Slight 'egg' small from watermaker water?

[Tim Good]

Ok firstly I am very happy. After buying a boat last year which had an Aquafresh watermaker, I knew it had not been run up in at least 5 years but more like 10-12 by the first owner. I did not expect it to work and if it did, would likely require many hours and parts to fix.

Anyhow, I fired it up today after doing the necessary checks and 5 minutes later it is kicking out a good quantity of fresh water!!!! My TDS meter was giving it about 145 which is a lot lower than the tap.

I only ran it for about 45 minutes which I suppose is not long given that it hasn't seem life in so long, but there was a very very slightly eggy smell to it. Only subtle and you could barely tell but you could tell between tap and watermaker produce.

Having never owned a watermaker before, is this normal or a sign of bad things to come like a dodgy membrane?

 

[Carmel2]

Have you put in new filters?

 

[macd]

This might help: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f115/water-maker-product-odor-87627.html

And this: http://www.spectrawatermakers.com/documents/OP-2_smelly_product.pdf

 

[claymore]

Smells like you have a bacteria issue in your pipework. Filters are a good start point but you may need to flush your pipework or replace it if that doesn't work

 

[typhoonNige]

Replace or clean your pre-filter then give it a good long run to waste. We found out the hard way that if the pre-filter is left wet without flow for more than a few days you get H2S (source of the eggy smell). If this gets to the membrane it takes about an hour for it to flush out of our system.

 

[Tim Good]

Have you put in new filters?

Yes I out a new 30 and 5 micron in. I haven't put the initial oil filter in yet as I just wanted to see if it worked.

 

[macd]

Yes I out a new 30 and 5 micron in. I haven't put the initial oil filter in yet as I just wanted to see if it worked.

oil filter?????

 

[geem]

As other have said, the eggy smell will occur if water is stagnant. It is seawater that normally causes this. After you have made water it is always best to flush fresh product water back through the system so as to leave fresh water in the prefilters and membrane.

 

[rivonia]

We sometimes used to get that eggy smell. Solution; Run for 1 hour to waste only. If still eggy after this replace all pipes as that is where the eggy smell (bacteria) is probably coming from.

Was the water maker pickled for storage? If so was it chemcaly cleaned for an hour before use.?

Hope this may be of help.

 

[temptress]

Ok firstly I am very happy. After buying a boat last year which had an Aquafresh watermaker, I knew it had not been run up in at least 5 years but more like 10-12 by the first owner. I did not expect it to work and if it did, would likely require many hours and parts to fix.

Anyhow, I fired it up today after doing the necessary checks and 5 minutes later it is kicking out a good quantity of fresh water!!!! My TDS meter was giving it about 145 which is a lot lower than the tap.

I only ran it for about 45 minutes which I suppose is not long given that it hasn't seem life in so long, but there was a very very slightly eggy smell to it. Only subtle and you could barely tell but you could tell between tap and watermaker produce.

Having never owned a watermaker before, is this normal or a sign of bad things to come like a dodgy membrane?

change the filters and run for say 10 hours the sell will go away. - then keep running regularly say every 2 days or so (better everyday) and clean the filters regularly ay every 10 days.

 

[Tim Good]

change the filters and run for say 10 hours the sell will go away. - then keep running regularly say every 2 days or so (better everyday) and clean the filters regularly ay every 10 days.

How best to clean the filters? Someone told be the best way is to tie a rope on them and drag them behind the boat for a few hours.

I can't run the system that regular at the moment as we're stuck in a marina doing a refit until next year but from April 2016 it will be in regular use.

 

[KellysEye]

There are specialist chemicals for cleaning water makers an example is here: http://www.downwindmarine.com/Katadyn-Watermaker-Cleaning-amp-Storage-Chemicals-p-91001019.html I suggest you contact Aqufresh to check wht they recommend and probably sel them, ours did.

 

[Carmel2]

Also when you do re start it don't do it in a marina, they don't like oil which may well be around.

 

[Tim Good]

Also when you do re start it don't do it in a marina, they don't like oil which may well be around.

Ok an update. I went back today and put the oil filter in. Aquaferesh said it is ok to use it without as it is a purely an added extra but I agree marina water won't be great.

Anyway a night with salt water in the system I think has killed off anything that was growing in the fresh water as it is now producing nice non smelling perfectly fine water at around 150 on the TDS.

Either way I have ordered some a cleaning kit and new filters but at this point the 17 year old watermaker seems to be going strong