Water tanks

[seadog6532]

A little informal survey on water tanks. I put a lot of work onto cleaning mine today and thought of a few questions for the board.

1. Do you try to scrub your tank or just give it a good rinse with a hose and flush it a few times?
2. Do you use the water in your tank to drink, coffee, tea, etc?
3. Do you put anything in the tank when you refill it like bleach?
3A. If you do put something in it , What do you use? and how much do you use?
4. How often do you do any of the above?

Just wondering
Mark and the good ship Arianna CD30K #112

[Neil Gordon]

1. Do you try to scrub your tank or just give it a good rinse with a hose and flush it a few times?
2. Do you use the water in your tank to drink, coffee, tea, etc?
3. Do you put anything in the tank when you refill it like bleach?
3A. If you do put something in it , What do you use? and how much do you use?
4. How often do you do any of the above?

1. No scrub. I do a visual inspection in the spring; there's nothing to scrub. I do a good rinse.

2. Yes... I use the water for coffee and for drinking. No ill effects so far.

3. A cap's worth of bleach with the fillup. The bleach smell is gone in a day or so.

4. The tank is empty and winterized with non-tox at the beginning of the season. I pump the non-tox out, then put several gallons of water in and pump that out to clear the non-tox. Then I fill the tank and add a bit of bleach. When the tank goes empty, I'll add bleach again. If I'm just topping off, I don't.

[Evergreen]

Neil:

Doesn't the non toxic antifreeze leave a bad taste in the water tank that is hard to get rid of? Do you have some trick to get rid of the taste?

I was just told by my marina and also one other source not to use it if you plan to drink the water.

What do you think, Philip & Sharon

[Neil Gordon]

Neil:

Doesn't the non toxic antifreeze leave a bad taste in the water tank that is hard to get rid of? Do you have some trick to get rid of the taste?

I was just told by my marina and also one other source not to use it if you plan to drink the water.

What do you think, Philip & Sharon

I've never noticed any taste from the non-tox.

[barfwinkle]

I agree with Neil. I have used this method for years with no ill affect. However, I have a friend on a big power boat that uses the cheapest vodka he can find. Then as he re-commissions he has a round of vodka tonics as he goes about his chores!

Fair Winds and Happy Thanksgiving.

[Warren S]

1. Do you try to scrub your tank or just give it a good rinse with a hose and flush it a few times?

A good blast with nozzle reaching in through fillers

2. Do you use the water in your tank to drink, coffee, tea, etc?
I use bottle water for drinking, tankage for dishes and toothbrushing, not because I think I'd get sick, but because I swear I can taste a "plastic" flavor. Plus the water quality at the marina is, well, suspect.

3. Do you put anything in the tank when you refill it like bleach?
The frst time we tried anyting we did a little bleach and a little bakin soda. there was a strong rotten-egg smell that got us going on the effort to begin with (open the water supply line below the sink faucet and drain into bilge. Rinse tank while draining. Fill tank and galley and vanity faucets. Works wonders!


3A. If you do put something in it , What do you use? and how much do you use? 2 or so capfuls per tank.

4. How often do you do any of the above?
maybe 2 or 3 times a year (we can sail al year 'round).

[cbrenton]

I empty my water tanks in the fall and add 1 quart of bleach to each tank and leave it for the winter. In the spring I fill the tanks and allow the mixture to set for 24 hours. I then run the bleach/water through the system. I then flush the tanks thoroughly with a hose several times. Finally, I clean the filter. During the season, I add 2 tablespoons of bleach at each fill. I do drink the water.

Charlie Brenton
"Carol Anne"
CD 33

[Steve Laume]

I just winterized my fresh water system yesterday. With the engine running so I didn't put a drain on the batteries I turned on the water faucets to drain first one and then the other tank individually. I could have used a hand bilge pump to empty them through the inspection ports. Once they are as empty as the pump can get them I use a shop vac to take out the rest of the water that sits in the bottom. This way I know I am not diluting the anti freeze. I pour enough anti freeze in each tank to be able to pump it through the system and run all the faucets till the pink stuff comes out. I think this is how most people do it. After I have finished this part I get my shop vac back out and vacuum out all the rest of the anti freeze that sits in the bottom of the tank. This is the stuff that gets nasty over the winter. It lays in the bottom and will grow things if you give it a chance. By not having it sit in there all winter, there is no chance of the tank taking on a taste of it. It also makes for less to rinse out of the system in the spring. You will not be diluting anti freeze with the water you add to rinse the tank. The only anti freeze that you will need to flush is in the hoses. I like to bring bottled water for coffee but will use the tankage if need be, Steve.

[Leo MacDonald]

Hi Mark et el,

After haulout I remove the garboard drain and siphon all the PW tanks into the bilge, thence to ground. I use the RV antifreeze in the PW tanks (and every other water system), running the PW pump until the lines all flow pink and leave it for spring.
The stuff does taste bad so flush the tanks and lines well when prepping for launch. One spring I just added PW to the tanks w/o flushing - the crew had a fit about the taste
I drink to water. However, a friend on Chesapeake Bay filled the PW tanks from his marina - we could not get near that stuff We used bottled water for that cruise, AND I recommended he find a new homeport for his boat.

[seadog6532]

When I moved onto the boat I had a look in the tanks and it was a little scary looking with a lot of crud in them. I drained them and gave a quick rinse then filled them back up, but still had a lot of little floaties in the water. Yesterday was the big tank cleaning day and it finally looks like water should look. As a live aboard I use my tanks every day so having them clean is a big pluss. I did not put any bleach in the tanks yesterday but will put in a little today. As for my coffee... I'm drinking it right now and it was made from bottled water, but just because I have a lot on the boat from when the tanks were so dirty. Thanks for all the input everyone.
Mark

P.S. I live in Mobile Alabama so I don't have to winterize

[Joe Myerson]

I once had a long chat with a fellow (an engineer) who owns a Flicka and keeps his boat in his yard so he can work on it whenever he wants (lucky guy on two counts).

He claimed that he puts cheap vodka in the water tanks during the winter, thereby avoiding the aftertaste that supposedly comes from nontox antifreeze.

"Of course, I'd never do that if I kept her in a yard," he added.

I don't know whether to believe him or not, but I thought I'd pass his suggestion on.

Since do I keep my boat in a yard, I use the standard nontox antifreeze. I usually carry bottled water for drinking and making coffee, but this year I used water from the tank. It didn't seem that different.

I wonder how vodka would affect the taste of coffee? (Ugh!)

--Joe

[Warren Kaplan]

Hmmm. Keeping vodka in the water tanks in the dead of winter. I used to keep a bottle of Stoli in the freezer at all times.

Now...well...there's nothin' like nippin' up to the boatyard on a day with a nip in the air to do some...uh...chores on the boat and perhaps take a wee nip from the water tanks to test its efficacy!

[cbrenton]

I never put non-tox in the water tanks. It seems like a waste. Since they are almost empty, they can't be damaged by freezing. The one quart of bleach that I add to the tanks is more than enough to keep bugs from growin. When I winterize the pressurized fresh water system, I disconnect the hose from the intake of the fresh water pump and attach a 3 foot hose to the pump. I lead this to a bucket and add the non-tox to the bucket and pump it through the system. Sometimes I drain the hot water tank, disconnect the hoses and by-pass the tank. This takes more time, but less anti-freeze. Some years time is more important than antifreeze, so I just flush it through the hot water heater also.

Charlie Brenton
"Carol Anne"
CD 33

[Ed Haley]

A little informal survey on water tanks. I put a lot of work onto cleaning mine today and thought of a few questions for the board.

1. Do you try to scrub your tank or just give it a good rinse with a hose and flush it a few times?
2. Do you use the water in your tank to drink, coffee, tea, etc?
3. Do you put anything in the tank when you refill it like bleach?
3A. If you do put something in it , What do you use? and how much do you use?
4. How often do you do any of the above?

1. I've never scrubbed or cleaned my tanks yet. During the winter, I use about a pint of vodka in each of the 3 tanks to winterize all the fittings and hoses so there's not need to flush a lot at recommissioning. I simply add a gallon of water and then pump it out before refilling with water.
2. I use the water for coffee and cooking in general. But I filter the water first using a carbon filter tank.
3. I add about a tablespoon of clorox to each tank after filling. It lasts for the duration of the water in the tank.

[Leonard Lookner]

If you like coffee, avoid bleach. Bleach is the anti coffee. Remember from science, acid - base. Avoid bleach in coffee at home, most filters will remove it, get a tap or inline filter for the boat and the home if you are on town water. WE freeze gallon bottles of home well water and as they thaw we consume them. A great idea for a weekend sailer.
And, I hate that pink stuff coming out of the tap for the first tank or so.