Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate as Drinking Water Treatment?

EdWingfield said:
Now you've thought about micro-biology Mac, you might conclude that the only way of knowing if your disinfection, or routine dosing is successful, is to get a lab analysis?

I have done that. I know that my method of disinfection and dosing produced a satisfactory result.

For anyone who is interested, at winter lay-up my tanks are close to empty. I add heavy disinfectant plus a few litres of water. In spring I empty the tanks and refill with the correct dosing according to the manufacturer's instruction. I continue this throughout the season.

Much less likely to be a problem for yotties are non-microbials eg. hydrocarbons, Fe or phenols. A simple test for you to carry out is to get a clean glass. fill it with tank water, hold up to daylight. Q? is it crystal clear? Are there gubbins in suspension? Can you detect an aroma? Give it the taste test with a clean palette.

Be guided by your common-sense.
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Have you worked with sodium dichloroisocyanurate? Just curious. What have you learned?

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Personally, I am much happier scrubbing the tanks in the fall and then leaving the tank completely dry for the winter. That's how you put your dishes away. In part this is because it gets cold here (-10C) and the alternative is glycol, which has many unsanitary, unpleasant disadvantages.
 
thinwater said:
Have you worked with sodium dichloroisocyanurate? Just curious. What have you learned?

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Personally, I am much happier scrubbing the tanks in the fall and then leaving the tank completely dry for the winter. That's how you put your dishes away. In part this is because it gets cold here (-10C) and the alternative is glycol, which has many unsanitary, unpleasant disadvantages.
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Assuming you would use propylene glycol (propane-1,2-diol) what are these "unsanitary, unpleasant disadvantages"? I thought it was non toxic and typically used for this purpose.
 
thinwater said:
Have you worked with sodium dichloroisocyanurate? Just curious. What have you learned?

My job was not to do 'the work' but to require it to be done, or re-done if unsatisfactory. I'd quite happily leave the method up to the chemists, or the Chief Officer. My knowledge of chemistry is close to zero, and so I'd call up the manufacturer for technical advice regarding their product if necessary. I'd advise you to do the same with sodium dichloroisocyanurate. I always found those teccy people most helpful.
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For anyone who is interested, I've sumarised my posts and other info in a post on my Bavaria forum:

Protection from Bacteria in Water Tanks and Shower Heads

This includes further information on the use of NaDCC for water treatment. I have also found a more reliable source of the tablets, as well as some which are 50% higher dose.

Note: linked post has Amazon Associate links.
 
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Last week on our holiday up the East Coast on Triola, we were getting through so much water on board we ran out of bottled water, and as we were filling up the tank every other day and I replaced all the pipework and carbon filter over the winter, i thought what the hell, lets start drinking it from the tank. Got some of these from the awesome Suffolk Yacht Harbour chandlery for peace of mind:

http://www.cleantabs.co.uk/midi-tabs.php

Not sure on the marketing comment of: "Each tablet purifies 25 lts of water or 225 lts of water" errr which is it I wonder? I took it at 25 litres! Our tank is about 60 litres, so two tablets I would have thought.
 
MagicalArmchair said:
Last week on our holiday up the East Coast on Triola, we were getting through so much water on board we ran out of bottled water, and as we were filling up the tank every other day and I replaced all the pipework and carbon filter over the winter, i thought what the hell, lets start drinking it from the tank. Got some of these from the awesome Suffolk Yacht Harbour chandlery for peace of mind:

http://www.cleantabs.co.uk/midi-tabs.php

Not sure on the marketing comment of: "Each tablet purifies 25 lts of water or 225 lts of water" errr which is it I wonder? I took it at 25 litres! Our tank is about 60 litres, so two tablets I would have thought.
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The "Mini Tabs" each purify 1 litre

The "Midi Tabs" each purify 25 litres or 5 gallons

The "Mega Tabs" each purify 225 litres or 50 gallons

Two "Midi tabs " would be correct for your tank but surely they come with instructions.
 
Indeed they do, the instructions are somewhat clearer on their box than their website (the "Each tablet purifies 25 lts of water or 225 lts of water" comment that had me scratching my head)

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Guess it must be a typo - two midi tabs it is then!
 
Interesting. I had a rapid response from Puriclean:

Many thanks for your email regarding dosing quantities.

The 25 Lts per tablet refers to the Midi Tabs and 225 Lts refers to the Mega Tabs.

For your 60 Lt size tank, 2 Midi Tabs would be the correct dose.

I will check that our website is clear on this point.

Apologies for any confusion.
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a. Yup, more expensive. A pound per year more the way most folks sail.

b. Chlorine residual will last week or months instead of a few days. Get some test kits and see. This means water will remain fresh for MUCH longer periods. It also has much greater time to penetrate biofilms.

c. Corrosion benefits. If you have aluminum or stainless anywhere in the system (aluminum tanks are a big problem with bleach), NaDCC is at least 10x less corrosive. I did a series of tests for Practical Sailor, which you are welcome to repeat.

There is no reason to use NaDCC to disinfect most moving water systems, but for seldom-used boats and RVs there are compelling reasons.
 
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