Neutralising Bleach

[alec]

I had the bright idea of using bleach to clean the fresh water pipes/tank.

Despite flushing the system with fresh water many times, I am still getting the bleach taste.

Any ideas on what I could use to cancel this out ?

Thanks for help in advance.

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[Chris_Robb]

I do this every year - load the system with a strong bleach solution (from tescos) tehn flush it through - It will take a couple of tank refills to get rid of the smell of bleach - but it is so weak it wont hurt you.. For the first couple of months each year we have bottled water for tea and coffee.

A good water filter will help enormously.

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[FergusM]

Every year I clean out my water system onboard with Milton, the sterilising solution sold for babies' bottles. It is really effective, easily rinsed away, and doesn't leave any residual taste or smell. Maybe you should try that next time.

As far as I know, bleach is sodium hypochlorite, and I think that is alkaline. If it is, and I am open to correction on that, presumably an acid would neutralise it. I wonder if vinegar would do.

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[captainforbes]

be careful, bleach, even a dilute Milton solution will react with stainless steel an make holes in it. Believe me, Iknow!!

I wouldn't put bleach(milton) down any tank with SS fittings. Personally, I use Puriclean, from chandlers.

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[captainforbes]

be careful, bleach, even a dilute Milton solution will react with stainless steel an make holes in it. Believe me, Iknow!!

I wouldn't put bleach(milton) down any tank with SS fittings. Personally, I use Puriclean, from chandlers.

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[MainlySteam]

Like Chris we do this too and no problems. Look at Peggie Halls (Headmistress) response to the current thread Tainted Water.

Often the taints that people associate with bleach is not the bleach itself but the products of the reaction of the hypochlorite with organic compounds. I would suspect, in the case that your fresh water system is old and has not been cleaned for some time, that a layer of organic matter remains in your tanks or pipework and that is where the "bleach" tainting is coming from. If that is so then repeat using the bleach strengths that Peggie states. It works but be aware that I think she quotes 5% hypochlorite as is common in USA, in many countries household bleach is around 3% (look on the container) so the quantities have to be adjusted to suit.

We find that with tanks that drain completely we do not have to flush the system after shock treatment with bleach and refilling the tanks with new water, apart from the first short period of flow while the pipework is cleared.

John



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[HeadMistress]

White vinegar will neutralize the bleach taste/odour. Do NOT, however, mix it with bleach...only with water AFTER all the bleach has been flushed out. We all know that bleach and ammonia are a deadly mix...but vinegar and bleach also combine to produce a highly poisonous gas.

<hr width=100% size=1>Peggie Hall
Specializing in marine sanitation since 1987

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Just reading this thread, I started thinking about ale houses, they use bicarbonate of soda don't they?

Surely these guys who's business is cleaning pipes and not tainting the taste should have the answers to these problems.

Also I have a hot tub at home, purely for medicinal purposes /forums/images/icons/smile.gif I use two methods for cleaning water and keeping it bug free. The first is liberal quantities of chlorine, it does not take much and the second; now I am thinking maybe a solution to the drinking water problems we all experience. I have fitted a UV tube which is also the prefered method for garden ponds keeping koi. I wonder if circulating tank water though a UV filter might prolong the life of boats fresh water supplies.

any takers?

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk/TC_IrishCruise_2003_00.html>Irish Cruise</A>

 

[AndrewB]

Like others I do this every year. Tesco 'Value' thin bleach, around 30p a litre, diluted 50-50 with water, left for a couple of days. A final flush through with boiling hot water gets rid of any algae residue and completely removes the taste of bleach.

 

[FergusM]

I didn't know about Milton attacking stainless, but my water tank is plastic, so I haven't had any problems using Milton.

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[andy_wilson]

Puriclean works in exactly the same way as Milton and Domestos. It chlorinates the water and kills certain known germs.

I've used a strong Domestos solution every spring, pumped thro' until it reaches the faucets and left for as long as I can, anything from an hour or two to a week.

Pump dry, fill with a gallon or so and pump out (repeat a few times to dilute the dregs at the bottom of the tank).

When I refill with 200 litres there is a faint sense of chlorine. By the time it has emptied (completely) and refilled, there is no residual taste.

Tank it S/S and is still intact.

So is stomach and constitution in general.

Perhaps the properties of Milton served to expose an existing weakness in a weld?

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[VicS]

Look back at previous posts on this subject and you will find a reference to a medical journal article which will explain the reasons for not using domestic bleach except when no alternatves are available.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>

 

[MainlySteam]

But do you think those medical reasons are relevant to a once a year tank cleaning exercise? Especially as the tanks and lines are generally flushed afterwards, and even if just emptied and refilled there is massive dilution and most of which is used for uses other than drinking.

If so, do you think the hazard is less than those that will exist from not cleaning the tanks (putting aside solutions like carrying bottled water for drinking which is a fringe solution not acceptable to most)?

Obviously no one is going to drink any of the mix at the concentrations suggested for cleaning the tanks (I've tasted it to see and can vouch for that fact that no one will unless they have no taste buds or nerves in their mouth/throat at all).

John

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[FergusM]

Another thought on this. When I used to make my own wine and beer (I must start doing this again), I sterilised old bottles and all the equipment with sodium metabisulphite. This is available from home brew shops and Boots the Chemists as Camden tablets or as powder (I think potassium metabisulphite also works), and seemed very effective in cleaning up bottles, no matter how disgusting they were to start with.

I don't know if this would have any detrimental effect on stainless steel, but it certainly leaves no residue of taste.

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[VicS]

Personally I use Milton because I know it dosn't contain any nasties that I don't know anything about, despite a warning on the forum that flexible tank manufacturers don't advise the use of hypochlorites.

Domestos and the like are for drains and toilets!

The original question was how to get rid of the taste of chlorine afterwards.

I suggest far too much is being used if it cant be flushed away easily.

Ascorbic acid can be used to remove to taste of iodine when that is used for water sterilisation, it will probably work for chlorine too.

Sodium thiosulphate is another posibility but sulphur is precipitated when it reacts with chlorine (but not with iodine). Provided the bulk of the chorine has been flushed out that shouldn't be a problem though, just wouldn't want a tank full of sulphur.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>