Do use a UV Sterilizer on your water maker

We’ve been cruising the PNW waters for a couple of years now and rarely use our WM. As we move south into Mexico I’m wondering what others do, if anything, to sterilize WM water.

Do you use a UV sterilizer, use chlorine or bleach, or nothing at all?

We’ve been using a water maker for 20 years with five of those in Mexico and have/do not use a UV sterilizer. We have friends that have them. We keep our tanks clean and turn the water over regularly.

We had a UV filter on a previous boat and in out RV. Small unit that we had hooked to small faucet in galley and icemaker. Worked well I guess because we never got sick, but I don’t know that we needed it or not. We don’t have one in our current boat and I often wonder if we should put one in.

We use UV sterilizer and don't make water in harbors, etc. We drink and cook with the water. So far, no one has gotten sick.

These units are not large , so it should be possible to use the unit when taking aboard water from a land source ,

and then move it to treat the tank water.

The unit must be ON before water flow to work the best, .

No we don't either. In fact our water from our water maker is cleaner than tap water.


BTW, NEVER NEVER EVER use chlorine. It will destroy your membranes.

FF said:

These units are not large , so it should be possible to use the unit when taking aboard water from a land source ,

and then move it to treat the tank water.

The unit must be ON before water flow to work the best, .

Click to expand...

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Yup, but the unit has to be sized correctly or you need to slow the flow rate down from the land source. I asked a friend who has one on their boat’s RO system. He says his is rated for up to 3 gallons per minute.

Yes, we do.

goboatnow said:

We’ve been cruising the PNW waters for a couple of years now and rarely use our WM. As we move south into Mexico I’m wondering what others do, if anything, to sterilize WM water.

Do you use a UV sterilizer, use chlorine or bleach, or nothing at all?

Click to expand...

Water maker water is already extremely clean, so not sure you need to supplement it. Having said that, UV sterilizers are very effective, I've used scores of units from Atlantic Ultraviolet. One of these along with a sediment and carbon filter and you'll have very clean water.

Keep this in mind, however, never back flush a water maker with chlorinated water, it will ruin the membranes. And, if filling your tanks with municipal water don't use a carbon pre-filter as it will remove the chlorine, which will lead to bacterial growth in the tank. It is, however, to remove chlorine as the water is being used, after it's left the tank. This article (written for the industry) covers the subject, including UV filtration, in detail http://stevedmarineconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/WaterSystems152-02-Part-1.pdf