Some thoughts to gnaw on, an interesting conversation, and over in the “somewhat disturbing” department…
I’ve mentioned that of late, I’ve been reconsidering electric propulsion on a bunch of levels and I recently added doing a cheap seats 12V pressure pump to our AC watermaker to try and get the the Islander into the no fossil fuel category.
Which has me on the lookout for a 12V pressure washer to cannibalize with enough oomph and flow these days.
Admittedly, our generator only uses a liter or so of gas to power the watermaker for enough time to make 20 gallons of water. Still, we run it twice a week which adds up to somewhere around 24 gallons of gas per year. What with $10-dollar gas on the horizon, that’s more than I want to spend.
So, yeah, time to find a 12V pressure washer soonish…
For anyone interested in DIYing a 12V watermaker, here’s the best I’ve come across.
Meanwhile, in the rethink department there’s what to do with my corded tools which hardly ever get used these days and what to do with the current cost of coffee. What can I say but living in interesting times can be interesting.
Bob – weren’t you using a Ryobi pressure washer to power a watermaker awhile back? Seems I’d be easier to just run that off a truck stop inverter and call it a day. Hell, but spares of both the pressure washer and inverter. Yes, it wouldn’t be as efficient, but… cheap and off the shelf parts make me happy.
Now what would really be interesting would be to hook up a 12v linear actuation motor to a Quenchsea manual desalinator and just run it whenever the batteries are topped off. Only 1.6 gpm, but that adds up quick, and it’d have to be quieter than those pressure washers. $400 for the unit, and $60 for spare membranes!
https://www.quenchsea.world/?srsltid=AfmBOor8PeAs7_OYrxjois7bMUpuzeDEqi4wgoB1gQrzAjM7jQP2psie
Our current watermaker is based on a Karcher pressure washer with a 40″ membrane giving us 20 gallons an hour and its been operating problem free for almost nine-years now.
The beauty of using the Karcher is that just about every hardware store in the world carries them and they’re cheap. Even better their replacement warranty is if it quits working they’ll replace it. We did have a minor issue (An iffy hose barb) the first year and hey presto, they sent us a new pressure washer when all we’d asked for was a hose barb. Can’t fault them on their service.
The other reason we like the Karcher is that they are, excepting a fresh water rinse, a no maintenance tool. The normal high pressure watermaker pumps require yearly maintenance that adds up to as much as the cost of a Karcher pressure washer.
The reason I want to swap the AC Karcher for a 12V DC reasonable facsimile is the attraction of not having to get out the generator everytime I make water. The reason I don’t use an inverter is that changing 12V to 110V is not as efficient as inverter companies tell you they are.
I’d like to get my hands on a 12V pressure washer to compare 12v and 110V pressure washers. Sadly, I’ve yet to track down a 12V pressure washer with the quality of a Karcher.
The Quenchsea is interesting and appears to be a clone of the old Power Survivor manual water maker. That’s a lot of work for maybe 7 liters an hour. I could see hacking a 12V motor to do the grunt work but you’re still only going to be getting around 7 liters an hour. That said, it looks like a pretty good system for the lifeboat.
7 litres an hour would have been 2 days usage for me, at sea. I had 50 days of water on a 25ft boat, I dont know how much 13ft Baluchon carried. I do not think i would trust any unit, not to leave the dock without full tanks before a passage.
I get that being charged for water in some islands is a big deal. If you ran that unit for 9 years, then i guess your return on investment is positive.