Watermaker

We chose to go with a watermaker from WaterMakers Inc, a 700 GPD unit with auto flush and product diverter valve. We chose them since they were local and they have great reviews also they were one of the first makers of watermakers.

Installation started this morning and should be done by the end of that day, just in time for us to hop over to Bimini for the weekend.

Done!

720 gpd, wow !!!

Nice watermaker!


We. Use about 50 gpd on our boat between showers, clothes washing etc... And never conserve.

That equates to approx 7 hours per day, which is about what our generator run time on the hook is.

ksanders said:

720 gpd, wow !!!



Nice watermaker!





We. Use about 50 gpd on our boat between showers, clothes washing etc... And never conserve.



That equates to approx 7 hours per day, which is about what our generator run time on the hook is.

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Thanks, Im not sure about how many GPD we use but we just figured you can't go wrong with more volume, It will allow us to run the washer, take all the showers one could want, and being able to wash the boat in the Bahamas without having to rely on a dock and the price of water also the fact that one bad fill up from a marina.

Oliver, nice setup and WaterMakers was a good choice: excellent product and just down the road from you too.

Changing sediment filters can be a messy business - smelly seawater slopping everywhere, no matter how careful you are. Assuming those are the sediment filters (blue) behind the pressure pump, may I suggest a removable tray just shallow enough that it can slide under the filters and catch the spillage.

Shoalwaters said:

Oliver, nice setup and WaterMakers was a good choice: excellent product and just down the road from you too.

Changing sediment filters can be a messy business - smelly seawater slopping everywhere, no matter how careful you are. Assuming those are the sediment filters (blue) behind the pressure pump, may I suggest a removable tray just shallow enough that it can slide under the filters and catch the spillage.

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Thanks for the heads up, I'll see if I can get a drip tray for the prefilters.

Good choice Oliver.
Nice and simple is the best.
I chose one of our local manufacturers when doing my installation as well.
All manual 120 lt/hr (30 gal) and love it. Puts no restrictions on water use unless one is parked up a dirty river or creek for some days.
Picture attached is a bit ordinary, taken when I was doing my engine change out.
Let us know how it performs, I couldn't be happier with mine.

Cheers
Benn

Oliver, nice Watermaker , i have the same BUT i have two manometer ( inlet and outlet ) from the waterfilters think about this.
__________________
Norbert

supertramp said:

Oliver, nice Watermaker , i have the same BUT i have two manometer ( inlet and outlet ) from the waterfilters think about this.
__________________
Norbert

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Norbert- Not sure what you're trying to say but I'll take a guess. do you mean a PPM meter? We have one that's electronic and hooked into the water maker along with auto rinse. Our outlet goes into the top of the tank. there is also a hose on the unit itself with a valve so you can fill water bottles.

Tidahapah said:

Good choice Oliver.
Nice and simple is the best.
I chose one of our local manufacturers when doing my installation as well.
All manual 120 lt/hr (30 gal) and love it. Puts no restrictions on water use unless one is parked up a dirty river or creek for some days.
Picture attached is a bit ordinary, taken when I was doing my engine change out.
Let us know how it performs, I couldn't be happier with mine.

Cheers
Benn

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Thanks, nice setup as well. Simple. The best. Don't worry, were going use it all day tomo whilst crossing the Gulf-stream for Bimini.

Oliver,
You have two rough water filter as it is good to check the input and output pressure with pressure gauges to see what condition are the two water filters. These filters do I change two times a year.
__________________
Norbert

Norbert,
I see what you are saying.
On my raw water filters, No 1 is 10 micron and No 2 is 1 micron there is a differential pressure gauge ( back pressure) if the differential gets to high the unit shuts down.
Time to change filters.
I usually change them on a regular basis as it ensures a more efficient operation of the plant.

Cheers
Benn

The difference can only be measured but if you have two gauges, so it is better a pressure gauge at the entrance and a pressure gauge at the outlet of the double filter. Du not know what pressure of the first pump comes befor the filters, with a second pressure gauge but yes .
_______________
Norbert

Very nice water maker Oliver. I am installing a Spectra Ventura 150 that I removed from my Mainship 40SB that is going into my Gulfstar trawler. It is a 12vdc water maker and can produce about 7-8 gallons an hour. It takes about 1AH for every gallon made that's pretty efficient for a DC powered unit. In addition I have the MPC5000 digital control panel.
Bill

Well figured I'd do a follow up after running it everyday the whole weekend at the dock and when we crossed. We love it! Worked perfect! If our gauge was right we were going through about 300-350 gallons a day between washing the dusky multiple times a day, washing clothes multiple times a day, washing dishes, and other miscellaneous uses.

Man, that sure is some heavy water consumption, about 1200 lts /day
How many hours/day were you running the water maker?

Cheers
Benn

Tidahapah said:

Man, that sure is some heavy water consumption, about 1200 lts /day
How many hours/day were you running the water maker?

Cheers
Benn

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We'd run it the whole day then shut it off at night.

I noticed your HP pump is not mounted on any kind of isolation feet. You could cut down on the noise and vibration it makes quite a bit by doing so.

Beard Marine normally has them in stock in different weight capacities.

Capt.Bill11 said:

I noticed your HP pump is not mounted on any kind of isolation feet. You could cut down on the noise and vibration it makes quite a bit by doing so.

Beard Marine normally has them in stock in different weight capacities.

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Yep, they were supposed to go on the bottom of the whole assembly but they hadn't measured the total height with mounts so we had to do with out.

N4712 said:

Well figured I'd do a follow up after running it everyday the whole weekend at the dock and when we crossed. We love it! Worked perfect! If our gauge was right we were going through about 300-350 gallons a day between washing the dusky multiple times a day, washing clothes multiple times a day, washing dishes, and other miscellaneous uses.

Click to expand...

Wow, that is a huge amount of water. I figure we use 100-200 gallons a day at our house and that is with two kids who dirty/change clothes constantly. We likely use more towards a 100 gallons than 200 a day. We do have low flow toilets, shower heads, and front loading washing machine. The dishwasher only uses 10 gallons max.

Showers 40g - 4 x 10 minutes at 1GPM. The shower head is less than 1GPM though and I don't think the showers are 10 minutes.

Clothes washing 30g - 3 load at 10g each. I don't think we normally do three loads a day though.

Toilets Flushing 60g. 10 flushes per person at 1.5g per use. I don't know if we really go 10 times a day though.

Dishes 10g

Drinking/Cooking 2g. Maybe 2G.

So that is 142 gallons worse case and more likely closer to 100g since I doubt we do three loads of clothes each day, and while the kids are full of something, I don't think the something makes them flush the toilet.

Later,
Dan

Here in Santa Cruz, on dry land, they are pushing to hold us to 75 GPD per person. If you go over a little, you pay double. If you go over a lot, you pay 4x.

N4712 said:

Yep, they were supposed to go on the bottom of the whole assembly but they hadn't measured the total height with mounts so we had to do with out.

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There looks to be plenty of height to go under the pump base. The mounts are only about an 1 1/4" high or so. Or will that small increase in height block access to something else?

Capt.Bill11 said:

There looks to be plenty of height to go under the pump base. The mounts are only about an 1 1/4" high or so. Or will that small increase in height block access to something else?

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I was talking about the whole metal frame that everything sits on. But I guess there is room just to put them on the HP pump, but were happy the way it is so we'll just leave it alone.

bligh said:

Here in Santa Cruz, on dry land, they are pushing to hold us to 75 GPD per person. If you go over a little, you pay double. If you go over a lot, you pay 4x.

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Spent last Friday and today donating money to your city coffers. Thought it nice to relocate here someday until reading your post.

I would re-think the no flexible mounts thing. Vibration transmission from the HP pump is a prime cause of electronic, gauge and high pressue union failure on watermakers in my experience.

GPD is meaningless to most experienced users...they look for usage and size to how long they want the watermaker to run...which in many cases isn't 24/7.

Newer tech does give a few more options...but really it still boils down more to GPH and how long can it run with the way you set the system up/run/cruise your boat.

psneeld said:

but really it still boils down more to GPH and how long can it run with the way you set the system up/run/cruise your boat.

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Which is based on your GPD needs.

And that is why a higher GPH unit can be worth the extra money because you can run it less HPD to produce the amount of water you need for the coming days.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Which is based on your GPD needs.

And that is why a higher GPH unit can be worth the extra money because you can run it less HPD to produce the amount of water you need for the coming days.

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Which is what I was saying.....read the whole post...

psneeld said:

GPD is meaningless to most experienced users...they look for usage and size to how long they want the watermaker to run...which in many cases isn't 24/7.

Newer tech does give a few more options...but really it still boils down more to GPH and how long can it run with the way you set the system up/run/cruise your boat.

Click to expand...

psneeld said:

Which is what I was saying.....read the whole post...

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I did. And it seemed to me by saying "GPD is meaningless" you were saying "GPD is meaningless". I guess I misunderstood you. My bad.

But either way we are apparently in agreement that it's not.

And it is in fact one of the key criteria that you want to base your choice of a water maker on.