Watermaker -- Where Would You Put It?

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

My boat has a special compartment for a watermaker, with plumbing running through it and even a dedicated space for a day tank.

The only problem is you have to take up a substantial piece of salon sole to get to this space, and the watermaker I just found (due to a very kind tip from a friend) is fully manual and needs to be operated in a hands on way.

So I'm thinking about more accessible spaces -- maybe the engine room? Raw water is right here, which is a plus, and it's easy to get to to work the knobs and check the gauges.

Or cut a hatch in the sole plate for easier access to the special compartment?

Where else in the boat is a good place for the watermaker? How much fiddling do you guys do with yours?

Ours is under a fwd bunk, with the membrane in the bilge just under that. You want things near (or below) water level. Ours is also manual, so we need good access. I suspect your dedicated compartment will be the best, but I talk about some of your issues on our Watermaker Page in our Cruising Info section. Note that ours only feeds 1 tank, which only gets watermaker or rain water, never city water, as we use that tank to flush the watermaker after each use.

[Quadrille in JB]

On our last 2 boats I have mounted the PUR Powersurvivor in the lazarette adjacent to the engine space on rubber anti-vibration feet. In this location drips from changing filters is not a problem and you cannot hear it operate. On both boats i installed a larger engine raw water intake and used the original intake for the water maker.
On our first boat it was installed under a fwd bunk and the constant noise was sometimes irritating. The rubber isolation mounts work very well.

[johnjuliano]

On our 31ft Maxi 95, the engine is in the main cabin under the table. We put our Katadyn Powersurvivor 40 in the space under the cockpit with the water heater.

[Paul L]

DH
Most watermarker install directions specifically say to not share a throughhull. The main engine thrpughull is probably not a good choice if you are sharing.

For a manual wm think about where the sample water will be tested and where the valves will be mounted. You want this all pretty convenient.

[Hobie_ind]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

My boat has a special compartment for a watermaker, with plumbing running through it and even a dedicated space for a day tank.

The only problem is you have to take up a substantial piece of salon sole to get to this space, and the watermaker I just found (due to a very kind tip from a friend) is fully manual and needs to be operated in a hands on way.

So I'm thinking about more accessible spaces -- maybe the engine room? Raw water is right here, which is a plus, and it's easy to get to to work the knobs and check the gauges.

Or cut a hatch in the sole plate for easier access to the special compartment?

Where else in the boat is a good place for the watermaker? How much fiddling do you guys do with yours?

Your existing boat or your planned one?

I'm not convinced that the 'heat' concerns that some have identified are as big of a concern in a well designed engine room. Hundreds of Amels (>500 Super Maramus, 54's and 55's) all have them in the engine room, and I've been on numerous Hallberg Rassey's and a Discover where the watermakers were all in the engine room and I've never heard of any issues from the heat. I replaced the high pressure hoses for less than $100 when I bought the boat as a precaution against leaks and popped my head into the engine room normally after starting the watermaker as a habit. I liked it in the engine room as they're typically well soundproofed.

Our watermaker was also completely manual, but the panel with the pressure controller (manual needle valve), flow meter (float style), bypass and on/off switch was located on the aft wall of the galley which happened to be the the fwd bulkhead of the engine room.

Good luck.
Mark

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

Ours is under a fwd bunk, with the membrane in the bilge just under that. You want things near (or below) water level. Ours is also manual, so we need good access. I suspect your dedicated compartment will be the best, but I talk about some of your issues on our Watermaker Page in our Cruising Info section. Note that ours only feeds 1 tank, which only gets watermaker or rain water, never city water, as we use that tank to flush the watermaker after each use.

OK, thanks!

I guess that's a powerful argument for having a day tank. Hmmmm.

Does fresh water flushing eliminate the need for pickling?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Paul L

DH
Most watermarker install directions specifically say to not share a throughhull. The main engine thrpughull is probably not a good choice if you are sharing.

For a manual wm think about where the sample water will be tested and where the valves will be mounted. You want this all pretty convenient.

Thanks!

I wonder what through hull to use, then. Maybe toilet water intake.


The unit I am looking at (Home) has the valves and gauges mounted directly to the pressure vessel. I wonder if that's a big disadvantage.

[Hobiehobie]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

OK, thanks!

I guess that's a powerful argument for having a day tank. Hmmmm.

Does fresh water flushing eliminate the need for pickling?

No. You need to do FW flush after each use. If you don't fire up the WM in four days or so you will need to pickle. We turn ours on every two days whether we need it or not. Use frequently for about an hour or so. Then we pickle at the end of the season. Sometimes if we go into a marina for more than 4 days, where it is not clean enough to run the WM we will have to pickle it...or take a quick run out to clean water.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Thanks!

I wonder what through hull to use, then. Maybe toilet water intake.


The unit I am looking at (Home) has the valves and gauges mounted directly to the pressure vessel. I wonder if that's a big disadvantage.

Never heard of a Home WM. Got a link?
It just reduces the places that are good for installation. You want easy access to the valves. Normally you can re-plumb and move these.

[Hobie_ind]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Thanks!

I wonder what through hull to use, then. Maybe toilet water intake.


The unit I am looking at (Home) has the valves and gauges mounted directly to the pressure vessel. I wonder if that's a big disadvantage.

The valves and gauges that they show being attached to the membrane pressure vessel are virtually identical to the control panel that Desalator uses. One the Desalator, there's simply a high pressure hose (same spec as the hose from the pump to the membrane) from the membrane vessel to the control panel located in the galley. The on/off switch in the galley is simply connected to the motor relay.

With a couple fittings and the hose, I'm guessing you'd have exactly the same remote operation/monitoring setup with the 'Home' watermaker. It may even be an option.

Mark

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

OK, thanks!

I guess that's a powerful argument for having a day tank. Hmmmm.

Does fresh water flushing eliminate the need for pickling?

No, you still need to pickle if your not going to run it for a while. I flush with freshwater every time, Rainman says I can get away with not using it for approx 10 days if I flush water flush.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Hobie_ind

The valves and gauges that they show being attached to the membrane pressure vessel are virtually identical to the control panel that Desalator uses. One the Desalator, there's simply a high pressure hose (same spec as the hose from the pump to the membrane) from the membrane vessel to the control panel located in the galley. The on/off switch in the galley is simply connected to the motor relay.

With a couple fittings and the hose, I'm guessing you'd have exactly the same remote operation/monitoring setup with the 'Home' watermaker. It may even be an option.

Mark

Great; thank you! I'll ask the makers.

[Dockhead]

Thanks for all the great tips

I guess for the seawater supply I could t into the forward toilet water intake? With non-return valves on both branches, I guess?

I guess a deck drain wouldn't work because it's open to the top -- the watermaker would suck air.

What have others done?

[lifgun]

Mine is under the front bunk, which is okay ... water intake trough the toilet intake, drain trough the sink pipe. The only disadvantage of having the WM in the front is that if you sail upwind in strong wind and heavy waves he will suck air instead of water... which is not nice. The other problem I had on my last trip was that the whole unit was falling down because of the ongoing banging in the waves.... my spectra does a flush every 120 hours which works excellent and I never used the storage chemicals. Check for more lifgun.com

[Lepke]

I never had a problem with membranes in the engineroom. If you have proper venting you should have enough air flow for reasonable temps.