Ryan,
FYI, from experience, bring spares!!!
My wife was on board the Catalina 38 "Peregrine" for Transpac 2011. Peregrine had the Spectra 200. It sucked up some oil seepage going through the channel islands and it ruined the membrane. It was unrepairable and they had to turn back after 4 days.
Great system but man those things are complicated.
Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
I am curious. Will you do a "dry test" with homemade sea water or are you taking Naoma out into a clean ocean spot to test this?
If you have tested it, how does the water taste? How often does one need to clean or service this? Does the output go to a dedicated tank? To all of your tanks through a valve manifold? Can you show us a simple schematic of the system?
The installation in the closet looks very neat and accessible. There is even room for spare parts and more in the closet. Great job!
Mike Jacker
I am curious. Will you do a "dry test" with homemade sea water or are you taking Naoma out into a clean ocean spot to test this?
If you have tested it, how does the water taste? How often does one need to clean or service this? Does the output go to a dedicated tank? To all of your tanks through a valve manifold? Can you show us a simple schematic of the system?
The installation in the closet looks very neat and accessible. There is even room for spare parts and more in the closet. Great job!
Mike Jacker
We did the sampling hose and run it into the head sink, and then click it over on a Y valve to run directly into the tank once its running clean water. I know its a little risky but our little one had a max of 3 gallons per hour and that was only in the warmer waters. Up around these parts, it ran a little over 1.5 gallons per hour. It still takes battery juice so we try only running it while the engine is on to recharge batteries. Ryan, looks like you have a great electric recharge system. How much do you get out of your solar panels?
Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
Having no experience with RO units, I was wondering what one does to sample the output. Is it a taste/smell test or is there a chemical check?
If you drain the system after running it, you need to get the feed of fresh water going. If you're running it every few days or every day, you need to flush the stagnant water. As the system gets going, there is always a little salt water that needs to be flushed through. We found that on the open ocean, the water is pretty free of debris and oil/diesel discharge, so we would run for about 5 minutes so that the hoses are clear all the way through. We had a test kit, but that went by the wayside early. I would just run it for 5 minutes and then taste. If it tasted gross, we need more time or change the filters. We are proactive about the filters so I cannot recall a time when it tasted gross. It is actually tasty water.
Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA