Galley Salt Water Supply

[lockie]

Here's an idea: I've been thinking of installing a three-way valve on the galley pump suction, which could allow me to choose either fresh water from the tank, or salt water via a tee in the engine cooling intake line.

But I'm not sure if this will just ruin my galley pump (the normal diaphragm type, might be a Johnson I think). Are they ok for salt water? What have I missed here?

Cheers, lockie

[SimonV]

I don't think thats a good idea at all. It may only be a slight chance of contaminating your fresh water supply, but a chance no less. I would look at two completely different systems.

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[JPA Cate]

Lockie,

We did tee off our engine intake for a salt water pump on our first Insatiable. It was not also connected to fresh water, we had a different pump for that. I liked having the salt water for pre-wash on doing the dishes. You can wash entirely in salt water if you need to conserve the fresh. And being able to use unlimited amounts of it makes it possible to wash to the desired level of clean.

Ann

[msponer]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

You can wash entirely in salt water if you need to conserve the fresh. And being able to use unlimited amounts of it makes it possible to wash to the desired level of clean.

I also really like this system, unlimited water makes doing the dishes so easy. If the sea is clean we do all of the washing with salt water and then just a short rinse with fresh.

We have a separate little 2 gallon/minute electric diaphragm pump for the salt water.

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by lockie

Here's an idea: I've been thinking of installing a three-way valve on the galley pump suction, which could allow me to choose either fresh water from the tank, or salt water via a tee in the engine cooling intake line.

But I'm not sure if this will just ruin my galley pump (the normal diaphragm type, might be a Johnson I think). Are they ok for salt water? What have I missed here?

Cheers, lockie

The pitfall of a combined system other than the contamination noted above, is the amount of fresh water needed to purge the salt out of the system when you want fresh only.

[Mike OReilly]

Hi lockie, I did exactly as you're thinking on a previous boat. It worked perfectly, but I would not do it again. The reason it worked was b/c we sailed exclusively in Lake Superior, and mostly away from urban areas. The raw water was as clean as our tank water (in fact, we'd drink from the Lake when the tank ran dry).

I agree with others that access to raw water for galley work is great ... essential if you want to extend your tank water range. But I would install dedicated pumps and lines for each.

As for pump use, I've never heard of a problem using a diaphragm pump in salt water. You do want to have a physical filter on the intake line to remove any crud before it hits the pump, but I think the salt water should be fine.

[sy_gilana]

We had a pressurized fresh water system and a pressurized salt water system and a three way valve to the cold side of the mixers in both heads and the galley.

My mother in law had trouble remembering things when she got to 80, and she used to leave the 3 way valve half cocked, ie not quite one way or the other. When this situation happened, and, the pressure in the FW side dropped, the salt water came in to the fresh water circuit and put a few gallons into the tank.

I have disconnected the valves handles, and locked them to fresh only.

I would not have a 3 way valve, I would keep the two ccts separate.

[MarkJ]

Having sea water on an electric pump straight into the sink was one of the life changing moments on Sea Life.

Water usage dropped dramatically and washing up became a breaze.

I do all the washing up in sea water and then have a spray bottle with fresh water to rinse.
The fresh water faucet is never used but to fill bottles for drinking, spray bottles or for cooking.

My 440 litres of fresh water now lasts months and thats with me showering daily.

So my advice is to take the advice in the thread and make it seperate from the fresh water. For the sea water run it through a normal jabsco 50 psi pump through a normal tap so you fill your sink fast

[wdkester]

1. The "T" in the engine water intake may reduce the flow of water to the engine, possibly causing overheating problems.
2. In places where there no pump-out stations and you pump your ah you-know-what overboard, and you wash your dishes in salt-water, hmmmmm.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Having sea water on an electric pump straight into the sink was one of the life changing moments on Sea Life.

Water usage dropped dramatically and washing up became a breaze.

I do all the washing up in sea water and then have a spray bottle with fresh water to rinse.
The fresh water faucet is never used but to fill bottles for drinking, spray bottles or for cooking.

My 440 litres of fresh water now lasts months and thats with me showering daily.

So my advice is to take the advice in the thread and make it seperate from the fresh water. For the sea water run it through a normal jabsco 50 psi pump through a normal tap so you fill your sink fast

I like this Mark. How do you wash your clothes? We use too much fresh water doing laundry.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

I like this Mark. How do you wash your clothes? We use too much fresh water doing laundry.

Salt water, rinse in fresh.

But generally I have mine done ashore. Aprox $1 per pound. Its a little luxury.

[930chef]

I like the idea of two separate systems, but also would take into consideration if using the salt water pump while using the engine may reduce the amount of water required to properly cool the engine.
I usually do dishes while moored/anchored and not under power, but I'm not completely sure robbing water for dishes while under power is a worry.
Maybe a sailor with more knowledge re: cooling system can chime in.
I'm interested in the 2 pump system but not at the expense of overheating.
Thanks,
Kevin

[sailorchic34]

The typical whale foot pump has two check valves, inlet and outlet. Both would have to fail to pull air back to the engine inlet. Could it happen, yes, but not under normal conditions. If you used the foot pump every day you would notice a flow issue with the pump before air was pulled back thru the whale pump.

OK it has four check valve two for each side. So two check valves either set would have to fail before air could be pulled back.. A small bit of cork / rubber plug could be used to plug the faucet should two valves leak

[Paul Elliott]

VALIS has a foot pump for salt water, feeding a dedicated spout in the sink. This works well.

[Sailorman Ed]

We have pressure fresh water on the new boat (used to manual on the old boat) and would rather have pressure salt water. Is there any reason I don't want to switch the pump over to salt and convert the fresh to a foot pump? A little more difficult to take showers with a foot pump but guest sure would use a lot less fresh.
Ed