Installation of Home Made WaterMaker/Generator Unit

[SV THIRD DAY]

My home build watermaker/generator is finally ready for install on THIRD DAY.







I'll post project details and more install photos as we make progress in the next few weeks.

Regards

[Higgins]

That's a compact unit.  Looking forward to details.

Have you been able to "bench-test" it yet?  Curious on the performance.

[SV THIRD DAY]

The engine was tested and ran great...it was an army surplus unit, so we wanted to verify that it ran well.  But we have not tested the watermaker/generator all together yet because its being built as we go.  In the end...if all goes according to "plan" I will be able to make 38Gals of water in an hour and charge the batteries with the 105AMP alternator all on 1/6 gal of diesel.  Well....we will see shortly!

[SV THIRD DAY]

If I was any happier about the unit, I'm sure I would be breaking some type of Law!  

George and I fired the unit up yesterday and I was Very happy.  The noise and vibration levels are less than my main engine (W40) at 2000RPM and the unit was running at full throttle.  With a hungry battery bank, the Alternator was putting out right at 105AMPS and then ramped down to about 25AMPS after about an hour of run time.  I have the same 105AMP alternator on my main engine, so I basically have a working spare and the built in regulator seems to do a fine job, not as good as some $400 Belmar smart charger, but acceptable.  We installed a Vetus water lift muffler wet exhaust to dump the exhaust gas overboard and then a cooling fan and engine mounted radiator keeps the engine cool.  So far the engine temp is perfect with a 100deg delta between the engine temp and radiator, so that's working well without the mess of having to add water cooling.  The blower fan pulls compartment air through the radiator and will dump it overboard through a louvered vent on the stern.

We are now finishing up all the small deal wiring and plumbing needed to bring the water maker to life and get her ready, so I'll be sure to give another report once she is up and running spitting out fresh drinking water.  Here are a few more photos where you can see the fabricated shelf for the engine and the R/O membranes mounted to the Hull.

[SV THIRD DAY]

I was asked to post a few more photos of the unit so people could see how things were set up.

[SV THIRD DAY]

I will have lots of "clean up" work to do but I was running the unit over the 4th of July weekend.  I was getting 33Gals/Hr of 150ppm TDS water while putting 94AMPS into my purposefully discharged battery bank!  The noise/vibration is about the same as running the W40 at 15RPM.

Once I get all the hoses, wires and stuff cleaned up, I'll take some final photos of the installation.

Regards