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Post by abgreenbank on Jan 24, 2015 18:20:56 GMT
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Post by hoppy on Jan 27, 2015 14:02:31 GMT
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Post by chuckr on Feb 1, 2015 11:39:21 GMT
hoppy we put on the 80 that gives us 3.5gal an hour and have had it for a while as we did both sides of the caribbean. it runs off our solar panels and we usually ran it 1-2 hours a day. if i had to do it again i would put on the 160.
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Post by hoppy on Feb 1, 2015 15:28:48 GMT
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Post by ianpowolny on Feb 1, 2015 18:19:19 GMT
Sailfish marine.co.uk have a used one for sale
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Post by hoppy on Feb 14, 2016 18:36:28 GMT
No point starting another WM thread.... I thought I'd get the Spectra Ventura 200T but the pricing is stupid in the EU compared to the US and I'm not prepared to pay the EU price level, so I'm looking for cheaper (also pissed off that the Greek distributor has twice not responded with a price) I’ve started looking at the Aquatec DC500 which is made in Germany and is in my acceptable price range www.aquatec-watermaker.de/aquatec_watermaker_12volt.htmlBesides the pricing and the double output volume (60l/h v 31l/h), another plus for the Aquatec is that it is even more modular than the V200T giving me more potential installation options. Downside is that the Aquatec is not an energy recovery WM and for every litre of water produced, it uses a bit more than 2 times the amps (44a/h for 60l V 10a/h for 31l). Regardless of which water maker I get, I'm planning to get a Superwind wind gen to go along side the 200w solar to charge my 440ah house bank. The EU pricing is such that I can get the Aquatec & Superwind for around the same as the V200T There will be two of us onboard and I want it to be "comfortable" for my girlfriend and not need to conserve water. Aquatec do make a smaller capacity unit, the DC320 which produces half the water at half the amps, but its only €300 cheaper and the unit is no smaller. I assume that my house bank size along with Solar/wind charging is more than sufficient for the DC500. My guess is that running the DC500 for two hours every second day (120L less flush) will perhaps be sufficient, and if I time the running of the WM with a fully charged battery and a bit of wind, then the 44 a/h power drain will not be such an issue. If there is no wind and sun and I’m short of water, then the 60l/h will mean I don’t need to run the motor so long. Do these numbers “add up”? I guess my make or break figure is €5000 including taxes. I have found that the Schenker Smart squeezes in my price range Schenker Smart 30any other suggestions not mentioned in this thread???
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Post by On y va on Feb 15, 2016 14:43:12 GMT
Each to their own hoppy, but I find 44Ah rather a lot. Hence I want to go for 5,5 ltr/hr at 4 Amps. Run it every day for 2 or 3 hours and I will have sufficient water, also for 2 people. And no need for any flushing or extra charging of batteries, as 4 amps means you can run it of an 80Watt solar panel or small wind generator. Even when you run it for 4 hours every day, it still only uses 16 Amps. And it is so small, it will fit just about anywhere. In the end most of these 12v WM´s do the same really, if you calculate it back to 1 Amp. I.e. the WM you want hoppy does 1,36 Ltr per Amp and the small unit I want does 1,37 ltrs per hour. It is just how much power you want to burn each time you use the WM. I think the running time is less exiting when you are cruising long distances.
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Post by hoppy on Feb 15, 2016 15:55:20 GMT
Each to their own hoppy, but I find 44Ah rather a lot. Hence I want to go for 5,5 ltr/hr at 4 Amps. Run it every day for 2 or 3 hours and I will have sufficient water, also for 2 people. And no need for any flushing or extra charging of batteries, as 4 amps means you can run it of an 80Watt solar panel or small wind generator. Even when you run it for 4 hours every day, it still only uses 16 Amps. And it is so small, it will fit just about anywhere. In the end most of these 12v WM´s do the same really, if you calculate it back to 1 Amp. I.e. the WM you want hoppy does 1,36 Ltr per Amp and the small unit I want does 1,37 ltrs per hour. It is just how much power you want to burn each time you use the WM. I think the running time is less exiting when you are cruising long distances. I agree that 44 ah seems a lot but since the DC500 it is only €300 more than the DC320 for double the capacity and no size difference, it feels crazy to not spend the extra if I get an Aquatec. It does worry me that even in perfect conditions, with the solar & wind I want it will only just cover the 44amp and of course perfect conditions will never happen and for a few hours in the middle of the day I might get a charge of 25 a/h. My long distance cruising plan looks to be shelved and is replaced by 6 months of island hopping with the occasional longer legs (Greece-Malta). I won't be alone and the WM will be used so we can avoid conserving water and not need to go to the dock (I also need an inverter for a hairdryer to keep the boss happy). So a higher capacity WM is required for topping up every couple of days between anchorages.
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Post by On y va on Feb 15, 2016 16:39:34 GMT
Crap, never thought of a hair dryer! Ssssh, don´t tell my wife I only have a 350Watt inverter!!!
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Post by hoppy on Feb 15, 2016 16:54:59 GMT
I haven't had hair for 15 years, so my first thought was WTF is a hair and how do you dry it Still haven't figured out where I can install the inverter. At least she accepts that it will not be a million watt professional dryer like she uses at home, so it looks like I need an inverter to power 1200w. It will suck that the inverter will cost 10 times the price of the dryer
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Post by vasko on Feb 15, 2016 20:42:35 GMT
my WM is using according to the spec 9ah for 12l/h e.g. not very different from 44ah for 60L - my one is Katadyn 80E - I usually endup running it for about 8+h/day as I need about 100L fresh water a day - I would say go for 44ah/60L - price is exceptional good - my Katadyn is extremely expensive compared with your offer..., but is doing a great job the last two years with not a single fail ! you need to account also for some UV filtering for drinking water ( cheapest option is to use fish tank UV filter) inverter - I have 3000W with remote directly connected with 240amps cables to my house battery bank with 250A fuse and breaker - it does a great job for my bean-to-cup coffee machine and my aircon - but they consume a lot less then a hair dryer - as far as I'm aware the hair dryers are about 2000w-2500W - and they have motor e.g. you may actually need a 4000W inverter to handle the starting of the hair dryer.... in brief the hair drier will be the biggest consumer on your boat 15min on hair dryer = 52ah more then your WM
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Post by vasko on Feb 15, 2016 20:53:50 GMT
looking at the aquatec stuff... looks like the old style pumps.. they are quite noisy usually.. I'm not sure why people over the time has decided to go for electric instead of engine driven watermaker - to be honest if I hadspace in my engine compartment( the true is that my engine compartment is quite small and no spare space there) I would be extremely happy to have a engine driven watermaker which can solve all my daily needs with 1h on engine per day instead running my Katadyn for 8+h/day... and the engine driven watermakers a alot cheaper usually btw: some time a good price WM can be found here or in ebay also www.sailfishmarine.co.uk/Used-watermakers-for-sale
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Post by hoppy on Feb 15, 2016 23:32:31 GMT
looking at the aquatec stuff... looks like the old style pumps.. they are quite noisy usually.. I'm not sure why people over the time has decided to go for electric instead of engine driven watermaker - to be honest if I hadspace in my engine compartment( the true is that my engine compartment is quite small and no spare space there) I would be extremely happy to have a engine driven watermaker which can solve all my daily needs with 1h on engine per day instead running my Katadyn for 8+h/day... and the engine driven watermakers a alot cheaper usually On the Aquatec page they quote a figure of 70 dB which I then found is described as equivalent to a "vacuum cleaner". yikes I would like to only need to run the motor when going in or out of port or an anchorage, if I can...
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Post by hoppy on Feb 15, 2016 23:34:49 GMT
my WM is using according to the spec 9ah for 12l/h e.g. not very different from 44ah for 60L - my one is Katadyn 80E - I usually endup running it for about 8+h/day as I need about 100L fresh water a day - I would say go for 44ah/60L - price is exceptional good - my Katadyn is extremely expensive compared with your offer..., but is doing a great job the last two years with not a single fail ! you need to account also for some UV filtering for drinking water ( cheapest option is to use fish tank UV filter) inverter - I have 3000W with remote directly connected with 240amps cables to my house battery bank with 250A fuse and breaker - it does a great job for my bean-to-cup coffee machine and my aircon - but they consume a lot less then a hair dryer - as far as I'm aware the hair dryers are about 2000w-2500W - and they have motor e.g. you may actually need a 4000W inverter to handle the starting of the hair dryer.... in brief the hair drier will be the biggest consumer on your boat 15min on hair dryer = 52ah more then your WM I found quite a few 1200w hair dryers. Well under what is used at home, but should be an acceptable compromise
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Post by vasko on Feb 16, 2016 0:53:46 GMT
looking at the aquatec stuff... looks like the old style pumps.. they are quite noisy usually.. I'm not sure why people over the time has decided to go for electric instead of engine driven watermaker - to be honest if I hadspace in my engine compartment( the true is that my engine compartment is quite small and no spare space there) I would be extremely happy to have a engine driven watermaker which can solve all my daily needs with 1h on engine per day instead running my Katadyn for 8+h/day... and the engine driven watermakers a alot cheaper usually On the Aquatec page they quote a figure of 70 dB which I then found is described as equivalent to a "vacuum cleaner". yikes I would like to only need to run the motor when going in or out of port or an anchorage, if I can... Do not forget that your Admiral will want hot water also and in the end I always endup running the engine about a hour a day as a minimum to be honest ...
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Post by vasko on Feb 16, 2016 1:00:42 GMT
my WM is using according to the spec 9ah for 12l/h e.g. not very different from 44ah for 60L - my one is Katadyn 80E - I usually endup running it for about 8+h/day as I need about 100L fresh water a day - I would say go for 44ah/60L - price is exceptional good - my Katadyn is extremely expensive compared with your offer..., but is doing a great job the last two years with not a single fail ! you need to account also for some UV filtering for drinking water ( cheapest option is to use fish tank UV filter) inverter - I have 3000W with remote directly connected with 240amps cables to my house battery bank with 250A fuse and breaker - it does a great job for my bean-to-cup coffee machine and my aircon - but they consume a lot less then a hair dryer - as far as I'm aware the hair dryers are about 2000w-2500W - and they have motor e.g. you may actually need a 4000W inverter to handle the starting of the hair dryer.... in brief the hair drier will be the biggest consumer on your boat 15min on hair dryer = 52ah more then your WM I found quite a few 1200w hair dryers. Well under what is used at home, but should be an acceptable compromise consult the admiral it the end you may endup running the 1200w hair dryer 2x the time for 2000+w version ... if you manage to get well with 1200w you may be able to be OK with 2500w inverter - remember that you need a pure sane version + easy way to switch on-off and a safety relay to not end using shore power and inverter in the same time - may be buy directly charger with inverter ....
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Post by On y va on Feb 16, 2016 8:49:49 GMT
vasko and hoppy : you do know that it is unlucky to have women aboard.!! ......this was already common knowledge in the days brave men discovered new Seas and Oceans. By reading all your comments I think this hasn´t changed as such, just that the emphasis now lies on having to rebuild your lovely boat to some floating appartment with hundreds of kilos of batteries and equipment. It will make the sinking process more quick and decisive though! Anyway.......what is quite clear is that needs are different for what your cruising pattern is. As hoppy has indicated his cruising plans have changed and he is not going to cruise long distances, I can imagine a larger watermaker is less of an issue, as if need be, land and 220v is near. I on the other hand am looking for simple, small, light and as energy efficient as possible. A 100 litres per day..... maybe you have a leak somewhere vasko !
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Post by hoppy on Feb 16, 2016 9:01:04 GMT
Yep, the women do complicate things. I was 99% certain of crossing the Atlantic this year and now it's at 1%. The WM started as something "needed" for the crossing and now it's needed as a comfort item. I much more prefer anchoring out, so I'm hoping that the WM, inverter, solar and windgen will allow me to still anchor out needing only to go to a dock once a month to fuel up.
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Post by vasko on Feb 16, 2016 9:17:06 GMT
100L is not much calculating 3 people ( Me , Mu wife and my daughter - 4 years old) having showers once a day and the other usual shot shower on deck after swimming and doing some washing up etc... e.g. 100L is a good comfort hoppy - my idea was the same like yours to stay only on anchor and do not use the engine much, I have 250W solars + wingen 400W - the solars are very effective - the windgen so-so , but definitely to have some decent juice you will need AT LEST 500W solars less then that you will ending up running engine minimum 1h a day... - at least this is what happens to me.. I usually have on the boat also, internet, 2 laptops, 2 tablets, 4 mobiles and some other electrical extras also.. and I'm struggling to decide where to put more solars at this stage...e.g. most likely will leave the setup as it is for this summer...
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Post by On y va on Feb 16, 2016 9:38:27 GMT
vasko: yeah I know, I was teasing a bit. Basically you have moved your house and that way of living onto the water. It happens to most of us . But this is i.e. a reason I have installed a footpump in the kitchen too: save water and power at sea. Last week also installed a red and green warning light, which I can see from the steering position in the cockpit. So if the water pump or bilge pump come on, these lights come on (I have no alarm on the bilge pump). Nothing worse than having your water tank drained mid ocean without you knowing it.
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Post by vasko on Feb 16, 2016 16:09:48 GMT
agree I also have foot pump for salt water in the kitchen sink... very useful in saving water... the alarm is good idea - I had my tank with fresh water in the bilges once.. but was not in the mid ocean .. still very annoying... may be a light when the fresh water pump is working can be useful also...
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