Watermakers again!!...

pulsar2

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Has anybody had experience of the HP UC 35 12v watermaker?
This is quite an expensive watermaker, well built, fully automatic and compact.
But....and I guess there is always a but.!
We have had 1 installed in our Swan 47 for 3 years now. This is our 4th season with it. We live aboard in the Med. and only use it in the summer months when we are cruising.
To date we have had 2 new motors fitted to it, 1 every summer and the machine has 145 hours production recorded on it. This motor drives the high pressure pump. The machine was actually returned to the factory, in Italy, on the first occasion, for the motor to be replaced, at our expense.
Last summer the motor failed again in Greece but fortunately HP have a dealer in Athens who was very good. The motor was removed from the machine and the carbon brushes were found to be not free in their holders and therefore not touching the commutator. They were freed up but after about 6-8 hrs use seized up again. Eventually after doing this 4 times, HP shipped a new motor which was installed and the machine ran perfectly for the rest of last summer.
It was then winterised in Malta and re-commissioned in May this year. It ran perfectly for 1 month, about 35 hrs and then failed yet again with the same problem. Brushes seized in the holders. I am currently waiting to hear from HP as to how they plan to fix this ongoing problem.

The installation has been checked out OK.

As we try to live off the anchor throughout the summer the watermaker is quite impotant to us. We have a deep keel which restricts the places where we can pick up water.

I would look forward to sharing any experiences anybody has had with 1 of these machines, good or bad, and any suggestions anyone might have!!.....
Thank you.
 

ccscott49

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I think maybe the motor is not suitable for continuos running. But cant they file down the brushes, so they are a looser fit in the holders, or use grooved brushes, probaly a build up of carbon from the brushes, there are also minimum dust brushes bavailable, mainly copper and carbon. Anyway, I wont be buying one of those watermakers, even though they do look very nice!
 

pulsar2

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Thank you for that.
The dealer tried filing down the brushes. They were a loose fit but just a few hours later they were seized again. There seems to be no build up of carbon dust. The copper brush holder just seems to distort with the heat and lock the brush up. The watch springs that hold the brushes under tension seem also to be affected by the heat. They slowly loose their spring!!! The machine is a good looker but looks are'nt everything !!!!!!! Beware also manufacturers claims on water production. This machine when working correctly will only produce 27lts per hour. It also requires aprox. 5 lts of tank water for the prime and wash proces on every cycle. So if you use the machine for just 1 hour your production is 22lts.
This is due to the high salinity of the Med waters. Especially around Greece. Manufacturer omits to tell you both these factors. So a machine that is specified as nominal 35 lts per hour is only good for approx 22 lts per hour in Greek waters.
 

Heckler

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what i've done before now is get brushes near enough size, they come with springs, and then file them to suit. bosch power tools have nice ones to mess with. Aprox what size are yours?
Stu
 

ccscott49

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No chance of getting another motor, from a different manufacturer? Mind you this is a manufacturing defect, the motor is not fit for use, should be a warranty job.
 
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