Drinking water from your tank

Big-Bang1 said:
We always empty our tanks at the end of the season, then refill in the spring adding 2.5ml of Milton sterilising fluid per 5000ml of water in the tank. The dilution used to be printed on the side of the bottle but is now removed so as to allow larger print for the health and safety label! If you Email Milton (Hayley.Johnston@ceutahealthcare.com) they will confirm it for you and it's suitability as a long term solution to keeping water safe to drink.
HTH
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We use Milton at every fill. A Jamie Oliver "splash" works fine.............................
 
We have filled up with some pretty unpleasant water over the years. Now we always fill up with an inline filter on the hose. It is amazing what comes out of the tap - whilst most of it wont do you any harm it prevents the sludge and debris getting into your clean tanks. We also have a small carbon block water filter on the galley tap which removes all the nasties and makes the water taste like spring water. We buy our kit from these guys - www.westwatermakers.com
Very cost effective when compared to the chandlers and they know what they are talking about as its a sideline for their main business.
 
prv said:
That's a good point. My vent is in the topsides, and I was concerned about it taking in seawater when heeled, so when I re-did all the plumbing on board I fitted a longer hose that loops up inside the cockpit coaming before coming down to the vent. However, this necessarily involved a horizontal or slightly dipped section of hose, rather than a continuous steep fall to tank on one side and vent on the other. No sign at all of any problems, but I have occasionally wondered about water collecting in that dip, stuff growing in it, and eventually getting back to the tank.

I think next time I clean the tank I will try to block the filler around the hose, hopefully pressurising it enough to force some of the cleaning solution up and over the loop to flush out the vent hose.

Pete
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Does the vent have a screen to keep bugs out? The requirement is common in plumbing codes. I found some bugs in my tank once.
 
We drink from the tank, which is cleaned out once a year and has tablets added on each refill. We've never gone down with the deli-belly, but the water does taste a bit chlorinated. It doesn't bother me, but my wife uses a Brita filter jug for all cold drinks. I have wondered about fitting a Brita tap in the galley - may do next year.
 
thinwater said:
Does the vent have a screen to keep bugs out? The requirement is common in plumbing codes. I found some bugs in my tank once.
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We don't really have much in the way of "bugs" here, at least not hovering around the topsides of a moored boat. The fitting on the end of my vent line has a sort of covering plate with a very narrow slot for the air entry; it would keep out larger insects that might decide the vent looked like a cosy home.

Pete
 
yachtailsa said:
I entirely replaced the water system on my Hurley, and added a charcoal filter. And I still only drank bottled.

I would use the tank stuff if I boiled it - but it really doesn't take long for the inside of even a new tank to turn into an aquarium and do you really trust the cleanliness of the hose, deck or filler?
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I drink mine without boiling it. Never had a problem.
 
We drink the water from the tank no problem, after first Puricleaning the tanks when we got the boat, and then fitting a Jabsco Aqua Filter. I reckon the filter is a good idea to have if someone's sniffy about the water.
 
Use from the tank, normally boiled first but then we wash up with it so any bugs would have returned to the surface. Mind you I find that adding whisky seems to improve the taste.
 
I just drink mine, no filters, no purification, no ill-effects.

Stainless tanks, one under the forepeak berth, the other under the saloon sole and my vent/breather is in the heads at ceiling height.
 
The thing that encourages biological growth is sunlight and you don't get that inside a water tank. Provided you sterilise the tank annually, you shouldn't have any serious problems. You may get a bit of a skanky (stale) taste though which some people may object to.
 
During a 6 year circumnavigation, we relied almost entirely on tank water, topped up by the watermaker on long passages. Occasionally on islands running water was not available, so we had to buy it in 20l bottles, but otherwise we filled from local water supplies. We occasionally added a small quantity of bleach to sterilize the tank. No ill effects.
In general the 'need' for bottled water is the product of some very effective marketing and the source of vast pollution from the disposal of the plastic bottles.
 
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blenkinsop said:
During a 6 year circumnavigation, we relied almost entirely on tank water, topped up by the watermaker on long passages. Occasionally on islands running water was not available, so we had to buy it in 20l bottles, but otherwise we filled from local water supplies. We occasionally added a small quantity of bleach to sterilize the tank. No ill effects.
In general the 'need' for bottled water is the product of some very effective marketing and the source of vast pollution from the disposal of the plastic bottles.
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blenkinsop said:
<snip>
In general the 'need' for bottled water is the product of some very effective marketing and the source of vast pollution from the disposal of the plastic bottles.
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And very effective marketing also promotes the use of Milton instead of household thin bleach. Many times the price per litre for a five times more diluted solution of Sodium Hypochorite.

For a reasonably full story about ensuring clean water supplies, see this page on my web site.
 
QUOTE=MagicalArmchair;5693693]

We always run the hose for a while before filling the tank to make sure we get none of the nice green sludge that grows in the pipes in this nice hot weather we are having. Considering we have some of the best drinking water in the world, is there any reason she should be shy of drinking water from the tanks on board? Does anyone add anything else to their water tanks, purification tablets, err, or something?[/QUOTE]


Do you really think a quick run through of water is going to remove the bacteria from the pipes
best water in the world---- pull the other one!!!!
 
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