Maintaining Drinking Water Tanks

[GordMay]

See US Patent 7291271 (Issued to Douglas S. Galbraith, on November 6, 2007):
Meso-frequency traveling wave electro-kinetic continuous adsorption system - Patent 7291271
Or:
(WO/2005/081722) SORPTION METHOD, DEVICE, AND SYSTEM

The invention* relates generally to methods and systems for carrying out adsorption processes and more particularly to a non-swing, meso-frequency traveling wave electro-kinetic system capable of use in purification/separation and/or refrigeration/heat pump processes.

* Meso-frequency traveling wave electro-kinetic continuous adsorption system

[MidLandOne]

Dat's the one .

[bobfnbw]

Well for my money its clear that a seagul filter is not the way to go.
For one, it only filters the water you drink, not what you bath in, or that goes into the hot water heater. And that water IMO needs filtration as well.
On my boat it came with a carbon type cartrige filter that works pretty well, but of course I would not drink it. I have removed the 2 aluminum tanks and believe me after 25 years they were pretty foul inside, and have ordered poly plastic tanks from ronco plastics. All new whale tubing is waiting to be installed. Once that is done, I am going to install a 3M Aqua pure BCV 140 filter system. This filters down to 0.2 micron, has a 25000 Gal capacity, overkill I agree but for the money its a good deal, and will filter at 2.1 gpm.
The seagul only (with the manual pump) filters to 0.2 micron, and only 1000 gal which is very sufficent if your only using it for drinking water but at what cost. A seagul filter costs $572 on defender, and the replacement cartrige is 85 bucks for 1000 gal.
the 3M is 200 bucks, replacement cartridge is 84 bucks, and it can last for 25000 gal. (yes that is 25 thousand gal.)
Also one of my tanks will be 15 gal, and only hand filled or via a watermaker, with a whale hand pump at the sink, a smaller 3m filter and used for drinking water only.

[Bill_E]

Interesting thread! Water purity and quality is an interesting subject. Improvement in water access and quality has resulted in huge reductions in disease and especially in infant death, worldwide. But we can become overly anal about the subject! That's right watch for those coliform guys! Don't forget you'll probably touch the rail of your boat while eating a sandwich.

Carbon filters are useful for removing lots of chemicals (most of the ones that we should be concerned about) but not all. Particulate filters (at less than 1 micron) will get most of the parasites. But it seems to me that particulate filtration is a little tough because of all of the possible paths for bypass. Well, just my $0.02. But here is a useful website: Cryptosporidiosis: Fact Sheets: A Guide to Water Filters - CDC DPD

And, thanks to all for lots of good suggestions. I'm going to try to figure out how to build myself a meso-frequency traveling wave electro-kinetic system. But, it's also going to have to be solar powered!!

[Hiracer]

I ruined a brand spanking new aluminum hot water heater in my camper with a single dose of clorox treatment. Got pin holes. Warranty replaced it but I learned my lesson.

My boat has three water tanks, two made out of aluminum and are custom to fit under the sole, and one plastic job. I"m in no hurry to replace the aluminum ones.

After the water in one aluminum tank went foul during our summer vacation, I put in way too much time figuring out how to sanitize them without putting pin holes in the tanks.

Answer: Hydrogen Peroxide. You can store the stuff in alumum. Perfectly safe for the aluminum tanks and lethal for all living stuff.

So, I got some 35% food grade H202, diluted before adding to tanks because at that concentration it's dangerous, and then further diluted to 1% in the tanks.

That worked fabulously. Put some in again this winter just to freshen for spring.

So if you have aluminum tanks, you have an option besides clorox which is no friend to aluminum. But H2O2 is dangerous, so you have to be mindful of protecting skin and eyes, particularly the eyes because a mistake can be irreversible.

* * *

I have no idea if H2O2 is safe for SS tanks. I suspect perhaps not.

[d0ug]

I read through this thread and listen to all the good intension of all the people that want water purer than pure. If you’re worried about the water how much is enough filtering.
I sailed 6 years living the first 4 years on rainwater and the 2 on a water maker and rainwater. When the rain came we would wash the deck first than cap all the through hauls and collect rainwater and put it in the tank when the tank was full we through down some laundry soap and did the laundry. Even now living in the Dominican Republic we still catch rainwater to drink and do laundry. Yes and I will probably die at the age of 110 from some other reason.

[schoonerdog]

We always fill our tanks through a large water tight inspection hatch. It allow me to look down into the tank and see how clean it is each time we fill it. When we first got the boat the tanks were literally brown with lots of growth. We scrubbed the tank and then have been living off that for around 4 years or so. In that time I see absolutely no growth build up through regular use. I do use a cheap pur 3 stage water filter on the fawcet which filters down to 1 micron in size and also filters out some chemicals through activated carbon. The water tastes extremely fresh and clean. 1 micron wouldn't help on viruses, but viruses aren't commonly transported via tap water and are very sensitive to chlorination. It should be sufficient for most bacteria, including e coli, giardia, cholera, etc NSF 53 standard.