so... about this water maker...

its all spaghetti!

There is so much plumbing involved its ridiculous....

Of course, it could be much simplet, but me being me decided that it needed to be complex...

There are three main pipes on the water maker....

Sea water in
Brine out
Fresh water (product) out

However, there are a few things that also need doing...

It needs to be flushed with fresh water if its not to be used for approx 7 days.... it needs to be 'pickled' with a special solution if its not to be used within a month or so... the product needs to diverted to go overboard for a while when running after pickling, or after a long stand... and finally, the fresh water flush needs to take water through a charcoal filter, as any chlorine destroys the membrane... got all that?

So what is the result.... well... its four three way valves, all fitted to a plethora of different sized pipes.... so a handfull of different sized hoze tails to fit to the 3 way valves..

Firstly, the brine out.... this goes to the first 3 way valve, which diverts the water either overboard (through a tee that I have put in an existing 'above the water line' through hull fitting, or the other way to a hose that is just loose for now, and will go into a bucket when pickling is underway...

Next the sea water in.... this goes firstly to a 3 way valve that selects on one side another loose pipe to go in the pickling bucket (in and out in the bucket see?)... and on the other side to another three way valve that selects either sea water (will be teed into the engine water intake with a one way valve to stop the engine trying to scavenge water from the watermaker), and on the other side to a fresh water supply.

This fresh water supply must go through the charcoal filter and also be on the pressurised side of the system.... but rather than just putting it in line, i'm fitting the water filter by the main tank feed into the water system, so that the whole boat benefits from filtered water.

Finally, the product out goes to another 3 way valve which on one side is teed into the tank breather, allowinf fresh water to enter the tank, and on the other side to a small tank vent which I need to fit to the transom, so that wtare can be pushed overboard to start with....

This weekend, with a concerted effort I've got this mostly plumbed in bar the fresh water filter, the skin fitting for fresh water dumping, and the tee into the engine water intake...

and take a deep breath.... and remind yourself to plan carefully when you buy your own watermaker... buying the right plumbing bits first time will qualify you for Mensa....