From: Ian Sprigings
Sent: January 03, 2016
To: Will Curry
Subject: Watermaker

Hi Will,

Firstly, happy new year to you all.

We have now crossed the Atlantic and are currently in Bequia in the Grenadines. I must say the Hydrovane was an absolute joy to have and certainly one of the best decisions we made when kitting out the boat. We felt very grateful when we kept coming across boats that had had issues with their electronic autopilots.

The Watt & Sea was also brilliant, albeit a constant challenge to keep weed off it during the crossing!

The Echotec watermaker has also worked very well, but we currently have an issue that I would like your help with. When running it today in the anchorage I noticed what I thought was water coming out of the control panel. I assumed it was probably a joint that had come slightly undone as it was only a very small amount. On taking out the panel I noticed that the rubber grommet at the top of the pressure gauge had come out and the water was in fact the oily liquid from within the pressure gauge. There is now about 1/2 an inch air gap at the top of the gauge.

Is this an issue? What actually is the fluid? Should I top it up?

Many thanks for your help.

Best wishes

Ian Sprigings.

[Editor’s note: The leak on the pressure gauge was simply because the nipple on the top needed to be pricked to release the air.]

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