Fresh Water Tank

[Scubafill]

My Hunter 26 has a deck filling point for fresh water with the tank fitted below the fwd bunk. I can remove the lower outlet pipes but cant get the residue water out of the tank. It would be very difficult to remove the tank.

I am worried about contamination in the bottom of the tank and drain and refill with fresh water throughout the summer season. Not mad about purification tablets due to the after taste.

I normally take bottled water on board for drinking but would like to sail further afield this year. If I use water from the tank for drinks etc I would probably boil it first.

Any comments or advice would be apreciated

Thanks

Phil

 

[Piers]

Stage one - Flush a few times.

Stage two, add Milton Fluid and fill the tanks and pipe work using the dilution on the bottle.

Stage 3 - after 2 days, flush possibly 4 times.

Result? Sterilised system and no aftertaste.

Have used this process every year on every boat. Works superbly.

If you want additional cleaning throughout the season, add a carbon filter between the tank and the boat's systems.

If you want further sterilisation, add a UV light after the carbon filter....but that's going some.

 

[ashanta]

Hi owned a Hunter 26 but I did not have a deck opening for filling. As the tank was underneath the seat situated athwarts below the forehatch I felt that I could fill up easily by taking the hose through that way. This mean't that I had access to the larges inspection cover at the top of the tank. I was able to clean out annually and rinse properly very quickly. I never used puri tabs due to the bad taste and me and my family did not have any problems with using the water for cleaning teeth and making hot drinks. My kids always had coke and lemonade and drank water.

I have the same inspection covers on my current boat and I carry out the same exercise each year.

Regards.

Peter

 

[Cloven]

I solved this problem on a Hunter 27 which I am sure has the same arrangement of water tank but you must be prepared to do a little "surgery". The tank sits below the forward part of the U shaped seating in the saloon and is obvious because it is a slightly different colour from the surrounding GRP.

You need to cut a hole in the top of the tank that is at least big enough to get your hand in easily. I had a square hole about 15cms each side. Once cut, you will then need to get a piece of perspex about 1 to 2 cms bigger than the hole all round. It needs to be fairly thick so it does not flex easily. Lastly you will need a rubber seal - any flat piece of rubber will do and some bathroom quality sealant - not Sikaflex as you want to be able to remove it. Now drill some holes through both perspex, rubber seal & tank and the top can be fitted with stainless steel screws. It helps if you run a film of sealant both sides of the rubber seal. Its important to round off the edges of the perspex & countersink the screws so you don't risk damaging the seating.

Any time you want to clean out the system, after pumping the system dry, it's just a matter of removing the perspex cover and cleaning out the tank by hand. I did this each winter and had no problems at all. The other advantage is that you can check the water level by looking through the perspex.

Hope this does not sound too drastic but it does work.

 

[Benbow]

On my Hunter 26, I abandoned this rather stupid system, converted the water tank to a locker and put a water tank under the stbd bunk by installing a flexible tank with a deck filler. Also fitted a carbon filter.

One of my better decisions.

 

[Scubafill]

Thanks for the advice.

I will try the flushing method with Milton first, if necessary I will go for the more technical changes at the end of this season.

Regards

Phil

 

[VicMallows]

Save some money for more useful things and just use ordinary cheap bleach. About 1 bleach to 10 water will do. Leave it say 24 hrs. Flush 2-3 times or until you can't taste the chlorine. IMHO!

Vic

 

[Piers]

The Milton flushes out more easily.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a similar problem on my previous boat, and put the recommended amount of Puriclean powder (bought mine from local chandlery but Force 4 do it http://www.force4.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Water_Tanks_96.html . After adding the powder there was a lot of gurgling - I left it for around 12 hours and pumped out through the tap (using the electric and foot pumps). All sorts of horrible gunge came out, and foam. After a couple of flushes you could drink a glass of water from the tank without taint.

On the new boat, we have tainted water but the Genereal Ecology filter removes all taint and the water is every bit as good as the best bottled waters. I have bought several tubs of Puriclean, however and will use that just before I change the General Ecology filter in the spring. I am worried that the chemical in Puriclean would linger in the filter or destroy it; I could remove the filter but I don't suppose I'd replace the old one and they have a life of 2000 gallons and cost nearly £90. We liveaboard, so fresh water is a big issue for us and I've given it quite a bit of thought.

 

[Benbow]

Thats because Milton is dilute bleach at 100x the cost !

 

[BrendanS]

AS I've said many time before. Milton is PURE dilute bleach. Cheap UK supermarket bleaches are only partly bleach, they also contain whiteners, surfactants and a whole plethora of other chemicals, some of which are not particularly suited to cleaning fresh water supplies

If you can get hold of PURE cheap bleach, as they sell in the US, then that is a different ball game.

 

[Anonymous]

Update on Puriclean. While I had terrific results on the last boat with a 20 year old water tank, I have just cleaned both tanks on the new boat (five years) - both tainted the water. Unlike the last time I used it, there were no gurgling noises, no horrid stuff came out when I flushed and the taint is still there. I used the same concentration and left it for longer than 12 hours.

Why? Re-fomulation? Out of date product? Different problem? (i.e. it works for some sorts of contamination but not others).

I thought that the forum would appreciate an update since I did rather sing the praises before. Moral of the story - what works here may not work there and it doesn't pay to offer advice on products with too much certainty or to read too much into other peoples' good (or bad) experiences - you need a number of cases to show a fair picture.