HP Watermakers
HP Watermakers brand new Sea0spot debuts at Boot 2023
The new HP Watermakers product introduced last year, MWT Basic (the acronym for Marina Water Treatment), garnered considerable acclaim, and has drawn attention to a problem faced by moored yachts that have to use water supplied at the quayside. The issue is exacerbated by increasingly frequent periods of drought, which have forced many municipalities to supply ports with water that is not crystal-clear, often drawn from secondary wells. At the same time, we know how, in port or out at sea, water is essential for a number of yacht maintenance and cleaning operations, so its availability, like its quality, is an absolute necessity.
After MWT Basic, Here is SEA0SPOT
Always attentive to the demands of shipowners and their captains, last year HP Watermakers presented MWT Basic, the softening and nanofiltration system that turns marina water into fresh water on board. At the same time, space on board, especially on medium-sized yachts, is limited, so it was the success of the MWT Basic that triggered the next demand: to have the two machines, watermaker and purifier, in one unit. No sooner said than done! HP Watermakers promptly developed this single unit in time for a world première at Boot 2023, scheduled to take place in Düsseldorf from 21 to 29 January.
“It is called Sea0spot,” explains Gianni Zucco, CEO of HP Watermakers. “It is an evolution of our HP SCA series of compact watermakers. Like all our machines , this device already had two inlets, one for sea water and the second for the fresh water needed to rinse the membranes after each work cycle, an operation that our watermakers perform automatically. Now we have added a third inlet, dedicated to port waters that require a softening treatment. The operation is very simple because a dedicated button can be used to switch from desalination to the marina water treatment function when the system is on standby, all thanks to a solenoid valve that opens the quay water arrival line (which may differ from port to port). The water is treated through the same seawater membranes used for desalination, obviously at a much lower pressure that is automatically adjusted when the '0 SPOT' programme is started. This brings the TDS (the water’s degree of mineralisation) and the total hardness to very low levels, to protect all freshwater-using systems from limescale incrustations, and also to wash the deck and hull without leaving limescale halos.”
It is important to emphasise that Sea0spot, although developed on existing and widely proven technologies, is a totally new product and, as is customary for every new HP Watermakers device, absolutely innovative and unique in the nautical market. This is mainly because its size is identical to a watermaker of any HP series; a solenoid valve and software with some increased functions have been added to it, thus avoiding the need to revise engine room designs - an advantage in terms of weight and spatial footprint. The system is applicable to all watermakers and can be retrofitted.