Testing a watermaker in East Coast waters

[andyj301]

Last year I bought a boat that happened to have a watermaker onboard, the system appears pickled at present. Could anyone advise what sort of clarity of water I should be in for testing a watermaker? Would a few miles out into reasonably settled conditions be OK or are these devices only suitable for use in clear, blue oceans?

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Last year I bought a boat that happened to have a watermaker onboard, the system appears pickled at present. Could anyone advise what sort of clarity of water I should be in for testing a watermaker? Would a few miles out into reasonably settled conditions be OK or are these devices only suitable for use in clear, blue oceans?

Good question, always wondered but never had a reason to ask! I’m glad someone has.

 

[matthewriches]

Cleanish sea water is what you're after, not in the river or harbour for sure or it'll block everything up in seconds.

 

[sailaboutvic]

What you need to watch out for is oil, soap, fuel and thing like that will kill you membrane, rivers are fine as long there not fresh water , as long as you have a sea water filter more stuff will be picked up in that before it reach your per filters , I not sailed on the east coast for some years , it use to be my home ground ,I would suggest use it as your going alone less chance of picking up something that going to affect the membrane.
Hope that helps

 

[mariadz]

I think the problem will be that unless you use it regularly you will need to pickle it again after your test. Once started, watermakers should be used regularaly, as I understand it. If you are returning to the rivers on the east coast or worse a locked area such as Shotley or Ipswich you will need to stop using it,

We had exactly this problem on Mariadz and we have yet to sort out the water maker but it appears we have some corrosion in the electrical parts of the system so there is a bit of work to do before we can try this out anyway. Our plan is to do this as one of our last jobs before we leave the east coast.

 

[andyj301]

Thanks all for your replies. Think I'll head out to Black Deep for a test. Good luck with your repairs Mariadz.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I think the problem will be that unless you use it regularly you will need to pickle it again after your test. Once started, watermakers should be used regularaly, as I understand it. If you are returning to the rivers on the east coast or worse a locked area such as Shotley or Ipswich you will need to stop using it,

We had exactly this problem on Mariadz and we have yet to sort out the water maker but it appears we have some corrosion in the electrical parts of the system so there is a bit of work to do before we can try this out anyway. Our plan is to do this as one of our last jobs before we leave the east coast.

You're spot on , we use our at less every three days for an hour , we know people who can get away with five days but then you need to run it , at less with product water to flash it out , I suggest if you not going to use it for a while , make water and put it in a can then use that water to flush it out . Else pickle it again .

 

[michael_w]

On recommissioning, it takes an hour of running before my Katdyn 40e starts producing water that doesn't taste of pickling solution.

 

[sailaboutvic]

On recommissioning, it takes an hour of running before my Katdyn 40e starts producing water that doesn't taste of pickling solution.

That's about right , we run ours for about an hour although our is home build and produce about 80/90 lits a hour

 

[Kukri]

Thanks all for your replies. Think I'll head out to Black Deep for a test. Good luck with your repairs Mariadz.

I may be out of date but Black Deep used to be where the London “bovril boats” pumped out.