TWL: Watermakers
I am looking for a 400 to 500 gallon per day water maker. I have been
told that Village Marine is a good outfit and stands behind their stuff.
Any comments?
John Rudolph
M/V Kiapoko
Kadey-Krogen NS 48
I am looking for a 400 to 500 gallon per day water maker. I have been
told that Village Marine is a good outfit and stands behind their stuff.
Spectra: http://www.spectrawatermakers.com/
Any comments?
Yes, that's a LOT of water per day! What do you plan to do with all of it?
Regards,
James
At 11:13 PM 4/27/04 -0400, you wrote:
I am looking for a 400 to 500 gallon per day water maker. I have been
told that Village Marine is a good outfit and stands behind their stuff.
Spectra: http://www.spectrawatermakers.com/
Any comments?
Yes, that's a LOT of water per day! What do you plan to do with all of it?
While my experience with water makers is Zero, the boat which I am
purchasing has a Filtration Concepts with a rating of 400 gpd, that would
be a little over 16 gph. I can only hope that this is a good unit having
never personally heard of this particular mfg.. However, my comments here
are to point out that from what I have learned about water-makers I
understand that these ratings are based upon maximum capability under ideal
conditions and that the norm under usual conditions is that they perform at
considerably less volume. According to what I have learned, you might
expect to achieve results as low as 50% of their rated capacity some of the
time. Perhaps some with real experience to share will comment?
Jim Alexander
Re: I am looking for a 400 to 500 gallon per day water maker. I have been
told that Village Marine is a good outfit and stands behind their stuff.
Any comments?
The volume per day is determined at the ideal condition level and will
decrease with colder water temperatures, worn or older membranes, and
partially plugged filters. I like the idea of a watermaker that can produce
30 gph and only need to run it for a couple hours per day or whatever the
demand requires. I would not want to run a unit 24 hours per day to keep up
with demand. Maintenance and expense is an issue and the membranes can be
ruined by neglect.
Dave Steele
45' Bluewater Pilothouse, Tarboo
Olympia, WA
You might also look at US Watermaker www.uswatermaker.com They are likely
to be the least expensive and use commodity pieces/parts. A friend got one
last spring and just returned from the Bahamas a happy camper. He even makes
water in Vero without problems due to a gigantic sock type filter which is
one of their options.
My problem is the cost/benefit analysis. Break-even on a $2,600 investment
is a tough nut to swallow. You can buy a lot of water for that and I don't
need one in the states.
Regards....
Phil Rosch
Old Harbor Consulting
M/V Curmudgeon MT-44TC
Currently moored in Vero Beach, FL
We have a 600 GPD HRO unit on Dreamer together with the largest filters we
could get and have used it for the last six years with no problems. Not
once during this period have we "pickled" it or chemically cleaned it. It
has a fresh water flush feature (highly recommended), which purges the raw
water from the membranes along with all the little things that like to grow
on/in the membrane. Following the advice of the tech support people at HRO,
we regularly run it every three weeks or less (once five weeks due to being
on the "hard" and have not noticed any reduction in output since the system
was originally installed.
While rated at 25 GPH/600 GPD, the gauge shows output to normally be in the
16 to 18 GPH range, plus or minus. This is at the pressure setting we have
decided upon, slightly below the maximum recommended. Other than a leaking
manifold discovered upon installed installation and promptly replaced by HRO
at no cost, we have had zero problems with the system. When pressure drops
at the primary multi-media filter, we back flush it to clean it. That is
about the extent of maintenance we have incurred to date. The seal on the
primary raw water supply pump is starting to leak, so will have to replace
it before this season.
It is a great unit/system and I would install the same again with no
hesitation. I have no experience with Village Marine but understand they
are a good company with good products. Watermakers are really pretty simple
these days. Things I highly recommend you incorporate in the system are:
automatic fresh water flush; multi-media primary filter; large filters for
final filtration of solids and for oil removal; charcoal filter for product
water along with UV purifier.
Good luck,
Bob Lowe
www.MV-Dreamer.com
www.CruisingAndMaintainingYourBoat.com
I am looking for a 400 to 500 gallon per day water maker. I have been
told that Village Marine is a good outfit and stands behind their stuff.
Any comments?
John Rudolph
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One thing to keep in perspective is the output of the watermaker is much
better than municipal systems, but then you feed it into a "petri-dish" of a
water tank which has the potential to grow all kinds of creepy-crawly
things.
It would be smarter to put the UV filter on the output of the water tank
rather than the output of the watermaker--it's already cleaner than most
water.
I use a whole house charcoal filter on the output of my water tanks and have
had great water since I started cruising.
Regards....
Phil Rosch
Old Harbor Consulting
M/V Curmudgeon MT-44TC
Currently moored in Vero Beach, FL