Rainman Petrol (Gasoline) Water Maker

Two Components – One Watermaker

The system is made up of a pressure supply unit (PSU) and a reverse osmosis unit (RO). Both parts are required to make a complete watermaker. The PSU lifts the seawater, filters out the sediment and puts the system under high pressure, while the RO unit extracts fresh water from the stream of pressurised seawater. Most of the water goes out to waste as brine output, while about 20% of the volume is extracted as fresh potable water for your tanks. Different RO options exist for you to select with your AC Rainman system, each to achieve their own specific objective.

The heart of this system is the Honda GXH50 2.1HP engine, which is the same as that used in their 1kVA generator. It incorporates a tensioned belt drive system where the engine drives both an impeller lift pump and the General Pump high pressure pump. The fuel tank holds 700ml (1.5 pt) and will run for about 70 minutes, depending on fuel quality. 

Petrol (gasoline)  exists on most boats already, so there is good reason why you may consider using it to power your watermaker. Some of the key benefits of using a separate motor for your watermaker include:

• Simplicity – For a portable configuration, there are only two boxes to set up and no need for external electricity.
• Redundancy – If your generator / inverter fails, you can still make water.
• Efficiency – There are no conversion losses between mechanical and electrical energy. Depending on water temperature, and source water salinity, you would expect a fuel to fresh water production ratio of about 150:1.
• Security – If you are in an urban survival situation after a natural disaster, a portable generator has very broad utility and greater chance of being stolen, rendering an AC system useless.

You have three options available for the reverse osmosis (RO) unit, depending on your water requirements, space available, and budget. All three RO options are compatible with the petrol (gasoline) PSU and available in the protective cases. The fuel consumption and sound levels for the PSU are the same regardless of which RO unit is attached, so most customers will choose the High Output RO unit to get the most water made as quick as possible. 

Since the petrol (gasoline) system must be run in a well ventilated area and should not be installed in your vessel, some of the options are not available with this system. One item that can be considered is a hydrotester to give you indication of the total dissolved solids (TDS), so you can know how your membranes are ageing.