Owners of the Schenker Smart 60 water maker & installation tips

[kryg]

Hi, I just purchased a Schenker Smart 60 Water-maker 2nd hand 2017 vintage. I’m waiting for its arrival early next week. I want to be prepared for its installation.

The last flush I’m told by the owner he made a freshwater flush before removing it about a year ago since then it's been in storage. It has not had much use. This being the case my question is would a freshwater flush be sufficient to protect the membrane for the year it has been stored?

Also, how to tell if the bacteria has grown inside the membrane having had a freshwater flush? If so, how to treat it or do I need to replace the membrane?

I would be grateful if any owners of the Schenker Smart 60 water maker, can share their experiences with installation and management tips.


Finally, I wonder about the running noise is loud or not as advertised as I plan to install it in the main salon.

Kryg
Happy Navigation Experiences,

[Sailmonkey]

The fresh flush is really supposed to be run every few days, so there’s a good chance your membranes are compromised.

We bought a used and non-functional modular 35, I stripped it down and rebuilt it. Then proceeded to remove every electronic control from it and install the individual components where I could for them.

The noisiest part is going to be the diaphragm pump, I installed ours in the cockpit locker on additional isolation feet. It’s roughly on par with the refrigerator sound, just a different noise. In the salon it’ll be louder, and if the pump is mounted on a cabinet that is connected to the salon it will amplify the sound.

[kryg]

Hi, Sail Monkey,



I suspect your right this unit has two pumps.


Thank you for your reply.


Kryg

[Northbound44]

Hi kryg,
Most new users of Watermaker have lots of concerns about the condition of the membrane when they buy a used system.
Although, the membrane is an important component of the system, it is not so expensive to replace and it is much more resistant than it appears at first glance.
The best ways to destroy a membrane are to let it dry, to burn it with chemicals like chlorine, bleach, hydrocarbons (oils) and clogging it with silts.
Obviously, it is better to keep your membrane stored in sodium mata bisulfites solution or in glycol. The fact that the membrane has been stored in pure fresh water doesn’t mean the membrane is gone.
A good way to see the level of contamination is simply to remove it from the membrane housing and take a look at it. If it look like the following picture, obviously, it should be cleaned and chances are you need to replace it. Otherwise, try it and monitor the flow and the salinity level and if it is in accordance with the specs, don’t worry [emoji6].
I agree with Sailmonkey in regards with the noise, the diaphragm Pump is the noisy parts in this system, the other component, the booster ( hydraulic intensifier), is not really noisy and among the watermakers available on the market, Shenker and Spectra are, in my opinion, the quietest.

[finnstru]

Some additional questions : What's that tiny hole for ? Only 30L/h ? Winterization ?..... And experience with fresh water and polypropylene.

I just bought a well used Smart 60, serviced to 2.0 in 2017, produced by Schenker in 2007. I have tested it in front of the garage. With fresh and salt and polypropylen mix. But it's not in the boat. I live in Norway where it's typically between 5 and 15 degrees C.

In the top block, just above the manual positioner rod, there's a tiny hole, and out of that tiny hole there's a tiny drop building upp. I think it builds upp every time the top piston switches the flow to the other side of the lower/main pistons. (Google Clark Pumps). Is it normal ?,... or a sign of some wear of the walls (It almost for sure got new piston rods in 2017, as the old ones came along).

With fresh water it produces 45L/h, with ocean/salt water it produces 30L/h and for both it's producing aprox 10% of total inflow, which, I think, I've read somewhere,... is normal / correct. ............. I'm guessing the reason for only getting 30L/h is that both the membrane and the internal narrow passages possibly has some deposits built up, and are in need of dismantling, cleaning, and putting together again. ...... But that's just my reasoning. ...... anyone knows, or has experience ?

I just ran it with fresh water + polypropylen maybe 10-20%, so now it's winterized on the high pressure side. ....... But what about the low pressure / production side ?,....... does the polypropylen pass through the membrane ? ........ The color they added to the polypropylene for sure did not pass through the membrane. ? ....... Or is it o.k. to drain the production side and have just air on that side of the membrane ? (I kind of suspect that's not o.k. but) ?

That was the end of my questions. .......... Her comes some experiences I gained while testing it in front of my garage just after receiving it.

When you test with fresh water the pressure out from the pumps is much less than when it's operating from salt water. In my case around 2 bars with one pump and 4 bars with 2 pumps. I initiallyt thought it was something wrong, but no, it's normal. Pure fresh water flows through the membrane more easily I think. It's still working fine though, and producing (fresh water from fresh water).

In my case, if you add too much polypropylene for winterization, nothing will go through the membrane and the pressure will rize to 10 bars and the over pressure switch will cut the pump power. ........ I managed to get around that by fine adjusting the top valve (the one you use to get air out of the Clark Pump) to just be barely open to reduce the pressure to around 7 bars, and had the Clark Pump working (going back and forth). But the final solution was to have less polypropylene in the fresh water, as then it will produce a little bit through the membrane. ........ The color they added to the poypropylene did not pass through the membrane.

In mine the bladder inside the accumulator had a small fracture. I couldn't find a way to order just the bladder, so ordered a new accumulator instead. Was however no problem to use the unit in spite of that.

A couple more info's I picked up from youtube on these water makers : Both the membrane and the materials the cylinders and the pistons are made from, can easily be destroyed by chemicals other than those approved by Schenker. Fresh water without Chlorine is o.k. but NOT the tap water as that has Chlorine. ...... The cleaning solution sold by Schenker is of course o.k. ... Cleaning solutions for other types of water makers will/can destroy the material the piston rods are made from, and cause leakage and expensive repairs. .... Polypropylene for winterization of the environment friendly type (typically green) is o.k. But NOT the one for engines which contain rust inhibitors which can (will) destroy the components of the Clark Pump.

For the older units the life time of the O-rings in the top unit was a reason for the unit stopping to work. They now have a new harder kind of "O"-rings that should seal better / wear less, but are difficult to replace (difficult to get in/out). I'm not sure if that upgrade also includes changing other parts as well or not (upgrading to V2.0) (I guess it's other changes involved as well).

And finally my own common sense,.. : There's high pressures inside, sealed by O-rings, and narrow passages, so make sure to filter whatever water on the way in, as anything almost could cause wear / leakage and shorten the life time. ........ My old user manual sugest to do winterization without the filter in line. .... I personally would not do that (or make sure it's dam'n clean). If you know about diesel injection pumps, it's a bit the same here, but larger dimensions and softer materials. ....... But that was purely my own thoughts.

B.R.