First of all, safety is a paramount concern. If you have the ability to make your own water while you are onboard, then you can avoid or greatly limit the potential risk to you and your passengers in the event there is an emergency which keeps your vessel offshore for an extended period of time. You will be able to supply virtually limitless fresh water to people onboard the vessel for as long as you need to. This provides both you and your passengers with peace of mind.

There is also a tremendous risk in filling your fresh water tanks with dock-fill water particularly in foreign countries where the quality of the water is uncertain. By introducing potentially contaminated water into your fresh water tanks you are exposing all people onboard to unknown risk. If you use your watermaker to fill your water tanks, you know that the water that goes into your tanks is fresh, clean and safe.

On vessels where weight is of concern, there is a tremendous benefit in making water as you need it while you are underway. Water weighs approximately 8.3 pounds per gallon. So if you begin your voyage with water tanks that have been filled at the dock, you can easily recognize the additional weight you will be carrying on your voyage based upon the number of gallons your water tanks hold. This extra weight will reduce the distance you can travel over a given period of time. Also, if your vessel is power driven, your fuel costs will increase according to the additional weight you carry on your voyage.

Convenience is also a factor. Instead of having to make special stops to buy water as you voyage, all you need to do is run your watermaker to fill your tanks. And you have a limitless supply of water to do things such as taking longer showers, doing laundry, cooking, washing dishes, making ice, and washing down your vessel with water that leaves the vessel spot-free.

All of these factors result in a watermaker being an extremely economical investment for virtually every boat owner.

It is important to size a watermaker in such a way as to provide ample fresh water to all passengers onboard on a daily basis. As a guideline, the U.S. Coast Guard recommends that 30 gallons of water per person per day should be available onboard. So, for example, if you are planning for 4 people onboard, then you should plan on having 120 gallons of water available per day.

Next, you need to determine how long you would want to operate the watermaker per day. That is, how many hours you would want to operate the watermaker to make the capacity that you need. Typically, most people want to operate the watermaker somewhere between 2 to 5 hours per day, but this time period varies from person to person.

Then you compute how many gallons of water you need to make per hour to make your daily demand considering the period of time you would want to operate the watermaker. Considering the example above, if a person wanted to make 120 gallons of water in a 2 hour time period, then the person would need a watermaker capable of producing 60 gallons of water per hour.

Marine watermakers are rated based upon how many gallons of water they are capable of producing per hour. This information is also stated in terms of daily production (that is, the rated hourly production multiplied by 24). Marine watermakers are typically available in ranges of production from 8 to 344 gallons per hour (that is 200 to 8,300 gallons per day). Larger commercial sized systems are typically available in various sizes up to 1,750 gallons per hour (42,000 gallons per day).

First, FCI Watermakers has long been recognized in the marine industry for building reliable, durable, state-of-the-art watermakers. FCI has systems in the field with over 17,000 hours of operation on them still running strong.

FCI Watermakers offers a two year system warranty on marine systems, and a lifetime warranty on reverse osmosis membrane vessels. Most other watermaker manufacturers only offer a one year warranty on their systems.

FCI Watermakers only uses finest quality components on its systems. FCI goes the extra step in building systems that provide customers with the most durable watermakers available in the marketplace. For example, FCI uses “washdown duty” motors on all marine systems. This means that FCI motors are epoxy coated and have neoprene gaskets. Other manufacturers typically use “general duty” motors, which means that their motors are merely painted and their gasket material is made of cardboard. On top of this, FCI uses motors with 316 stainless steel shafts. Other manufacturers use motors with steel shafts. Since these motors are going to exist in a marine environment they are going to be subject to moisture, and where you have moisture you will eventually have rust. The end result is that the motors used by FCI are designed to withstand the marine environment. And this is just one example. FCI carries this principle through in virtually all components of its watermakers.

FCI Watermakers is the only manufacturer that offers the Universal Reverse Osmosis Controller (UROC) on a range of watermaking systems. The UROC controller offers user-friendly digital interface with customizable automatic operation for various applications and installations. UROC technology also provides users the ability to monitor and operate their watermaker from a computer. UROC controller technology is proprietary to FCI Watermakers, and is not offered by any other watermaker manufacturer.

All FCI watermakers come complete with a fully automatic fresh water flush as part of the system. Most other manufacturers sell them as accessories, which means additional costs to end users. Fresh water flushes are an integral part of a watermaking system because they deter the build-up of biologicals in the watermaker when it is not in use. Manual flushes are not reliable because there is no guaranty that they are done on regular intervals by boatowners or their crews. With FCI systems, there are no extra buttons to push, no extra valves to turn, or anything else to do. When an FCI system completes its operation, it is automatically in fresh water flush mode. There is virtually nothing else like it in the marketplace.

FCI watermakers are economical to own, operate and maintain. The cost of acquisition of an FCI watermaker is very reasonable as compared to other watermakers in the marketplace. And operation and maintenance costs are negligible. Typically, all end users need to do is replace filter cartridges and change oil when warranted.

This is just an overview of some of the unique qualities of FCI watermakers. In short, FCI watermakers set themselves apart from all other watermakers offered in the marketplace today.

FCI watermakers are designed to work effectively in a wide variety of sea water and brackish water conditions. The rated output capacities for FCI watermaking systems are established at salinity range of 35,000 ppm TDS (total dissolved solids) and at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. These standards are representative of the salinity and temperature of average sea water. However, in different geographic locations, and at different times of year, both of these parameters will fluctuate.

As the TDS and/or the temperature vary from the standard ranges, the system output will vary upward or downward unless the pressure regulator on the watermaker is adjusted so that the watermaker maintains its rated output.

As a general rule, as the salinity decreases from the standard 35,000 TDS, system production will increase. An example of this would be with brackish water, where the salinity might decrease to a range of approximately 3,000 TDS to 5,000 TDS. In this case, the pressure regulator on the watermaker would need to be adjusted so that the watermaker maintains its rated output.

Another general rule is that as the temperature increases from the standard 77 degrees Fahrenheit, so does the output from the watermaker. An example of this would be in tropical climates during summer months where water temperatures often exceed 77 degrees. In this case, the pressure regulator on the watermaker would also need to be adjusted so that the watermaker maintains its rated output.

Yes, you can. However, typically in harbors and other protected waterways that are not exposed to open-ocean tidal flows, debris, urban run-off, oil, fuel and other larger particulates and contaminants tend to collect and possibly suspend themselves in the feed water source for the watermaker. The result of this is that when you operate a watermaker in this type of environment, there is a greater likelihood that the watermaker pre-filters will foul more quickly than if the feed water source was clean, open-ocean sea water. So as a rule of thumb, in order to extend the life of the pre-filters and related components of the watermaking system, it is recommended to operate the watermaker in an open-ocean environment whenever possible.

Yes, you can. However, if you do, you must be careful to keep the through-hull which is the intake for the watermaker well below the waterline. The reason for this is that the feed pump, or the low-pressure pump, for the watermaker requires a flooded suction. If excessive air is introduced into the feed pump, the feed pump will lose its “prime” and the watermaker will cease to function due to a lack of a feed water stream. In that case, the low-pressure pump would need to be “re-primed”, after which the watermaker would function properly again. So if you intend to make water while underway, make sure that the intake through-hull is placed in such a position so that it does not take in air when the vessel is underway.

Some brands of watermakers are noisier than others. What makes certain brands noisier than others comes down to differences in efficiency of design and quality of components between the various brands. Like any other piece of machinery, watermakers do make a sound when they operate. Some manufacturers don’t do anything to address this issue, and other manufacturers do things to “mask” the sounds such as creating chambers or other mechanisms ostensibly designed to dampen noise resonating from system components.

FCI Watermakers has gone to extensive lengths to design and manufacture watermakers that are the quietest in the industry. First of all, FCI only uses the highest quality motors, pumps and other components in its watermakers. For example, as an option, FCI offers the APP radial axial high pressure pump which is a water-cooled, super duplex stainless steel pump that is a vibration free, low pulsation pump that has an extremely low noise level. Also, FCI watermakers are built on four-point vibration isolation mounts which are designed to dissipate system vibrations and to keep them from resonating through the vessel. All other components of FCI watermakers have been designed and selected with a view toward keeping system noise to a minimum. The end result of this is that FCI watermakers are extremely quiet as compared to any other brand of watermakers.

The life expectancy of a watermaker varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Brands that use lesser quality components or those that have inferior designs will obviously not last as long as those brands that have superior designs and utilize top-quality components. FCI Watermakers designs are second to none, and only the finest quality of components are used in FCI watermakers. The life expectancy of an FCI watermaker should be 20 years or more provided the watermaker receives proper maintenance. So long as the maintenance guide provided in the owner’s manual is followed, the owner of an FCI watermaker can expect to receive years and years of trouble-free service from an FCI watermaker.

Yes, FCI offers a digital remote control/monitoring station as an accessory for all of its systems. This is remote control in the true sense of the word, and not a glorified “on/off” switch that is typically offered on many other watermaking products. With an FCI digital remote control on our Max Q systems, you actually have a duplicate of the control on the watermaker. So from the remote control, the user can monitor all system readouts from a 4-line backlit digital display. The remote control also enables the user to program setpoints, to program automatic shut-off parameters, and to program fresh water flush times without going to the main system.

No, you don’t. The reason for this is that once the product water comes out of the watermaker it goes directly to the boat’s fresh water holding tanks. There is no control with respect to the quality of water that is already in the holding tanks because not only are the tanks fed by the watermaker, but they are also fed by dockside fillings from shore and there is also a vent tube from the holding tanks which invite the potential for contaminants to enter the holding tanks through the vent tube. So it is pointless to sterilize water coming from the watermaker and then introduce that sterilized water into an environment where the water is not sterile. If a UV sterilizer is going to be used at all, the proper place for it is after the holding tanks but before the water is introduced into the boat systems. The UV sterilizer should be sized to accommodate the requirements of the boat’s fresh water pump. All in all, the use of a UV sterilizer is wise in that it removes approximately 99.9% of any biologicals from the fresh water in the boat’s holding tanks, but in order for it to be effective it needs to be placed in the proper location.