A bit embarrassing but..

[Heath68]

Hi all, this is my first ever post in here as an actual boat owner!! I have been looking for a long time and had to first adjust my budget as a house took half of it.. but here I am. An official member 🙂

OK so onto my question, the boat comes with a Spectra Water Maker. The ex owner showed me how to make water and drilled unto me the importance of a daily routine. The problem is, that even though I recorded him, he confused the probably simple routine by saying that as it had been on the hard (for the survey) he had removed a filter and just put water in it. So the message as to what to do on a daily basis gets lost. So I have a very confused brain... and I know the answers are probably simple so I am a little embarrassed to know SO little about boats. But, I think he said:

Daily Flush
1. Switch from Port to Starboard on the electrical panel (he uses the port tanks to hold water from the marina Dock and considers this not great as it has lots of chlorine in it as I am in Spain.. the Starboard is purely "made" water from the water maker. Straight away I am confused... if he keeps these two separate and the boat is normally on port water, why make water with the water maker if I am never going to use it?
2. Flush a few taps to clear any held water in the pipes.
3. Turn a black round knob (pressure relief valve) from closed to half open (or is it the other way round?)
4. Turn the Fresh water flush valve to Run
5. Wait 30 seconds.
6. Turn the Fresh Water Flush Valve back from Run to Flush.
7. Turn the Black Pressure relief valve back to closed.
8. Switch the black electric switch from starboard back to port.
done???

To make water...
1. Switch from Port to Starboard on the electrical panel.
2. Flush a few taps to clear any held water in the pipes.
3. Turn a black round knob (pressure relief valve) to closed.
4. Get a bucket and put the black service pipe into it, Turn Product Service Valve to "Service"
5. Turn on Pump 1 - drain off about 5 litres and then test the water to make sure it is under 200 parts (with a tester I don't yet have).
6. If the tester says it is clean enough switch off the pump. Turn the Product Service Valve to "Run"
7. Turn the pump back to On.
8. Monitor pressure as it should be about 80
Now it should be making water??

He also talked about Pickling but I was left thinking my video would make it clearer if i watched it again and again... but it didn't. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? I am so stupid sometimes.

All advice would be appreciated.

Heath

[Paul L]

Firstly, have you read the Spectra manual for your unit? They describe the various things you need to do with the watermaker in decent detail.

What you are trying to do is avoid growth on the watermaker membrane. You can do this in one of two ways,
1. flush the watermaker every few days.
2. Or alternatively pickle the water maker. Then it is good for 3-6 months (see manual). While pickled you do not need to do anything to it.

If you aren't going to use the unit, then why not sell it? Used Spectra units go for a lot.

[BigBeakie]

Hi Heath,

Firstly congrats on your new boat! Secondly, no need to feel embarrassed, there will be plenty of new things to learn for you, you'll just have to get comfortable with being on the learning curve, for awhile. And CF can be a good resource, sometimes.

I can't help with the Spectra, our Rainman is simplicity itself, but I'd encourage you to try and understand the function of all the knobs & switches, so do get a manual ASAP and work your way through it to fully understand your system.

But the previous owner was wise to separate the tanks, so that there is never any cross contamination, ie you always have water in one tank that you can trust.

Welcome to the learning curve, try and enjoy the journey[emoji106]

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Heath68

Hi all, this is my first ever post in here as an actual boat owner!! I have been looking for a long time and had to first adjust my budget as a house took half of it.. but here I am. An official member 🙂 No problem, Sir Tellie is here.

OK so onto my question, the boat comes with a Spectra Water Maker. The ex owner showed me how to make water and drilled unto me the importance of a daily routine. The problem is, that even though I recorded him, he confused the probably simple routine by saying that as it had been on the hard (for the survey) he had removed a filter and just put water in it. So the message as to what to do on a daily basis gets lost. So I have a very confused brain... and I know the answers are probably simple so I am a little embarrassed to know SO little about boats. But, I think he said:
First things first. Whic model of Spectra do you have?

Daily Flush
1. Switch from Port to Starboard on the electrical panel (he uses the port tanks to hold water from the marina Dock and considers this not great as it has lots of chlorine in it as I am in Spain.. the Starboard is purely "made" water from the water maker. Straight away I am confused... if he keeps these two separate and the boat is normally on port water, why make water with the water maker if I am never going to use it? You can use it. your watermaker has a charcoal filter installed on it that takes care of any chlorine found in dock water. That's it's sole purpose, but you don't want to add Clorox to your fresh water tanks or the added chorine can over power the charcoal filter. More on that later if need be. Some people think flushing their systems with non chlorinated water is best so they will dedicate one tank for just the watermaker water. Go ahead and fill both tanks with the watermaker water, that's what it is intended for.
2. Flush a few taps to clear any held water in the pipes. No idea what that means either
3. Turn a black round knob (pressure relief valve) from closed to half open (or is it the other way round?) This depends. The pressure relief valve is either open or closed. Closed to make the pressures required to make water and opened to either commission or flush the system with out any pressure applied to the membrane.
4. Turn the Fresh water flush valve to Run There is no "RUN". If you are looking at the yellow handle that is marked "RUN" "OFF" and "SERVICE" this is the slection valve to draw water up through the inntake thru hull and doesn't have anything to do with the fresh water flush. There may be a grey handle just before or after the charcoal filter housing to turn on to "FLUSH" or "RUN"
5. Wait 30 seconds.
6. Turn the Fresh Water Flush Valve back from Run to Flush.
7. Turn the Black Pressure relief valve back to closed.
8. Switch the black electric switch from starboard back to port.
done???

To make water...
1. Switch from Port to Starboard on the electrical panel.
2. Flush a few taps to clear any held water in the pipes.
3. Turn a black round knob (pressure relief valve) to closed.
4. Get a bucket and put the black service pipe into it, Turn Product Service Valve to "Service"
5. Turn on Pump 1 - drain off about 5 litres and then test the water to make sure it is under 200 parts (with a tester I don't yet have).
6. If the tester says it is clean enough switch off the pump. Turn the Product Service Valve to "Run"
7. Turn the pump back to On.
8. Monitor pressure as it should be about 80
Now it should be making water??

He also talked about Pickling but I was left thinking my video would make it clearer if i watched it again and again... but it didn't. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? I am so stupid sometimes.

All advice would be appreciated.

Heath

Actually I think this is worth a phone call instead as this can get a bit long. You do have a few things confused but it's no big deal. Once you have operated this a few times it will be second nature to you quite quickly. Shoot me a PM here and I'll walk you through it.

[senormechanico]

Tellie is a gem.

[Quebramar]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Tellie is a gem.

With a big heart apparently [emoji4]

[lordgeoff]

Originally Posted by Heath68

Hi all, this is my first ever post in here as an actual boat owner!! I have been looking for a long time and had to first adjust my budget as a house took half of it.. but here I am. An official member 🙂

OK so onto my question, the boat comes with a Spectra Water Maker. The ex owner showed me how to make water and drilled unto me the importance of a daily routine. The problem is, that even though I recorded him, he confused the probably simple routine by saying that as it had been on the hard (for the survey) he had removed a filter and just put water in it. So the message as to what to do on a daily basis gets lost. So I have a very confused brain... and I know the answers are probably simple so I am a little embarrassed to know SO little about boats. But, I think he said:

Daily Flush
1. Switch from Port to Starboard on the electrical panel (he uses the port tanks to hold water from the marina Dock and considers this not great as it has lots of chlorine in it as I am in Spain.. the Starboard is purely "made" water from the water maker. Straight away I am confused... if he keeps these two separate and the boat is normally on port water, why make water with the water maker if I am never going to use it?
2. Flush a few taps to clear any held water in the pipes.
3. Turn a black round knob (pressure relief valve) from closed to half open (or is it the other way round?)
4. Turn the Fresh water flush valve to Run
5. Wait 30 seconds.
6. Turn the Fresh Water Flush Valve back from Run to Flush.
7. Turn the Black Pressure relief valve back to closed.
8. Switch the black electric switch from starboard back to port.
done???

To make water...
1. Switch from Port to Starboard on the electrical panel.
2. Flush a few taps to clear any held water in the pipes.
3. Turn a black round knob (pressure relief valve) to closed.
4. Get a bucket and put the black service pipe into it, Turn Product Service Valve to "Service"
5. Turn on Pump 1 - drain off about 5 litres and then test the water to make sure it is under 200 parts (with a tester I don't yet have).
6. If the tester says it is clean enough switch off the pump. Turn the Product Service Valve to "Run"
7. Turn the pump back to On.
8. Monitor pressure as it should be about 80
Now it should be making water??

He also talked about Pickling but I was left thinking my video would make it clearer if i watched it again and again... but it didn't. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? I am so stupid sometimes.

All advice would be appreciated.

Heath

Contact Spectra and get the manual online. I just run mine once a week regardless and pickle at the end of the season. After 8 years I still have to follow the manual and read it closely before each pickle. Contact Spectra👌

[SV__Grace]

I'm not an expert but do have a Spectra system. Three errors stand out to me from OP-

1. You don't open the pressure relief valve on the Clarke pump for flushing- you WANT pressure when flushing your membrane! You open that valve for servicing (pickling, bleeding, etc).

2. You don't need to produce 5 liters of product before testing. For my system a cup or two was all that's needed before the TDS meter tested good enough to throw the switch to direct product to the tank. It's the test result (below 200 or so) that matters, not the amount of water produced. 5 liters seems like a lot and a waste.

3. Flushing the taps/lines? Why? For regular use I don't know of a need to flush taps or lines and the only time I waste water that way is when the Admiral forgets to change tanks before running dry and the system needs bleeding.

[Heath68]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

I'm not an expert but do have a Spectra system. Three errors stand out to me from OP-

1. You don't open the pressure relief valve on the Clarke pump for flushing- you WANT pressure when flushing your membrane! You open that valve for servicing (pickling, bleeding, etc).

2. You don't need to produce 5 liters of product before testing. For my system a cup or two was all that's needed before the TDS meter tested good enough to throw the switch to direct product to the tank. It's the test result (below 200 or so) that matters, not the amount of water produced. 5 liters seems like a lot and a waste.

3. Flushing the taps/lines? Why? For regular use I don't know of a need to flush taps or lines and the only time I waste water that way is when the Admiral forgets to change tanks before running dry and the system needs bleeding.

That's great thanks very much. It is a worry and one of the multitude of reasons I have been consistently up at 5am every morning checking on things or sorting out which valve turns which way to make sure effluence doesn't end up on the poor hull workers below me rather than in the black tanks.

I think because it had been on the hard he wasn't too sure of exactly what he was doing himself and went back to correct.. this is why despite watching the video several times I was still confused.

My main issue now is that I have been lifted back out and onto the hard so I can't now make water anyway... and I don't know if I can flush (or even should try to flush) the system whilst sat here. I will be here for nearly a month I think whilst the bottom is copper coated. https://www.cruisersforum.com/images...s/banghead.gif

Also having to do some sawasdeekat work as well... lots of response to recent posts. Sailing life eh? :-)

[Tellie]

Oh well.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Heath68

That's great thanks very much. It is a worry and one of the multitude of reasons I have been consistently up at 5am every morning checking on things or sorting out which valve turns which way to make sure effluence doesn't end up on the poor hull workers below me rather than in the black tanks.

I think because it had been on the hard he wasn't too sure of exactly what he was doing himself and went back to correct.. this is why despite watching the video several times I was still confused.

My main issue now is that I have been lifted back out and onto the hard so I can't now make water anyway... and I don't know if I can flush (or even should try to flush) the system whilst sat here. I will be here for nearly a month I think whilst the bottom is copper coated. https://www.cruisersforum.com/images...s/banghead.gif

Also having to do some sawasdeekat work as well... lots of response to recent posts. Sailing life eh? :-)

When on the hard we wait until the boatyard closes to use our sinks and drains, and flushing the water maker on the hard shouldn't be a problem if nothing important gets wet.

A new system always seems overwhelming and complicated (to me) until you get used to it, then it becomes an easy routine.

If the system isn't pickled, here in the PNW climate on the advice of our service guy we flush our watermaker once per month for 30 minutes and that keeps the membrane healthy if we have not been using it. Warmer climates would need flushing more often, which is a lot of water, which doesn't matter if you keep your boat in a marina and have access to unlimited water.