I own a Super Maramu 2000 presently located in
the BVI. Recently, I experienced a Dessalinator
watermaker problem and I am wondering if anyone else has had
the same experience. Please forgive my hopelessly
arcane description which follows. Leaks have developed
in 2 fittings which attach to one of the long
osmotic membranes/tubes. The water leaks only when the
pump is under high pressure (meaning only when you use
it).<br>One leak is in the coupling which connects the the
hose running from the high pressure pump to the first
osmotic membrane. I presume I can just find somewhere to
get a new coupling made up and replace the defective
coupling. The more difficult problem is the second leak.
The source of the leak appears to be a crack in a
plastic female threaded hole located at the end of the
aluminum plate that caps the 2 osmotic membrane tubes. A
PVC male "union" piece screws into the cracked female
threaded hole and then a PVC nut with PVC pipe screws into
that. The nut holds in place the short length of PVC
pipe which appears to communicate with the second
membrane tube. Essentially, therefore, the crack is in the
piece into which the communicating pipe is screwed.
Because the piece is located at the terminal end of the
membrane I am not sure if the plastic piece is actually
part of the membrane tube or can be replaced as part
of the aluminum end plate. I am hoping I won't have
to buy a whole new membrane just to fix a small
crack in the plastic piece. I sure wish I spoke French!
I could probably resolve the issue with a telephone
call to Dessalinator. Does anyone know of a
Dessalinator dealer in the USA or in the Virgin Islands?
Thanks for any help that can be offered.<br> Michael
Glass<br> Second Call<br> Melville, New York

Hello Micheal,<br><br>This is a common problem
with older systems, the plastic end-pieces do crack.
Amel had a lot of complaints about that and the
changed the design, but I had also a crack in a new end
piece..<br>Sorry to say, it is poor engineering.<br>So please
complain to Amel and maybe they will change to metal
end-pieces. <br>A local machine shop helped me out once by
milling new plastic end caps. The new end caps from Amel
also fit the older designs and are better. Don't
worry, there is nothing wrong with Ur membranes.<br>The
main problem with these crack is that Ur whole engine
room is sprayed with salt water.<br><br>Koen<br>Flash
IV

Same experience. My end fittings cracked after 2
years of use. Dessalator repalced them free of charge
with the new design. But before I changed them, I
learned how to disassemble and reassemble the entire
membrane assembly in under 5 minutes! (while looking for
the source of the leak)<br>Call Mr. Selo at Amel, he
should be able to get you the new parts. They're very
easy to replace. Or call Dessalator in Antibes, they
speak English.<br>To disassemble the membranes, first
remove the high-pressure water intake and outlet hoses
from the inboard end of the membranes. Then remove the
nuts at the end of the long threaded rods that keep
the aluminum plates together. Remove the six rods,
then remove the outboard aluminum plate, which is
bolted to the supporting wall. Undo the PVC couplings to
the low-pressure hoses. The membrane assembly should
then come loose. <br>To remove the white plastic
end-caps from the membrane tubes, just twist them off
while holding the tubes. The new end-caps just press
on.<br>Let me know if I can provide additional
information.<br>Roy Benveniste<br>Super Maramu #195 "Excalibur"

Koen & Roy: Thank you for the advice re my watermaker problems. I am following up with Amel and Dessalator and will let you know how I do.<br>Michael Glass<br>Second Call