length of membrane pickling for powersurvivor 40e

[getlostonpurpose]

i properly pickled my membrane before leaving the boat in Dec 06 and I'm returning to the boat next month so it's been 1.5 years (well over that by the time I get the boat back into the water and away from the coast to start it up). i know katadyn says a pickling is good for one year so now i'm worried that the membrane will be damaged. what is the longest you've ever left your membrane pickled?

I have the extended cruising kit on board so if a detailed membrane cleaning is necessary i have the means to do it. i just don't want to get down there and find out it's screwed up cause there's a huge import tariff in Ecuador.

Thanks,

Drew

[Sunspot Baby]

My instruction book says it's good for 6 months. I left mine a little over a year (14 months or so). After replacing the primary filter, and flushing with fresh water through the auxiliary intake for a while, it put out good clean tasting water after about 15 minutes of running. Output capacity is very close to the advertised and about as good as I ever achieved.

George

[Randyonr3]

Depending on the origional age of the unit itself and how its been treated,
I know that sounds like crap but I'll try to explan.
I work as a roving dealer for "Spectra Watermakers" wher I service and sell the units..
Membrane life is affected by a number of factors and is somewhat unpredictable.
A big commercial plant running 24/7 will get 10 to 12 years out of a set of membrains, but they do all kinds of fancy stuff with chemical injections and never shut it down.
Most cruisers are lucky to get 5 or 6 years out of one but you hear of 8 or 10 year old units still working well.
The worst thing for a watermaker is to set doing nothing.. Biological growth will occur in the membrane and the unit will develope a rotten egg smell caused by hydrogen sulfide.
The odor is produced by anaerobic bacteria that live in an unused membrane, feeding on whatever animal or vegetable mater that is trapped in it.
DONT EVER USE CHLORINE OR BLEACH to clean your watermaker as it will destroy the membrane in a mater of minutes.
For storage I recomend using Propylene glycol and potable water..
NOW FOR YOUR QUESTION, I recomend it can be used Safely for one year.
Given GOOD care, a membrane will eventully just start to slowly fade away.
The feed pressure may rise and/or the PPM will go up... hardly ever will they just fail overnight..
I have also brought back to life, a membrane that was pickled for 5 years but how long it lasted after that I dont know..
What I would suggest is to do a flush and clean the unit out, take a reading for the PPM and see where it stands.. Remember they love to run, so let it run for a few hours.. with luck, she'll come back to life.
Now on another note, My unit is hooked to an MPC 3000 that does a fresh water flush every 5 days or so.. and all I need to do to fire it up is push a button. if a watermaker is in your cruising future, you may want to think "upgrade"
Anything else, I'll be happy to help
Randy

[getlostonpurpose]

the watermaker was purchased Jan 2005, installed fall 2005, and used continuously Jan 2006-Dec 2006, then pickled... so it's rather new. i also saw somewhere on this forum the actual chemical name for the pickling stuff (cheaper I'm assuming) so i'm going to look around for it and get a new supply to carry back. hopefully it won't cause any problems in ecuadorian customs. Though, of the couple hundred pounds or crap i'm taking back with me, it's the least of my concerns!

[Sunspot Baby]

Randy, nice informative post.

George

[marc2012]

I have never dealt with a company as helpful & knowledgeable as spectra.All thire people are like randy.

[sgtPluck]

If you'll forgive me for going off-topic a little, approximatly how much does a new membrane cost does anyone know?
The Spectra 200c on my new boat has been left unpickled and not running for quite a while. I'll follow the manual instructions to revive it but I suspect a replacement might be necessary.

thx

[Randyonr3]

Best bet is to give the office a call and ask them as there may be shipping charges attached.. the office number is 415-526-2780 ask for tech support and they will help you..
You may want pull the membrane chamber off and send it to them to be re-conditioned.. that way its tested for High-preasure leaks, they replace the O-rings and test it to make sure it all works........
Randy

[marc2012]

Don't recall price but NOT CHEAP would try first then you have no choice if bad.

[scotte]

A TDS meter might be a good idea - between that, smell, and taste you should be able to have pretty high comfort level if the membrane is OK or not (as far as water quality goes anyway).

[Strygaldwir]

I purchased my replacement membranes from American RO, but I have the 40 inch sw2540. They cost me $190 or so with shipping. I used it in my Spectra for 3 year, no issues except extremely good water!!! At that price, it is not bad to replace a marginal membrane.

By the way, there are only a few manufacturers of the membranes. The membranes that American RO caries are made by Dow. I believe they are principle manufacturer for the States.

[GordMay]

In addition to Dow/FilmTec; Hydranautics, Toray and Koch all make R/O membranes.
Each has an excellent on-line techical library, replete with technical information.

Dow Water Solutions - FilmTec
Dow Water Solutions Homepage
Products
P.O. Box 1206
Midland, MI 48642-1206
Tel: 1-800-447-4369
Fax: 989-832-1465

Hydranautics - Nitto Denko
Hydranautics a Nitto Denko Corporation
401 Jones Rd.
Oceanside, CA 92058
Tel: (760) 901-2500
Fax: (760) 901-2664
E-mail: info@Hydranautics.com

Toray Membrane
Toray - index2.html drinking water (ocean, lake, polluted underground aquifer, etc.); industrial reverse osmosis membrane water treatment
12140 Community Road Suite B
Poway, Ca 92064
Tel: 858-218-2390
Fax: 858-486-3063
E-mail Sales Department: gulizia.lynne@toraymem.com

Koch Membrane Systems
Koch Membrane Systems
850 Main Street
Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA 01887-3388
Tel: 888-677-5624
Tel; 1-978-694-7000
Fax: 978-657-5208
E-mail: info@kochmembrane.com

[getlostonpurpose]

the membrane made it for a little while but seems to have given up. does anyone know which of the above manufacturers and which model/size is the one for the powersurvivor 40? i wish i was back at the boat so i could pull mine out and check!

drew

[bobsadler]

randyonr3: i'm in a similar situation with a spectra newport 400. unit hasn't been used in over a year, boat is in bermuda and i'm in azerbaijan.

when i get back to bermuda there won't be time to wait on getting spares from the u.s.

i'm happy enough to purchase a new membrane ahead of time to install if the current one doesn't "clean up" but if i didn't need to install the new one straight away what would its uninstalled shelf life be??

thanks

[Cheechako]

Randy, Are you saying to use PG in lieu of the usual pickling stuff for storage?.... forget what it's called.....