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19-01-2017, 08:49
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Helgeland, Norway
Boat: Lagoon 42 2017 and a BB17, 23 ' 1962 racer
Posts: 33
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Watermaker water to refill batteries
Hi all!
I was wandering if there is any merit to the idea of using watermaker water, to refill batteries? After all the water is quite sterile having gone through 5 micron filters?
Has anyone tried and are willing to share experiences ?
PS!
Sorry if this has already been discussed, would be happy if someone could post the relevant links.
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19-01-2017, 09:40
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#2
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Jacksonville/ out cruising
Boat: Island Packet 38
Posts: 31,351
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
Better than letting them go dry, but not by much.
Use distilled water, or if you can't get it, use airconditioner condensate as its distilled. ( I will get argument with that, watch )
I believe a watermaker as far as RO units go is not a real good unit, it produces drinkable water, but not "pure" water. Actually water like from a Dialysis RO unit will eat up plumbing, its so pure and water being the universal solvent, it will dissolve the metal in pipes and fixtures etc.
You don't want to drink "pure" water by the way, it tastes like crap and will leech minerals from your body. ( bet I get argument on that too )
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19-01-2017, 09:57
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#3
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Oregon to Alaska
Boat: Wheeler Shipyard 83' ex USCG
Posts: 3,493
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
It depends on the water source. Water made from salt water has a lot of dissolved solids compared to water made from fresh. I make my water all the time, both in fresh and salt. I also use several filters, the finest being 1 micron.
I use a TDS meter and salt usually reads above 200 ppm and fresh 0. When making from fresh, I bottle some for the batteries and have had no problems with battery life.
I've had Dyno batteries go many years past their expected life.
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19-01-2017, 10:49
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#4
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Boat: 1976 Sabre 28-2
Posts: 7,505
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
The problem is dissolved minerals in the water. Water makers don't remove all these minerals while distilling does. If you've got nothing else, better to use water maker water than water from the tap. Putting less than distilled water in your batteries won't cause immediate failure of the batteries and may not even shorten their life enough to notice but why take a chance. A gallon of distilled water lasts me more than a year so minimal expense for the peace of mind.
__________________
Peter O.
'Ae'a, Pearson 35
'Ms American Pie', Sabre 28 Mark II
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19-01-2017, 11:02
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Rocky's Boat Yard
Boat: Tayana V42 - Passages
Posts: 606
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
For really low TDS watermaker water, run the product water through the watermaker again. I think it was the Cruisero dude that suggested that but I could be wrong.
__________________
You can make more money but you can't make more time.
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19-01-2017, 11:50
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#6
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: La Paz, Mexico
Boat: 1978 Hudson Force 50 Ketch
Posts: 3,920
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
Quote:
Originally Posted by ObiWanSand
Hi all!
I was wandering if there is any merit to the idea of using watermaker water, to refill batteries? After all the water is quite sterile having gone through 5 micron filters?
Has anyone tried and are willing to share experiences ?
PS!
Sorry if this has already been discussed, would be happy if someone could post the relevant links.
|
It's a very bad idea.
Sea Water RO has a TDS of 120-500ppm and that's enough solids to over time kill your batteries.
Now some folks will run fresh water through their Sea Water RO to get the TDS down to low single digits...but that's still a risk.
For batteries I would use zero TDS distilled water and not take any risks. It's hard enough to keep your batteries healthy, so I wouldn't recommend it.
__________________
Rich Boren
Cruise RO & Schenker Water Makers
Technautics CoolBlue Refrigeration
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19-01-2017, 12:43
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 474
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
Ok here goes...
Air conditioner "condensate" water is so disgustingly nasty I wouldn't feed it to my enemies, never mind putting it in my batteries.
Why? Perhaps because it condenses all over the evaporator coils which are open to air flow from the boat, which includes dirt, dust and bacteria. Once the water had dripped down from the coil it then collects in a pan, which on most boats is rusty as all hell and again quite possibly contaminated with mold and all manner of debris.
Your air conditioner might be spotless and capable of making sterile water. None of the ones I've seen or worked on come anywhere close.
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19-01-2017, 13:16
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: BVI
Boat: Leopard 40 (new model)
Posts: 1,385
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
Quote:
Originally Posted by ObiWanSand
Hi all!
I was wandering if there is any merit to the idea of using watermaker water, to refill batteries? After all the water is quite sterile having gone through 5 micron filters?
Has anyone tried and are willing to share experiences ?
PS!
Sorry if this has already been discussed, would be happy if someone could post the relevant links.
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The 5-micron filters are on the feed side of the watermaker and do not filter DISSOLVED material (ions) that is left in the product water.
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19-01-2017, 13:18
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Martinique
Boat: Fortuna Island Spirit 40
Posts: 2,298
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
I know tons of cruisers that put RO water in thier batteries.. They may not do it every time, but certainly they do it. I have done it when I can't get distilled water.
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19-01-2017, 13:29
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#10
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Jacksonville/ out cruising
Boat: Island Packet 38
Posts: 31,351
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
Quote:
Originally Posted by boatbod
Your air conditioner might be spotless and capable of making sterile water. None of the ones I've seen or worked on come anywhere close.
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It's not sterility as in no biological life we are after, but lack of dissolved solids, I believe the TDS meter may stand for total dissolved solids?
Anyway, yes mine as it's only a couple of years old is nearly spotless, but its powder coated stainless steel. The one I took out looked like you said, a rusty mess. I guess maybe because I am a little concerned about what can be growing in that pan, and what is, I'm breathing that I keep it clean. Mine is accessible and it's not hard. I have a regular air filter before the AC and it has its own filter as well so it keeps the evaporator clean, a clean evaporator makes the AC work so much better and blow more air and colder air too.
Funny thing is it's a cheapo AC , a Webasto
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20-01-2017, 09:11
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#11
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cruiser
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Pangaea
Posts: 10,856
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
Simple answer: Don't do it! Distilled water only for your batteries. RO water is not the same as distilled.
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20-01-2017, 09:25
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Montreal
Boat: Dufour 39 Frers
Posts: 402
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
If you do not have any distilled water available and need to urgently add water to the battery, you could scrap the frost from the fridge cold plate and let it melt. That ice does not contain much mineral.
Filter it through a coffee filter may also help to get rid of large artefact.
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20-01-2017, 09:41
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Meandering about the Gulf of Alaska coast [NNE Pacific]— where the internet doesn't always shine... [Even Elon's...] Homeport: Wrangell Island
Boat: Nauticat 43 [S&S Staysail Ketch]
Posts: 1,662
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
Quote:
Originally Posted by ObiWanSand
Hi all!
I was wandering if there is any merit to the idea of using watermaker water, to refill batteries? After all the water is quite sterile having gone through 5 micron filters?
Has anyone tried and are willing to share experiences ?
PS!
Sorry if this has already been discussed, would be happy if someone could post the relevant links.
|
From Trojan batteries: Effects of Impurities on Lead-Acid Batteries.
Max allowable dissolved solids 100ppm in battery water...
Cheers!
Bill
__________________
SV Denali Rose
Learning every day- and sharing if I can.
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20-01-2017, 09:51
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Nova Scotia until Spring 2021
Boat: Custom 41' Steel Pilothouse Cutter
Posts: 4,976
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
An inability to source distilled water and to keep a jug of it aboard (which should, after all, last some time) speaks of bad planning to me.
That said, you could make a fair bit from a solar still, I would think, or the old-fashioned way of condensing steam from a kettle using appropriate tubing.
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20-01-2017, 09:53
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2012
Boat: Tayana 58 DS
Posts: 763
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Re: Watermaker water to refill batteries
According to a Trojan white paper, total dissolved solids for electrolyte in a lead acid battery should be < 100ppm, with some minerals much lower. Our watermaker water is usually 150-200ppm Na, but I have used it in flooded lead acid batteries without observable adverse effect. Although the sodium content of RO water may be close to the manufacturer recommendations, I do not know how well the watermaker filters out other minerals which can be damaging to batteries even in much lower concentration.
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