(posted 06/01/24)
Up at 0600, morning routines, and the net. We started filling the water tank at 0745. The last time we filled it was 5/2/24. We plan to fill it one more time after this before we leave for the season.
What we do, is take dock water through a 5 micron activated charcoal filter (which removes most of the impurities, and more importantly the chlorine, which is bad for the membranes in the water maker). After this filter the water goes through our regular plankton screen, 25 micron filter, then a 5 micron filter (these should catch nothing, as we have already gone through a 5 micron filter), then into the high pressure pump and into the membranes. We are limited to either 33 gallons per hour, or 800 psi. Since we are using pretty good water to start out with, we use 33 gph. From there I check the water quality with an instrument that measures impurities and typically in this arrangement, we get less than 5 ppm (parts per million). If we use sea water, typically we get less than 200 ppm. In the US, acceptable water in the public drinking water system is less than 500 ppm. Most of the time it is better than that. Our water tank holds 260 gallons, so at most we would need 8 hours to refill the tank. It actually got done at 1230, 157 gallons of water.
Well, now that we are done using the water for filling the tank, it is time to flush the shower in the forward head. I washed the head with the hose and flushed it down to the drain and got most of the water out, then a problem… come on, you knew there had to be something else broken! This is a boat after all! The drain pump has been an occasional flake, that is it works every time I go to use it, but not for everyone else, so I could not find the issue. Today, it ran the first 2 or 3 times I wanted it to run and then no more. So, I said perhaps it is the switch. Not exactly the hardest thing to access on the boat, but in the top 10. An hour or two later I had tested the switch by jumping the contacts and yes the pump runs and pumps that way, and then I took the switch out, and went looking for a replacement. Of course there are no identifying numbers on it. I called Island Packet Yacht company, they closed 10 minutes before I called. So, I went to Facebook to see if someone had identified this part and posted it. After a few minutes of searching I found exactly what I was looking for, a post with this switch, and where it was available. I was sure to thank that person for posting such a great resource on Facebook!! Oh wait, I posted that 2 years ago for someone else!!!
It is a fairly unique switch. See the pictures.
Then I washed the forward bilge area under the forward state room and then flushed the main bilge.
