Emptying water tanks on Beneteau WPB

[wonkywinch]

Currently undertaking annual maintenance on our 2016 Beneteau.

I'd like to flush our two water tanks using Milton fluid but as there are no drains, the only way is to leave the tap running until the tank is empty.

I can't find the duty cycle info for the water pump. I have a gut feeling 15 mins on, 5 mins off but that's a complete guess.

How long do you run your pump for?

The alternative is to pull a hose off at the mixer and let the tanks gravity feed into the bilge but then the bilge pump would have to do the work instead.

Boat currently on the hard with water/electricity.

 

[C08]

If you fit a length of hose to the tap and run it lower than the tanks it should siphon out once the water is flowing. This seems to work ok on my boat which has both an electic pump and a regular hand pump tap.

 

[rotrax]

Every couple of years I drain our tanks-300 litres each-and then remove the feed pipe. This is extended into a bucket of 25:1 bleach and water mix. This is run through the system until I detect the mixture at each outlet. The mix is left in for 24 hours.

The tanks are filled, the pipe replaced and the system is then flushed. When clear, I top the water up.

A 'squirt' of Milton is used in each tank at every fill up. Due to this, my tanks are clean, but the pipes and tap outlets get smelly, hence the bi-annual treatment.

Milton is dilute bleach. Not really cost effective for cleaning tanks, straight bleach is better.

This procedure came from my boats owners website, it is what most owners do. No mention of being careful about pump run time, never been an issue.