Water Maker / Reverse Osmosis water health

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by wjhutchings

I spent 30 years of my life on merchant ships where invariably the drinking water either came from a flash evaporator or in later years a reverse osmosis plant, never seemed to do me any harm, the only thing to remember unless you have a very sophisticated water treatment plant, I,e with UV filters and the like, never ever use your water maker whether it a reverse osmosis or flash evaporator to produce drinking water within 12 miles of the coast or in less than 20 metres of water, too much risk from some very nasty pathogens

We do it all the time with our Spectra unit. It runs every day even if we're in a harbor. Pathogens can't get through the membrane, way too small.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by wjhutchings

never ever use your water maker whether it a reverse osmosis or flash evaporator to produce drinking water within 12 miles of the coast or in less than 20 metres of water, too much risk from some very nasty pathogens

Aaaa... okay we got to stop this Cruise rumor from spreading like wildfire.

If we cannot run a water maker within 12 miles of shore that pretty much eliminates 95% of the water maker Cruiser usage.

When you look at the science of RO you're filtering out a single molecule of sodium and a single molecule of chloride those are much smaller than bacteria and pathogens that are going to make you sick. You could suck in your anchorage neighbors holding tank effluent and it would not make it into your drinking water as bad as that sounds it's not going to make you sick.

[a64pilot]

A flash evaporator is I think done at low temps and a vacuum.
I can see how one of those wouldn't kill pathogens.
So for one of those I can see how maybe that is good advice.
Assuming one works they way I think it does anyway.

[waterman46]

My RO water tastes fine to me, but we run all water through a carbon filter inline between the pressure reservoir and the taps. I do admit that bottled water tastes a bit sweeter but I refuse to add to the worlds supply of plastic bottle garbage.

After a little online research I conclude that RO water in range of 100 to 300 ppm as produced by most units is just about as "corrosive " ie has about the same character as a universal solvent, as common tap water, but without the dental benefits of fluoridation. The folks who need water with impurities measured in few parts per billion, not million, do not use metal fittings because on only that scale is water "corrosive".

[44'cruisingcat]

[QUOTE=wjhutchings;2475360, the only thing to remember unless you have a very sophisticated water treatment plant, I,e with UV filters and the like, never ever use your water maker whether it a reverse osmosis or flash evaporator to produce drinking water within 12 miles of the coast or in less than 20 metres of water, too much risk from some very nasty pathogens[/QUOTE]

Reverse osmosis filters out salt molecules. Salt molecules are hundreds of times smaller than the smallest virus.

I can understand a ship operator choosing to wait until offshore though. Cleaner, clearer water will mean longer lasting pre filters.

[catsketcher]

I don't have a watermaker but I do teach Chemistry at high school. I don't get the idea that pure water can be corrosive. Acids and alkalines are corrosive and they are that way because acids are (basically) dissolved Hydrogen ions and alkalines are what is left from the water molecule when a Hydrogen gets removed- one oxygen and one hydrogen atom - a Hydroxyl ion.

Understanding acidity or pH is a strange thing in that the curves of strength are logarithmic rather than linear. Any pH close to 7 will have very few corrosive ions within it. A change of 1 unit on the pH scale is a 10 fold change in the ions. How pure water with a pH of 7 could eat out anything sounds like bad science to me. As a science teacher I go a bit crazy with flat earthers, ear candlers, bad chiropractors saying they can cure athsma, the foot washers in Chinese massage places that say they pull out toxins, and anyone who uses quantum in their title.

It is really hard to work out what is correct when people want your money but given that RO water is what is used for the best chemistry experiments because it does not react with anything, I think we are safe to call remineralisation to counter corrosion, bad science.

cheers

Phil

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

A flash evaporator is I think done at low temps and a vacuum.
I can see how one of those wouldn't kill pathogens.
So for one of those I can see how maybe that is good advice.
Assuming one works they way I think it does anyway.

It does......

[carstenb]

We've lived exclusively (almost) on RO water the pas 15 months - from the start we felt it tasted great and still does. We do occasionally fill our tanks at a marina, but thiss is merely to get some chlorinated water through the tanks to stop potnetial algae growth.

If we don't get water from a marina we put a couple of drops of chlorine in each tank once a month

note I said and meant : a couple of drops

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

It does......

Yes it does and drinking hasn't killed all the sailors

[mikereed100]

The amount of minerals we derive from drinking water is minuscule compared to the amount we derive from food. further, your kidneys will regulate the amount of salts in your body very well, unless you are drinking gallons of water/day. Consider as well that many municipal supplies have less TDS than the water that your watermaker provides. See page 10 of the attached PDF and read the conclusions at the end. Drink your RO water, eat tacos, be happy.

https://www.wqa.org/Portals/0/Techni...owTDSWater.pdf

[Roy M]

What? Nobody understands the value of electrolyte replacement from bottled beer? I'm truly stunned. Drink gallons of water, but provide metabolic balance with an occasional cold brew of hops and fermented grains. Salud!

[AndyEss]

Originally Posted by tuskie

I'm in agreement with most responses, especially Rich's.

There is a huge commercially driven pseudo - scientific marketing campaign to get consumers to "treat" perfectly healthy town potable water and/or buy bottled water. The later usually coming in the ubiquitous plastic bottles that litter our waterways. Taste comes down to personal preference and experience, but in most first world countries we are so lucky to have good reticulated drinking water. The "need" for treatment centres around the removal of perceived harmful chemicals.

Now this campaign of selective mis-information is targeting the comsumers of some of the world's purest water; us yachties! In this case, there is a "need" to add chemical substances to our water.

How do you reticulate drinking water?

re·tic·u·lat·ed
rəˈtikyəˌlādəd/
adjective
constructed, arranged, or marked like a net or network.

[westernspirit]

I'm with catsketcher the chemistry professor, please show us how RO with low tds is corrosive

[catsketcher]

Bit of an oops moment here. Science can be tricky.

It seems that there is a fair bit of informed comment on the nature of RO water from the Chemistry stack exchange and engtips. The threads that I read sounded reasonable.

So blow me down with a feather. Pure water seems like it has an increased ability to leach out minerals from piping due to the very low amount of dissolved ions. I never thought that would be an issue. The science doesn;t seem settled as some nuclear power plants still use RO water in cooland piping.

Still learning

Phil

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by Roy M

What? Nobody understands the value of electrolyte replacement from bottled beer? I'm truly stunned. Drink gallons of water, but provide metabolic balance with an occasional cold brew of hops and fermented grains. Salud!

I'm glad someone pointed this out. I think that instead of using electrolyte replacement cartridges in our water systems, we should be focusing our efforts on developing a cartridge that would turn RO water into beer. Make mine a double IPA.