Common Watermaker Mistakes?
- Thread starter Rick D
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Water IN....Water OUT
Going for the "bells and whistles", instead of the basics, is probably numero uno mistake made, by the average "uneducated water maker purchaser", when making the decision on which to water maker to purchase. In other words, there's been a lot of "hype" this past year, or so, with automation on units, which in my professional opinion is not always the best thing. Take, automatic fresh water flushing, for instance. I for one, a long time boater, do not particularly "warm up" to the idea of having to leave my fresh water pressure pump ON all the time (which is mandatory, for automatic fresh water flushing) on my boat. In my 27 years in service, yacht management and commissioning, I cannot tell you how many times I have been called to a vessel that had "sprung a leak" in a fresh water system, due to a cracked Qest fitting, or compromised filter seal, or whatever and sometimes, in fact most times, this was on boats that did not even have a water maker! My point here is that leaving the pressure water pump ON when you're away from your vessel for periods of time is NOT the best idea. I once had a client empty a 350 gallon fresh water tank in his engine room, after a Qest fitting split open and sprayed water all over his engine room, spare inventory (had been dry!) and worst of all wiring and terminal busses on the bulkhead. Had the owner been aboard when this happened, he'd have heard his pressure pump "cycling" and could have "nipped this in the bud" and saved a lot of hassle, clean up and repairs. Besides this potential, again, as a boater myself, I prefer to be THERE (or have a qualified service tech. there) when performing any type of maintenance on my systems, especially on my water maker and/or fresh water system, when the "running of water" is necessary. Now, I'll bet you're asking yourself...."well, doesn't Village Marine Tec offer an automatic fresh water flush system?" Yes, Village Marine Tec does, however, not on our smaller 12vdc units, designed more so for the cruising sailing vessels. Our theory is, that for the most part this application is being used by "hands on" folks and the need is not there, coupled with a long time falicy that water makers need to be flushed after every run, or at scheduled intervals as well. The fact of the matter is that some membrane manufacturers recommend that sea water membranes NOT be fresh water flushed at all! The "hot ticket" is use the unit! Make water! However, at Village Marine Tec, we know, from 27+ years of experience and also having and continuing to manufacture units not only for the cruising sailors all over the world, but for commercial fishing, commercial industrial offshore platform use and land based applications, not to mention the the military applications that we provide to the US Navy and US Coast Guard that most all operators want to be there when performing any maintenance on their units. The optional automatic flush systems that Village Marine Tec does offer on all of our AC powered units is still "operator initiated", by the push of a button. It is not on a timer. In other words, although we do have that option available to larger applications as well, mostly on industrial size units being used on oil platforms, or on very large commercial workboat applications, Village Marine Tec has come to the conclusion, where fresh water flushing is concerned, to recommend a unit be fresh flushed about once every 2-1/2 to 3 weeks, when NOT in USE making water and about twice a week, when you're using your unit daily to make water. All of our units come standard with a manual fresh water flush system, for the "hands on" operators and if you simply want to "push a button" and not have to turn any valves, you can purchase our automatic fresh water flush option, on our AC powered units. My point here is that YOU'RE STILL IN CONTROL OF THIS PROCEDURE" AND ON SITE while performing the flush. For those of you who plan to leave your boats for long periods of time (longer than a month, say), then yes, you'd have to preserve ("pickle") the unit and again, look for the manufacturer who incorporates a simple procedure for doing this in their systems. For instance, you'll want to have high pressure by-passing capability and cleaning valves and so on, to make this is as simple as possible, which are all things taken into account on certain manufacturers equipment. So, getting back to my "title" above, water makers are all basically the same....WATER IN .. WATER OUT, but it's all about the features on them, the material used in their construction and the design of the unit, for reliability, user friendliness and durability. Maybe all of these things are why Village Marine Tec's Little Wonder series is the only water maker "out there" that has lifetime gaurantees on the pressure vessels, high pressure pump fluid end manifold and a 3 year pro-rated warranty on the membrane element(s), not to mention the unit carries a limited 5 year warranty on the overall system. So, to summarize, don't make the mistake of being sold on "bells and whistles", look at the "guts of the unit" and the basic design and ask yourself if you'd be able to "fix it", in a pinch if you had to, or is the unit even reparable, as some pumps are NOT!, or if they are, are very difficult for the novice pump repairman to deal with. Never sacrifice QUALITY IN MATERIAL, WORKMANSHIP, DESIGN, USER FRIENDLINESS AND FIELD SERVICEABILITY, for all the other features which may really have not a lot to do with the unit's basic function to Make Water, which is what you're buying it for, in the first place. Also, and in ending this "epic" here.....price is not always the best thing to go by. I think it was AMCO who used to say...."pay me now, or pay me later"...no??
Going for the "bells and whistles", instead of the basics, is probably numero uno mistake made, by the average "uneducated water maker purchaser", when making the decision on which to water maker to purchase. In other words, there's been a lot of "hype" this past year, or so, with automation on units, which in my professional opinion is not always the best thing. Take, automatic fresh water flushing, for instance. I for one, a long time boater, do not particularly "warm up" to the idea of having to leave my fresh water pressure pump ON all the time (which is mandatory, for automatic fresh water flushing) on my boat. In my 27 years in service, yacht management and commissioning, I cannot tell you how many times I have been called to a vessel that had "sprung a leak" in a fresh water system, due to a cracked Qest fitting, or compromised filter seal, or whatever and sometimes, in fact most times, this was on boats that did not even have a water maker! My point here is that leaving the pressure water pump ON when you're away from your vessel for periods of time is NOT the best idea. I once had a client empty a 350 gallon fresh water tank in his engine room, after a Qest fitting split open and sprayed water all over his engine room, spare inventory (had been dry!) and worst of all wiring and terminal busses on the bulkhead. Had the owner been aboard when this happened, he'd have heard his pressure pump "cycling" and could have "nipped this in the bud" and saved a lot of hassle, clean up and repairs. Besides this potential, again, as a boater myself, I prefer to be THERE (or have a qualified service tech. there) when performing any type of maintenance on my systems, especially on my water maker and/or fresh water system, when the "running of water" is necessary. Now, I'll bet you're asking yourself...."well, doesn't Village Marine Tec offer an automatic fresh water flush system?" Yes, Village Marine Tec does, however, not on our smaller 12vdc units, designed more so for the cruising sailing vessels. Our theory is, that for the most part this application is being used by "hands on" folks and the need is not there, coupled with a long time falicy that water makers need to be flushed after every run, or at scheduled intervals as well. The fact of the matter is that some membrane manufacturers recommend that sea water membranes NOT be fresh water flushed at all! The "hot ticket" is use the unit! Make water! However, at Village Marine Tec, we know, from 27+ years of experience and also having and continuing to manufacture units not only for the cruising sailors all over the world, but for commercial fishing, commercial industrial offshore platform use and land based applications, not to mention the the military applications that we provide to the US Navy and US Coast Guard that most all operators want to be there when performing any maintenance on their units. The optional automatic flush systems that Village Marine Tec does offer on all of our AC powered units is still "operator initiated", by the push of a button. It is not on a timer. In other words, although we do have that option available to larger applications as well, mostly on industrial size units being used on oil platforms, or on very large commercial workboat applications, Village Marine Tec has come to the conclusion, where fresh water flushing is concerned, to recommend a unit be fresh flushed about once every 2-1/2 to 3 weeks, when NOT in USE making water and about twice a week, when you're using your unit daily to make water. All of our units come standard with a manual fresh water flush system, for the "hands on" operators and if you simply want to "push a button" and not have to turn any valves, you can purchase our automatic fresh water flush option, on our AC powered units. My point here is that YOU'RE STILL IN CONTROL OF THIS PROCEDURE" AND ON SITE while performing the flush. For those of you who plan to leave your boats for long periods of time (longer than a month, say), then yes, you'd have to preserve ("pickle") the unit and again, look for the manufacturer who incorporates a simple procedure for doing this in their systems. For instance, you'll want to have high pressure by-passing capability and cleaning valves and so on, to make this is as simple as possible, which are all things taken into account on certain manufacturers equipment. So, getting back to my "title" above, water makers are all basically the same....WATER IN .. WATER OUT, but it's all about the features on them, the material used in their construction and the design of the unit, for reliability, user friendliness and durability. Maybe all of these things are why Village Marine Tec's Little Wonder series is the only water maker "out there" that has lifetime gaurantees on the pressure vessels, high pressure pump fluid end manifold and a 3 year pro-rated warranty on the membrane element(s), not to mention the unit carries a limited 5 year warranty on the overall system. So, to summarize, don't make the mistake of being sold on "bells and whistles", look at the "guts of the unit" and the basic design and ask yourself if you'd be able to "fix it", in a pinch if you had to, or is the unit even reparable, as some pumps are NOT!, or if they are, are very difficult for the novice pump repairman to deal with. Never sacrifice QUALITY IN MATERIAL, WORKMANSHIP, DESIGN, USER FRIENDLINESS AND FIELD SERVICEABILITY, for all the other features which may really have not a lot to do with the unit's basic function to Make Water, which is what you're buying it for, in the first place. Also, and in ending this "epic" here.....price is not always the best thing to go by. I think it was AMCO who used to say...."pay me now, or pay me later"...no??
Hey, Russ, Thanks
Boy, I have been around other people's watermakers for a while, and your discussion on flushing certainly corrects some misconceptions I had. I know my uncle had one of your units on his trawler for 20 years and used it on his Avalon mooring for all that time. He did fresh water flush when he returned, but I think that was it. Actually, I don't think he EVER pickled it. (BTW, despite the alleged questionable Avalon water quality, that unit worked well for months at a time.) Rick D.
Boy, I have been around other people's watermakers for a while, and your discussion on flushing certainly corrects some misconceptions I had. I know my uncle had one of your units on his trawler for 20 years and used it on his Avalon mooring for all that time. He did fresh water flush when he returned, but I think that was it. Actually, I don't think he EVER pickled it. (BTW, despite the alleged questionable Avalon water quality, that unit worked well for months at a time.) Rick D.
They don't read the small print
about the output of the watermaker as relates to the water temperature. They are rated using fairly warm water - I forget the temp. The output is much less when the water is cold like it is in much of Puget Sound.
about the output of the watermaker as relates to the water temperature. They are rated using fairly warm water - I forget the temp. The output is much less when the water is cold like it is in much of Puget Sound.
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