I have to say I was surprised by the level of interest in our recent tip on the fresh water filtering system we used while voyaging to remote places on our McCurdy and Rhodes 56. But hey, let’s celebrate success with another:
I have to say I was surprised by the level of interest in our recent tip on the fresh water filtering system we used while voyaging to remote places on our McCurdy and Rhodes 56. But hey, let’s celebrate success with another:
Ahoy John!
I definitely appreciate the continued info on water quality. It does seem like this is a very expensive alternative for some basic dockside pre-tank water filtration.
Any particular reason you chose this vs. a similar Pentek (or other more universal) filter?
For example, this filter appears to be a 3 micron/carbon block filter for $63 (Aqua Polish #10 Prefiltration Cartridge – General Ecology), while you could get an even finer (0.5 micron) carbon block filter for $20 (Pentek CBC-10 Cyst Reduction Water Filters (9-3/4 in x 2-7/8 in) – WaterFilters.NET) that should also take care of Giardia, cysts, etc.
Cheers,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Sure, if you can get the same thing cheaper, good on you. That said, I don’t think it would make sense to go to .5 micron since it would, I suspect, take an age to fill and block up quickly.
That said, here’s the biggest reason I selected the filter above: https://www.morganscloud.com/2015/07/19/boat-maintenance-dont-go-broke-saving-money/
Hi John,
In places where I consider the water to be good: places where I drink the tap water at restaurants etc. and where cruisers and local knowledge reports it is good; I filter with an “RV type” filter on the hose mostly to pick up any sediment before it gets to the tanks. We also have a Pentek UDS-10EX1 filter on the cold water feed (covers all our drinking needs) between tank and taps.
We have done this for our years in Turkey and in our meandering return to North America via Northern Europe and the Viking route taking ~~15 years.
We have ss tanks with good access, but they have never needed cleaning and I have never added chlorine or the like.
Clearly, I am not sure whether we have been lucky, but the above has worked for us.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Our Taswell has s/s tanks with baffles, and are inaccessible except for a small opening in each. We do have some debris and discoloration in them, but can’t find a way to really clean them…..so we put a “whole house filter” on the pump discharge line, and change it about 1/month…it’s usually red and full by then! We use watermaker water onboard when cruising, but use a standard water filter cannister with a 20 micron filter for shore water when in a marina. Then it often sits empty and idle for 1-3 months at a time. Are you saying you leave treated water sloshing in the cannister when you store your shore water filter cannister? Seems a really good place to breed “nasties”, even if you do run 5-10 minutes of flush water before you start storing that marina water. If it’s been over a couple of weeks since last use we just waste the old shore water filter.
Hi John,
Good question. Not breeding nasties in the wet filter is the reason we add chlorine to it before storing (see last tip), which I think is more effective than trying to dry the element since I’m pretty sure a lot of moisture would stay in it.
re. chlorination: Removing the chlorine or bromine for water in tanks leaves the water a great breeding ground for slime. Not much of a problem in cold climates.
My cruising grounds for the last several years have been in Mexico and the summer water temps are in the high 80’s with air temps approaching 100+.
So with every run of the watermaker we add .5cc of chlorine for every 5 gallons of water which is about 2ppm. Municipal water in the US is about 4ppm.
Lesson learned: pure water in hot climates completely fouled our entire fresh water system. We ran a shock treatment when back in a marina to clean out the tanks and hoses. Never a problem from then on when treating to 2ppm.
Hi Robert,
Great tip, and particularly useful because rather than just slopping in some bleach, you are being systematic about dosing. Thanks.
For several years I used pool/spa chlorine test strips from Lowes or WalMart to monitor the free chlorine in our water tanks. The strips measured 0, 0.5, 1, 5, and 10ppm and were not too useful for the 2-3ppm range I was interested in. I have since found strips that test in the range of 0-6ppm with a 0.05ppm detection limit. The unheated water from the fresh water foot pumps in the galley and the head passes through a 0.5u carbon filter to remove the chlorine before we drink it. The chlorine remains in the water from the other taps. Our tanks are fiberglass, but our water heater tank is aluminum. My hope is that the chlorine takes care of the bacteria, amoeba, and viruses in our tanks while the filter gets the cysts out of our drinking water.
https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-Test-Systems-Bleach-Out-Restaurant/dp/B08VPR4Z86/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1FZCOUAF7M5IU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BUpNIug8fv9GKSClTtCNz8w3yLQCgAJhwQ_HfEBOhkfZoXZISsoH__3mwzoQqrDg-uPU5xdnAdBAw-A5pUNYCIfJAtuH_hXqGgxtTqVpQoB2al4rFTGSoQtfnDyLMcaKlsAIid4ybYvIq6Ff2XpBKgzTCq_QIrVYWloZrxplwfck0sqG3x08nCvHuNxjp9Bh7C69gNpqC27cSmmzQfW9auKnqRo0k5PkTpzemDkqvGk.2Hmw_107wKnoWmFWQC2u0dqW2MdIe6xjcuUmkPV2IAg&dib_tag=se&keywords=chlorine+test+strips+drinking+water&qid=1741742785&sprefix=chlorine+test+strips%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-5
Hi William,
Sounds like a good system and very much in line with our thinking, although we did not have the test strips. Thanks for the link on that.
One thought for you. Chlorine attacks aluminium, although I don’t know what the effect of such low concentrations is, so you may end up with leaks in the water heater. If so, replacement with a SS heater may be a good idea.