Guernsey harbour Authority ban hoses on pontoons

[Twister_Ken]

It is Regulators with little else to do, so they empire build

I'm not sure the blame lies with the regulators - H&S often protest that it's not them. Conkers and safety goggles, hanging baskets in Norwich being two recent examples.

It's fear of the regulators and/or prosecution which seems to be the main driver in some very daft decisions.

What's wrong with a prominent notice "Use our hosepipes at your own risk"?

Somewhere - Hamble Point? - has hoses with an integrated tap about a metre back from the business end. You only need to flush through a meter of hose to be sure you're getting good water.

 

[Pye_End]

How is it possible to back siphon against the pressure of mains water?

Bernoulli effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli's_principle

 

[lw395]

The back-siphoning issue is plausible, but actually, all hoses are supposed to be connected only to taps with a 'double check valve' to prevent this happening. That includes your 'guard nose' at home.
It also applies to mixer showers where the cold side is connected to the mains.
Another issue is that most hosepipes are not of a 'food grade material'. So they may be leaching god knows what into the water when left in the sun.

 

[jsl]

Small point, Twister K: the conkers turned out to be a headmaster's satirical joke which was taken seriously by the Meedjah.

 

[longjohnsilver]

It's not their fault. It's the law. There've been several threads on the topic, yet everyone seems surprised when it happens.

Which law? Which country?

 

[l'escargot]

Which law? Which country?

Water Supply Regulations, Guernsey's.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Water Supply Regulations, Guernsey's.

Thanks.

 

[Boathook]

Personally, I would rather use a marina hose, which is in frequent use, than something that had been lying coiled up in the bottom of a cockpit locker for weeks. It's such a shame that common sense is being bred out of modern civilisation.

I prefer to use my own hose unless I have seen someone else use the hose to wash their boat and fill their tanks and not allowed the end in the water.

 

[oldharry]

PRV is quite right. Our yard in Chi Harbour was forced to disconnect all external hose points several years ago as was the sailing club next door, by the local water authority. The possibility of contaminated water being drawn back in to the system if for example the Fire Brigade was drawing water from the public supply further up the pipe, was the given reason. The only permissible way round it was to feed the hoses from a header tank, so that the hose supply was isolated from the water main.

 

[lw395]

PRV is quite right. Our yard in Chi Harbour was forced to disconnect all external hose points several years ago as was the sailing club next door, by the local water authority. The possibility of contaminated water being drawn back in to the system if for example the Fire Brigade was drawing water from the public supply further up the pipe, was the given reason. The only permissible way round it was to feed the hoses from a header tank, so that the hose supply was isolated from the water main.

They were not giving you the whole story.
Double check valves are accepted as preventing back flow into hoses.

 

[Grumpybear]

They were not giving you the whole story.
Double check valves are accepted as preventing back flow into hoses.

I believe that has been overridden in the Drinking Water Regulations due to failure of too many double check valves. I used to work in the water industry, and even in a water treatment works, the water supply for the operators' bathroom and kettle filling points had to come via an air break (ie a cistern).

Our present marina and the previous one both have a break tank on the water supply to the pontoons, with booster pumps to keep the supply pressure up on the pipes to the taps.

I dimly remember that the break tank requirement resulted from an EC directive.......

 

[Hydrozoan]

Double check valves are accepted as preventing back flow into hoses.

Subject to qualifications at marinas, I believe - see WRAS Guidance at link in post #9.

 

[NormanS]

PRV is quite right. Our yard in Chi Harbour was forced to disconnect all external hose points several years ago as was the sailing club next door, by the local water authority. The possibility of contaminated water being drawn back in to the system if for example the Fire Brigade was drawing water from the public supply further up the pipe, was the given reason. The only permissible way round it was to feed the hoses from a header tank, so that the hose supply was isolated from the water main.

If that was really the case all garden hoses would be banned.

 

[JumbleDuck]

If that was really the case all garden hoses would be banned.

Only if garden hoses were likely to be immersed in polluted water. The same rule, by the way, explains why domestic shower hoses above a bath are supposed to go through a ring, often on the shower head mounting, which prevents them going underwater.

 

[NormanS]

Only if garden hoses were likely to be immersed in polluted water. The same rule, by the way, explains why domestic shower hoses above a bath are supposed to go through a ring, often on the shower head mounting, which prevents them going underwater.

Garden hoses can easily be immersed in stuff a lot more polluting than sea water.

 

[Twister_Ken]

With the amount water companies charge for the stuff (and the profits they make) you'd think they could afford to stick in some non-return valves at critical points in the distribution network.

 

[prv]

If that was really the case all garden hoses would be banned.

They are meant to have a double non-return valve if connected directly to the mains. Bear in mind that traditionally most stuff in a house would be fed from the tank in the roof so the issue didn't arise. The exception was the kitchen tap, and this is why many kitchen "mixer" taps don't actually mix the hot and cold but have two separate channels right to the end of the nozzle.

Pete

 

[NormanS]

They are meant to have a double non-return valve if connected directly to the mains. Bear in mind that traditionally most stuff in a house would be fed from the tank in the roof so the issue didn't arise. The exception was the kitchen tap, and this is why many kitchen "mixer" taps don't actually mix the hot and cold but have two separate channels right to the end of the nozzle.

Pete

In my house, nothing is fed from a tank in the roof, except the flush for one loo. Garden hose, garage hose, both full mains pressure, but fitted with double check valves. So what,s to stop marina hoses being the same. Thought, Why am I bothered, I'm never in a marina. Most of my water comes straight from the sky.

 

[prv]

In my house, nothing is fed from a tank in the roof, except the flush for one loo.

No tanks in my house either, everything is mains pressure with an on-demand boiler. That's why I said "traditionally".

Garden hose, garage hose, both full mains pressure, but fitted with double check valves.

Don't think there's even any valve on my hose.

So what,s to stop marina hoses being the same.

I believe they're considered higher risk and only an air gap will do. Same with some other places. It's the potential for someone sticking it in their holding tank...

Why am I bothered, I'm never in a marina.

I'm not bothered either - we put our own hoses on the taps at the yard and nobody takes them away.

Pete

 

[chartnavigator]

How many boat owners drink the water in their water tank anyway? Isn't it more sensible to buy some large containers of fresh drinking water with a sell by date on, before starting out, and only use the tanked water, (undoubtedly mixed with an unknown quantity of stale water that has laid in the tank for perhaps weeks before it was 'topped up'), for just hot washing up water and other cleaning purposes?