Water maker question

[JC53]

Hi folks, question for great minds on the Forum. I have a village Marine water maker that requires routine flushing. The manufacturer says to avoid chlorinated water. My 300 gal. Onboard tank is routinely filled from the docks with chlorinated city water. Has anyone figured out how to get around this issue? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

 

[HTurner]

Hi folks, question for great minds on the Forum. I have a village Marine water maker that requires routine flushing. The manufacturer says to avoid chlorinated water. My 300 gal. Onboard tank is routinely filled from the docks with chlorinated city water. Has anyone figured out how to get around this issue? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

I believe it would take about 5 days for the chlorine to declorinate from your tank.

 

[klee wyck]

Hi folks, question for great minds on the Forum. I have a village Marine water maker that requires routine flushing. The manufacturer says to avoid chlorinated water. My 300 gal. Onboard tank is routinely filled from the docks with chlorinated city water. Has anyone figured out how to get around this issue? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

This may well not be on option for you in your boat, but a slick way to do this is to have a second freshwater tank that only ever receives RO water. The big tank can take either or, but a small tank that only ever receives water from the RO is then your source for flushing the water maker. That is how we handle it on Domino. You just plumb the flush source from the RO tank. I too have been told that any amount of chlorine on the membranes at rest will shorten their life considerably and we lay up for 5 months with only a freshwater flush.. Our starboard tank is reserved for RO only and the port tank can take that or water from shore.

 

[Larry M]

Install a household chlorine filter between your water tanks and RO membrane. Keep the flow rate low when you rinse the membrane and it will remove the chlorine so no worries on hurting the membrane.

As a rule of thumb, the chlorine in your street potable water will be gone in 7-10 days based on where your are from the water treatment plant.

Edit: Talk to the manufacturer. I believe they have a plumbing diagram to add the filter. It’s a standard filter/plumbing addition.

 

[wfleenor]

As LarryM said, add a charcoal filter. That will remove the chlorine.

 

[Simi 60]

One hose to tank and one to a bucket with a 12v bilge pump in bottom
First 10 litres of water goes into bucket then divert to tank
When finished, flick diverter and flush valve to suck from bucket
Simple

 

[Lepke]

You could install a filter after your pier side water intake and then the tank would be chlorine free. But with no chlorine in the tank you'll eventually have organisms.

When I make water, I make an extra 5 gallon buck worth for flushing.

 

[ksanders]

Instead of flushing, simply use your watermaker, or pickle it.

Pickling takes all of 5 minutes

 

[DennisB1]

The recommendation I had from our water maker guy was to use Carbon block filter rather than the granulated carbon filters for the flush. They do a better job of removing chlorine for the flush water. Also clean / replace the pre filters before the membrane filters if you are not using regularity.

 

[JC53]

Watermaker

Thank you everyone for all the helpful information. I really appreciate the “one stop shopping” aspects of the Forum. It’s my first go to for anything marine.

 

[Mafke]

Hello All,
We also have a Village Marine water maker and have never used it. Any recommendations for 1st timers on how to go about use and upkeep?

 

[slowgoesit]

Hello All,
We also have a Village Marine water maker and have never used it. Any recommendations for 1st timers on how to go about use and upkeep?

Personally, I would go on line to their website and download their operating manual. And follow the manufacturer instructions for putting it back in service after a pickling. Whether it has been pickled or not. Then run it for say an hour to overboard before testing and putting in the water tank.

 

[RickyD]

Instead of flushing, simply use your watermaker, or pickle it.

Pickling takes all of 5 minutes

I've been told that pickling will deteriorate the membranes. My watermaker mechanic prefers frequent flushing. Now, regarding how to flush, I have tapped into my freshwater pressure system and run it to a large (Big Blue) carbon block filter and I flush with that. This makes it very easy. You just have to be able to vary, via a valve, the incoming water pressure and observe water pressure just as you would coming from the boost pump. My fresh water pump will give me 70lbs so I have to be careful. The first thing I do is flush out the hoses to the through hull, then close the through hull and then I turn on the watermaker to use fresh water to flush everything out. Some of that clean water will also divert to the water tank. My water quality always hits the maximum measured by my system. By the way it is a very old Sea Recovery with max 600 gallons per day. It runs about 35 gallons per hour according to the flow gauge.

 

[Mafke]

Thank you so much for the information. We do have a manuel on board, will start reading lol. System has been pickled for at least 4 years not for sure really. Before we invest in new filters ect. Do you think it is ok to run the system ( won’t drink) to make sure it works?

 

[twistedtree]

Does the Village Marine watermaker not include a carbon block filter in the fresh water flush line? All the watermakers I've ever dealt with have one for exactly this purpose. The cartridges need to be changed every 6 months.

 

[Osprey69]

I made the mistake of assuming our Village Marine water maker actually worked at one point as installed. Nope. 110 motor wired to 220. Non-self priming LP pump installed above the waterline. Absolute bear to work on stuffed in its small frame. Still cannot get it to work after re-building HP pump. Definately run it first before you buy and/or install filters. And mine does not have a carbon filter either.

 

[Mafke]

I made the mistake of assuming our Village Marine water maker actually worked at one point as installed. Nope. 110 motor wired to 220. Non-self priming LP pump installed above the waterline. Absolute bear to work on stuffed in its small frame. Still cannot get it to work after re-building HP pump. Definately run it first before you buy and/or install filters. And mine does not have a carbon filter either.

Thank you for the information and hope you can get it working. Ours is set up the same way. We will continue to trace the system as time allows and will give a full report!

 

[Delfin]

I believe the installation manual will show the installation of a carbon filter on the fresh water flush, upstream of the membranes which will get royally effed if chlorine isn't removed.

 

[Bud]

Dido on the carbon filter to remove the chlorine