Diesel in water tank

[zoidberg]

Any knowledge on how to remove residual taste of diesel from water tank?

 

[KevinV]

Stainless, grp or plastic?

 

[lustyd]

Stainless, grp or plastic?

for the new one you mean?

 

[KevinV]

for the new one you mean?

I hoping to be a bit more positive, but yeah, it's an awfully sticky taste - as anyone who has siphoned the stuff knows

 

[michael_w]

There are specialist companies who do this. Google.

 

[oldgit]

70 litre water tank with about 20 litres of Red.
After pumping out the diesel/ water mixture, flushed tank several times with a washing up liquid and water mix.
5 or 6 flushes of fairy and a further couple of water alone seemed to do the job.
Did manage to save some of the " Red"

 

[rotrax]

Try 15% Sodium Hyperclorite bleach. Put in 10 litres, fill the tank with fresh water, run through all the pipes, turn off and leave 24 hours.

Empty the tank, fill and flush several times the next day. I cant guarantee it will work, but I believe it is your best shot.

Amazon, ebay or a swimming pool chemical supplier will do 15% Sodium Hyperclorite bleach.

Fantastic for cleaning paving slabs and discoloured concrete too!

 

[Slowboat35]

I'd try the blue fluid pubs use to clean their pipes. It is probably available online, if not talk to your local landlord.
But ultimately I fear (especially if that devils's mix went through your plumbing before you discobered it ) then it's an entire new water system altogether. Tanks, plumbing, calorifier, taps the lot.
Sorry.

 

[jwfrary]

Try 15% Sodium Hyperclorite bleach. Put in 10 litres, fill the tank with fresh water, run through all the pipes, turn off and leave 24 hours.

Empty the tank, fill and flush several times the next day. I cant guarantee it will work, but I believe it is your best shot.

Amazon, ebay or a swimming pool chemical supplier will do 15% Sodium Hyperclorite bleach.

Fantastic for cleaning paving slabs and discoloured concrete too!

Just don't get it anywhere near anything ammonia based! Doesn't mix to well with detergents either

 

[Tradewinds]

I put in God knows how many litres of duty free diesel into my FW tank prior to leaving NZ for Oz. The marina arranged a waste tanker to suck out what it could in the (expensive) time allocated. Took too long (££££) to refill with FW and flush again so just the minimum we could manage in the time available. I poured a load of washing up liquid into the tank, flushed out once more via the boat's taps (which took forever). I floated oil absorption pads on the water surface in the tank to deal with the diesel haze and bought an inline charcoal filter to go before the galley tap. Actually the water tasted fine - primarily as the pick up was at the bottom well beneath the surface 'haze'. That was 25+ years ago - we're still here.

In mitigation, I was listening on the SSB to relayed reports about close cruising friends (a family with two kids, like us) taking to the life raft as their lovely Peterson 44 pounded itself to bits on Minerva reef. So my mind was elsewhere - hence the comment from my wife "why are you putting diesel into our water tank?"

Never did it again.

 

[thinwater]

Try 15% Sodium Hyperclorite bleach. Put in 10 litres, fill the tank with fresh water, run through all the pipes, turn off and leave 24 hours.

Empty the tank, fill and flush several times the next day. I cant guarantee it will work, but I believe it is your best shot.

Amazon, ebay or a swimming pool chemical supplier will do 15% Sodium Hyperclorite bleach.

Fantastic for cleaning paving slabs and discoloured concrete too!

High concentrations work well on concrete with lots of algae, which will react with and consume the bleach. Also, the layer of bleach solution is very thin (1/100") and is quickly consumed. This is very different from a tank with very little contamainant and a layer of solution 1000x thicker (10 inches vs 1/11-inch) with 1000 times more volume to hold the chemical. Logically, hundreds to thousands of times less bleach is needed for the tank. Just a few ounces of 6% bleach.

Second, a high concentration of bleach increases the pH past the point where there is a high hypochlorous ion concentration. Google it.

There is no reason to exceed standard water tank and food processing equipment shock dosing. It actually will not work as well. Counter intuitive, I know. You need high concentations for cleaning porus susrfaces with lots of contamination, but just a wisp for basically clean tanks.

 

[thinwater]

The other thing I would do is install a good carbon block water filtration system. If it is a poly tank you just about can't get the last of the smell, because it is absorbed into the plastic and will take years to come out.

 

[Boathook]

Once the tank is clean as possible a decent filter system should trap the rest of the diesel. I seem to remember years ago someone had diesel in their water tank and the general ecology water filter was still trapping diesel a few years later.

 

[Boater Sam]

These should take it out of the water,
Water Filter Cartridge 10" Silver - Carbon. Sediment, Bacteria, Pesticides etc. | eBay

Carbon and silver, down to 1 micron

 

[zoidberg]

I'm told, by the maintenance/support guy at a major motor-caravan dealers, that a product called Bio-Magic does the job reliably. Several 'cycles' of flush-draining/dosing/waiting 24 hours/flush-draining/redosing may be required.

Seems this is the 'beezkneez'.....

Thanks to all above for suggestions and solutions.