Solarmaax DC/RO Marine Watermaker
Leading Energy Recovery DC/RO Water Maker
The Solarmaax energy recovery D.C. RO water maker is the quietest on the market due to our Enhanced Clark Pump.
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Electromaax is a leading manufacturer of energy recovery D.C. RO water makers with a long history in the industry. During this time the use of solar energy has become increasingly prevalent with boating enthusiasts and particularly among serious cruisers.
In response to this growing trend, we’ve developed an RO Watermaker that utilizes minimal energy while producing high-quality drinking water through the use of advanced 21-inch membranes. This innovative solution addresses the growing demand for efficient and reliable water-making systems that are powered by renewable energy sources.
For 12 years, Electromaax has been manufacturing D.C. water makers. In that time Solar has become the primary source of energy for most serious cruisers. What was needed was a high output water maker that used the minimum for energy while maintaining the highest quality drinking water that the 21” membranes achieve.
Lithium batteries allow a cruiser to carry vast amounts of energy that their solar can replenish days later. Combine solar, Lithium and super high output alternators of today and energy availability on a boat has progressed to levels we could not imagine just a few years ago.
The Solarmaax uses the latest Enhanced hydraulic Clark Pump intensifier and energy recovery device that sets a new industry standard for maximum efficiency. By using a low-pressure feed pump, the Clark Pump can provide the necessary pressure for reverse osmosis to occur while consuming up to 75% less energy than previous conventional systems. It recycles the energy and boosts the low-pressure feed water up to 800 PSI (55 Bar). The Clark Pump is made of modern composites and engineered plastics, ensuring long-lasting, reliable performance.
As a result, our engineers set about making a line of water makers that could first be the most energy efficient on the market. Our clients wanted something that could utilize their solar especially on days when their solar topped off their batteries early. On bad weather days they run their Electromaax alternator to achieve the same result.
Key Benefits & Features
- Extremely quiet
- Super High output
- Highest quality drinking water
- Compact with dual 21″ Membrane (some models)
- Auto Flush and Timed Re-Flush
- Remote Panel With gauges and Control Switches
- Can Operate In a Wider Range of Seawater Temperature and Salinity
- Easy to Maintain
- Very easy to install electrically and mechanically even for the DIY
- Super light weight
- Most energy efficient water maker to date, 5 D.C. amps at 24 Volts generates 10 Gallons Per Hour
- No proprietary consumables
- Military grade components utilizing Titanium components in critical areas allowing higher pressure resulting in higher output.
Super energy efficient
The enhanced Clark pump uses Titanium return tubes and annular rings. This allows an additional 28% of increased PSI, which in turn translates to more product water for every watt consumed. The Aquatec Boost/feed pumps is also more energy efficient than any comparable pump with two heat sinks enabling greater heat dissipation. Super low power consumption enables you to run the system off solar or batteries.
Compact Lightweight
The use of one or multiple 21” Filtec membranes over 40” not only reduces the TDS (water Quality) significantly, but also substantially reduces the size, weight and footprint of every SolarMaax R/O water maker. The titanium return tubes have also enable us to reduce the Delrin content and is way lighter than the original stainless steel versions, still found on other Clark pumps today.
Super quiet (see video below)
We replaced the original stainless-steel return tubes that makes the original Clark pump 27.25” long with Titanium ones that DO NOT extend past the pump. This allowed us to extend the cylinders from 8” to 10.2” while keeping the length to only 24.4” The 20% increase in piston stroke radically reduces the noise. We added 8 316 stainless steel studs to substantially reduce or eliminate ‘cylinder stretch” an inherent problem with the original Clark pump, this too contributes to noise reduction (see video)
Low maintenance
The enhancements above have substantially reduced vibration, noise, increase the piston stroke, eliminated bends in the return tubes, replaced plastic and Stainless steel with Titanium components, cylinder Stretch is down 98% (the cylinder actually bends which in turn bends the piston rod, not an issue until you calculate this event happening many thousand times in the pumps life. The very quiet and high performance boost/feed pump is the most reliable on the market today. Every single component except the cylinder is made at our Factory in Canada. This gives us total control of the quality control.
Higher production water QUALITY produced per gallon processed. It is a known fact that the 21” membrane is generating a much lower TDS than the 40” equivalent. The lower energy needed to push one Gallon (3.72 litres) across the membrane also increases water quality.
Accommodates multiple water maker configurations from 10 -80 GPH
*Trade customers please contact Support for special options and trade policies
Schematic
Manuals
- SolarMaax Watermaker Manual
- The least understood but the most magical part of a reverse osmosis watermaker is the membrane but how do we take care of them? Membrane manufactures post all kinds of information on how to take care of membranes with the assumption they're being used in a commercial RO plant. It's worth finding this info online to get a better understanding of the process. What we as mariners do with them, the manufacturers really don't want to know about. We operate in an uncontrolled environment pulling feed water straight from wherever the boat might be with no idea of what's in the water that might affect the membrane. Fortunately, over the decades marine watermakers have been available, certain best practices have been developed. Here are a few basic rules. 1. Don't expose the membrane to any amount of chlorine 2. Don't let the membrane freeze or get over 113F (45C) It can handle getting hotter but some degradation can happen 3. Don't let the membrane dry out. Keep new membranes sealed in the packaging they came in. 4. Don't let oil get in the system The fun fact is, membranes are happy to separate the salts from the water. This doesn' wear them out. There is no life limit on this process as far as I know. The things that affect membrane life mostly come from mineral and biological contaminants in the feed water. RO membranes work because there is a constant turbulent feed water flow over the membrane while the fresh water is getting pushed through. This keeps the salt and other contaminants from bunching up against the membrane and are sent back overboard as a concentrate or "Brine". Unfortunately, there are conditions where these contaminants can get stuck on the surface affecting the process. There are cleaners that can be used to attempt to remove them with mixed results. Minerals barely dissolved in the feed water can get stuck on the membrane which needs an acidic cleaner to remove them but this isn't very common in our case. More commonly, it's biological growth that forms on the membrane while it's sitting that causes a membrane to degrade. An alkaline cleaner is used to remove this type of fouling. It used to be the rule of thumb that if you run your watermaker every day it will keep biofouling from forming. This is almost true. It can still happen just more slowly. Most watermakers today stress the need to flush the seawater from the system after use and many have automatic flush systems with a carbon filter in the flush water line to remove any chlorine that might be in the ships water tank. This works well in keeping biofouling from forming as what can grow in saltwater doesn't grow in freshwater and vise-versa. The down side is you are having to give back some of the water you just made to do this but it's well worth it in the long run. This is why the best practice is to run the watermaker long enough to fill the tanks, flush it, then run again when the tank is low, which might be a few days later. The membrane is happier running for fewer longer stints than many short ones if it's flushed after. Biofouling can happen in fresh water but happens much more slowly and if the system is re-flushed every few days almost stops it but not completely. This is why properly storing the system when not using it for a while is necessary. So how do you know when a membrane is fouling? The manufacturers recommend cleaning when the output drops 10%. Letting it go after that will make it harder to get an adequate clean. All well and good if you are running a plant with 24/7 system monitoring and a known and treated feed flow. On a boat, normal differences in feed water temperature and salinity will cause membrane performance to vary well over 10%. This, unfortunately, is perfectly normal. But if you are operating in the same area of the ocean for a while you might see the changes in performance as the membrane gets fouled. In a conventional system, you would see a drop in product output. In a system with a hydraulic pressure intensifier energy recovery pump like Electromaax, Schenker, Spectra and others, you will see an increase in the feed pressure and amp draw but very little change in the product flow up to a point . So you feel your membrane may be fouled and you haven't sailed to Alaska or the Dead Sea since the last time you ran the system? Since we can't directly know what is fouling the membrane the recommended procedure is to first clean with the alkaline cleaner then the acid cleaner. Record what the system is doing beforehand. After the alkaline clean, run the system normally and record any changes in performance. Do the acid clean then record the changes. Most likely, one of the cleaners had an effect but not the other. If you are operating in the same waters and the fouling comes back, just using the one that worked before is OK. If neither cleaner helped or the performance dropped after both cleans then there is some other permanent damage to the membrane which may call for membrane replacement. Every cleaning is hard on the membrane so rarely does a cleaning bring back the performance 100%. It's important to follow the cleaning procedures outlined in your systems manual but here are things that can help. Warming the cleaning solution to 90 degrees F (32C) improves the cleaning. How to do that on a boat? It's usually not done. Letting the solution soak without circulation for an hour to two then circulate some more can sometimes help. The best bet is to prevent fouling in the first place with regular flushing and pickling when not in use. Almost always, a membrane will last for years under regular use and proper storage but it's always possible that something in the feed water can take out a membrane even when we do our best. If planning a big trip to far off places, take a spare. They are not that expensive compared to the big picture. David Smith
