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Spectra Watermaker Operator Notes for Cruisers In June of 1999, I installed a Spectra 180C on our CSY 44 sailboat, Tackless II and left the Virgin Islands on an extended cruise that after 4½ years has brought us to Mexico's Sea of Cortez for our second summer. Our watermaker has now run for 1506 hrs without a failure. That is not to say we have not had to fix a leak or change out a few parts, but it has never failed and we have never been out of freshwater. Because I wanted to keep it that way (in March we are scheduled to head for the South Pacific), I attended a one-week Technical School in February of 2003, at the main office of Spectra in San Rafael, CA.. Paid my money, spent a week, got my manuals, my Spectra Technical Rep. wall plaque (if I had a wall), tool kit and spare parts. Does it make me a Spectra expert? Hardly. Do I know a little more about them than the average guy? I sure as hell hope so. In the ten months since taking the course I've spent hours and hours in watermaker talk on every boat I've met, including almost every Spectra owner and lots of wannabe Spectra owners. I discovered that the questions and the problems are almost always the same. Spectra Watermakers are very reliable machines. So reliable that many users do not give them the very simple attentions they need. With very few exceptions, the problems that cost you product water, extra power or poor quality water result either from lack of attention OR lack of understanding of the basic needs of your unit. For this reason, I decided to take the time to put together this "Information Summary". All this info is in the manual (Well, almost all of it!), but maybe this will be easier to get though. So here goes-the "Cliff Notes" for Spectra or "Watermakers for Dummies." All watermakers work basically the same way: they pump saltwater up to a pressure high enough to force freshwater out of it through a membrane while the rest of the saltwater goes back to the fish. But from this point on, each system is somewhat different. Your Spectra has a feed pump (either one or two small 12-volt pumps or the new Vane or Super Turbine pumps) that pumps a certain amount of water into the Clark pump. The Spectra Intensifier (Clark pump) intensifies that pressure ABOUT NINE TIMES to reach and maintain the pressure needed to produce freshwater. No sales pitch needed here, you already know your Spectra takes less power to produce more water and less noise than any of the others out there. In your diesel engine, you keep the fuel clean, change the filters, and watch the gauges for possible changes in the working parts and you can go thousands of hours with very little trouble. Your watermaker is the same. Keep the filters clean so the Clark pump and membrane get good water and keep an eye on the head pressures for any changes, and you'll have thousands of gallons of freshwater to use for however long you PAY ATTENTION. So here is what you have to look for. Production problems are almost always tied to feed flow. Let me repeat that-IF YOUR WATERMAKER IS NOT MAKING THE AMOUNT OF WATER IT IS SUPPOSED TO, YOUR FEED FLOW IS GENERALLY AT FAULT! Unless you have just moved into much colder water, the problem will generally be in one of the following areas. Diagnose Your Feed Flow Problem 1. Check your sea strainer. 2. Check the prefilters. Your prefilters need to be kept clean. There is no hard rule as to how often. Some users clean their filters after every watermaking session, some every other session, others every 25 hours, and others only when the product flow begins to go down. When you aren't getting the right amount of water through your filter, even when they look fine, put in a new one. No need to throw a used filter away! As long as there are no tears or holes in the pleats, you can clean and reuse them for many hundreds of hours. Many people drag their dirty filters behind the boat. I spray the gunk off ours carefully with our salt-water deck wash-down hose. Once clean, allow the filters to dry in the sun, then store them for your next filter change. I have heard some people swear by soaking their cleaned filters in a bucket of water with a bit of bleach (one capful in about 2-3 gallons of freshwater), rinse in freshwater after about 30 to 45 minutes in the solution and then let the bleached filters dry in the sun. Be very careful of this procedure; while chlorine (bleach) should evaporate away, always remember that chlorine is the one substance that will do in your membrane. ANOTHER word of caution, if you use chlorine-type treatments in your tanks, extra attention needs to be paid to your charcoal filter in the fresh water flush system. You DO NOT want any chlorine to reach your membrane. Change the charcoal filter every six months if you are exposing your watermaker to anything other than saltwater or the water you make yourself. 3. Check your voltage. Battery voltage is directly related to production. Always try to run your Spectra when voltage is at its highest. Pumps are rated at 12 volts, and while they will run on a lot less they will draw more power, run hotter, not last as long and, MOST IMPORTANTLY for this discussion, not pump enough water for your desired product output. 4. Check your voltage at the pump and under load. Even if you had a small voltage drop when you installed it, it may be more now thanks to a loose or corroded connection. Check your connections regularly and keep them clean. 5. Ensure there are no new kinks or restrictions in the hose from the thru-hull to the feed pump to the Clark Pump. Once those items have been checked and are OK, then… 6. Measure the output of the pump(s). With the Clark pump PRESSURIZED, measure the output from the discharge hose AND the product line. Use a measured container (I use a one-quart measuring cup) and a STOP watch, and do the math. On one Shurflo pump, for example, you should get 90 gallons an hour (1.5 gallons/minute) feed flow, on two pumps you should get 150 gallons per hour (2.6 gallons/minute). For every 10 gallons per hour you DO NOT HAVE coming through your system, you lose ONE gallon of product. There is no way to beat this mathematical relationship; you have to have the flow to make the water. (Note: If your Spectra is a 200C, 380C, or Santa Cruz, your Clark pump is a 10% displacement pump. Although the outsides of all Clark pumps look the same, their displacements are different. The Ventura 150's are 7.5% pumps, the 700's and 1000's system are 15% and 20%.) If #1-5 are good and #6 is not, then you need a NEW PUMP HEAD on one or both of your feed pumps. There is NO other answer. This is the most common problem with the Shurflo feed pumps. As the bearings wear, the pump will still run, sound and act fine, they just pump less and less water and your production will start going down. As your production starts going down, your water quality also begins to deteriorate as your PPMs slightly increase. Spectra owners, whose systems use Shurflo pumps, should carry spare pump heads in on-board inventory. Pump Pressures: When you replace a pump head, you must CHECK the static feed pressure for the pump and most probably reset it. Follow the directions that come with the kit. A single pump unit needs to be set at 100 psi, double pumps need to be set at 125 psi. Each pump has to be set individually. Once the new head is installed and the system is reassembled, shut off the discharge valve (center position on the 3-way Y-valve) turn the pump on and watch the feed pressure gauge. Pressure should increase rapidly to the desired psi setting at which time the feed pump should shut off. If not, then adjust according to pump instructions. (Using an Allen wrench, turn set screw in the pump head clockwise to increase the pressure and counter-clockwise to decrease it.) Caution should be taken on the first test startup to be ready to turn the pump off manually if the pressure continues past 150 psi or so. New installs usually do not have to worry as the pressures are preset at the factory. Likewise, if you replace the whole pump and not just the pump head. However, it is a good idea and a very easy thing to check. It will not harm your system. Periodically, you can use this procedure to check your entire system for leaks. Turn the discharge valve off, run the pressure up to the cut-off pressure and watch the gauge. If the pressure remains constant the system is good. If the pressure "bleeds off" you have a leak somewhere. The feed pump head pressures have to be set correctly for the Clark pump to shift properly and smoothly. Too low and the pump won't have enough pressure for the pump to shift at all. Too high will only affect the amount of pressure you put on the entire system should there be a blockage in the discharge side of the system. This is the MAIN reason to have the high side limits -- for those unforeseen acts of accidentally leaving the discharge valve closed after servicing or developing some unidentified blockage and turning the system on. YIKES! For those of you with the new Mag-drive Vane pumps, (Catalina 300's) pressure will increase to about 140 psi and the head will "decouple", the pump will continue to run and it won't sound pretty. There is no bypass valve as the pump simply decouples. Long periods of running decoupled will weaken the magnetic coupling magnet that will cause the system to decouple at lower pressures. Units with the MPC will alarm SYSTEM STALLED when this happens. The Newport 400 bypass is set at 150 psi. To set this, block the brine discharge, remove the SS cap nut on the pump head, and turn the slotted head clockwise to increase and counter-clockwise to decrease the set pressure. Set the bypass at 150 psi. The Newport 700 should be set at 200 psi and the Newport 1000 at 250 psi. For the twin pump systems, if one pump is set too low, it may shut off completely as the other pump reaches the "shift pressure". Not only does this affect the production of the system, it sounds like hell. Get them both set at 125 psi. This will not only keep the production up where it should be but help the Clark Pump shift much more smoothly. Lastly on the pressure setup side, the system accumulator tank needs to be set at 65 to 70 pounds for all systems. This will help the Clark pump shift more smoothly by keeping the system feed pressure as constant as possible. Some adjustments might be needed to make this work as smoothly as you would like. It's fine-tuning and tanks are preset at the factory, but if the shift pressures start to change much, then it is the first thing to check. Remember the shift pressures are measuring the change from one side of the pump to the other. In an engineer's perfect world the pressures would be exactly the same on both sides (all pieces of the puzzle would be perfectly equal), but since that will never happen, we shoot for no more than 10 pounds difference for a balanced system. If shift pressures exceed that by very much, then we need to look at the accumulator pressure, the head pressures and lastly, the Clark Pump for some kind of wear. Spectra Intensifier (Clark Pump) The Spectra Intensifier (current name for the Clark Pump) is the backbone of the whole system and IS THE DIFFERENCE between Spectra and any other watermaker. It is the magic key to Spectra's high output for low amperage draw. Spectra has made numerous changes and improvements over the years and even over the last few months, and I'm sure that there will be more changes and improvements as time goes on. The bottom line here is that if you keep the prefilters clean and do regular freshwater flushes, there is very little that can or will go wrong with the pump itself. Of all the systems I worked with this summer in the Sea, there were only two Clark pumps that had failed, and only one which failed to the point that it would not make water at all! (That failure was due to a broken reversing spool, a part that has been redesigned and is replaced in every pump that we find.) Production may go down, it may leak or the quality of the water may go down somewhat, but almost NEVER will the Clark Pump QUIT working. However, since the pump is a mechanical piece of equipment with moving parts, pieces do wear and occasionally break. Here are the most common problems currently found. 1. Should your pump completely "lock up", there is generally only ONE thing that can cause this. Your reversing spool has broken. This spool was originally built in 3 pieces and screwed together. It is now machined as one solid piece. Any pump that has been remanufactured or opened up by ANY factory rep where these "old style" spools have been found will have had this part replaced. SHOULD you be caught out with a broken spool valve, it can repaired by drilling a hole through it and screwing it together with a flat head #10 wood or sheet metal screw about 1 ½" long. Works great! You can check your pump's spool very easily by taking one of the end blocks off your reversing assembly (top block of pump). Remove the four end bolts and lift the block away from the pump. If you see a "threaded hole" in the end of the spool, you have the older style. This does NOT mean your pump WILL fail, it just means it has a "suspect part" that has been known to fail in the past. I would recommend you obtain a replacement spool in the event you should need it in the future. When you replace the end block, care should be taken to make sure the large o-ring is in place on the piston opening. Using soapy water on all o-rings and surfaces, it is best to place the large o-ring on the end block side of the assembly, making sure that both of the small o-rings are still on the valve (center) block assembly. Push the retaining ring of the end block into the center block and tighten all four bolts evenly. To confirm that the spool has in fact broken, unpressurize the pump and turn it on. The pump should run, shift and sound normal. Then pressurize the pump. The pressure should build steadily until the feed pump cutoff pressure is reached at which point the system will stall. There is nothing else that will cause this behavior, and there is no remedy except a new spool valve. 2. If your pump starts to develop a large shifting differential - that is, if the pressures change more than 10 pounds with each shift - then you are getting an asymmetrical shift (one side is different from the other). There are generally three or four things that can cause this. The first we have already mentioned is the static pressure of the accumulator tank. The second could be the head pressure set on one or both of the feed pumps, if you have a two-pump system. Beyond those there are a couple causes to look into:
3. Leaks. As with any watermaker, leaks are not your "friends".
Membrane Membranes seem to be like computers: every once in a while you've got to ask, "What the hell happened?" Everybody has stories of what their buddy did or didn't do and the good or bad results. All I can tell you is: "Do what we are told to do with them and you SHOULD be all right." So what are we supposed to do??? 1. Keep the feed water as clean as possible (clean prefilters). I have seem several 380C and Santa Cruz systems this summer with only the 5 micron prefilter. I strongly suggest adding the 20 micron filter in front of the 5 micron for additional filtering. Remember: that twin pump system is sending 150 gallons an hour through that 5 micron filter. In some areas it may only take a few hours to clog that single filter. 2. Run for as long a time as possible, Two or three hours every three days is better for the system than one hour every day. 3. Freshwater flush after EVERY use. OK, OK, I know that takes some of the water you just made, but let me explain
why you want to "invest" that freshwater in your watermaker. First of all, your Clark pump is made of plastic (that's the
non-tech term) and o-rings. Your best (finest) prefilter is a 5-micron filter. There is still foreign matter that can get
through it (as your cleaned and recleaned filters get thinner and thinner, more gets through). Most all such matter passes
right on through and back out into the sea, but there can be/is a small amount that wants to builds up around some of those
o-rings and edges of the two sets of plastic pistons in the pump. As those deposits continue to build up, they start working
like fine sandpaper and can create small grooves in your cylinder walls. This is NOT a good thing for the long-term life of
the pump. Also, when you shut your system down WITHOUT a freshwater flush, you leave your membrane sitting in saltwater that
has this same "fine" foreign matter which can and will settle on the membrane surface causing some blockage in the passing of
the water through it in future running. The freshwater flush helps eliminates BOTH of these problems. 4. If you do not make water within five days, then do another freshwater flush and you'll be good for the next 5 days. For those of you that think this is too much work, please email or talk to me about the new MPC 3000 one-touch computer control and you will never have to do your own five-day flush again. (Ok, so I do try and sell something once in a while.) Additional INFO: 1) There is no reason not to make water at the dock. I know, I know, you would never do it, but THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO. If your membrane is working and giving you good water at your favorite anchorage, then it will still give you good water at the dock. Unless there has been a major oil spill and the surface is churned up, any petroleum product that might be in the water will float well above the intake points of most installations. All the other bad stuff you are afraid of getting in your drinking water and tanks is eliminated through the reverse osmosis process. No kidding. However, you may have to clean your prefilters a little more often. There is more information available on this; if you really want to know, email me. Generally speaking it is much better for the unit to make water than sit for weeks without being run. So either make water, freshwater flush every 5 days or lastly pickle for long periods of inactivity. 2) Extended down times. If you have extended stays ashore and do not run the unit at the dock, then you still need to flush every 5 days. If you want to use the shore water, make sure that you have a charcoal filter in line and that the filter is not more that 6 months old. 3) Pickling. Avoid pickling the system as much as you can. Every time you introduce chemicals to the membrane, it takes a hit out of its useful life. If it is possible to have someone flush for you while you are gone, it is, in my opinion, well worth the effort. Use your own "Spectra" water for the flushes, or, if you must use dock water, be sure the water has passed through a charcoal filter to remove any chlorine that may be added. During long on-the-hard stays or even in-water storage periods, however, it may become necessary to pickle. Follow your manual's instructions, and, under no circumstances use any chemicals not obtained from Spectra. REMEMBER: Your Spectra has a "plastic" pump different from any other system on the market. I don't care how many of the "others" can use the same stuff-YOU CANNOT!! Make sure that the SC-1 solution that you have has a COLORED DOT on the top or has a date of 3-6-01 in the lower right hand corner of the label. If it does not, you CANNOT use it for a storage pickle treatment. 4) Unpickling. Upon return, remember to leave the pump unpressurized for at least 30 minutes to flush the chemical out before making water. Longer is even better. I recommend several hours of unpressurized flushing if possible. 5) Is your Membrane Healthy? OK, so now you have done everything you were supposed to do to keep your membrane healthy, how do you tell if it is working.
6) Solution(s)
The bottom line here is that when it comes to cleaning the membrane, it is a "crap shoot". I recommend having the cleaner on board. Should you have a pressure problem, then you are prepared to something about it, but bear in mind the end may be near for the membrane. Give some thought to how you can acquire a new one if the cleaning fails to get you back on track. NOTE: In many cases of high head pressures, the quality of the water is still fine. To continue to run with the higher head pressures will cause excessive wear on your feed pumps. However, turning one pump off will lower the total head pressure, allowing you to continue to make water until you can reach port, find a dealer, clean your membrane or get a new one shipped in. Running with higher head pressures is only for the SHORT term: the longer you keep running, the more it is going to cost you in the future. These are for the most part the most common and easily remedied problems that I have come across. As in anything that is mechanical, it is impossible to know what will ever or never happen to anything. Should you have any other problem not mentioned in this handout, refer back to the troubleshooting guide in your manual. So that's about it. Take care of your watermaker from the beginning, and you will have very few problems. Keep the filters clean and the voltage up for happy pumps; flush it often, and your Spectra watermaker will provide you with plenty of reliable fresh water in the remotest of locations. Don Wilson |
Ventura
150 |
Ventura
200T |
Catalina
300 MkII | Bio-Guard
Newport 700, 1000 Series | Farallon 1800/2800 | Z-Brane™
MPC-5000 controller | Aquifer 150™ | Solar Cube | Newport MKII
Newport 700, 1000 Series | Farallon 1800/2800 | Z-Brane™
MPC-5000 controller | Aquifer 150™ | Solar Cube | Newport MKII
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