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Share your watermaker experience

Discussion in 'Watermakers' started by P46-Curaçao, Dec 1, 2013.

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  1. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

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    I’m looking for a simple watermaker, which converts salt water into fresh water. Not too much electronics, just on-off will do!

    Very important, the fresh water won’t be used for drinking!

    I need about 25 gallon per day, it needs to operate on 12 volt, and I prefer to use it only 8 hours a day (have solar system).

    I have a $2k budget in mind…

    I’m looking for a good advice from experienced users!
  2. HTMO9

    HTMO9 Senior Member

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    Small desalinators

    Katadyn Power Survivor. A very simple DC system which is used by sailors all over the world. Simple, small, low power requirements and comes in 12 or 24 Volt versions with different output rates. The manuell operated version is part of the SOLAS rescue equipment of commercial ships. Very reliable stuff. Made in Switzerland.

    www.katadyn.com

    Attached Files:

  3. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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  4. RER

    RER Senior Member

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    I think the Katadyn Power Survivor cost is about double the OP's desired budget. Which brings us to the fact that $2K probably isn't going to get you where you want to go.

    The lowest cost system would be a running takeout - best scenario is typically where seller is upgrading simply because he needs more capacity. It's best to know the boat and seller or you could be buying more trouble than it's worth. The 12V requirement will limit your possibilities too. Ultimately I believe you're going to have to re-think your budget.
  5. HTMO9

    HTMO9 Senior Member

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    Desalinator

    I do agree. 2 K is a very low budget. With this limit, he has to buy on the used market. And there are not very many 12 Volt DC systems for sale.

    Normal 120 / 230 Volt systems are very difficult to operate on 12 Volt DC via inverter, because of their high power demand. That is the reason, why this Katadyn patent (Katadyn Energy Recovery System) is so successful among sailors.

    There is one cheaper system available, which has even lower power requirements, collect rain water :).
  6. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

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    Ok, will look at the Katadyn Power Survivor, 4k is no problem, but will extend the ROI, that's why I had this limit in mind.

    My goal is, to have my 46ft Post -Sport fishing boat- (not a sailboat) fully self supporting from dock water and electric. The electric side is already done, now I’m looking for fresh water supply.

    The fresh water is not used for drinking.
  7. HTMO9

    HTMO9 Senior Member

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    12 Volt Desalinator

    It does not make any difference whether its a sailboat or a sportfish. Your requirements of 25 Gal a day, produced during about 8 hours of sunlight by solar panels is no problem.

    Blue water sailors run their 12 Volt DC desalinator on their house batteries and recharge their batteries either by a towed sailing generator, a wind generator or by solar panels.

    Taking your example of 25 Gal a day, produced during 8 hours, you would need the Powersurvivor 80 E, which makes 12.9 L/h on 12 Volt, 8 Amps per hour. That means, a 100 Watt solar panel can run your desalinator and feed the access power into your house battery. On a cloudy day, you can run him on your house batteries. Your Diesel Gen or your main engine alternator will recharge them in this case in less than 30 min.

    If your sportfish has an electrical setup for independend liveabord, these 64 amps can be spared easily. In Europe, we see a lot of smaller liveaboard yachts in the 30 to 50 ft range with a combination of solarpanels and wind generator for complete electrical independency without shorepower or diesel generator.

    If you need more electrical power, I would try a combination of solar panel and 12 Volt wind generator. The wind generator can be mounted on the foredeck and be taken down, when the boat leaves the harbour.

    And believe it or not, that desalinator produces perfect drinking water. Thats why circumnavigators completely rely on their watermaker and never take potable water from shore.

    Attached Files:

  8. RER

    RER Senior Member

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    This factor is irrelevant. I'm not aware of any systems that cost less because they make ****** water.
  9. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Salt water soap might be the cheapest way out of this one.

    Did a crossing of Pacific in 83 on a sailboat, found Dynamo Laundry detergent worked well just made the hair a bit stiff.
  10. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

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    Ok thnx, I had the idea it could be relevant...:cool:
  11. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

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    I would consider to build one myself, but I live on a small Island and parts are hard to get and/or way to expansive!

    The eBay link to Quality Water Works, Inc looks good, does anybody have experience with their products?

    If ok, we are near 2k, thnx Capt Bill11
  12. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

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    HTM09, I have 3 Kyocera solar panels (245watt each) with 4 Trojan L16H-AC Deep Cycle batteries, and in Curaçao there is sun every day, so there’s enough juice!

    Maybe I could consider running the watermaker every day for x hours to get the maximum I need to fill up the tank. There is 120 gallon capacity and I need approx 25-35 gallon per week, most for cleaning, icemaker and galley.

    (FYI, we don't drink tank water, actually we drink beer most of the time :D)
  13. Old Phart

    Old Phart Senior Member

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    I dunno
    So, the ice is only for chilling the beer and lovey dovey time? ;)
  14. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

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    Yes, you are right Old Phart, we love the beer ice and ice cold!
  15. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    I'll be back in Ft. Lauderdale in a week or two. I'd be happy to check Sailorman or Mega for used stuff for you. Or shop for the parts you might need to put one together. Stuff like used filter body's, membrane vessels, pumps, etc. are pretty commonly found in the second hand/consignment shops.
  16. P46-Curaçao

    P46-Curaçao Senior Member

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    Appreciate that, but everything I put into my boat must be new, I had too many bad experiences with old or used in the past…learned my lessons!
  17. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    That's going to be real hard to find for that price, unless you make your own system. One idea is to put a union on your a/c raw water manifold and run that as your low pressure pump since it's such a small GPD watermaker you're looking at.....but then the a/c pump would have to run all of the time you're making water.....I'd say make your own system.....for a small volume watermaker, I'd think a raw water washdown pump or baitwell pump would work for the low pressure pump.....
  18. T.K.

    T.K. Senior Member

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    Very nice watermaker. Thanks for the link.
  19. HTMO9

    HTMO9 Senior Member

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    Powersurvivor

    I have the Katadyn Powersurvivor 160 E, 24 Volt Version installed in my 50 ft displacement Riverboat. It works flawless and produces excellent water. The low power consumption makes it very suitable for the DC to inverter setup of smaller boats. I am very reluctant to take shore water because of uncertain quality. With a production rate of more than 500 Liter a day (we never reach the predicted 610 Liter per day, because of the lower water temperatures here), we can waste :) potable water like at home.

    On my larger sailboat, we have the 24 Volt 160 E as a backup system, just in case the HEM Duplex, 400 Volt AC watermaker fails.

    The hand operated version is part of the SOLAS equipment of all life rafts on our commercial ships and we have the smallest version, the 40 E, 12 Volt Version, build into the free fall lifeboats of our cargo ships. This version operates on 12 V DC and can be operated by hand.

    The Katadyn guys come from the outdoor / survival industry. They know what reliability means.