Plumbing advice please

[Becky]

I am about to plumb in the watermaker. HWMBO has asked (instructed?) that I seperate the two under-saloon berth main water tanks, which I agree with even if I will get soaked while doing it. There is a 22mm balancing pipe, into which I will fit a tap. But the watermaker feed pipe has to be connected somewhere. I was tempted to try and fit a sort of collecting tank so that we could check the output should salty water get through the machine (although I have been assured that this can never happen), and only let good water run into the water system. But this could present problems in that it would need to be higher than the main tanks (otherwise they would just drain back into it), and we have now used up all the room.
So, should I run a pipe to each main tank. Or would it be better to just have a single feed that can be directed to which ever tank is in use. I would like to minimise the number of connections, a) becauseit hurts my hands making them, and b) hopefully the fewer connections, the fewer risk of leaks. The taps will almost definitely have to be below the floor boards, so I will have to cut little hatches to get at them (so the fewer the better).
Basically, there are two main tanks, connected by a 22mm pipe, off which runs a 15mm pipe to the pressure pump, and then on to the showers, taps etc. I thought it would be fairly easy, but the more I think about it, the more complicated it could become.
Hope you cab understand my explanation.
How would you guys do it? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[snowleopard]

her's a few tips from my days of penance with watermakers and plumbing.

1. let the feed from the watermaker go into the top of the tank then there is no risk of it syphoning out. sounds unlikely but we lost half a tankfull in mid atlantic.

2. don't think there's a lot to be gained by having a feed to both tanks. the balance pipe should be enough but a valve in that is essential. bear in mind that watermaker product water contains no chlorine and can go 'off' if left untreated. if you have no valve in the balance pipe, all your water will drain into the lee tank and act as negative ballast when heeled!

3. plastic pipe and push-fit connectors are a godsend. the ones with locking devices reduce the risk of accidental disconnection. they only leak if you force the pipe to bend close to a joint.

4. our watermaker is obviously a different type to yours but it pushes out brackish water for the first minute or two. whe have a t-valve over the sink that lets us direct the water to waste until it tastes ok. we have a hose on the end of the valve that lets us fill jerricans etc.

5. remember that the hose connections within the watermaker are under huge pressure. if they develop a leak and spray the surrounding area, will anything delicate get sprayed with seawater?

 

[Becky]

Thank you Snowleopard. It seems that you haven't connected your watermaker into your water system, as I am rather loath to do. Ours has a valve that directs all the water overboard until the salinity is low enough, then it becomes 'product' (as the Americans describe it) and it is available for drinking. It is automatic, in that it will flush itself out on a regular basis if not used, and should do all its cleansing processes as and when needed. So it would be nice to just link it directly into the water system, maybe keeping just one of our main tanks filled with public water supply. Or we could send a bit to one tank, then a bit to the other. There are so many choices; I may well send the product into a 5-gallon tank and get hWMBO to pour it into the water filler. Like you seem to do.
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[snowleopard]

our product water feeds into the balance pipe. this was a mistake.

i would advise having a tap that will let you manually divert product to tank or sink even though you have automatic sampling. we always filled our jerries first before topping up the main tanks. we used the jerries in the cockpit for washing clothes and post-swim rinses. that meant the emergency water never sat around in the cans long enough to grow algae.

where are you planning to go? had i known then what i know now, we would have saved the cost and hassle of the watermaker for our atlantic circuit.

 

[npf1]

and just in case you didn't know, when you backlfush the system after use, don't use water from the tank if it is chlorinated even slightly becuase it will kill your membranes. On way to get around this is to fit a carbon filter on the backflush feed pipe. Hope that makes sense. Avoids an expensive lesson!

 

[jerryat]

Hi Becky,

Like Snowleopard, I wouldn't bother with a watermaker unless you are doing really major passages (trans Pacific?) as the hassle is not, in my view, worth it. I've done Atlantic circuits with and without and, ok, with the watermaker we did have full tanks when we arrived in the Caribbean from the Canaries. However, running the thing was a bit of a pain, it couldn't be used in harbour, it had to be 'pickled' etc so we didn't bother on the next trip. We had no problem or shortage (just slightly fewer showers!) and still had a reserve when we got there - and this on a 32' 0" boat! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

From your post it appears you already have one and are ready to install it, and if this is so, the suggestions of Snowleopard are spot on, particularly since you have automatic cleansing. Entirely agree re topping up the jerry cans first to avoid algae growth, in fact, although we could direct the W/M's output straight into the tank(s) we invariably topped up the tanks from the J/cans and then re-filled those.

Still, definitely wouldn't ship one again.

Cheers Jerry

 

[kandoma]

ha, ha, salty water could never happen...... I have two watermakers, and both got blown in the indian ocean, just befor we entered the Red Sea and no spare membranes available for the next 2 month, because they had to be produced for us in the USA. I managed to "repair" the membrane with araldit until we got new ones in Cyprus.

I must admit, it was my own fault. I used a regular water pipe for the brine, that milky, transparent type of tube, sold everywhere. It somehow got folded and the backpressure it created made a small hole in the membrane. I damaged all my three membranes on board until I found out eventually, that the brine water tube had a kink.

I have two tanks. One can be used for filling with water you get in the marina, the second tank never ever gets water except from the watermaker. That guarantees that no contaminated (chlorine) ever reaches the watermaker. I have "wired" the waterpump in such a way, that I can fill the "dirty" tank from the clean, desalinated tank by just switching two valves manually. Chlorine will kill your watermaker in no time. On our 3 1/2 year trip, after leaving Europe, we never used the "dirty" tank except in Japan (Inland Sea), where the seawater was too dirty to desalinate.

Peter