water makers

[Brian Harward]

I'm looking at having a new water maker installed in the Kadey Krogen. So many choices, what comes highly recommended?

 

[Bruce B]

Having lived with a Spectra for something like 14 years, I grew tired of the 10 to 11 gallons per hour that unit produced. It was reliable on a day to day basis although we did wear out one Clark pump in that time.
On our new boat we have a 120 volt watermaker made by US Watermaker. It makes between 35 and 40 gallons per hour, it is made up of a lot of non proprietary parts and it is a joy.
I'd look for a simple, powerful machine made from as many off-the-shelf parts you as you can find. There are lots out there...
Bruce

 

[BrisHamish]

I recently installed a 160 litre per hour unit from Stella Systems (called a 'Stellanator"). It is not a fully automatic unit, but it works fine. It comes in individual components, as opposed to single fabricated unit, so you can install the various bits wherever you have spaces available. I have had no problems with it and understand filters and so forth are easy to get hold of.

Cost was AUD $7,500.00 plus installation, whereas for a super schmick fully automatic unit it was going to be close to $20K with a lower additional installation cost.

H.

 

[Russell Clifton]

I'm also a big fan of US Watermaker. Great customer service!!

 

[Lepke]

There are people that have component systems that cost much less than factory watermakers. They usually produce much more water, too. Using standard pumps, membranes and filters are much cheaper to maintain. That's what I use. I refused to pay 10G for a small watermaker with proprietary pumps, etc.
These guys have systems from 20 to 45 gallons an hour using either an ac or engine driven pump. Yacht & Boat Water Maker by Cruise RO Water & Power
And this guy on Ebay also sells component systems from 8 to 50+ gallons an hour.
stuwillo on eBay
One thing nice about component systems, they're easy to get into your engine room and can be installed where things fit.

 

[twistedtree]

Having lived with a Spectra for something like 14 years, I grew tired of the 10 to 11 gallons per hour that unit produced. It was reliable on a day to day basis although we did wear out one Clark pump in that time.
On our new boat we have a 120 volt watermaker made by US Watermaker. It makes between 35 and 40 gallons per hour, it is made up of a lot of non proprietary parts and it is a joy.
I'd look for a simple, powerful machine made from as many off-the-shelf parts you as you can find. There are lots out there...
Bruce

Spectra has higher capacity models as well. Ours is 1000 gal/day, 45 gal/hr, and only consumes 750w to run it.

 

[Mako]

Spectra has higher capacity models as well. Ours is 1000 gal/day, 45 gal/hr, and only consumes 750w to run it.

So it operates off an inverter as well? For motor startup, have you tried using a soft start?

 

[knotheadcharters]

Damn you guys have some big water makers, I work on a 330 foot research vessel for Military Sealift Command and we have 2 RO units that make7k a day each. We only use one at time for a few hours a day for 50 people and three full meals per day, not to mention deck washdown and engine room use fresh water flush toilets, showers. I don't understand why some of you need 1000 gpd units on small pleasure boats!

I have a Kadadyn 160E, 7 gallons an hour. small, compact, takes up almost zero space and about $5500. So if space is limited take a look.

 

[Bay Pelican]

Several important decisions to make: 120v (240v) or 12v, automated or manual, large or small output.

People love the large output from the 120v units. Downside is running the generator to operate the unit. Since many of us run our generators for less than one hour it takes a large output per hour to avoid having to extend the generator run time. With our 12 v unit we run the unit for 2-1/4 hours then turn on the generator to recharge the batteries and finish the three hour run.

We have an automated unit. Certainly easier when all is working well, but frankly in 10 years all of my repairs have had to do with the automated sensors. Each year it has been at least one automated item that has given me trouble. I have recommended buying just a manual unit, testing the output before it goes to the tank and then manually switching the output to the tank. I have had to do this several times when a sensor wasn't working and its not that much effort.

Large output vs small output. This is partially a 120v vs 12 v issue but also one of frequency of use. Watermakers have to be used every couple of days or the membranes go bad. It is also a cost factor, size of unit and everything else that goes with bigger is better. One factor is noise. I frequently run our 12v 400 gallon per day unit in the morning before my wife gets up so that we can turn on the generator when she awakes. The unit is quiet enough that she does not hear it while sleeping.

No one answer. Figure out what works for you.

 

[Bruce B]

We use lots of water. Between keeping dogs clean, showers, cooking and just life in general we simply use water.
When we had the Spectra, a 30 to 40 gallon day was a normal day. This meant 3 to 4 hours of running the watermaker. We typically started the watermaker up and ran it for a couple of hours before starting the engine or generator for charging.
On our new boat, we have 3 to 4 times the watermarking capacity so, we use even more water!
Our use while cruising in the Pacific Northwest was to perform my morning system checks, start the generator, start the engine and once moving start the watermaker. An hour or two later our tanks were full and as we tend to move around, we never had to listen to the generator once anchored unless we wanted heat. It's that east coast boats get air conditioning/reverse cycle heat thing...

The generator is very quiet anyway so I don't believe that it will bother us to run it a couple of hours a day for water. Heck, we have grown to love our washing machine too and that requires 4 plus hours of generator use.
Lots of reasons to run the gen set!
Bruce

 

[Sealife]

Our cruise ro runs on the inverter just fine. It is a soft start essentially because you i crease the high pressure gradually. We use it on long open water runs this way alot.

 

[silentfaith]

the new owners of sk have tripled the price of their units and village marine which is a good unit sells at west marine for $16,000 ,,,wow.....

 

[twistedtree]

So it operates off an inverter as well? For motor startup, have you tried using a soft start?

It's a 24v DC unit. No AC required, but it is 24v, not 12v.

 

[Ken E.]

I've had a small Village 12 volt unit installed for 6 years. Makes about 7 gallons an hour and draws about 10 amps. We use it to keep the tank topped up when we travel. No problems with it. I think Parker Hanifin owns Village now.

 

[Skeeter]

These look good to me.
https://rainmanusa.com/?gclid=CM66k4W3ldQCFc6EswodCSYA0A

 

[Montenido]

I am watching this post with interest because I also need to add a water maker. If I might add to the discussion, how many of you installed your own WM systems? I am pretty handy, but feel that maybe I should let a pro install it. My boat has a fresh water capacity of just under 200 gal. Enough for a couple for a week, but that is conserving water.

Most of my cruising involves legs of at least a couple hours, so I think that a 20-30 gph system would work for me.

Cheers, Bill

 

[Larry M]

I've installed three with no problems. Most watermakers that boaters buy, have good customer support and manuals from the manufacterer.

 

[Bruce B]

I am watching this post with interest because I also need to add a water maker. If I might add to the discussion, how many of you installed your own WM systems? I am pretty handy, but feel that maybe I should let a pro install it. My boat has a fresh water capacity of just under 200 gal. Enough for a couple for a week, but that is conserving water.

Most of my cruising involves legs of at least a couple hours, so I think that a 20-30 gph system would work for me.

Cheers, Bill

I installed the Spectra on our last boat. There are seacocks to install, electrical connections, some basic plumbing and components to secure. It is time consuming but not really all that difficult.
Bruce

 

[twistedtree]

There was just recently a thread covering a water maker installation.

Something I found notable and curious is that at last fall's Ft Lauderdale boat show, it seemed that every vendor and their brother was now offering a watermaker. There used to be a handful of vendors, but now it seems to be everyone. It's not a surprise I suppose since a simple unit is just that - simple, and buildable from readily available components. But there is generally very little intellectual property involved. That changes a bit when you add in automatic controls, and changes again when you include something like the Clark Pump used in Spectra units. It really is a very clever device, and greatly reduces the power consumption required to make water. But for more common systems, there is a very low barrier to entering the market, and there is at least historically quite a high gross margin.

But I think all the new vendors is probably good. It will keep the traditional vendors on their toes, provide a much wider range of products from fully manual operation to fully automated, and keep pricing competitive.

 

[Bay Pelican]

I installed the water maker on Bay Pelican. Did not install either of the two required thru-hulls. Probably a job you should do yourself as most of the units require servicing and you might as well know what you are doing.

 

[Bigsfish]

First, Larry just because you did an installation doesn't mean I can even get the parts out of the shipping boxes. You plus a few others can probably build an entire boat.

Second, I always follow these threads trying to convince myself to but a watermaker, but we (three of us) can go to the Bahamas on only 100 gallons of water, and we don't waste water. . I have friends with water makers and will pull into an anchorage and start washing down their boat, pretty neat to gave that much water.

 

[Bruce B]

Ha!
We wash down our boat with water from our tanks too.
Plenty of water is an awesome thing.
Bruce

 

[neptunesjester]

I installed a Cruise RO unit last year and love it. Off the shelf parts, the kit came with a ton of connectors and such that made installation a breeze. And their customer service is top notch. Can't say enough good things about this unit