Fitting a seawater pump in the galley

[MM5AHO]

Last winter I fitted a seawater pump in the galley. I'd moved from summers in a marina to a mooring, and thought that that might help extend the range of the freshwater tank.
After a season's use I'm amazed at what a difference this has made.
Adopting a practice of using seawater for anything I could, especially rinsing pots, dishes etc, then rinsing in fresh water, though using fresh for all cooking, I've used only a fraction of what I would otherwise have used on fresh.
It did mean another hull perforation, a seacock, and the purchase of a hand pump (the fresh is pressurised), but not expensive installation.

I'm now more concerned with not using enough fresh water, and that it might get "foosty"!

 

[NormanS]

Sea water has just the right amount of salt for boiling the tatties. However there are some parts around the UK coast where that might be inadvisable. Our first real cruising yacht carried 10 gallons of water, in five containers. Now we have two large tanks, but are still very "careful" with use of water, and yes, having a salt water supply at the galley, in our case with a foot pump makes a huge difference.

 

[pvb]

I'm now more concerned with not using enough fresh water, and that it might get "foosty"!

No need to be concerned, just use water purification tablets in your tank. I use Aqua Tabs.

 

[pagoda]

Last winter I fitted a seawater pump in the galley. I'd moved from summers in a marina to a mooring, and thought that that might help extend the range of the freshwater tank.
After a season's use I'm amazed at what a difference this has made.
Adopting a practice of using seawater for anything I could, especially rinsing pots, dishes etc, then rinsing in fresh water, though using fresh for all cooking, I've used only a fraction of what I would otherwise have used on fresh.
It did mean another hull perforation, a seacock, and the purchase of a hand pump (the fresh is pressurised), but not expensive installation.

I'm now more concerned with not using enough fresh water, and that it might get "foosty"!

A seawater rinse foot pump is pretty useful. If you are somewhere vaguely clean. I recall being stuck at a mooring with several days of F 7/8. We were reduced to using wine for many things, but boiling veg ended up with seawater! No need to salt anything!

 

[[70521]]

Best not boil rice with salt water, don't ask how I know.

As for foosty, I boil 99.5% of the water that comes from the fresh water tanks.

 

[pvb]

As for foosty, I boil 99.5% of the water that comes from the fresh water tanks.

Yes, but you don't want it getting polluted in the tank, which is where water purication treatment works.

 

[Roberto]

Best not boil rice with salt water, don't ask how I know.

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If (big if) salt water is clean, then the correct proportions for cooking anything (we prepare industrial amounts of pasta) is about one half to one third of sea water, fresh water 2/3 to 1/2, depending if you want to use a salty sauce or not. Likewise for vegetables.

We experienced so much sea water usage that one of my next works-to-do is fitting an electric pump for that too, I was thinking about an in line pump, probably foot operated.

 

[PaulJS]

Here's a thought... Would fitting a purification filter work on a sea water system? I think that a charcoal filter might help, but I'm no chemist!

 

[duncan99210]

I fitted an electric diaphragm pump to supply sea water to the galley sink and a hose outlet in the anchor locker for deck wash down and anchor chain rinsing a few years back. The galley uses a cheap domestic tap and has seen us reduce fresh water usage so that our tanks can now last us 10-15 days between top ups. Its a pretty simple job to do, the biggest hassle being running the pipes. The pump operates off a pressure switch, so no wiring required between pump and tap: just open tap and the pump starts. We turn it off when sailing as when healed air gets into the inlet and the pump starts running continuously.
Not sure why anyone would want to try filtering sea water: if there's any question as to it being too dirty to use for washing up (main use), then we simply don't use the seawater tap until we move somewhere cleaner. Rule of thumb is if it's too grotty to swim, it's too grotty to use for washing up....

 

[[70521]]

If (big if) salt water is clean, then the correct proportions for cooking anything (we prepare industrial amounts of pasta) is about one half to one third of sea water, fresh water 2/3 to 1/2, depending if you want to use a salty sauce or not. Likewise for vegetables.

Thanks Roberto, I'll play with different mixtures next time we are on a long trip.

 

[Roberto]

.
Not sure why anyone would want to try filtering sea water: if there's any question as to it being too dirty to use for washing up (main use), then we simply don't use the seawater tap until we move somewhere cleaner. Rule of thumb is if it's too grotty to swim, it's too grotty to use for washing up....

I am thinking about a strainer, a pack of weeds once got into the intake and eventually reached the pump (classic foot operated), I had to open it all for cleaning, as the pump is installed in an awkward place that means a one hour job, all washing products out of the cupboard, etc etc. I ll probably put that when I install the electric one.

 

[typhoonNige]

We have a strainer on our seawater inlet which feeds the galley foot pump and our small water maker. It regularly needs cleaning so is doing a good job.
When cooking with seawater a good rule of thumb is that a cup of typical seawater (salinity 35) is equivalent to a teaspoon of salt, so one third seawater may be a bit salty for some people's tastes!

 

[PaulJS]

I fitted an electric diaphragm pump to supply sea water to the galley sink and a hose outlet in the anchor locker for deck wash down and anchor chain rinsing a few years back. The galley uses a cheap domestic tap and has seen us reduce fresh water usage so that our tanks can now last us 10-15 days between top ups. Its a pretty simple job to do, the biggest hassle being running the pipes. The pump operates off a pressure switch, so no wiring required between pump and tap: just open tap and the pump starts. We turn it off when sailing as when healed air gets into the inlet and the pump starts running continuously.
Not sure why anyone would want to try filtering sea water: if there's any question as to it being too dirty to use for washing up (main use), then we simply don't use the seawater tap until we move somewhere cleaner. Rule of thumb is if it's too grotty to swim, it's too grotty to use for washing up....

I was thinking more of a filter to reduce or even eliminate any nasty bugs living in sea water. However in respect of other posters pointing out that it is much saltier than normal salted cooking water I guess that there might not be much benefit...
It might help combatting that slightly organic odour that sea water generates though, in fact following this logically, could there be some benefit in filtering the inlet water to a marine toilet?
p.s. Sorry for the thread drift.

 

[Roberto]

I would add, if at all possible thread the hose to the faucet as far away as possible from any source of heat. Mine passes through the same locker where the fridge compressor is, the salt water plus bugs, plancton etc sort of ferments: whenever we use the faucet after a pause of say one hour, the first strokes have a disgusting sulphur smell :ambivalence:

 

[Kelpie]

You could tee off the engine seawater intake and benefit from the strainer already fitted, as well as not requiring a new hole in the boat.
This is assuming that most people don't rinse out their pans at the same time as they are motoring the engine at full load.

 

[BobnLesley]

...It did mean another hull perforation...

Not always. Having sold a boat (Vega) with an original-spec seawater pump, we knew we wanted one on our new one, so out of interest I intially tee'd one into the engine cooloing line just to see if it'd work; it does:
We've a Yanmar GM30F and cut into the incoming engine's seawater feed, fitted a reducing tee and fed that to the new seawater pump - a Whale diapraghm unit. The water supply line makes slightly more noise - if you lift the access panel in the floor you can hear a bubbling-woosh sound, presumably water passing across the mouth of the tee? - but the amount of water leaving the exhaust is unchanged and and in five years we've never had any cooling problem associated with this tee. The tee will be below the waterline, so make sure it's a top quality item, properly fitted/secured; we've also got a stop-valve in the line to the galley (never used) just to make sure that a problem there wouldn't stop us from using the engine.

 

[duncan99210]

I suspect that trying to filter out bacteria from sea water will simply mean bugs trapped in the filter. The filter will then provide a happy home for the hugs to breed and flourish, so you'd get stinky water all the time..... Our sea water tap doesn't smell apart from when the boats been out of use for a longish period. Constant use equals no pong: intermittent use equals pong on first use after a time away.