Reverse Osmmosis Watermakers for 2

[matt2]

Any one have any suggestions on a good reverse osmosis water makers for two people, who may use a bit more water than they should.

Fairly large tanks.

As small and compact as possible, and easy to maintain, but reliable in the long term. Quality the most important issue?

[xort]

Can't make any recommendations, don't know enough.
But, how will you power a watermaker? My limited knowledge is that they are power hogs. Many are 110 volt powered.

Looking at your questions about refers, I think you need to consider both of these systems in tandem. Will the power source for one system work with the other? Will the high power alternator provide enough amps to charge the batteries AND run the watermaker? A 6 GPH 110 volt uses about 12 amps and actually only makes about 5 gallons in one hour. They are about as big as 4 to 6 shoe boxes. More capacity gets to be a bigger machine and more power draw.

Do you have a genset of some kind? That could change the equasion on your refer situation too.

[AMEX]

Hi

Tempted by this one myself. Seems very simple and good enough for two people.

www cruising-watermaker.com/Euro/Web/waterlog100.htm

PS: I missed the dot after www because my status as a newbie does not let me give you the full link.

[sailingdog]

I'd recommend going with a Pur PowerSurvivor 40E. It is about the right size for two people and can be manually powered in a pinch.

[Cbarg]

I have a spectra that produces 8 gals.per hr. and uses 8 amps. 12v, three months in the bahamas and worked great. It is compact and easy to use.

[matt2]

Ok thanks again guys, I do like compact & 12v!

Phew, they sure do use a lot of power!

Pur PowerSurvivor 40E - elec & manual backup
Spectra that produces 8 gals.per hr. and uses 8 amps
waterlog100

I will do some measurements and make a decision.

[svsirius]

Matt

think this way. do you want to make all the water you need while running your engine or charging or do you want lower draw but running more/most of the time?

If the former than larger output is better if the latter than the powersurvivor type is better.

For the former Spectra or Sea Recovery both make high output/lower draw 12v units ranging from 150-400 gal/day.

We ended up with a Sea Recovery 300 gal/day unit that is modular and puts out 12.5 gal/hr. That means in the 1-2 hours every other day or so we are charging we can make 25 gal of water.. that puts back a lot of what we burned in the period. Then on passage we when running the engine we make enough to get the tanks pretty full. Make for no water shortages...

[sailingdog]

Don't get the Waterlog. They've got a serious problem with actually delivering a working product from what I've seen. The company has also had some financial issues IIRC. I wouldn't even consider it. While the idea/concept of a towed watermaker is a neat one, the company is considered less than reliable if you google for it. Also, consider the fact that no major English language sailing publication has ever reviewed it—even though it is made in the UK.

LINK, LINK,

Also, when designing the installation, I would highly recommend having the watermaker have its own tank for its output. This is for two reasons. First, it prevents the watermaker water from contaminating the other water or vice versa. Second, it reduces the chances of you back flushing the watermaker with chlorinated water, which will destroy the RO membrane. You usually back flush the watermaker with RO water to clear the saltwater side before shutting it down for short periods of time.

[Cbarg]

With our 280 watts of solar and 4 winds generator we could make 24 gals. per day (3 Hrs.) most days. That keep the tank almost full and the batteries at 80%. The days we ran the 2000 watt honda we would top of the tank. Two tanks would be good if you have room.We test the water before switching to the tank and haven't had any problems in the last 2 years. In the bahamas we didn't need to change the prefilter for 3 months but state side offshore needed to change every time. We flush with tank water that is run thru a charcoal filter that removes the chlorine if we are not going to make water wtihin the week. No need to flush if the unit is used that often. Looked at alot of units but this spectra 200 was the best bang for the buck,1 amp per gal. and able to keep up with our 24 gal per day avg.

[matt2]

This is a great forum! I wish I found it sooner.

So looks like the Spectra (200 maybe) is a front runner.
The the Sea Recovery (300) a close second.