He knows the guy selling the water maker(s) and posted one of them on Craigslist for him and bought the other. That’s not the point though. The point here is that they seem to be not that complicated.
Lenard (that’s our dock mate) with friend
Marie are living on a Hunter 42’? Sloop. He got the membrane and gauges and I
am not sure what other parts from buying the used water maker. The pressure
pump was not there.
OK the pictures are not much good but you get the idea.
No special high pressure hoses etc and it works.
Lenard went to Home Depot and bought a pressure
washer and took the pump out. He plumbed it to the rest of the water maker and
is making water. He said the motor was essentially ready to use. It even had a switch right on the motor etc. He just took it out of the pressure washer and hooked it up to the water maker.
He used an old toilet through hull so he cannot make water
when healing on one side (through hull is too high) but otherwise it works
fine.
He is in the process of converting the transducer
into a spot for getting the water.
Lenard said at one point (water was cold) he
was making 12 Gal an hour. He has made 7 gal an hour and has run it off 12
volts.
He hooked the testing water with a couple of
valves to his foot pump to sink tube so he can taste the water before it goes
into the tank.
He said the pump may die but the pump is really
under used pressure wise and could easily be replaced even in Mexico with
another cheap HD pressure washer pump.
Lenard and Marie are sailing to Mexico this
month so time will tell how this all works out.
How cool! I just now saw this post. The water maker works GREAT! It filters water faster with warmer water... We kind of regret not carrying more filters with us, so far they are a bit hard to find with the correct micron level. The pump is also holding out (fingers crossed knocking on wood) but most hardware stores (Ferretaria) here in La Paz hold common pressure washers equivalent to our Home Depot model. Yay!
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