Watermaker to fill multiple tanks

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by hzcruiser

All the best to you, then, and fair winds for the next 25 years!

The same to you.

[Capt.Don]

We only fill our small 25 gallon tank from watermaker. Our Spectra Ventura came with 1/4" threaded fittings for product water. I drilled/tapped the stainless inspection port and screwed in one of the elbow fittings. After flush, we have about 20 gallons, which lasts us 2 to 3 days.

Keep in mind, you will probably be running your watermaker every 2 to 3 days. There's no reason to make this overly complicated. The watermaker only fills our small tank. If the small tank is not empty and we decide to make water, I sometimes run a garden hose from the kitchen faucet to the bow (larger) tank and pump the remaining water into the bow tank. That way if we run out of water on the small tank, we have a bit extra in the bow for that evening shower! In general, I transfer water about once or twice a month.

Never had either water tank go sour......

[more]

everybody must watch this.
https://youtu.be/6a3PLGJ28Rc?t=13
https://youtu.be/y8QY4wMYE3Q?t=6

i use in my tank 2 -3 time in year EC: 220-767-7 Troclosene sodium high dosage. after 12-24 hour empty all tank and wash boat with this water. after refill tank 2-3 times water is now again ready for drink,all tank and pipe clean

[CaptnKen]

I have a modular watermaker. We have 3 water tanks however they are situated together. I have a valve which controls which tank I am filling and which tank I am using from. It was not difficult since they are beside each other. Yours may be more difficult is located in different compartments. Good luck

[rabbi1384]

Originally Posted by maclysaght

I'm in the early stages of research for adding a watermaker. I will likely go with a modular system, but in planning where to put the parts, I'm wondering how to actually get the product water into my tanks? My boat has five separate tanks - 2 on port, 3 on starboard. Has anyone with a similar setup installed a watermaker? If so, do you feed it to one tank only, or several tanks?

You shouldn't feed directly into the tanks at all because you risk contamination. Fill a Jerry can and then fill the tanks.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by rabbi1384

You shouldn't feed directly into the tanks at all because you risk contamination. Fill a Jerry can and then fill the tanks.

i'm sorry : am i missing something here ?...contamination from what exactly ?

cheers,

[rabbi1384]

Originally Posted by chrisr

i'm sorry : am i missing something here ?...contamination from what exactly ?

cheers,

From the water maker of course. Just because water is good when you test it doesn't mean it's gonna be good all the time. With a temporary deposit you fill up using the water maker you don't risk spiking all your water.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by rabbi1384

From the water maker of course. Just because water is good when you test it doesn't mean it's gonna be good all the time. With a temporary deposit you fill up using the water maker you don't risk spiking all your water.

same could be said when filling up from shore tap...do you do this when filling up from shore ?

what do you think is going to go on inside the w/m to turn the output from sweet to sour ?

in fact water from our watermaker is better and more reliable quality than shore water. absolutely unnecessary to decant into a bucket and then into the tank, and never heard of anyone doing such

but if that's the way you want to do it on your boat, go right ahead.

cheers,

[rabbi1384]

Originally Posted by chrisr

same could be said when filling up from shore tap...do you do this when filling up from shore ?

what do you think is going to go on inside the w/m to turn the output from sweet to sour ?

in fact water from our watermaker is better and more reliable quality than shore water. absolutely unnecessary to decant into a bucket and then into the tank, and never heard of anyone doing such

but if that's the way you want to do it on your boat, go right ahead.

cheers,

Well, for starters things can break. Or you could sail through a patch where a big ship just emptied the black water tanks. Lots of things can make the water maker water go bad. As long as it works it's brilliant and I also like to drink it. But on long voyages it's better to be safe than sorry. At least that's how I do it and thanks for your permission to do as I like on my boat. That's very much appreciated. And maybe some people who read this might also think it makes sense. I certainly know a lot of blue water sailors who do it like this and they also have daytanks for diesel and such. Just a question of how much you get into detail of preventing possible issues.
And if you'd read the manual of your water maker I'm pretty sure it will tell you not to connect it directly to the tanks. The Katadyn ones do so at least and amongst other water makers I own the one used by Volvo Ocean Race sailors and that one's manual also clearly states the same.

Edith: and obviously I wasn't talking about a bucket. That's just silly

[rabbi1384]

By the way

[chrisr]

nothing like this in the manual for our w/m (echotech) and as i said, i've never met or heard of anyone who does this (katadyn or otherwise. your boat does have a katadyn i take it ?)

anyone out there in CF land who does this ? (decant feed from w/m into a container, check for quality, then put it in the tank/s) ? nb : our w/m outputs 80LPH so would be quite a battle...

if you are worried about your w/m failing, why not switch back to test every 5mins or so, test the water, and switch back to tank if ok ? i'm sure with a bit of experience you'll decide it's unnecessary...

as for "a patch where a big ship just emptied the black water tanks", a w/m filters at a molecular level and will cope with this easily. you say "Lots of things can make the water maker water go bad" - what exactly ? i really would like to know ? if ours has a problem, it stops or output falls, but it's not going to start pumping sw into the fw tank

(and sorry, i was using bucket as generic shorthand for any suitable container...)

cheers,

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by rabbi1384

By the way

You are correct that many long distance sailors will do things differently than the next one. Doesn't mean either is wrong. Most of the time it is just a personal preference. But what you posted above is not saying to never plumb your product water tube to your tank. It says not to do this without a means to divert the water away from the fresh water tank if need be. A simple three way valve on the product tube will accomplish this. These are really important on a manual watermaker like a Katadyn. Most modern watermakers will automatically test the product water before it diverts it to the fresh water tanks. It would actually be very rare to see a product tube not installed directly into the fresh water tank/s.
Not that this is important. But I serviced the Volvo boats and they are all Spectras. Mostly Cape Horn Extremes. The Katadyns are too energy inefficient compared to the Spectras. But they do all carry the Katadyn Survivor35 as a back up.

[MEC]

First point is that your watermaker's product discharge occurs at low pressure except when the discharge is against a "shut-off-head" (closed valve). In this case the product discharge pressure will raise to the membrane inlet pressure, which is very high (800 to 1000 psig) and will cause the discharge plumbing to fail.


Water maker product has to discharge into an "open vented" tank or multiple tanks what ever your boat's potable water configuration is.


If you leave your WM operating too long, well you fill your bilge with fresh water....


Most installations recommend "tapping" into the deck fresh water fill tube with a "tee". This deck fresh water fill hose/tube terminates to a manifold with ball valves selecting which tank is the "service" tank.


If you have a mix of tanks containing chlorinated "city" water and RO water, the tankage contents will change. This means that you need a charcoal filter to supply fresh water flush supply to the RO system.


I hope this information is useful.

[rabbi1384]

So guys, it's really not that difficult to understand. Katadyn writes it's not recommended to tap the water maker into your primary source of fresh water and that's what any water maker company will tell you. I didn't say you should not put the water into any tank. Of course you can connect it to one tank or use a Jerry can or whatever you like. But the initial question was how to connect it to all 3 tanks and it's just bad ppractise to do that. And you write with a bit of experience I'd see that. Well I've had water makers for the best part of 20 years and I've seen it all. So if you want to connect your water maker to all your fresh water sources at once and then on a pacific crossing realize you are out of water please do. Just whenever that happens remember the smart things you wrote here. I've been sailing all my life and I equipped aot of boats and what you are advocating to do would be considered dumb by most people I know.
And I don't service Volvo boats but according to Katadyn they carry a Power Survivor 40E. That's the smallest electrical water maker that can be switched to manual operation.
But I've also had spectra water makers on my bigger boats and if course they work fine. Until they don't and then you are in trouble if you have them connected to all your fresh water sources. Maybe not a problem if your a coastal sailor but on ocean crossings I wouldn't trust a theoretical shut off feature with my life.
But hey, you guys of course know it better, I'm only a humble sailor who crosses oceans for the fun of it.

[rabbi1384]

Interesting how all these threads turn personal. I already regret that after many years of absence I again joined a forum. I honestly think that most serious sailors don't bother and that's just what I'll do again.
Shame that the internet is just full of smartass know it alls. You must be really smart guys to assume that someone who just joined the forum doesn't have experience sailing. I actually assume the opposite because I live amongst sailors and they and I myself certainly don't have time for discussions with people who just want to be right no matter what. Here's an idea.... If someone gives a piece of advise you could just let it stand and allow the people reading the thread decide if that might be a valid advise for them to follow.
I honestly don't care what you do on your boat but any ocean Sailor will tell you that you never expose all your freshwater tanks to one single source of even the remotest of possibilities of contamination.
Couch sailors however wouldn't understand that probably.