water purification

[QuickMick]

do you guys have a water purification system on-board? we are not on city water at the marina. my buddy just installed one of these and it was a snap, he really likes it...

Ultraviolet (UV) water purifiers, filters and purification

[sailingdog]

Why would you need that on a cruising sailboat. It makes more sense to install an RO system, which yields relatively pure water than it does to install a UV water sterilization system.

[oceanscapt]

I've got a particulate and charcoal filter for my drinking water. I use bleach to keep the critters under control. With a bit of common sense, I don't see the need of exotic purification systems.

[W3ODF]

I have been using the British Berkefeld filter system for 10 years in my house. With the white ceramic filters (the black ones tend to break after cleaining). However, from my reading RO will remove salts from seawater the BB (ceramic filters) and UV will not.

[MedSailor]

Looks cool. What did it cost him to set up?

Medsailor

[tdw]

Originally Posted by QuickMick

do you guys have a water purification system on-board? we are not on city water at the marina. my buddy just installed one of these and it was a snap, he really likes it...

Ultraviolet (UV) water purifiers, filters and purification

For a cruising boat out and about yes a watermaker as such (as in RO) seems to make sense but you'll still be storing the water in your tanks and tank water is never all that nice to drink. Some kind of filter therefore makes goos sense but that thing does seem a tadge over the top.

On the other hand, if you intend being in a marina berth semi permanently then a decent filter system might be appropriate.

[capecodda]

Try this:

Marine / RV Water Purifiers and Micro Water Filters - General Ecology Alpha

We are having good luck with this, its small, doesn't require power, etc.

Watermakers are great if you are in "clean water" which usually means outside of a harbor, and can run them at least once a week, which usually means your living aboard.

[QuickMick]

Medsailor, the who kit was 200-300 IIRC, and only about a 20 min setup. he just hooked to the galley lines for the potable water. he uses water in from the dock which is lake water and had an assayer test it. the results indicated two types of microbes or something, hence the filter to avoid having to constantly refill tanks at the gas dock.

[hellosailor]

The UV-C systems are not purifiers, they are sterilizers.

These are two different issues. "Pure" r/o water will have organics and chemicals and metals and silt removed from it, and it may even be close to sterile as it is produced. But any water system can have critters growing in it and drug-resistant (and chlorine resistant) critters have been making the news in the last ten years.

A UV-C system is a good way to ensure there's nothing growing in your drinking water, which could easily be contaminated, say by e-coli that washed in from a loose deck fill cap after a bird poo'd on the deck.

Even in dental offices, they've had problems with critters growing in the water lines and many no longer fill your rinse cup from the "chair" tap, but use a larger faucet or bottled rinse because they got so much flack over it.

Probably a bit over-conservative...but wtf, it is cheaper than curing one round of intestinal problems.