Gary, just sent you a PM. I'm interested


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[katsumi]

Hi Gerry
Have you sold these units yet?

[GerryV]

Hi Katsumi,
One system is tentatively sold - just awaiting pickup and payment. The one without the feed pump is still available. Note that the system is rated by Spectra at 380 gpd with two feed pumps or 200 gpd with one feed pump.
I've now found what I believe to be the originally missing bits and as well as what appears to be a service kit made up of a bunch of seals and O'rings.
Thanks much,
Gerry