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Sea Recovery Watermakers; lack of support...

Discussion in 'Watermakers' started by Pascal, Sep 16, 2013.

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  1. Pascal, Sep 16, 2013
    #1
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I mentioned on another thread that we had issues with our Sea Recovery touch screen developping a number of lines over the 5 years it was installed. It finally got to a point where it was unreadable so I called the dealer/installer.

    It s even worst than expected... Sea Recivery doesn't make those screens anymore and switched to a different technology. of course they don't have any old style replacement.

    To install the new one, we have to retrofit a good chunk of the electronics and add a by pass to the pump. So after only 5 years, total cost is close to $4000 to keep a $14000 watermaker going. Plus the $1000 screen control board we had to replace out of warranty 2 years ago...

    Needless to say, I will never install or recommend any Sea Recovery product on any boat I own or run.
  2. K1W1, Sep 16, 2013
    #2
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    If it is your own boat you can get rid of all that electronic stuff and run the units manually.

    Pressure regulating valve, Pressure gauges, on and of for the pumps and a sal meter to check the product before changing the 3 way in the discharge into the tanks.

    I don't know how much of what you have already can be cannibalised to achieve the desired result but it might be worth a look before shelling out all that coin.
  3. Pascal, Sep 16, 2013
    #3
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    If it was my I boat I would consider that solution. But it s not and I am always relu tank to "downgrade" anything,, especially since an automatic system was installed by the current owner for ease of use when boat is on a mooring and "captain less"

    It s the lack of support for a fairly recent system that gets me...the boating industry is the only sector where we have to deal with this. Imagine someone buying a new car and the manufacturer telling them after 5 years that they have to dish out that kind of money to upgrade the computers because they don't make parts anymore. I hate boat vs car parallels but boat really means Bend Over and Takeit, doesn't it...
  4. NYCAP123, Sep 16, 2013
    #4
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    $19,000 could buy a lot of bottled water; probably more than 5 years worth. I've had similar dealings with Mar-quip and Raymarine, and a few yards. Yep, sure glad I learned early that it's better to run them than to own them.
  5. Pascal, Sep 16, 2013
    #5
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    You need to come down to the Bahamas more often :). Dock water can run up to 0.40 a gallon... On charter we use 300 to 400 gal a day... Spend 5 to 6 week there a year... $3000 to 4000 a year in water... And having to go back to a dock every two days to refill? Would mess our plans... Watermaker is a must have.
  6. Capt J, Sep 16, 2013
    #6
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I agree with Kiwi, go manual with it. You can always get it going and a computer issue will not leave you anchored without a shower. Usually once you get them running and check them 5-15 mins later, you usually don't have to adjust the pressure after that. Plus if there's a quick power glitch it doesn't shut off, just keeps going.
  7. Capt Bill11, Sep 16, 2013
    #7
    Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    I third the "go manual" idea.

    As I posted at BE, just bypass the control board and set it up to run manually and use a spring wound timer and a solenoid valve to control the FW flush cycle.

    We just bought 2 new Matrix 1200 gal/day units. I made sure they have no digital controls or panels on them other than a standard PPM meter just for the reasons you describe.

    If you want I can give you the name and number of my contact at Matrix. Perhaps they can sell you the bits and pieces you'd need to convert it to a manual unit and walk you through how to do it. Can't hurt to talk to them about it.
  8. Pascal, Sep 16, 2013
    #8
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I need to keep the electronic system working but I indeed wonder if adding manual control as a back up wouldn't be an option. I ll look into it

    Reliability is one thing but what really bugs me here is who they just force you to replace a bunch of things.
  9. Capt J, Sep 16, 2013
    #9
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Well then you're stuck buying their parts for $4k. I'd go manual and not even think once about it. Once you get a watermaker going, it just runs, if you're going to leave the boat for a while, just lower the high pressure a bit just in case. The last electronic watermaker I ran, the flush solenoid got stuck and dumped the entire water tank right before everyone was going to take showers for dinner......
  10. MBevins, Sep 17, 2013
    #10
    MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    If it's just the screen that's bad there are companies out there that repair them. They are mostly in the industrial world. If you Google it you'll find them. If you have any trouble PM me and I'll do some digging
  11. Askaer, Nov 14, 2013
    #11
    Askaer

    Askaer Guest

    Gentlemen - without having seen this note - earlier on today I just replied to a two year old complaint by BOATGUY901 on the very same matter. Have a look at my homepage Bitten & Heine Askaer-Jensen, Grand Banks 47EU Heritage Trawler Motor Yacht in Singapore and go to OWNERSHIP where of pure frustration and disgrace you will find exactly the very same treatment and conclusion from Singapore after only 3 hours of use and 10 hours from new in total. You are unfortunately not alone!!! Poor show - nothing less!!