Higher Capacity Watermakers

[barnakiel]

Look up Aquatec.

IMHO power-efficient and well made. Easy to maintain, long warranty too.

b.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

Tellie,

One other thing further to my last post. If we added a Spectra Z- Brane to the Spectra NPMKII 1000 system does this "add on" eliminate the need to run the auto 5 day fresh water flushing process? Can you tell me a bit more about this?

Thanks,
Steve

I would not recommend the addition of a Z-Brane to this watermaker considering the parameters you've laid out. The fresh water flush system will be all you need. If you have intentions of ever laying this boat up for an extended period of time longer than you have stated then simply pickling the system is the best route.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Tellie, May I ask what in particular regarding my situation makes the Z-Brane not recommended for the Newport 1000? From the Spectra document I read it sounded like it did everything that the fresh water flush did & more & also eliminated the need to ever pickle.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

Tellie, May I ask what in particular regarding my situation makes the Z-Brane not recommended for the Newport 1000? From the Spectra document I read it sounded like it did everything that the fresh water flush did & more & also eliminated the need to ever pickle.

The auto fresh water flush is already included standard on the 1000MPC. I prefer to pickle a system that will be down a longer period of time, three plus months. Anything sooner than three months the auto flush system will handle it no problem. If the power fails on board while you are away the Z-Brane will not work. If the system is pickled it doesn't matter. You will be dealing with multiple membranes on a system this large. If someone turns off the battery switch, the fuse, or breaker, blows you'll be buying new membranes. Also it becomes a bit more technical to change out membranes on a 1000 with a Z-Brane system. Also you can buy a whole lot of pickling solution and a few sets of membranes for the 2k price. They do work but on a system already so well built it's bells and whistles.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Tellie, Thanks for your info about the Z-Brane which will be a saving for us to go without it & there will be less things to go wrong without it.

I have a question about the 24V power consumption of the Newport 1000 MKII.

On the Spectra website (See link below.) it says that it uses 24 Amp hours per gallon. It produces 41 gallons per hour so 41 x 24 = 984 amp hours. Is this right?

http://www.spectrawatermakers.com/products/newport-700-1000-MkII.html

But on the Data Sheet PDF on the bottom of the same link it says the following:-

Newport 1000 MKII

Current Draw 24 VDC, 28 Amps, 750 Watts/AC

Watt/Hr per Gal. (DC System) 18 Watt hours per Gal.

So one says 24 amp hours per gallon & the data brochure says 18 Watt hours per gallon. I'm confused as this is not an area I am strong in so can you please help me with an explanation as I want to determine how much load it puts on the batteries to make the full 41 gallons per hour.

Yes, we will be running the genset while the watermaker is running but I would like to understand this point as the Spectra documents say different things.

Thanks,
Steve

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

Tellie, Thanks for your info about the Z-Brane which will be a saving for us to go without it & there will be less things to go wrong without it.

I have a question about the 24V power consumption of the Newport 1000 MKII.

On the Spectra website (See link below.) it says that it uses 24 Amp hours per gallon. It produces 41 gallons per hour so 41 x 24 = 984 amp hours. Is this right?

http://www.spectrawatermakers.com/products/newport-700-1000-MkII.html

But on the Data Sheet PDF on the bottom of the same link it says the following:-

Newport 1000 MKII

Current Draw 24 VDC, 28 Amps, 750 Watts/AC

Watt/Hr per Gal. (DC System) 18 Watt hours per Gal.

So one says 24 amp hours per gallon & the data brochure says 18 Watt hours per gallon. I'm confused as this is not an area I am strong in so can you please help me with an explanation as I want to determine how much load it puts on the batteries to make the full 41 gallons per hour.

Yes, we will be running the genset while the watermaker is running but I would like to understand this point as the Spectra documents say different things.

Thanks,
Steve

Scary huh?

Spectra just upgraded their website a little over a month ago and we're catching a few mistakes and trying to correct them as quick as possible.
No, the 24 amps is for a full hour run time, not per gallon. I prefer using watts per gallon as it gets a bit more accurate. 18 watts per gallon is at the very high end of power usage for the NP1000 and 14 watts is at the low end. The average will more likely be in between. In the real world of watermakers, temperature and salinity will vary pressures and flows. This in turn will affect power usage. So the quick math for amps per hour used to produce 41 gallons an hour on the low end would be at 24Volts and 24amps the watts would be 14watts per gallon or .58 amps per gallon of product water made. On the very high end 24Volts at 18watts would mean .75 amps per gallon of product made. The more realistic figure will be in between for the vast majority of the time. The extremes that would affect these highs and lows are if you are sailing on the equator on the hottest day of the year or sailing through artic icebergs. Use a figure of 25amps used per hour to run the NP1000 for any house bank calculations and you'd be pretty accurate. Also figure maybe the high end of 2 amps for each fresh water flush we spoke about earlier. Sorry for the confusion, I just made Spectra aware of how confusing this may be for someone looking at their websites.

Engineers, always believe normal people think and speak like they do. Don't tell them I said that.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Thanks for clearing up this power consumption query Tellie. You certainly are right that it was a bit scary when both of the figures quoted on the Spectra documents were per gallon. Thanks for alerting Spectra to this. They would be well advised to correct this ASAP as it may be frightening some potential customers away & costing them sales.

Regards,
Steve

[Ozbullwinkle]

Hi Tellie,

Just thought that you may like to know that the Spectra Newport 1000 MKII has now been installed on the cat which is still up on the hard in St Maarten at the moment. Thanks again for all your help.

We are flying in to St Maarten on the 26th October and will get the final commissioning done after the boat has been dropped back in the water. We are then planning to do some cruising around some of the islands for about 3 weeks. The cat is a FP Eleuthera 60 named Rendezvous which will be under Vanuatu flag. If any forum members see us be sure to come and say hi.

Regards,
Steve

[Tellie]

Hi Steve,

Have fun on your cruise. An FP 60? It must be nice! I still love my old 38FP. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any issues with your watermaker. My cell is always on 24/7.

[pk999]

I thought long and hard before buying an engine driven watermaker, rather than a battery powered or generator powered one. When cruising, it has transformed our time on the boat, and freed us from marinas. Assuming one has solar panels for battery charging (we have 2 x 100W panels which in the Med provide all charging), most people run their engine when approaching an anchorage, and leaving one, to get the hook up. One also has to run the engine every few days if you want hot water for showers. etc. By fitting an engine driven unit the output is far larger. With a relatively small one from Echotec, we fill one tank (50 gallons) in just over an hour. Thats half an hour more than getting the hook up... It is however, important to get the right sized engine pulley. Too large and the watermaker can only be used on tickover, or unless motoring very slowly; - too small and the engine needs to run fast to make water, using far more diesel and noise when at anchor. It has been on the boat for 2 years now, and has never missed a beat. Noise for us, is not an issue, as the engine drowns out any noise from the pump and filters. Back flush is manual - so no electrics to go wrong. Am very impressed with the unit. The only problems were squeezing the engine driven pump inside the engine bay, (I welded up a frame for the pump mounted to the engine mounting bolts) and deciding where the output enters the water system on the boat so you can fill all tanks. The echotec pumps have specified rpm, so you need to get a correct size pulley made to fit your engine. Hope this helps... If I were you, I would go for the biggest output you can afford, and an engine driven unit, and save the use of the genny. (You could also fit large alternators and dispense with the genny - as water making and charging occur at the same time?)

[Ozbullwinkle]

Hi Tellie,

Just thought that I would let you know that I am now back in Australia after returning from St Martin where we spent 10 days cruising on the FP Eleuthera 60 and putting the Spectra Newport 1000 MkII through its paces.

During the trip it ran like a charm during 15 hours of operation and was very quiet while running as well. In fact it was so quiet that the noisiest part was when it did the Auto Freshwater flush at the end of the watermaking process and then the noise was only from the freshwater pump pressurising the freshwater line which of course had nothing to do with the actual watermaker. It was regularly producing around 45 GPH.

Thanks again for all of your help and we are exteremely happy with the Spectra Newport system.

Regards,
Steve

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

Hi Tellie,

Just thought that I would let you know that I am now back in Australia after returning from St Martin where we spent 10 days cruising on the FP Eleuthera 60 and putting the Spectra Newport 1000 MkII through its paces.

During the trip it ran like a charm during 15 hours of operation and was very quiet while running as well. In fact it was so quiet that the noisiest part was when it did the Auto Freshwater flush at the end of the watermaking process and then the noise was only from the freshwater pump pressurising the freshwater line which of course had nothing to do with the actual watermaker. It was regularly producing around 45 GPH.

Thanks again for all of your help and we are exteremely happy with the Spectra Newport system.

Regards,
Steve

You're quite welcome Steve. I'm glad all went well. As always, don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything.