Using Salt Water

[billwa]

I am considering cutting down on my fresh water tankage and making up the shortfall with salt water. Currently have 1000L of fresh, and thinking of dropping to 500L plus small watermaker.

I am thinking of running dual fresh/salt water systems, having hot salt water for showers and cold salt water for flushing the toilet.

Has anybody tried this... Is warm salt water OK to have a shower in (with a fresh water rinse at the end), or does it just feel like crap?

The toilet is a "vacuflush", and is currently plumbed to run off the fresh water - is it a problem to swap to salt?

[AnchorageGuy]

The problems with your system will be the components. Will the hot water tank be compatible with salt water? Are your pumps fittings, etc. able to handle the salt water for any length of time? How will using salt water in your shower affect the surrounding area and hardware if you don't have a dedicated shower stall? Will your pots and pans hold up for long washing in salt water every day? Those are just a few questions you will need to answer before you can design this kind of system. Most heads flush with salt water so that will not be much of an issue but with the vacuflush you need to make sure.

[Mike Vogdes]

Its reccomended that you use fresh water only in Vacuflush systems for maintenance and odor reasons. You should check your warranty before changing to salt water.

[AnchorageGuy]

This is from the installation manual,

RAW WATER SYSTEM – VacuFlush vacuum toilets can flush with sea water but require a separate pump and water filtration for this purpose. Please contact your nearest VacuFlush dealer, distributor, or Dometic Sanitation sales office for complete information.

[Charlie]

I have been on plenty of boats that had saltwater as your primary for washing dishes and my toilet runs on Saltwater. I think that the waterheater wouldn't like it tooo much. Saltwater with a freshwater rinse is fine for a shower but I have never seen that in a shower before.

[capngeo]

Buy a big enough watermaker for your needs and forget the salt!

[roverhi]

We spent so much time in the water when we were cruising that we were always salty. No problems. Got so used to it that it felt funny when we took a freshwater shower.

Saltwater is corrosive and hot salt water even more so, so could be a problem when run through the water heater. Might want to check on that.

I'm hopelessly embedded in the English/American measurement system but isn't 500 liters more than 125 gallons of water?? We've never cruised with more than 80 gallons of water and never used more than 40 gallons between fill ups. Disable your pressure water system and use foot pumps for your water needs. Your consumption will drop through the floor.

[Mark Zarley]

Think about how your toilet smells when you are gone for a few days and come back and give it a flush, and that grey water that smells so good shows up in the first couple of pumps. I think that could happen with a tank full of Hot or not salt water. Don't know for sure , just a thought.