PUR / Katadyn Watermaker Help from an Ex-Cruiser

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

That would be SV Third Day, not Jedi.




Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Oh thanks! I did think I missed something.. hehe.. good that someone here knows something

[unclemack]

Hi Erik,

the unit for sale on ebay that you linked to says 80 II on the outer case rather than 80 E. It has 2 separate pressure vessels, each with a membrane inside.

My 80E is not in a case and it has a single long pressure vessel containing 2 membranes. All versions use the same type membranes I think.

A seller would be crazy to let somebody dismantle pressure vessels to inspect membranes. They might easily damage vessel, membranes, seals or spigots. Even if they didn't damage anything or introduce bacteria the unit would still need re-pickling.

Can't tell if the membranes are OK just by looking anyway. If they were dry though that would mean they're probably useless.

Repeated TDS meter testing of product water with acid/alkaline cleaning flushes between tests if necessary is the only way I know of to tell if the membranes are usable or can be restored.
It's not a quick or easy process. Even tap water can destroy membranes.

I've only learned this from reading though - experts hopefully will correct me.

[Sailmonkey]

That is correct, you can't tell anything from a visual inspection of the membranes other than if it's dry or smells like sewage.

The act of opening the membrane housing will incur costs (orings, snap rings etc....)

[Tellie]

It's true, a visual inspection of any membrane is worthless. Even testing a membrane should still be taken (pardon the pun) with a grain of salt. Membranes have a certain life expectancy. Usually the best ones last the longest if they are properly maintained and used often. Membranes which have been stored for long periods of time I would personally look at with a suspect eye. Even if they do produce at rate, for how long? If I get one call a month, I get a dozen. "I bought this watermaker off E-Bay at a great price" I'm going to give you years of sage advice here. Eight out of ten times you are going to be disappointed. I've seen far more bad deals than great deals. It is not unusual at all to drop $500-$3,000 on a used water maker to start and end up throwing another 1,500K-3K at it to make it what it should be for an offshore boat. I just went through this last month with another used 80E, by the time the owner was finished getting it up to specs he could have darn near bought a brand new 80E or spent another $600 and bought a brand new Spectra 150, with warranty and a service back up next to none. Like I said, good deals can be had if you know what you are doing. But with used systems youse pays your money and you throw the dice.

www.HaldenMarineService.com

[BWSJWS]

Hi to all in this thread. I am hoping Gary is still around to help. I have a drive assembly (the gearbox) on a 160E which is leaking oil. It runs hot and blows the fuse. I put it in the bench with Bill in LaPaz and we were not able to determine exactly te source of the leak. It looked like it was seeping through to the electric motor. Any thoughts on fixing or replacing just the drive assembly?

Thanks for your help.

[botanybay]

As a quick note from someone who helped a friend with one of these. If the gearbox is low on oil it will definitely get hot and blow the fuse.

Try refilling the gear case (knowing it will leak) and see if it runs normally (i.e. see if the gears are still ok), there is a seal on the gearbox which will fail and leak.

The gearbox does not hold much oil (a few oz) so it does not take much leakage to end up with the gears not being in oil.

Just my novice observations from helping a friend with one of these systems. I defer to the experts when they wade in.

[BWSJWS]

Thanks for the input. My challenge is to add oil means removing the watermaker from a tight spot on our small 40ftr. Hoses come off and mounting screws loosened then tightened when reassembling it all.

All is doable. Water is a must and taking care of our beautiful home is a pleasure so worst case is every 50 gallons I replace the oil. I am still looking for a gearbox, new seal, or both.

John

[ssnick]

I know this is an old thread but thought someone here might have some knowledge of an old Pur 80II.

Due to an unfortunate dragging incident, this unit was immersed in salt water for around 6 hours. I wasn't able to deal with it at the time and had someone rebuild the motor and pickle it. At least I thought they did. The motor is now rusted up and I don't see how they could have run it at the time.

Anyway, it sat in a boat, out of the water, in Mexico for 4 years. During that time, what I thought was oil leaked out of it (All over the cabin sole!). I assumed it was gear oil and figured the repair guy hadn't sealed it properly when he refilled it.

Forward to now and I'm attempting to rebuild it. I lucked into a factory rebuilt motor (Partial trade for a car I sold in Mexico) and all the other parts are in pretty good shape.

I pulled it apart yesterday and have found that the gearbox is different from all other Pur watermakers I've seen. It is in one piece and does not split apart like the manuals and repair videos show. The other difference is that it is filled with grease not sealed and filled with oil.

I don't know if the grease was added by the repair guy (Language barrier?) or it originally had oil. I lean towards it originally having grease due to it's design and no small fill plugs. Also, the fasteners did not seem to have been recently unscrewed so I don't think he did anything.

I'm thinking that some of the grease may have mixed with seawater and liquified in the heat and became what I thought was oil on the sole.

There is a 2 inch cap that I believe can be removed to clean out and replace the grease.

Anyone know about this gearbox? If it takes grease, what should I use? What's in there is black and smells like a petroleum product. I'm concerned that it could travel up the shaft and into the pump body. I'm considering lanolin as it's food safe and waterproof. Anyone know it it could harm the pump or membrane?

Anyone know anything about this gearbox?

[Badsanta]

Photos would be helpful. Maybe start a new thread.

[gilligansail]

Hi are you still available?

[Linwood4]

Hydraulic piston seals size for pur 80 II.
Hello you certainly are the master of these machines. With your help i was able to re commission our pur 80II and we where below 500ppm while in the Bahamas last winter. At the end of the run i took the piston out because of a troublesome squeak to inspect. The piston seal was in tiny pieces im assuming from non compatible lube. i kept the pieces but dont trust the measurements i was able to put together. now i have the installation cone that came with the seal kit that was on the boat. the only seal missing from the kit was the piston seal of course ... i was wondering if you have the specks for this seal as i don't want an incomplete seal kit kicking around. figured i could buy two one for the pump and one for the kit in the future. all the other seals looked new. i think a bad install may have ruined a seal along the way.
Thanks again

[Knot Safety]

Good day - hoping someone who knows watermakers well follows this thread

I have a power survivor 80E. I moved to our new boat in October and the previous owner advises it worked great for him. Indeed, it did work excellent for me for the first two weeks.

Then slowly it seemed to be working harder and pumping slower and slower. Then occasionally it would rev up and go back to pumping faster then back to slow, just barely grinding out each pump stroke.

It got worse over a period of a couple days (with intermittent periods of good) until it started tripping the breaker.

Since then, I have completed the seal kit replacement (except the valve seat on the popper valves as I could not get them out) and have carried out an alkaline flush and an acid flush. These have made no substantial differences, and the water maker is now at the point where it is struggling to pump on the cleaning phase and not even at high pressure.

I have checked the voltage at the motor. It is 13.5 volts.

I am about to start the drive maintenance procedure but am not holding out much hope for that as when I had the pump off, the drive ran great (although not under load)

Any advice or guidance you folks can provide would be appreciated so I can resolve this. What am I missing or where should I be looking? Currently in Bonaire so don’t have a lot of resources available

[GordMay]

Confirm you have an unrestricted raw (salt) water supply.
Eg: Plugged pre-filtre/strainer, or partially closed/blocked through-hull valve/seacock?

[Knot Safety]

Thanks Gord. I forgot to mention that I have done that. Good flow through the through hull. Plus I dove down to ensure that everything is good and there is no partial blockage. Have replaced brand new filters. Next is to try bottled water straight to pump to eliminate any filter potential issues.

[BWSJWS]

Hello, what about air in the system. Even at the intake phase might affect the performance.

Have you changed the gear mechanism from old oil lubricant to grease lubricant? Read up on that.

And the membrane might just be toast.

If you are heading to Mexico come to La Paz and Bill the watermaker guy will fix you up. One of the most knowledgeable experts for water makers.