Katadyn Repair Parts Policy

[wingssail]

Today I tried to order a seal kit for my Katadyn Power Survivor 35 watermaker.

No Luck. No vendor I could find will sell them.

Apparently this is a Katadyn policy.

I called Katadyn and they said they cannot sell these kits because it is a "safety issue". Because of the life saving nature of these water makers only a qualified technician can service them, so while they will service them they won't sell the seal kits.

Well this is total hogwash. We have had and used our Power Survivor 35 since 1993, when I bought it used. I've replaced the membranes twice and the seal kits about 5 times since then. Usually we are on a cruise and our Power survivor is happily working and then one day it stops pumping. In every case one of the poppet valves is sticking or leaking or some other seal or o-ring has failed. An hour later I've rebuilt the pump and all is good again.

Now the requirement is that I send it in for service? How does that restore my water making capacity when I am on a cruise? How does that make for more safety?

I've toyed with the idea of buying a larger capacity watermaker and the Katadyn 40 or 80 gal/day models were at the top of my list. Now I wouldn't touch them.

How about this, can I find stock o-rings, seals, and poppet valves somewhere else?

 

[mgs]

Yeah you can source your own o-rings, but you do understand the logic behind Katadyn’s decision right?

 

[Jim in Halifax]

Clearly Katadyn is not listening to the Right to Repair movement. Depending on where they are located and the jurisdiction, they may not be obliged to co-operate. I sure as hell wouldn't buy a watermaker I can't repair - that would be a safety issue for me.

 

[LewSipfher]

o-rings you can find, but you may have to find someone to 3D print the poppet valves

 

[Zonker]

Yeah you can source your own o-rings, but you do understand the logic behind Katadyn’s decision right?

Yes, to maximize profits. If all watermaker manufacturers said this, it would be one thing, but many will happily sell you parts as needed.

It's pretty easy to tell if the watermaker is making good water. A $35 TDS meter is about all that is needed.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

Today I tried to order a seal kit for my Katadyn Power Survivor 35 watermaker.

No Luck. No vendor I could find will sell them.

Apparently this is a Katadyn policy.

I called Katadyn and they said they cannot sell these kits because it is a "safety issue". Because of the life saving nature of these water makers only a qualified technician can service them, so while they will service them they won't sell the seal kits.

Well this is total hogwash. We have had and used our Power Survivor 35 since 1993, when I bought it used. I've replaced the membranes twice and the seal kits about 5 times since then. Usually we are on a cruise and our Power survivor is happily working and then one day it stops pumping. In every case one of the poppet valves is sticking or leaking or some other seal or o-ring has failed. An hour later I've rebuilt the pump and all is good again.

Now the requirement is that I send it in for service? How does that restore my water making capacity when I am on a cruise? How does that make for more safety?

I've toyed with the idea of buying a larger capacity watermaker and the Katadyn 40 or 80 gal/day models were at the top of my list. Now I wouldn't touch them.

How about this, can I find stock o-rings, seals, and poppet valves somewhere else?

This is not what you are looking for?

Katadyn Watermaker Repair Seal Kit - 8013053

Features: Katadyn 8013053 Survivor 35 Watermaker Repair Seal Kit Applications: Survivor 35 Function: Improves operating efficiency Over time the dynamic seals and O-rings will wear The major seals and O-rings should be replaced Packa

defender.com

 

[Raz'r]

This is not what you are looking for?

Katadyn Watermaker Repair Seal Kit - 8013053

Features: Katadyn 8013053 Survivor 35 Watermaker Repair Seal Kit Applications: Survivor 35 Function: Improves operating efficiency Over time the dynamic seals and O-rings will wear The major seals and O-rings should be replaced Packa

defender.com

View attachment 582262

it's missing the blow-by valve for one. I was able to source a full kit pre-paccup. Will need to do again next year. Hope I don't have to send it for service, it only took an evening to replace all the rings

 

[mgs]

Yes, to maximize profits. If all watermaker manufacturers said this, it would be one thing, but many will happily sell you parts as needed.

It's pretty easy to tell if the watermaker is making good water. A $35 TDS meter is about all that is needed.

Fair enough. Your first remark I was not considering. Hooray capitalism.

But your second remark. That’s the point I’m driving at. Hooray America and litigation. (I don’t need to provide an example to explain myself further do I?)

 

[mckenzie.keith]

it's missing the blow-by valve for one. I was able to source a full kit pre-paccup. Will need to do again next year. Hope I don't have to send it for service, it only took an evening to replace all the rings

Well, the OP said that he tried to order a "seal kit" and it was nowhere available. But there is a "repair seal kit" available from Defender. As far as I can tell the repair seal kit does contain poppets. I don't know. Maybe I am wrong. But it looks to me like the OP is angry about the unavailability of something that can be ordered from defender.com and that ships the same day.

As far as "right to repair" goes, Katadyn has published detailed maintenance drawings that even show the dimensions of the O-rings which would facilitate searching out alternate sources.

Like I said, I could be wrong. Maybe Katadyn Group (who also owns Spectra) really is an evil company that witholds information about spare parts to make life more difficult for cruisers who need to rebuild their watermakers in exotic places. But that is not how it looks as far as I can see.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

Clearly Katadyn is not listening to the Right to Repair movement. Depending on where they are located and the jurisdiction, they may not be obliged to co-operate. I sure as hell wouldn't buy a watermaker I can't repair - that would be a safety issue for me.

You may wish to take a look at this and evaluate if your statement is correct.

https://www.katadyngroup.com/Downloads/katadyn/manuals/desalinators/Manual%20Powersurvivor%2040E_en.pdf

 

[mckenzie.keith]

The power survivor 35 has not been manufactured for over 20 years. FYI.

Katadyn's website actually says that they will not service the power survivor 35.

It seems like there is something amiss with this whole story.

PowerSurvivor 35 Repair Options (DISCONTINUED)

PowerSurvivor 35 Repair Options The PowerSurvivor 35 has not been manufactured for more than 20 years now. The only replacement parts that are available are a membrane (8012793 MEMBRANE KIT 35/40

support.katadyngroup.com

 

[toddster]

IDK. I’ve been a PS35 owner (and now 160E) for ten years and have rested comfortably in the knowledge that those kits were available. I’d test this out, but the 160E came to me with a spares kit.

However, I’ve recently had two other pieces of equipment (Sailomat 3040 and B&G T2 Ram, for the record) for which repair kits are listed on line, but the manufacturers refused to sell them to me, on the grounds that they want to sell me new equipment instead.

Kind of a dick move, IMHO.

I had somewhat similar experiences with far more expensive lab equipment, in past decades. A couple of times I got lucky and the service contract guys (one who was being let go and another was trying to poach me) spilled the beans and gave me the (quite simple, it turns out) specs and instructions to duplicate what we were paying them $KK’s/year for for just a few bucks.

OK, I pushed it a bit and kept some of that stuff going for decades after it should have been scrapped. But if it literally floats your boat, why the hell not? One company (*coughDionexcough*) caught on to what I was doing and refused to sell me parts at all, so I had to get some friendly wholesaler to buy them for me. And buy a lot of scrap units at auctions, for parts.

I suppose that I f we were really all that smart, we’d be building our own stuff from scratch in the first place, instead of paying way too much for simple devices.

Time to take another look at open source and 3D printed stuff.

 

[Startracker]

Fair enough. Your first remark I was not considering. Hooray capitalism.

But your second remark. That’s the point I’m driving at. Hooray America and litigation. (I don’t need to provide an example to explain myself further do I?)

For some devices that makes sense, something that may require servicing at sea, less so. Even worse when it is one which they no longer service. That smells of an MBA finding a "lost potential revenue stream" and trying to increase profits. I was wondering how long it would take really. The next obvious question is how much effort it is to get certified. Garmin/Raymarine for example are super short courses, and if you're running entirely one system and going far away, having the ability to perform certain steps/resets is valuable, I was being driven around the bend by a garmin unit recently. The absurdity was that they wanted it sent to a registered dealer for repair, and the only one they could find in their database doesn't bother doing resets anymore. 3 months later the shop it was finally sent to(about 3500KM each way) decided they couldn't be bothered to deal with it and suggested buying new. It was a 5 minute exercise to sort the damn thing out. I've done it before. This was straight fuckery, and it's becoming prevalent. "only registered techs can do XYZ for safety". "oh we don't have any registered techs willing to do it, how about you just drop a few grand for a new one?"

I'm glad this came up now, I was planning to order a power survivor and spares kits the next time I saw a good deal on used, since I've had no luck finding a spectra with blown feed pumps to experiment with/rebuild. Not sure where to look next, but it definitely won't be anything Katadyn deals now. If I could find a small enough and cheap enough hydraulic intensifier pump I'd have a go at rolling my own entirely. Might yet give up and go the pressure washer route, found one company making the entire pressure washer head from 316, and had found another with Ti/ceramic pistons. Both from Aliexpress.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

IDK. I’ve been a PS35 owner (and now 160E) for ten years and have rested comfortably in the knowledge that those kits were available. I’d test this out, but the 160E came to me with a spares kit.

I mean, did you not see the screen shot and link from defender? The kit is available. I think the OP is just confused.

However, I’ve recently had two other pieces of equipment (Sailomat 3040 and B&G T2 Ram, for the record) for which repair kits are listed on line, but the manufacturers refused to sell them to me, on the grounds that they want to sell me new equipment instead.

Kind of a dick move, IMHO.

Agree.

I suppose that I f we were really all that smart, we’d be building our own stuff from scratch in the first place, instead of paying way too much for simple devices.

Time to take another look at open source and 3D printed stuff.

The part of the spectra watermakers that is hard to get seems to be the energy recovery pump. Maybe we are paying too much for that. But as far as I know they are not really available from any other source. If you want an RO system that doesn't use the fancy pump, I think you can put it together entirely from off-the-shelf parts.

 

[Jim in Halifax]

You may wish to take a look at this and evaluate if your statement is correct.

https://www.katadyngroup.com/Downloads/katadyn/manuals/desalinators/Manual%20Powersurvivor%2040E_en.pdf

Well, the OP says Katadyn won't sell him a seal kit and yet the manual gives instruction on how to change the seals after 1000 hours of operation...Something F-ed up there.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

Well, the OP says Katadyn won't sell him a seal kit and yet the manual gives instruction on how to change the seals after 1000 hours of operation...Something F-ed up there.

OP also says that Katadyn told him to send in the unit despite the fact that their website specifically says they will not work on them. Also, the kit is available from defender. I am suggesting that the OP may not be a reliable narrator.

 

[Kookaburra2007]

This is not what you are looking for?

Katadyn Watermaker Repair Seal Kit - 8013053

Features: Katadyn 8013053 Survivor 35 Watermaker Repair Seal Kit Applications: Survivor 35 Function: Improves operating efficiency Over time the dynamic seals and O-rings will wear The major seals and O-rings should be replaced Packa

defender.com

it's missing the blow-by valve for one. I was able to source a full kit pre-paccup. Will need to do again next year. Hope I don't have to send it for service, it only took an evening to replace all the rings

I’m looking at that same kit from Defender. Is the blow-by valve(s) the same as the poppet valve? It looks like there are two in that kit - top of the photo, middle? I looked at this rebuild instructions and I see the poppet valves but nothing labeled the blow-by. Am I missing something?

https://www.landfallnavigation.com/product-assets/installation-instructions_repair-seal-kit_survivor-35_en.pdf