HRO Watermaker

[franklin63]

Hello: have a ? concerning water maker brand name HRO ;Does any body have any knowledge of this brand? Why would you want a water maker on board?New to live aboard boats and am trying to learn. Thanks for any information.

[Gudgeon]

I have an HRO water maker for 4 years now no problems. It is not used much as we are not out cruising yet. Run it when we sail inter island to keep it operational. I have the fresh water flush option.
Put it on when we commissioned the boat for the delivery as we did not want to want to have to strictly conserve water.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Gudgeon

I have an HRO water maker for 4 years now no problems. It is not used much as we are not out cruising yet. Run it when we sail inter island to keep it operational. I have the fresh water flush option.
Put it on when we commissioned the boat for the delivery as we did not want to want to have to strictly conserve water.

HRO is one of the major brands. They all, except perhaps Spectra, use pretty much the same components. You can build one yourself from those components if you are so inclined.

We use our Village Marine unit when cruising in out of the way places in the NW. Not having to watch every drop of water makes showers, fresh water toilets, clothes washers, and high pressure wash down pumps possible, if not necessary. Water makers tend to be underused by 90% of their owners, but for long distance cruising, they are a real plus, and make life a lot easier.

[NoTies]

Personally I wouldn't touch an HRO. Proprietory parts makes servicxing VERY expensive, the HP pump is lucky to last 500 hours in the tropics and the original feed pump they supplied was not good enough for the job so they had to install a positive displacement pump in its place. Service & warranty back up from them was poor. The last HRO HP pump I overhauled using their parts kit cost around $1000. When I priced the individual parts from a hydraulic supply place (yes, standard hydraulic ram seals are used in their kits) the cost came out to around $150.
My pick for good energy efficient units is Spectra. If energy efficiency is not an issue Village Marine would be my pick.
This is from my experience as a cruiser as well as an RO repair specialist (not salesman)

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by NoTies

Personally I wouldn't touch an HRO. Proprietory parts makes servicxing VERY expensive, the HP pump is lucky to last 500 hours in the tropics and the original feed pump they supplied was not good enough for the job so they had to install a positive displacement pump in its place. Service & warranty back up from them was poor. The last HRO HP pump I overhauled using their parts kit cost around $1000. When I priced the individual parts from a hydraulic supply place (yes, standard hydraulic ram seals are used in their kits) the cost came out to around $150.
My pick for good energy efficient units is Spectra. If energy efficiency is not an issue Village Marine would be my pick.
This is from my experience as a cruiser as well as an RO repair specialist (not salesman)

Pete, any concerns about the longevity of the Spectra pump?

[NoTies]

The Spectra feed pump has some issues (they might have been resolved now, not sure) The HP pump is pretty trouble free and continuous product development has solved earlier problems with leaks etc. Parts are a lot cheaper than HRO and service back up from Spectra is great in my experience.