Spectra Membrane Change

[belizesailor]

Just changed the membrane on my Spectra Catalina 300 water maker. Easy job.

However, if you are installing a new system, consider leaving enough clearance to slide the membrane out of the tube -- this will make changing it down the road quite easy. In my installation, I had to unmount the tube which was more trouble than replacing the membrane itself.

Also, you can acquire the membrane (DOW Filmtec SW30-2540 Sea Water RO Membrane) from Cruiser RO for about $187 -- radically cheaper than from Spectra. Spectra has a great product and great support, but their parts prices are way high.

[Tellie]

Spectra does have the easiest membrane vessels to work on and certainly leaving enough room to remove a membrane is nice. But room and sailboats are an oxymoron. Also, Crusier RO is a very nice guy. But when he tells you that all membranes are the same he is incorrect. I've been through this so many times on this and many boards I won't go into yet again. But I assure you, Spectra and the other large watermaker companies are not getting their membranes from the Internet. I can tell by looking at the pic that the membrane you removed is an old membrane and most likely the original Spectra one that came with the unit. If you look at it, you will see serial numbers. If you are the original owner of that CAT300 you still have a very important warranty on the Clark pump. If you have a problem Spectras gonna want to see serial numbers. The other Internet cheap guys won't be there when Spectra says "Sorry Charlie" Please understand, I'm not telling you what or how to do anything. Take my experiance and my $.02 opinion for what it's worth. But for a watermaker that will cost about 10K to replace, saving a few extra hundred dollars every 5-8 years doesn't make sense to me. But then I'm funny that way. Leave the cheap stuff to the DIY watermaker guys.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Spectra does have the easiest membrane vessels to work on and certainly leaving enough room to remove a membrane is nice. But room and sailboats are an oxymoron. Also, Crusier RO is a very nice guy. But when he tells you that all membranes are the same he is incorrect. I've been through this so many times on this and many boards I won't go into yet again. But I assure you, Spectra and the other large watermaker companies are not getting their membranes from the Internet. I can tell by looking at the pic that the membrane you removed is an old membrane and most likely the original Spectra one that came with the unit. If you look at it, you will see serial numbers. If you are the original owner of that CAT300 you still have a very important warranty on the Clark pump. If you have a problem Spectras gonna want to see serial numbers. The other Internet cheap guys won't be there when Spectra says "Sorry Charlie" Please understand, I'm not telling you what or how to do anything. Take my experiance and my $.02 opinion for what it's worth. But for a watermaker that will cost about 10K to replace, saving a few extra hundred dollars every 5-8 years doesn't make sense to me. But then I'm funny that way. Leave the cheap stuff to the DIY watermaker guys.

Tellie, thanks for the info. I will research the old and new membranes so that I know the differences. If you have a link to previous discussions that you can post that would be useful. I have friends running the DOW in their CAT 300 with no problems thus far, but maybe it is just a matter of time.

In the case of my installation, an small inspection hatch in a bulkhead would provide easy access for changing the membrane in the future.

[Johnny Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Spectra does have the easiest membrane vessels to work on and certainly leaving enough room to remove a membrane is nice. But room and sailboats are an oxymoron. Also, Crusier RO is a very nice guy. But when he tells you that all membranes are the same he is incorrect. I've been through this so many times on this and many boards I won't go into yet again. But I assure you, Spectra and the other large watermaker companies are not getting their membranes from the Internet. I can tell by looking at the pic that the membrane you removed is an old membrane and most likely the original Spectra one that came with the unit. If you look at it, you will see serial numbers. If you are the original owner of that CAT300 you still have a very important warranty on the Clark pump. If you have a problem Spectras gonna want to see serial numbers. The other Internet cheap guys won't be there when Spectra says "Sorry Charlie" Please understand, I'm not telling you what or how to do anything. Take my experiance and my $.02 opinion for what it's worth. But for a watermaker that will cost about 10K to replace, saving a few extra hundred dollars every 5-8 years doesn't make sense to me. But then I'm funny that way. Leave the cheap stuff to the DIY watermaker guys.

Thanks Tellie,
A very logical & informative post!

John