A watermaker that is looked after will make water for a very long time; one that is not will be making excuses within a season. The difference is four consumables, a few hours a year, and knowing what to order before you need it. This guide is the parts-counter view of watermaker ownership in Thailand: what wears, when it is changed, how to read a part number, how a membrane is swapped, how a system is stored, and how we supply all of it from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking for a part now?<\/strong> Every current Spot Zero and SeaXchange service part is in our watermaker parts section<\/a>, searchable by the new Spot Zero part number or the old nine-digit 2524\u2026 number. Not sure which one? Send a photo and the system serial number by LINE @drakeco<\/a> or WhatsApp<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n Before seawater reaches the high-pressure pump it goes through a sediment pre-filter \u2014 on SeaXchange systems a 25-micron stage 1<\/a> and a 5-micron stage 2<\/a> cartridge in the short double housing, or the single 5-micron commercial pre-filter<\/a> in the 4.5 \u00d7 20 in housing. In Thai harbours, with silt after rain and plankton in the warm months, this is the part that gets used up fastest. Change it when the pressure drop across the housing rises, or when the system tells you to. A starved pump cavitates, and a cavitating pump is an expensive part to replace for the price of a cartridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fresh-water purifiers are different. Their pre-filter has to remove the chlorine and chloramine that marinas dose into their water, because chlorine destroys a reverse-osmosis membrane. Spot Zero’s doublestack pre-filter<\/a> does that with carbon and oxidiser media as well as sediment stages, and it is changed on hours \u2014 100 hours on the Mobile Pro Mini, 10,000 gallons on the Mobile Pro \u2014 not on how it looks. A carbon cartridge is finished long before it looks dirty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The membrane does the work. Seawater elements come in two standard sizes \u2014 2.5 \u00d7 40 in (2540)<\/a> in long pressure vessels and 2.5 \u00d7 21 in (2521)<\/a> in short ones \u2014 and a system’s capacity is set by how many it runs: one for 600 gallons a day, two for 1,200, three for 1,800, four for 2,200 on the SeaXchange range. Purifiers use larger fresh-water elements: 4 \u00d7 40 in (4041)<\/a> in the long vessel and 4 \u00d7 21 in (4021)<\/a> in the short one, and the Mobile Pro Mini element<\/a> in the mobile units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seawater membranes are replaced on condition: when the product-water TDS climbs and the flow falls and a chemical clean does not bring them back. Treated properly \u2014 fresh-water flush after every run, pickled for lay-ups \u2014 they last for years. Each change takes a seal kit: the brine seal on the element and, on SeaXchange vessels, three end-cap O-rings, which is why we list the O-ring kits<\/a> next to the membranes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every automatic system flushes the membranes with fresh water when it stops, so they never sit in seawater. The flush water passes through its own carbon cartridge (SeaXchange freshwater flush filter<\/a>) to strip chlorine from the tank water first. It is a small cartridge with a big job; change it with the pre-filters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two bottles cover almost everything. Membrane chemical cleaner<\/a> \u2014 an acid stage for scale and an alkaline stage for biofilm \u2014 is used when flow drops or pressure rises and a flush does not recover it. Membrane storage solution<\/a> (preservative, or “pickling” solution) is used for any lay-up longer than a month. Purifiers add a bacteriostatic remineraliser<\/a> on the product side, which puts a little mineral content back and keeps the tank sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe four things that wear<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Pre-filters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Membranes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Fresh-water flush cartridge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Chemicals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Service intervals at a glance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n