Drinking water on old boats?

[roverhi]

Household charcoal filters will remove chlorine and other tastes in the water. Kill any critters with chlorine unless you have aluminum tanks and the charcoal filter element in this type of filter will give good tasting, safe drinking water. https://www.lowes.com/pd/A-O-Smith-A...tem/1000576419

They do restrict water flow a little but work fine with my Whale foot pumps just a little slower than without the filter. Pressure water system should have no problems with the filter.

Chlorine reacts with aluminum so shouldn't be used with those types of tanks. There are purification chemicals to be used with aluminum tanks that a Google search should turn up.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Also, a good water filter goes a long way to making tank water fine to drink and taste good.

You can filter the water going IN to the tank as well. I purchased a good household cartridge style 2-stage filter that I put hose fittings on. I use it at the boat end of the hose when connected to shore side water and when filling the tank.

I personally don't filter any further, my tanks are fine. When on shore water I don't drink any water that might have been sitting in the hose though, which is easy to tell by temperature change right now.

[VChild]

I have a 2-way diversion valve on my watermaker. One way fills the water tanks and the other way goes to a dedicated drinking water faucet in the galley. From there, spare jugs of drinking water can be filled as needed. Water in the tanks is used for everything else.

[zeehag]

i usedto clean my tank water with chlorine ... until my welds gave way.. my tanks ar 1976 usa stainless steel placed in taiwan. remember taiwan is a usa protectorate, or was until current admin. no politics but fact.
rewelded the stainless tanks after cleaning, and didnot change hoses.. will be doing that after bypassing electric pumps anyway after all is said and done, i only use tank water for washing and bottled water for drinking. i keep 6 garafones of water on boat for travelling and 5 for in port times. the tap water here is unreliable at best so we donot drink it, but we will put into tanks. we are headed for long term on hard refit, so we are not worried on this at present. water system is partof planned refit

[Moosemiester]

A lot of good advice here. If you're going to bleach use a very very very small amount it doesn't take much.

In my experience with old boats over the years the deal killer is winterization antifreeze that's left in the tanks for many seasons it's extremely difficult to get the smell out but the water is potable. Is this a northern boat? I wish people would winterize with compressed air...

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Moosemiester

A lot of good advice here. If you're going to bleach use a very very very small amount it doesn't take much.

In my experience with old boats over the years the deal killer is winterization antifreeze that's left in the tanks for many seasons it's extremely difficult to get the smell out but the water is potable. Is this a northern boat? I wish people would winterize with compressed air...

The key is not to leave antifreeze in during hot weather. If it's going to sit over the summer, flush it anyway and rewinterize in the fall. And don't blow the antifreeze out of the lines, let it stay liquid to avoid dried residue. I've never had trouble getting the smell and taste out with a really good flush in the spring.

[Coltrek]

First off, I am inclined to believe the theory of cheap RV antifreeze in the lines causing horrible smells, as I have recently gone through this. Tried running strong bleach, then an RV water treatment, then a rinse tank full, the stink always came back. Just in Sept. 2021 I used a treatment from https://www.twinoxide.com . The stink really went away, and the water looks clear. It is called Chlorine Dioxide, however it is NOT a chlorine, but it does kill all pathogens. I will be rinsing the crap antifreeze early next year, and using the TwinOxide again, I am finally hopeful . . . .

[Jimmyhenry]

We use a standard 0.5 micron filter. Also we have the same before the Watermaker. Membranes don’t like town supply which have chlorine.
Pete

[Peter Simon]

Poor in Bleach to clean and flush, and carry bottled water.

[betwys1]

Originally Posted by Rockinar

What does everyone do for drinking water on old boats with questionable water tanks that probably have an ecosystem growing in them? 5 gallon water jugs? Drink it anyways?

https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and...drinking-water

[FatBear]

Originally Posted by Rockinar

Theres no way the water in them taste like bottled Evian. Might be good for cooking and showers. Not sure Id drink from it.

Just pump that bilge water out and mix it with yer grog. Ye need only live long enough to meet St Peter.

[FatBear]

Originally Posted by BillKny

We have a 26 year old boat with a 1000 l fiberglass potable water tank. It has been cleaned. We opened it up for the first time a week ago as part of another project. A very light layer of brown slime on the walls, not worth the time and effort to clean.

Originally Posted by westernspirit

We have fiberglass tanks; clean twice a year with weak bleach but still sometimes get mold.

Bacteria and fungi (mold) have been at war since long before multi-cellular organisms arose and they are really good at fighting each other. Maybe some of that harmless brown slime (probably bacterial) in BillKny's tank would prevent the mold.

I lived on unchlorinated well water for most of my early life. Of three wells on three different farms, and a fourth supplying a marina where we lived for ten years, only one was crystal clear, pristine H2O. The others seemed clear-ish, but had flavor and left slime growing in the toilet tank and probably inside of the pipes. Oh, and I forgot about the spring which tasted awesome fresh, but spoiled if left sit in a pipe or pressure tank.

The vast majority of humanity has used non-chlorinated water all of their lives. The only time this seems to cause any harm is when some sort of catastrophe leads to a breakdown of the established systems (flooded wells, "don't poop upstream from the drinking basin" signs being washed away, etc.) Most stuff that lives in water is pretty harmless to us. Just don't mix your black and clear water lines up and you'll be fine.

Oh, and if you take a proton pump inhibitor, you probably should panic about bad water. Your first line of defense against drinking nasty things is stomach acid. If you are using a proton pump inhibitor, you probably really ought to track down the real root of your problem and solve that before something really nasty gets past that first obstacle. I did so, learned that I had Celiac disease, quit eating gluten, and ended my six pills a day proton pump inhibitor habit.

[Floridajohnb]

I run any water I'm going to drink or use in cooking through a Berkey water filter. Problem solved.

[Tanqueray]

My boat and plastic tanks are 33 years old.

I pulled one of the tanks out a few years ago to fix a leaky fitting, and I added a 4” port so I could clean it out well. I can also inspect it when necessary.

I have 2 30-gallon tanks, and I usually add a few splashes of bleach with each fill…seems to keep the water from getting skanky if I don’t use it fast enough…especially in hot weather.

This year, I only filled one tank, so I turned the water over faster, and that kept it fresher. I used it to brush my teeth and wash dishes…not so much to drink. I kept a couple of gallon jugs of water for coffee.

If I was a live aboard or cruised more, I would add a filtered water spigot in the galley for drinking.

Greg

[Dieseldude]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I’ve never owned an island packet, but if you look carefully, there should be an access panel to allow you to inspect and clean the tank.

I don’t remember if you can shock treat an aluminum tank with bleach but that’s the way to go if so.

Also, a good water filter goes a long way to making tank water fine to drink and taste good.

Chlorine bleach is not good for aluminum. The weak chlorine content of public water supplies may not cause immediate problems. But strong chlorine solutions for extended time will cause aluminum will pit and the reaction will produce hydrogen gas and corrosion products that would need to be removed. An acid based cleaner that is rated for aluminum might be a good choice. Timing the operation is required. Leaving acid cleaner in contact with metal for extended time can be counter productive, as corrosion products can accumulate on the surface. I had this happen with galvanized steel. Best to get instructions from the cleaning material supplier on concentration and timing. And after draining the cleaning solution, the tank may require neutralizing with a baking soda solution. I'm not a chemist, but the thought of strong chlorine solution on aluminum grated with me.


If you can get a fiber optic inspection scope to examine your tank before and after cleaning. This will take the mystery out of what you are dealing with, and give confidence in the results. They are another gadget to buy, but handy for many boat maintenance tasks. Perhaps one can be borrowed or rented.



Here is link to advice on another forum:
https://www.sailnet.com/threads/clea...ter-tank.9550/