keeping water potable

C

CheckRaise

New member
I'm wondering what everyone does to treat their water tank and keep it from becoming a giant petri dish. Or do you just not drink the water?
 
I drain my tank regularly (thow a piece of tubing on the facet and thow the other end out the window) and treat the water with some stuff I got in the RV isle at Joe's. We freeze gallon jugs of water that we generally use for drinking water, tank water is used for coffee, cooking and washing.
 
I've wondered about this issue myself. Siphoning all the water out works fine if the boat is on the trailer, but when it is in the water the bottom of the tank, I believe, is lower than the water level outside. I've given thought to installing a three way valve to enable draining the tank to the bilge sump, but I recently realized all I would have to do is to direct my siphon hose off the fawcett to the bilge. That way, even when the boat is in the water, complete emptying of the tank should be possible.

We also use some RV juice to keep the water fresh and have found that a few grains of Wylers lemonade mix per cup makes it actually quite palatable. Cooler space always seems at a premium, so it is nice to be able to use the tank water for drinking as well as other purposes.
Al
 
Great responses, thanks. Anyone have a brand of treatment chemical that they're loyal to?

I was just looking at this stuff. They don't say what's in it, but they claim that one treatment is good for five years. What's the active ingrediant, uranium? :shock:
 
I use one of these gizmos, and Kay likes what it does. Big difference between with and without. In the CD 22, we used one of those inline RV filters with hose connectors. It worked good, too, but not as good as the cartridge type. Our water tanks go empty long before any biology experiments take place.
 
Coffee with tank water? Brrrr, I guess you WA Starbucks types are really jaded. We carry bottled water for drinking/cooking, throw a little clorox into the tank and use it strictly for cleaning/washing. Same as our RV. In the RV, if we've been on the road a while and the water tank's been cycled a few times, only then do we start using it for cooking and coffee. Probably do the same if we went on a long cruise.
 
Everybody has their own solutions I guess, but since our boat is on a trailer, we just siphon the water out like B~C does. Where we then differ is that I then add about a quarter of a cup of Clorox to the tank and refill. I let that sit overnight, siphon it out, refill with water, siphon that out, and then refill. We find this keeps the tank fresh, and we have no problem drinking the water. We have pretty good water to start with in Fall City and Birch Bay, no noticeable chlorine taste. I will let the chemists calculate the ppm of the 1/4 cup of Chlorox in 20 gallons, I think Chlorox is about 5% hypochlorite...What is left after the first rinse and then dilution in the next fill is below sensory detection by us. If you were really fussy you could do one more rinse before the fill. No need to buy disinfectant from the RV store, household bleach is the most effective disinfectant available...


CheckRaise":1g2cjai3 said:
Great responses, thanks. Anyone have a brand of treatment chemical that they're loyal to?

I was just looking at this stuff. They don't say what's in it, but they claim that one treatment is good for five years. What's the active ingrediant, uranium? :shock:
Click to expand...
 
I've found that if you put enough single malt in a nice glass :cocktail , add some ice and a splash of tank water, there's no problem. Anything that might be in there is either dead :mrgreen: or so happy :roll: it jumps right out of the glass....After 3 or 4 of those I don't care anyway.... :wink

Charlie
 
Vinegar works well and does not leave a nasty aftertaste. It's also a good solution if you are dumping your tank straight into a water source as it is not a chemical byproduct.
 
You left coasters have strange tastes. Never tried vinegar with scotch myself :smilep maybe well into the evening but not right out of the chute!! :lol:

Dusty and me gots the same taste buds apparently... :cocktail :wink

Charlie
 
Clorox works fine...sodium hypochlorite...bleach...all the same stuff. Don't use the stuff with additives...like lemon scent...get plain clorox. Clorox is about 5% hypochlorite...pool chlorine is good too...up around 12.5%. (halve the dose) Also...get the freshest stuff you can find...not the stuff that has been in the laundry cabinet for the last year. Hypochlorite has a half life of about 100 days...so the old stuff is mostly salt water...from which the hypochlorite was made. There are some high priced treatments out there...most work...but are expensive...and work no better than plain...and very cheap...clorox. Like Pat said...no better disinfectant known. Purogene is chlorine dioxide...and it is way more expensive. It is much more stable...and lasts a long time. It really isn't needed for our use...it is intended for high soil load disinfecting...one of their big markets is the hog industry...disinfecting hog houses etc. Vinegar may sweeten the taste...and odor...but doesn't do much in the way of disinfection.
My disinfection routine follows along what Pat does. Add a 1/2 cup of clorox to a partially full tank...fill it up...pump some water out to move the clorox solution through the system...then let it sit. Put a hose on the spout and siphon the tank dry...add about a gallon of water to the tank...siphon or pump that out..and fill the tank. Ready to go. You may need to repeat if the tank hasn't been treated in a long while....some of the biological goo may slough off after you have killed it with the chlorine. Also...the water tank is just like your gas tank...it doesn't like to have old stuff sitting there for long periods...use it freely. Whatever you use to treat the tank...including vinegar...do not let it drain to any waterway...or storm drain. This stuff is very deleterious to the environment. Let it drain on the lawn...or where it will soak into the ground.
And along the lines of what Sneaks was talking about...changing water supplies while traveling is the cause of a great deal of discomfort. And the discomfort is not always related to the microbiological condition of the water. Often it is due to other content...the dissolved solids...which can lead to gastrointestinal distress every bit as uncomfortable as that caused by "bugs". For this reason...I always drink bottled water when I'm on the road...or on the water...the larger brands are very consistent in quality and content.
 
Chris: so after the initial disinfection, you don't add anything to the drinking water? I would think some sort of treatment would be needed to keep bacteria at bay.
 
John...no...I don't add anything to the water. If you are getting your water from the typical municipal supply it probably already has chlorine in it. It won't last long in the tank...but does mean that if the tank is not then contaminated from some source it should remain potable. The best method for keeping the water in good shape is to change it out often... and be careful in the filling operation and selection of supply. There will be bacteria growth...but they will be mostly heterotrophic...which means they are not likely to make you sick...and these are dealt with in the once or twice a year shock treatment. You could add chemicals to the tank...and keep the water safe from an infectious disease point of view...but in the process expose yourself to the chemicals and disinfection byproducts which are a risk from the degenerative disease point of view. Now in the grand scale of things...you are not likely to drink enough water from the boat to make this a big issue...but it is so easy to just renew the water in the tank often...why mess with it?
 
Back
Top