Onboard System 09 - How Kinetico has helped JENAL be a Dutch Barge success

Having had filtered drinking water systems in our last three houses it seemed a natural thing to have one fitted on JENAL particularly when remembering some of the less than salubrious water supply places we see on our waterways. Research tells us; there is no such thing as naturally pure water – water is life’s natural solvent and it will try to absorb anything it comes into contact with on its way to our tap. Whilst many of the substances absorbed are completely harmless, some elements are considered contaminants. These may make a difference to the smell, taste and safety of your drinking water.

The long-term cost-effective and convenient way to combat this is with a drinking water filter system. As we have identified, bottled water can be expensive and cumbersome and water filter jugs can be slow and limiting. Literally… having a system ‘on-tap’ gives plenty of high quality drinking water, when you want it.

There are a number of options on the market to choose from with an equally broad price range, we chose model: MACGUARD 7500 from Kinetico. Kinetico drinking water filters are equipped with a monitoring device called MACguard the ‘MAC’ stands for metered Automatic Cartridge. The makers words say; MACguard offers you the ultimate in protection by measuring the amount of water the unit has filtered and shutting down the system when its 1850 litres capacity has been reached (about a year's worth of drinking water for an average family of four). Without MACguard, filters can be overused and lose their filtration ability. MACguard ensures you and your family will never get a drop of unfiltered, unhealthy water.

The filtered drinking water supply is tapped into the 22mm line after the main water tank filters and pressure pump otherwise, it wouldn’t work (no flies on us) and before the water softener. They say, drinking softened water is not good for you, it is debatable!!

So, there you have it, the onboard drinking water side is catered for now all I needed to resolve was the water softening side. I again stayed with Kinetico. Their Water Softener automatically matches the water softening process to our water needs… it’s a continuous process. There are no electronic parts to go wrong or drain our batteries, nothing to set or reset, so… nothing to worry about. Even when you leave the barge unattended for months and months. Ideally, you need a reliable and compact one which operates quietly and is virtually maintenance free.

JENAL water softener installation in the electrics room, beside the calorifier

To ‘add salt to the wound’ (very bad pun, apologies) research tells us that 60% of the UK suffers from hard water, what it’s like in other parts of Europe, is anyone guess but I suspect, similar. If you have experienced water softeners at home you will know how they give the user softer, smoother hair and skin because soft water washes soaps and shampoos completely away. Running cost-wise; on the one hand, you have to buy salt for the softener but on the other, a water softener saves money by requiring less concentration of detergent and cleaning product, by as much as 75%. Those hard water stains in sinks, baths and toilets become a thing of the past as do similar marks on washed silver and glassware. The final bonus is protection for our water-using appliances… soft water will help our dishwasher, washing machine, shower and hot water heating system work better and last longer. The calorifier will like you as well because scale build-up becomes history as does similar scale build up in the central heating system.

For JENAL I chose the Kinetico model: 2020c. It is a compact water softener (H:487mm x W:215mm x D:458mm), small in size but huge in performance (the makers assure me). As you will see from the water system schematic we have mounted the Kinetico softener in the galley, before the water pipes separate to the calorifier, water heater etc.