Schenker Watermaker Tech Class 2 -

Schenker Tech Class is a series of articles and videos by “Cruise RO Rich”:

This series is intended to help Schenker watermaker owners better understand how their watermakers work and to review best practices for maintaining, servicing and troubleshooting their watermaker.

If you have a topic you would like to see covered, just email your request to Rich@CruiserServices.com

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SCHENKER WATERMAKER TECH CLASS 2 (SERIES):

(What happens when you hit the panel “On/Off” button?)

It seems obvious that a button labeled “On/Off” on the standard control panel would start and stop the watermaker and that’s certainly true, but there are some other details about this simple button worth exploring.
When you push and release the On/Off button two things actually happen.The obvious is that the feed pump turns on sending water to the energy recovery pump and membrane to start making water. But at the same time the freshwater flush solenoid electro valve (EV) opens on the activated carbon filter. The purpose of the EV opening is to help prime the feed pump and take the priming load off of either the feed pump diaphragms or the procon vane pump (depending on the model you have).
Fresh water from your ships tank is used for 5-10 seconds to help prime the lines and feed pump. So this means operationally, you should have your ships pressurized galley water turned on when you go to start the watermaker or you miss out on this system priming assist.
It also means that if you have taken on dock water that contained membrane killing chlorine, you Must always maintain a fresh activated carbon filter in your system to remove the chlorine. (Fresh is defined as less than 6 months old from the day the activated carbon filter first got wet).
In addition to simply starting and stopping the watermaker, the On/Off button is also used to activate the timed runs of 1, 2, and 3 hours. A press and release of the On/Off button starts the watermaker and it will keep running until you hit the On/Off button again OR the Flush Button. (More on stopping the watermaker using the Flush button later). But if you press and hold the On/Off button you will cycle through a series of 3 flashes: One, Two and Three. Releasing the On/Off button after either the One, Two or Three series of flashes will automatically run the watermaker for that corresponding number of hours and then will shut the unit down with a freshwater flush.
So for example, if you want to make 16 gallons of water from the 8GPH ZEN30, you can activate the two-hour run by pressing and holding the On/Off button and letting go after the two flashes. Many cruisers will use this function when they want to make a certain amount of water and have the watermaker shut itself down. We do this ourselves while motoring and taking advantage of the “free alternator power”. Automatic shutdown with an end of run freshwater flush is one less thing to worry about while working on your boat in exotic places, which experienced cruisers know is the real-world definition of Cruising.

Cheers Rich Boren aka “Cruise RO Rich” Rich@CruiserServices.com