Home-made watermaker - anybody tried it?

OK, we are looking at generating potable water from a harvesting system off a standard tin roof. Standard practice is to run the roofwater (stored in a large light-proof container) through a series of filters (coarse to fine) then charcoal, then through a UV light to the storage vessel.

Cost is looking not dissimilar to the watermaker above, and 100l/day is more than enough potable so what are the views on the practicality of a watermaker in a land-based system pls ? What are the replaceable items, and how much do they cost? How easy are they to service by someone who thinks that a 7/16 spanner is a precision instrument ?
 
 
Last edited:
sarabande said:
OK, we are looking at generating potable water from a harvesting system off a standard tin roof. Standard practice is to run the roofwater (stored in a large light-proof container) through a series of filters (coarse to fine) then charcoal, then through a UV light to the storage vessel.

Cost is looking not dissimilar to the watermaker above, and 100l/day is more than enough potable so what are the views on the practicality of a watermaker in a land-based system pls ? What are the replaceable items, and how much do they cost? How easy are they to service by someone who thinks that a 7/16 spanner is a precision instrument ?
Click to expand...
Slight thread drift.....
Watermakers are reverse osmosis plants which remove salt from sea water leaving you with fresh water. They do not remove bacteria etc as I understand it. What you are proposing for your rainwater system is to remove particles (filter cascade) and bugs (UV light), producing clean, bug free water. You could achieve similar results by using a settling tank to allow the bits to settle out and water sterilisation tablets to remove any bugs. However, a watermaker is not what you need!
 
duncan99210 said:
Slight thread drift.....
Watermakers are reverse osmosis plants which remove salt from sea water leaving you with fresh water. They do not remove bacteria etc as I understand it. What you are proposing for your rainwater system is to remove particles (filter cascade) and bugs (UV light), producing clean, bug free water. You could achieve similar results by using a settling tank to allow the bits to settle out and water sterilisation tablets to remove any bugs. However, a watermaker is not what you need!
Click to expand...
Watermaker particle size filtration goes down further than bacteria size, down to between 0.0001 and 0.001 microns.
http://reverseosmosissystemsreview.com/particle-size-chart.html


Check this thread to...
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f115/anyone-tried-making-your-own-watermaker-124742.html
 
Last edited:
I made one about 2 years ago for our Atlantic circuit. It total we made just over 4 tons of water with it over a 9 month period. Apart from breaking a BSP elbow it worked faultlessly, producing about 80-100 litres/hour.

On the basis that I thought I would need to run the engine for an hour a day to charge batteries I fitted an engine driven CAT pump, fed to a 2.5 inch diametre by 40 inch long membrane. Output from the mebrane fed to a needle valve and pressure gauge. A whole bundle of low tech pipework then provided tasting, flushing and tank distribution systems.

The whole assembly cost around £1500 quid, the most expensive part being the membranes and HP housing, which came from suppliers in Holland (cant find the invoice!). CAT pump was bought as a surplus item from ebay. I used a electro-mag clutch from an AC unit for the engine coupling (£15 from ebay car breakers)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top