Reviving a Spectra watermaker

[Marathon1150]

We recently returned to our boat in Papeete after being away for 2.5 years. Before leaving back then, I pickled our Spectra Ventura with the SC1 preservative not knowing at the time that we were going to be away from the boat for more than 6 months and that it would have been better to use Ethylene Glycol.

Spectra and other expert sources of advice suggest doing a freshwater flush for up to 6 hours before recommissioning the unit and then finding some clean ocean to try making water.

Advice received so far specifies chlorine-free water for the flush. Unfortunately it will not be easy to find 6 flushing hours of chorine free water - not impossible but not easy. The water at the dock is alleged to have chlorine in it and I am wondering how long it would need to sit in the water tanks for the chlorine to dissipate. Having previously raised fish in tanks, the rule of thumb was to let municipal water sit for 24 hours in the aquarium before adding fish. Are there any known rules of thumb for chlorinated municipal water in a fibreglass water tank?

If necessary I can buy some 5 gal carboys of drinking water, assume that it is not chlorinated (possibly a risky assumption) and use those, but getting them to the boat will be the challenge.

I will install a new carbon block filter before doing anything.

Advice will be much appreciated!

[dfelsent]

I am told (and use) a carbon block filter to remove chlorine from my fresh water rinse. Perhaps a week in your tank plus a carbon filter?
But 6 hours of flush? That’s a ridiculously huge tank.
So if it were me I’d flush with the carbon filter for a bit then with salt water.
Maybe not ideal, but possible.
Tellie will know better.

[Tellie]

Thank you dfelsent, I do.

Originally Posted by Marathon1150

We recently returned to our boat in Papeete after being away for 2.5 years. Before leaving back then, I pickled our Spectra Ventura with the SC1 preservative not knowing at the time that we were going to be away from the boat for more than 6 months and that it would have been better to use Ethylene Glycol. Absolutely NOT! Ethylene Glycol is deadly. This is used in your cars radiator and will kill you if ingested. What is used in storing watermakers is Propylene Glycol.
Chances are good that the SC-1 used originally has not protected the membrane for this period of time. That said, we'll fire the thing up after it is properly flushed and see what watermaker gods allow that day.

Spectra and other expert sources of advice suggest doing a freshwater flush for up to 6 hours before recommissioning the unit and then finding some clean ocean to try making water. Nah, you listen to me instead. Fill your fresh water tanks up with dock water. Replace your charcoal filter with a new one. The charcoal filter will take care if any residual chlorine found in residential water. That's the sole purpose of the charcoal filter. Open your pressure relief valve about 3/4 to 1 full turn. Depending on whether you have a manual unit or a fully automated one the procedure will be different. On a manual unit with the thru hull intake closed open the valve on the charcoal filter and start your feed pump. If the pump is working and pushing water through the system let it do this for about 45 minutes. This will use about 70-80 gallons of fresh dock water. After that keep the system running and slowly close the pressure relief valve watching the pressure gauge and flow meter at the same time. No hurry here. If the pressure builds to 40 psi or better, then watch the flow meter and let it clear the air completely out and once you have a solid flow of water through the meter you should see 7-10 gallons per stroke depending on whether you have a Ventura 150 or 200T. If you see these numbers then stop the system, open the intake thru hull, close off the grey valve on the charcoal filter so fresh water stops flowing. Start the system again until the salt water starts flowing through the system. Check your flow meter and pressure gauge again. If your pressures are 55psi or better and your flow meter shows 6-8 gph you're almost there. Use your hand held TDS meter to test the product water. Anything under 500PPMs and Bobs your uncle. Now for a fully automated system, run about 7-10 fresh water flushing cycles with the pressure relief valve open. Then close the pressure relief valve, set your system for one hour and then scroll to the salinity reading on your control panel by pressing the "Alarm Display" button. Again, if you see less than 500PPMs your golden.

Advice received so far specifies chlorine-free water for the flush. Unfortunately it will not be easy to find 6 flushing hours of chorine free water - not impossible but not easy. The water at the dock is alleged to have chlorine in it and I am wondering how long it would need to sit in the water tanks for the chlorine to dissipate. Having previously raised fish in tanks, the rule of thumb was to let municipal water sit for 24 hours in the aquarium before adding fish. Are there any known rules of thumb for chlorinated municipal water in a fibreglass water tank?

If necessary I can buy some 5 gal carboys of drinking water, assume that it is not chlorinated (possibly a risky assumption) and use those, but getting them to the boat will be the challenge.

I will install a new carbon block filter before doing anything.

Advice will be much appreciated!

Let me know if you have any questions or things start going wonky with other parts of the watermaker.

[Marathon1150]

Tellie, many, many thanks for the detailed advice and for pointing out a sloppy error - there is a very big difference between ethylene glycol and propylene glycol despite a tiny difference In molecular structures. Note to self: don’t write technical emails when tired and jet lagged.

Thanks very much as well for your kind offer to provide additional advice if things don’t work out as hoped. I hope to tackle this job in about 2 days- the number of things needing attention after leaving the boat for 2.5 years is quite amazing. We did have someone start the engine and check the bilge every 10 days or so, so it could have been worse.

I’m doing my best to say the right things to the water maker gods well in advance of the event.

[clownfishsydney]

When I purchased my catamaran, the Spectra Ventura 150 had been pickled for many years. All I did was flush it with salt water for 20 minutes and then start to make water. Worked perfectly. Did the same thing in 2017 after it had been pickled for 18 months. Again, no problems.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Marathon1150

Tellie, many, many thanks for the detailed advice and for pointing out a sloppy error - there is a very big difference between ethylene glycol and propylene glycol despite a tiny difference In molecular structures. Note to self: don’t write technical emails when tired and jet lagged.

Thanks very much as well for your kind offer to provide additional advice if things don’t work out as hoped. I hope to tackle this job in about 2 days- the number of things needing attention after leaving the boat for 2.5 years is quite amazing. We did have someone start the engine and check the bilge every 10 days or so, so it could have been worse.

I’m doing my best to say the right things to the water maker gods well in advance of the event.

No problem. We do have the Ft. Lauderdale boat show coming up and a week or so before we are a bit crazy and I have been dealing with my wife in the hospital so please just let me know if you have any problems here on the forums and I'll help out as soon as I can. if anything gets to complicated we'll talk on the phone as well. Good luck.

HaldenMarineService@yahoo.com
(954) 515-7077

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

When I purchased my catamaran, the Spectra Ventura 150 had been pickled for many years. All I did was flush it with salt water for 20 minutes and then start to make water. Worked perfectly. Did the same thing in 2017 after it had been pickled for 18 months. Again, no problems.

I love these posts. Back when I first started with Spectra they loved to give me all the problems (OK I asked for them, No better way to really learn anything than to fix the unfixable) I remember asking my then wise distributor "Do any of these things work?" He said "It's like being a cop, all you see are the few of the bad ones, not the thousands of good ones you never hear from." If I can ever help you clownfishstdney, don't hesitate to ask.

[Oohla]

H2O2 + NaOCl → NaCl + H2O + O2
NaHCO3 + HCl → NaCl + H2O + CO2

Assume OCl- = 5 ppm

[Marathon1150]

Many thanks again Tellie. I’ll get in touch if things go awry. Best wishes for the wife (and the boat show).

[Marathon1150]

So it turns out that Bob is my uncle! I flushed the watermaker for just over an hour (keeping a shore water hose in the tank to keep the tanks full) and then started making water. Pressure was just between 50 and 60 PSI and flow just under 6. Unfortunately I could not test the water because the batteries in the TDS meter were dead, but the water tasted good.

Five days later, I started making water again and the same metrics popped up in terms of pressure and flow. The TDS meter reading was 196 PPM. Yahoo!

Many thanks all around for good advice!

[callistov42]

196ppm! That’s really good! Book says to save at 750! I run around 220 +\-.

[Tellie]

Hey, if it tastes good I'm outta here. Glad it's working well.

[toddster8]

FWIW, the instructions for my somewhat ancient unit (Pre-Katadyn PowerSurvivor) are to recirculate a small volume of freshwater to clean. Apparently it once actually came with some special membrane housing for doing so, but newer ones just have a valve.

[sailjumanji]

It's probably a stupid question, "Tellie", but when doing the flush with pressure relief valve 3/4 turn open, and feed pump running, the house fresh water pump has to be on as well. Correct? Otherwise the feed pump will be trying to pull water thru the fresh water pump, and not sure if that works.

That said, running my fresh water pump for 45 minutes will overheat it. So I just thought I'd check. THANKS

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

It's probably a stupid question, "Tellie", but when doing the flush with pressure relief valve 3/4 turn open, and feed pump running, the house fresh water pump has to be on as well. Correct? Otherwise the feed pump will be trying to pull water thru the fresh water pump, and not sure if that works.

That said, running my fresh water pump for 45 minutes will overheat it. So I just thought I'd check. THANKS

Depending o the model Spectra you have, yes the fresh water pump remains on if you have the auto flush feature. If not when the system calls for then fresh water flush it will pull salt water up through your thru hull to make up for the starvation of not having the fresh water pump giving a positive pressure to your unit.