Water hoses

FlyingDutchman

FlyingDutchman

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In the beginning of the season I have flushed my water system (cold water only) with the mixture of bleach and water to get rid of the rotten egg smell.
This worked until the temperatures in the summer went up and then the smell came back again, especially when the boat was left for a week.
I think the problem is in the hoses to the taps as when I let the taps run for 30 seconds, the smell goes away and it stays away for one or two days.
The hoses are the transparent reinforced (compressor) type.
Should I replace the hoses with a different type? Maybe non-transparent as maybe the bacteria like to live in the light?
 
Get rid of the clear tube and use proper stuff like this or that .

Oh, and it helps if you open up your tanks and give them a clean with a mild bleach solution. After cleaning and replumbing fit a charcoal filter and you will have sweet tasting water guarrenteed.
 
As a follow up much of the plastic hosing and tubing have organometalic and other plasticisers in them. These compounds can be extremely toxic, it's probably OK if the water isn't in contact for long but...................
 
Clear flexible reinforced food grade PVC tube is quite ok for potable water and is made for such use, is economic, is available everywhere no problem and simple to install (hosetails and hose clips). It just should preferably be used in the dark and usually is on boats by default (ie potable water piping normally runs through bilge, inside linings, inside lockers, etc unless on a very scrappily finished sort of boat). Typically looks like http://www2.aimsfasteners.com:8080/product_reinfor_tubing.html.

It is normally rated for up to 80C so no problem with cold water.

It has the advantage that fouling on the inside is visible through it (one reason why it is used in the food industry) - even the opaque tubing/pipe will foul on the inside even though no light (as will the inside of the freshwater tanks). It and the tanks will clean no problem with the hypochlorite treatment as covered in a zillion previous threads.

A good practice is to keep turning the water on board over - especially useful if the water supply used is chlorinated as should still be some free Cl in a town supply at point of service. You should be able to maintain the system so that it is unecessary to use filters for taste or hygiene reasons (unless filling from questionable sources or are one of these exceptional worriers about water that seem to be around).

John
 
Thanks again.
I will go for the hoses that are blue on the outside and white on the inside.
I have to replace them so I will spend the few extra Euro's.
The water over here is not chlorinated as far as I know, but I will try and see what happens. If the problem remains I will also install a carbon filter.
 
In Netherlands as in UK - caravan / motor-home dealers who sell also fittings / equipment will have good quality water liping specially for the job .... often in a pale blue colour. It's not expensive ... only a few euro cents more per mtr than normal garden stuff ...

Against all advise .... my water system using the above caravan piping is rarely emptied and only doused with a drop of "Baby bottle" Sterilising fluid once a year .... never have any trouble with H2S - which is the smell of rotten eggs ... or bad chlorine taint ....

It's worth noting that tank material can play a part in this also ... some of the cheaper plastic tanks are terrible for tainting water ... I have a Stainless steel ex motor-home tank ... which stays faultless ..... but is a terrible oval shape -wasting locker space.
 
[ QUOTE ]
doused with a drop of "Baby bottle" Sterilising fluid once a year

[/ QUOTE ] The water can be dosed with a bit more than a drop. The recommendation on the Milton bottle to render water fit for drinking is 2.5 ml per 5 litres and then alllow to stand for 30 mins before use.

Although I would not want to dose the same tankful repeatedly dosing when the tank is refilled and running some of the freshly dosed water through all the pipework should keep the system sweet. Dosing any water remaining in the syetem at the end of the season would also help.

Using Milton or a similar hypochlorite based sterilising solution periodically should eliminate the need to clean the system with such things as household bleach which may contain constituents that you would not want to drink!
 
a drop of Miltons .....

It was only an expression ..... as I think - if its good enough for babys - it's good enough for me !

We used to have plenty of it in the house as it's also excellent for sterilising Home Brew stuff ....

Having restarted Home Brewing ... but out here ... I'm having trouble getting hold of Miltons or similar. In fact been unable to find sterilising fluid at all. So started using plain bleach. When I finally got the Instructions translated - they mentioned using "Dishwasher" cleaner .... saying that this is a cleaner and steriliser combined .... makes sense I suppose.

So there you are .... alternatives !
 
[ QUOTE ]
specially for the job .... often in a pale blue colour. It's not expensive ...

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know if it's the same as what you are describing, but, I have used something that looks very similar. It is a pale sky blue.
In my case, however, it is only the outer sleeve that is blue. Inside it is just the plain old transparent plastic with nylon mesh reinforcement.
I guess that its main function is to keep out the light and therefore it prevents the growth of slime (algae? bacteria?).
Incidentally, I have noticed that when it is exposed to sunlight, the transparent tube tends to yellow and turn brittle. Could be the UV that does it.
 
Re: Water hoses - pale blue ...

Mines pale blue all through .... and is very similar to the short lengths supplied with Caravan submersible water pump ... carver and whale systems ....

It does sit below cabin sole and only rises above to come up back of sink unit to faucet. So it never sees light of day except when checking bilges once or twice a year !
 
Re: a drop of Miltons .....

When I was home brewing and winemaking I always used sodium metabisulphite for sterilising the equipment. It was always available from winemakers suppliers but it was something we always had in the lab anyway. Surely your oil testing labs need to keep some!
 
I am not driving 2 hrs to get it !!!!

Local S/market is only 10 mins away !! Bleach or Dishwasher stuff it is !!

Just siphoned off next batch tonight .... should be just right for SA's arrival party ..... end of November .... (SA will be carrying all my HB kit stuff from UK .... 2 pressure barrels, CO2 bottle, brew bin .... etc.)
 
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