Cleaning/protecting pipes with vinegar?

[Plevier]

My Jeanneau owners manual recommends flushing the water tank and pipes with vinegar and water when laying up. I haven't heard of this before. It specifically says don't use anything chlorine based. (The piping is mostly the mesh reinforced clear stuff, which I think hardens with chlorine. The tank is plastic - maybe polypropylene.)

Is it common to use vinegar for this and what strength mixture do you need? Is it just to get scale out or will it protect against the nasty stuff you tend to get growing in damp water pipes?

 

[Martin_J]

The plastimo flexible tanks also come with instructions to flush through with vinegar after being newly installed. I did use the white (clear) vinegar though rather than the coloured malt vinegar.

Any smell (although rather strong) does surprisingly disappear after a couple of flush throughs...

 

[r_h]

It's a mild disinfectant and is acidic so will reduce the build up of limescale in the pipes and pumps etc.

 

[V1701]

White vinegar can also be used to dissolve the salts that can build up in the sea toilet pipes...

 

[r_h]

White vinegar can also be used to dissolve the salts that can build up in the sea toilet pipes...

These days I use citric acid for that - it's readily available from pharmacies in powered form so is easily carried and stowed and can be diluted to whatever strength is appropriate.

 

[CreakyDecks]

When I clean/descale my washing machine at home I use a couple of bottles of Sainsburys cheapo malt vinegar (on a boil wash) because it's only about 15p a litre! Before I tried it I did worry that I'd smell like I worked in a chippy but there is absolutely no smell left after it's been through the full cycle. It works a treat.

 

[mucklestone]

The good thing about vinegar over some cleaners is you know it is ok if you drank a bit after swilling a cup etc... (Apart from the taste perhaps!) All these chemical cleaners around may be ok but if there was a slight posibility of me drinking one I would rather drink vinegar!!!

 

[Plevier]

Thanks everyone. Off to Lidl for a gallon I guess!

 

[PeterGibbs]

My Jeanneau owners manual recommends flushing the water tank and pipes with vinegar and water when laying up. I haven't heard of this before. It specifically says don't use anything chlorine based. (The piping is mostly the mesh reinforced clear stuff, which I think hardens with chlorine. The tank is plastic - maybe polypropylene.)

Is it common to use vinegar for this and what strength mixture do you need? Is it just to get scale out or will it protect against the nasty stuff you tend to get growing in damp water pipes?

Clear piping admits light and, with photons comes green algae buildup in static water. Just watch it proliferate. But vinegar will hold it at bay; otherwise remove all water over the winter. Blue Whale type piping does not encourage algae-preferable.

Vinegar concentrations: suggest 1:10 for these purposes. But for cleaning lavatory outpipe use neat and allow to stand some days: massaging pipe gently with grips and small wooden chocks to protect the surface will crack the calc buildup and permit the vinegar to render the deposits ready to pass out. (you won't believe how much calc deposit builds up in this pipe - a reaction of seawater and urine!)

Milton (or PL variations) will also work and will not damage drinking water piping when used occasionally.

Feed pipes between deck closure and tank are very prone to heavy algae build up - Milton and a rag on a wire / bottlebrush to clean out, and keep everything sweet.

PWG

 

[Plevier]

Thanks.
None of the clear pipe is exposed to light.
For routine treatment I use a hydrogen peroxide based fluid - can't stand the Milton taste.
Mind you I have a friend who doesn't use anything in the tank because he reckons the water is never in there long enough and that tastes worse