Water maker connection

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dougg

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I have a 3 way manifold just before my water pump.

2 connections are taken up by water tanks 1 and 2.

Can I connect my water maker delivery pipe to the third connection, so it will back feed into the tanks. Ie will the water maker have enough force to fill the tanks versus the pressure of water already in the tanks.
 
Water connections

The question is, are connections to the water tanks into the top or bottom of the tank. If into the bottom as your question suggests then you may have the risk of water flowing back into the water maker when not making water. The pressure to feed into the bottom should not be any more than lifting it to the top of the tank. good luck olewill
 
When I was considering a watermaker, the supplying company told me that their preferred installation arrangement was as you suggest. I would have thought that the watermaker outlet has some form of valve to prevent backflow from the tank.
 
dougg said:
I have a 3 way manifold just before my water pump.

2 connections are taken up by water tanks 1 and 2.

Can I connect my water maker delivery pipe to the third connection, so it will back feed into the tanks. Ie will the water maker have enough force to fill the tanks versus the pressure of water already in the tanks.
Click to expand...

If you do that how will you be able to get water into the tank at the same time as drawing water from the tank?
 
When I installed my water maker I fitted a 4 port valve (1 in 3 out) between the out of the water maker and my 2 tanks. The third outlet went to an open tap outlet at my galley sink so I could test the water maker discharge water before adding water to either of my 2 tanks. This is to reduce the possibility of fouling up the existing water in either of my tanks and to allow flushing the fresh water line after cleaning the water maker with biocide.
 
Thanks guys.

Clearly if the water maker delivery pipe just trickled into the to of the tank there would be no back pressure issue.
That isn't the case, the tank outlets come from the bottom of the tanks.

With regard to water from the tanks going back into the membrane, how about a small non return valve, again this wound not need to offer much resistance.

I'm just not sure how much pressure the delivery is capable of.
 
Surely the pressure is the same if you deliver to the bottom or the top. The column of water you are pushing against is the same height, if anything a little more pressure delivering to the top ad you have a taller column of water to push against.
 
Wiggy is correct.

Unless you have some complex system the back pressure feeding into the bottom of the tank is the same as the pressure required raise the water to the top of the tank.

If the WM is sited above the tank there is no back pressure when feeding into the top of the tank and the back pressure if feeding into the bottom of the tank is offset by the fall ( negative head ) between the WM outlet and the bottom of the tank.


So from a pressure point of view it makes no difference.

There maybe other considerations.

Rogershaw has clearly given the matter some thought, as is his way.
 
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>I have a 3 way manifold just before my water pump...delivery pipe to the third connection, so it will back feed into the tanks.

I wouldn't do that . The reason is if the membrane fails you risk pumping salt water into the tanks. We always ran the feed into containers and regularly tested the water for salt content. But we were ocean sailing when it would be a disaster.
 
Our watermaker outlet goes into a T piece in the filler pipe of the stb tank. This pipe is 1.5" diameter and the watermaker connection is 3 feet above the 3 way manifold before the pump, so can create a head of water if needed. This way the water only goes into the stb tank first. If the membrane failed only the stb is contaminated, and other pressure warning lights would probably tell you that.

To fill up the port tank you open the stb tap and the port tap when the stb is full, and the head of water feeding the stb tank and the presure of water in the stb tank will force water back down the port lifting pipe and fill up the same tank. Open the aft tap and that fills too.

A simple system with no need to drill holes in tanks and have any extra taps.
 
sailinglegend420 said:
Our watermaker outlet goes into a T piece in the filler pipe of the stb tank. This pipe is 1.5" diameter and the watermaker connection is 3 feet above the 3 way manifold before the pump, so can create a head of water if needed. This way the water only goes into the stb tank first. If the membrane failed only the stb is contaminated, and other pressure warning lights would probably tell you that.

To fill up the port tank you open the stb tap and the port tap when the stb is full, and the head of water feeding the stb tank and the presure of water in the stb tank will force water back down the port lifting pipe and fill up the same tank. Open the aft tap and that fills too.

A simple system with no need to drill holes in tanks and have any extra taps.
Click to expand...


Any chance you could post a diagram of this at some point?

Seems ingenious, I am just struggling a little to visualise it


Many thanks
 
Stu Jackson said:
What's missing are the tank vents. It also appears that you don't have a way to transfer water from one tank to the other. You shouldn't have any problem filling the tank, but a "tester" tap is a very good idea.
Click to expand...
Its a ROUGH SKETCH for Gods sake!!!!

Read my previous post and you will see how to fill the other tanks.

"To fill up the port tank you open the stb tap and the port tap when the stb is full, and the head of water feeding the stb tank and the pressure of water in the stb tank will force water back down the port lift pipe and fill up the same tank. Open the aft tap and that fills too. "

For extra clarity the pressure of water in the stb tank will force water up the stb fill pipe to the manifold, and force water back down the port lift pipe, via the port tap which is also open, and fill up the port tank.
 
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That's exactly how I was going to do it, but thought getting he correct size tee was going to be too hard.
The manifold option is easyier for me all round.
Thanks.
 
dougg said:
That's exactly how I was going to do it, but thought getting he correct size tee was going to be too hard.
The manifold option is easyier for me all round.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
My T piece from 1.5" to 1/4" was made up from 9 adapters and cost me 99 Euros!!!

Going direct to the manifold may not work because the boat water pump can start pumping air prom the watermaker feed and cause pump noise. The vacuum created may damage the watermaker membrane.
 
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