Silver in the water tank?

[David Mathis]

Our boat spends about five months a year on blocks in Upstate New York so by the spring launching, the residuals in the 100 gallon tank have taken on a unique taste and odor, mostly due to the RV antifreeze. To flush (water heater tank is by-passed), we dump in about five gallons of water and pump it out, repeat a couple times, put in about 20 gallons mixed with about a half cup of Clorox and let it stay in the tank overnight then pump it out thru all outlets. Now the tank is filled and no taste is noticed. After the final flushing, the charcoal filter cartridge is installed. All water used on the boat is run through the filter, sinks, showers, and toilet flush. A full tank on vacation will last about a week to ten days. At our dock, it will last about three weeks. The charcoal filter lasts for the entire season with the water still odorless at haul out in October or early November. A little Clorox once a year at launch combined with a charcoal filter works well and is cheap. That system has worked well for over 40 years.

[ChrisPuget]

Another easy trick with fresh water in the PNW is to bail out the water in the dingy in the morning into 1 gallon jugs and use the water for head rinsing. No lack of rain water in the dingy for 8-10 months of the year.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by rbk

I haven’t but this guy took it to the next level lol
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.nyda...outputType=amp

He was a smoker, and had heart disease.

He also had the silver condition for years.

The very rich once ate, bathed, and lived in silver to flaunt their wealth, and suffered from various degrees of this condition.

Hence the name "bluebloods".

Having a large amount of a metal in your body doesn't seem healthy to me, but as far as I know no one has died from it.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by Hardhead

Not sure if it's relevant, but I just came across this: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/colloidal-silver

"Topical silver (used on the skin) has some appropriate medical uses, such as in bandages and dressings to treat burns, skin wounds, or skin infections.", from article.

So it works, they just don't want you to drink it.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by qwert

I don't for a second doubt that silver in the water kills bacteria, but what I do wonder is if it is strong enough to work then what it does it do to the good bacteria in one's stomach ?
It surely isn't selective in the bugs it kills..............

Neither is chlorine.

Neither is antibiotics.

The dose makes the poison.

[ChrisPuget]

"Having a large amount of a metal in your body doesn't seem healthy to me, but as far as I know no one has died from it."

Don't try that with lead, cadmium, and many other less commonly know metals.

[beirutsailor]

I occasionally flush tank etc. with bleach, and then use fresh water, renewed every two weeks, for most cooking and dish washing. For drinking water, I fill a dozen pet bottles with municipal water, where available, let the bottles sit open for half an hour to let most of the chlorine escape, et voià.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by facciatosta

My wife refuses to use chlorine to prevent water from spoiling. So we decided use silver

I'm as big a fan as natural as anyone, but here are some facts.

Salt disassociates into sodium, and chlorine in water.

Your stomach produces hydrochloric acid.

Your cell membranes have receptors to transport chlorine into, and out of the cells to be used for metabolic reactions.

And a simple carbon filter removes 99.999% of it.

That's why when I bought my boat, I flushed the entire system with a few cup fulls of bleach in my main water tank, and refilled with filtered water (city) from the dock.

I've never had a problem with water going bad, or smelling even in 2020 where i left them over 12 months over half full.

Also clean your vent lines. Mud dauber wasps like to fill the lines with mud, and decaying spider carcasses here.

Also check all point of use for bad, or leaking valves.

Especially fresh water toilets air gap check valve, (or put one in if it doesn't have one).

Chlorine has a long history of being able to sanitize water with minimal health effects in commercial systems.

That's why your city uses it.

So chlorine away, just filter before drinking.

[andrewsailor]

Hi to all interested in water hygene.
The problem with chlorine is that its action lasts only for a very short time like some days and that it creates Haloorganic compounds which are not safe to ingest (the actual "smell of chlorine").

What I tried out successfully - for three years now - is using ClO2 or Chorodioxide gas which works like a charm.
It lasts for much longer like a month or more in the water and leaves little smell or taste (which you can remove by a filter). The difference to chlorine lies in the fact that it not only lasts much longer but also that it acts much quicker: after 24 hrs the water is ready.
It is a yellow gas in aqueous solution. It can be made by mixing two stock solutions and letting it sit in the dark at more than 20°C for 15 minutes and the ClO2 will form. It can be visually checked by seeing the solution turn yellow.
It's then added to the water.
Concentrated at 0,4 mg/L or higher it solves and removes the bacterial layer from inside the plumbing and practically sterilizes it.
For normal desinfection it is used at 0,2 mg/L.

ClO2 is used e.g. for difficult infestations like with Legionellae which are not to come by with chlorine.

[Franck Bavaria]

Just curious: does a piece of silver in the tank work ? If yes, how much ?
Or what is here meant is to use colloidal silver only in ready-to-use water treatment ? I would suppose the dose recommended for disinfection only (pool water) might be much lower as it is for drinking water on daily basis ?
Any data available ?
Merci. Cheers

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

I'm as big a fan as natural as anyone, but here are some facts.

Salt disassociates into sodium, and chlorine chloride in water.

Your stomach produces hydrochloric acid. [ditto - a chloride ion]

Just want to correct this ... it's just one electron, but there is a big difference chemically between a chloride ion (Cl-) and a chlorine free-radical (Cl). It is the latter that is active in bleach ... do not confuse it with the chloride ion present in salt.

[Salty Fox]

Originally Posted by Shrew

https://www.silverinstitute.org/silv...s%20and%20odor.

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation...r-02032018.pdf

Just do a Google search. There are millions of articles discussing this concept.

You know that "just do a Google search" is the 21st century equivalent to "it must be true because it's in the papers" right? There is nobody as foolish as the person who doesn't know the difference between information and knowledge.

[William Black]

You might also consider using an ozone generator in your tank when filling. A physician friend has been making his way around the globe since 2007 and he swears by it. The treated water has no unusual taste and it appears to be resistant to bacterial growth between fill ups.

[Salty Fox]

Originally Posted by GordMay

What wholybee said.
Colloidal silver is a classic example of anecdotal reports, that differ drastically from scientific research. If you decide to try colloidal silver, check to make sure that it won’t interact with any prescriptions you’re taking.

In 1999 [1], and again in 2009 [2], the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a press release stating that there was no evidence to suggest a clear health benefit for colloidal silver. Rather, there’s evidence of some risks associated with using colloidal silver. Colloidal silver also interferes with your body’s absorption of certain drugs, including antibiotics, and thyroid deficiency medications.
The Food and Drug Administration is issued a notice, establishing that all over-the-counter (OTC) drug products containing colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts for internal or external use are not generally recognized as safe and effective and are misbranded.
The FDA does not regulate colloidal silver, but a dosing chart created by the EPA suggests that your daily silver exposure (topical, oral, or environmental) shouldn’t exceed 5 micrograms per every kilogram your weight.
➥ https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/iris2/che...stance_nmbr=99


[1] 1999: “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a final rule establishing that all over-the-counter (OTC) drug products containing colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts for internal or external use are not generally recognized as safe and effective and are misbranded...
➥ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10558603/

[2] 2009: “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers about the risk of permanent skin and mucous membrane discoloration, known as argyria, associated with the use of dietary supplements that contain silver, including colloidal silver...
➥ https://wayback.archive-it.org/7993/.../ucm184087.htm


WHO does not recommend silver, as a drinking water treatment.
➥ https://www.who.int/water_sanitation...32018.pdf?ua=1

On the basis of the significant data and performance gaps in disinfection efficacy as a primary disinfectant of water, the limited data on the range of microorganisms against which it is effective and under what conditions, and the availability of widely used, well-characterized disinfectants, silver is not recommended for use as a primary disinfectant in drinking-water supplies at this time. There are also uncertainties around the toxicology, particularly with regard to human health end points ...”
➥ https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi...004.13.4.26606

Thanks for checking into this, Gord, but you're confounding the use of colloidal silver as a homeopathic intervention with the use of silver as a water purification treatment. The WHO report provides a good lit review that describes studies and results of most of the different types of silver and combination of interventions that are used in public water systems, but a private boat is on a scale that the report acknowledges is not really relevant to their study.

I'm pretty sure that the OP is not interested in the homeopathic health benefits of silver, per se, but there is a question worth exploring in why his wife doesn't want to use chlorine. Maybe it's the taste or maybe there's a belief system about "natural" and "organic" approaches to water treatment, similar to the Engineers without Borders poster who noted that the sub-Saharan community he worked with rejected his invisible treatment in favor of a physical process.

In any case, I am assuming that "rot" means foul smelling water, which means that there is more than just H2O coming out of the tap, which means that the priority is to sanitize the whole system by any means necessary. As others have mentioned, the supply lines at the marina are hardly sanitary, and practicing good hygiene might help him keep his water safe and potable in the future.

[omache27]

We stopped using chlorine in our water tanks four years ago. Decided to give Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) a try. The extra oxygen seems to be the answer. No more bad water. It actually taste better than our tap water at home.
This is not your normal H2O2 at 3% - it is 30% so very little is needed. Worth a try, it certainly worked for us taste and health wise.