flexible water tanks

[ColinR]

just took my 4 year old Plastimo one out because it leaked. I think the outlet connector had worked loose as the bladder seemed fine. But it was covered with brown slime on the inside, not pleasant to think I have been drinking that. Why would that be. Its 4 years old. The spare water containers I have on board dont go slimy inside and some have been on the go for 20 years.
Are there other makes apart from Plastimo? The only one I can see on the web is made in Australia.I wondered if there is something a bit more sturdy looking. Has anyone ever had one split?

Colin

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Don't think this is a manufacturers fault, most certain that you probably received some bad water at some point. The brown slime is algae, it is brown because there is no light, otherwise you would have green slime.

Completely harmless, but it should have been cleaned out of the supply by the water board, in summer it is more prevalent, hence you get a stronger chlorine taste in tap water. Trouble is, once you have it in your tank it wont go away unless you clean the tanks regularly. I'm sure you would have this if you had hard tanks, flexible tanks, SS tanks etc.

I recently flushed my 20 year old flexible tanks with a massive dose of puriclean, I did them outside the boat and they are now squeaky clean. It may be a good idea to clean the pipes while you are at it. If there is life in the pipes it will quickly grow into any new tanks you fit.

My heads tank had not been used for 8 years and is now clean and fresh, so don't be too quick to write off your tanks just yet.

 

[JRiley]

You could try these:

http://www.tidel.biz/flexibletanks.php

They're in Dartmouth

 

[pyrojames]

Give a good rinse and a scrub if you can. And then treat with Milton. That'll kill it all, but if you can't get the slime out, then once you've killed it all, it will come out in flecks for ever. May be well to leave alone!

 

[Slow_boat]

A couple of Milton tablets left to soak ovenight, empty, then blast the inside with a high-ish pressure hose through the filler hole to dislodge as much as you can. Repeat until clean.

 

[MarkJohnson12345]

We have had similar problems with these flexable water tanks. Our drinking water comes from Tesco in 5 litre bottles. 10 of those usually last a fortnights cruise.

I treat the tanks with purifying tablets, but the water is still unpleasant to drink.

I have had two tanks go in four years, nuisance and a mess. Have considered installing rigid tanks but they are expensive.