Spectra proper gauge readings and behavior

[akopac]

I love my spectra 200 watermaker. It’s older than sin, but It works awesome. But I want to keep it that way and maintenance is probably half the equation. The other is proper system settings and knowing from experience what the proper gauge activity should be. I could make water for a 100?years, but do more harm to the system unknowingly because I do know what proper pressure, and flow looks like, but not proper gauge activity. So I’m posting my gauge activity for critic. I couldn’t find any videos online of proper gauge activity and setting the feed pump pressure and accumulator pressure. What I noticed on mine is the flow gauge ball slams to the bottom and top. Is this normal?
Water temp is 75F
Voltage is 13V
Quality: 265ppm
Location is La Paz, MX channel.
I figure if a few of us posted videos of gauge readouts and got critics then some folks could attempt to self diagnose if they have an issue. I’m sure Tillie and a few of you will have some input. Thanks guys
Cheers
Video of gauges:
https://youtu.be/AJCyQS6X2gc

[senormechanico]

I have the same model of Spectra watermaker.
Yours is doing fine. The pressure readings on both cylinders are equal, indicating good mechanical condition of the innards of the Clark pump.


I love mine as well.

[Tellie]

Agreed. Your system, if your system is producing 265PPM plus the flow meter and pressure gauge readings combined, it tells us that everything is hitting all the numbers spot on. Not bad for a watermaker that's over 20 years old. The flow meter tells us that the production is great, the pressure gauge tells us that your feed pump is putting out proper pressures, and that your Clark pump is symmetrical. All good.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by Tellie

Agreed. Your system, if your system is producing 265PPM plus the flow meter and pressure gauge readings combined, it tells us that everything is hitting all the numbers spot on. Not bad for a watermaker that's over 20 years old. The flow meter tells us that the production is great, the pressure gauge tells us that your feed pump is putting out proper pressures, and that your Clark pump is symmetrical. All good.

Is it ok to do a fresh water flush, swap out the 5 &20 micron filters (dry) and leave the system for several days or is there a chance of introducing air into the membrane housing and drying the membrane. The membrane is mounted vertically.
Also I’m using these carbon filter cartridges for my fresh water flush. Are they any good?

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by akopac

Is it ok to do a fresh water flush, swap out the 5 &20 micron filters (dry) and leave the system for several days or is there a chance of introducing air into the membrane housing and drying the membrane. The membrane is mounted vertically.
Also I’m using these carbon filter cartridges for my fresh water flush. Are they any good?Attachment 255856

You can leave the system this way for a few days no problem. The every five day flush though remains the same regardless. The membrane is attached to the Clark pump and it is extremely unlikely that any water will work it's way backwards through the Clark pump. So your membrane will stay saturated.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by akopac

Is it ok to do a fresh water flush, swap out the 5 &20 micron filters (dry) and leave the system for several days or is there a chance of introducing air into the membrane housing and drying the membrane. The membrane is mounted vertically.
Also I’m using these carbon filter cartridges for my fresh water flush. Are they any good?Attachment 255856

Opps, sorry, Yes, that charcoal filter is fine. Remember, to change your charcoal filter out every six months once the filter gets wet.

[Lency]

Apologies in advance if this is an unappreciated thread hijack, but the title invited me to do so, as I have a similar issue with the same unit, just worse. See video (desktop users: you don't actually have to download the video, just click on the thumbnail at the bottom to play).
I checked all the other threads on Spectra Ventura watermaker issues, but every one is ever slightly so different from what I'm experiencing.

So, as you can see, I'm seeing even lower pressure and production. However, the pressure doesn't seem to be right, as I connected a 2nd pressure gauge between the pre filters and the clark pump, which give me a much higher reading (almost double) that what the built-in Spectra Feed Pressure Gauge is showing me, so one of them must me off. The flow meter readings do check out though (unfortunately).

Also, as you can hear, the feed pump sounds...erratic. When I first noticed this, I also noticed something else: the cooling fan wasn't spinning anymore and the feed pump's body was quite hot. I could just touch it, so I assume around 80ºC / 175ºF. After it had cooled down again, it went back to sounding normal (albeit slightly louder), but not for long. Even as soon as it gets only warm, the RPM goes all over the place. Could this be related, i.e. could the feed pump be permanently damaged due to overheating? And if so, shouldn't there be an overheating protection switch in the thing?

Before anyone asks: I did replace the pump head a year ago.

FWIW - The pressure / production on both strokes, although extremely low, is pretty much equal.

Even if part of the issue is the feed pump's delivered pressure, the pressure-production ratio is still off. The pressure reads about 50% of what it should be, while the production flow is t 1/3rd. This makes me to believe I'm experiencing several different, possible unrelated issues popping up simultaneously, which isn't unlikely due to the unit's age (it came with the boat, must be 15+ years old) and we live aboard full time, i.e. watermaker runs pretty much all day every day from when we get up until we go to bed. We're in southern Europe btw, with clear waters when sailing but often murky when anchored (and making water) due to muddy seabed.

If I should start a new thread on this, please let me know. Many thanks in advance for your thoughts / suggestions / rants!

Edit: I'm about to go and buy a bicycle pump with a gauge so that I can check / re-pressurize the accumulator tank, which may help with reducing the recent pressure drop, but probably not the weird sound issue. Will update this post once done.

[Lency]

So, update: The accumulator tank turned out to be at 20 PSI. I re-pressured it to 65, and there's definitely some improvement in production (from 0~2 GPH to 4 GPH, yay), but not in feed pressure (makes sense I guess). Also bought a strong stand alone 12v car ventilator fan aimed at the feed pump as a temporary workaround for the dead cooling fan. That seems to prevent the pump's random / erratic noise (RPM?) that it was showing before. With that being said, the feed pump does still sound a bit louder than it used to.

Something new did pop up though: I don't know whether it's coincidence or related, but since I re-pressured the accumulator tank, PPM has gone up from mid 300s to 1200.

So, my thoughts: I have a dying or (air) leaking feed pump issue, a membrane issue and / or a Clark Pump issue. Is there anyone here who can confirm or refute that?

[OV70]

Hi, very new 200T.........new membrane and filters after storage for 12 months with preservative and potable antifreeze.........re-comissioned.....
Feed pump bogs down and stalls at anything over 70psi/5gph...should be 90psi/8gph......any suggestions.....cruising with 4 water users onboard!

[senormechanico]

Check all your electrical connections.
Measure operating voltage at the feed pump itself.
Sounds like low voltage to me.

[OV70]

Thanks for suggestion

12vdc 200t powered by a mastervolt 20 amp 24/12 power supply.....
Voltage 13.7 steady when bogged down or stalled at any pressure over 65/70 psi or 4 to 5 gph...should be 90psi and 8gph.....Not voltage problem.
Arghhhhh!.....again, very new watermaker, new membrane, all new filters...even tried a bucket as both the supply and the return with only minimally better results.