Water tanks and drinking from them

[Bacchus]

I've had a couple of the retracting hoses and not had good luck with either. First had plastic fittings and hard to get leak proof even when using teflon tape & quick connects.
Second had brass fittings but the hose failed on that one.
I have switched to Zero G hoses aboard and at home and like them. Multi year guarantee and drinking water safe. Storage not as compact as the dont shorten but they do collapse and light and easy to store. The 75 footer at home is on a reel and pretty easy to roll up once pressure is relieved and drained.

 

[AusCan]

I use a regular garden hose to fill my tanks. I've never added chlorine, I don't use a filter, and have never bought bottled water. Never had a problem.

I would draw the line at drinking out of a kiddies pool. That is asking for trouble.

 

[C lectric]

My wife and I drink our tank water and have done for the last 35 yrs. If we have gotten sick it was not the tanks, but something else.

I bleach the tanks each commissioning with a small quantity of bleach.

Look up and get Peggy Hall's book as it includes specific instructions about how to do this properly amongst other very usefull info..

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=peggy+ha...prefix=Peggy+Hall,aps,326&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_10

If concerned right now about what you have then drain it all and refill with fresh water and use Peggy's formula and instructions especially about lines, valves and so on.

We do not use filters in our system after the tanks but I do filter all water going into the tanks with a 5 micr. filter followed by a ceramic filter. Better to keep stuff out than try catch it later. I am not suggesting don't use on board filters, just that we have never found them needed.

I use a good quality hose although not one of the so called potable water things. I tried one on my trailer and it was a PIA. My good hose is now many years old and still flexible and easily dealt with. It was/is a good quality hose. I DRAIN it , coil it and then join the two ends together. It is stored in the lazarette where the light only gets to it once in a blue moon and then only for short periods except what I am actually using it.

I often spray the dock hose bib with a disinfectant, learned from trailer days,such as Hydrogen peroxide. Once all the paraphernalia is connected I allow the water to run a minute or so to flush any older water out. Sometimes I will add some peroxide to the hoses and run the water during the hose/filter flushing.

I never use any existing dock hoses as suggested since there is no way of knowing what they have been used for.

 

[Simi 60]

2 x 1500 litre poly tanks as our mains
No filters, no chemicals
Filled with tap water using our hoses
Supplemented with rain and 200litre bladder in tender.
No deaths, no issues.

 

[Southern Boater]

We drink the water.

We re-commissioned our tanks every Spring... with the standard recipe. (Search for posts by the HeadMistress, PegHall; Peggie has posted the ratio a number of times...

Any chance of posting a link to this thread, I can’t seem to find it, cheers

 

[O C Diver]

Any chance of posting a link to this thread, I can’t seem to find it, cheers

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24366&postcount=6

Ted

 

[catalinajack]

Yup. All this angst about water is beyond my comprehension. And, lugging bottled water aboard, well, ......

2 x 1500 litre poly tanks as our mains
No filters, no chemicals
Filled with tap water using our hoses
Supplemented with rain and 200litre bladder in tender.
No deaths, no issues.

 

[catalinajack]

Yes, good hoses. Get a Gates rubber hose. Remains easy to coil if you pay attention to its coiling memory plus they last forever, well, 25 years anyway.

My wife and I drink our tank water and have done for the last 35 yrs. If we have gotten sick it was not the tanks, but something else.

I bleach the tanks each commissioning with a small quantity of bleach.

Look up and get Peggy Hall's book as it includes specific instructions about how to do this properly amongst other very usefull info..

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=peggy+ha...prefix=Peggy+Hall,aps,326&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_10

If concerned right now about what you have then drain it all and refill with fresh water and use Peggy's formula and instructions especially about lines, valves and so on.

We do not use filters in our system after the tanks but I do filter all water going into the tanks with a 5 micr. filter followed by a ceramic filter. Better to keep stuff out than try catch it later. I am not suggesting don't use on board filters, just that we have never found them needed.

I use a good quality hose although not one of the so called potable water things. I tried one on my trailer and it was a PIA. My good hose is now many years old and still flexible and easily dealt with. It was/is a good quality hose. I DRAIN it , coil it and then join the two ends together. It is stored in the lazarette where the light only gets to it once in a blue moon and then only for short periods except what I am actually using it.

I often spray the dock hose bib with a disinfectant, learned from trailer days,such as Hydrogen peroxide. Once all the paraphernalia is connected I allow the water to run a minute or so to flush any older water out. Sometimes I will add some peroxide to the hoses and run the water during the hose/filter flushing.

I never use any existing dock hoses as suggested since there is no way of knowing what they have been used for.

 

[BrianSmith]

Once the tanks and lines are reasonably disinfected, and you fill with City water or treated well water.....it should be fine with no filtering.

I have drunk 3 month old water with no I'll effects...although I did add a 2 stage water filter for the special tap used just for drinking water....but for years didn't have it.

Yep, exactly what he said. (Us, too.)

 

[O C Diver]

There is certainly nothing wrong with my water from a health standpoint and it's perfectly safe to drink. I just prefer the taste (or absence of taste) from spring water. At around 80 cents a gallon, it's well within my budget since I'm not buying the $50+ bottles over on the bourbon thread. Although my morning espresso addiction has a significant price.

Btw, for those that buy bottled water in gallons, 4 nest very nicely in a milk crate, remain protected, and can be stored easily.

Ted

 

[catalinajack]

Taste is important to me as well. Our boat came with a Seagull IV filter which results in water every bit as good tasting and "pure" as bottled water. We use it for cooking, drinking, and ice. The Seagull, however, is expensive. There are alternatives that give the same result but are less expensive. True spring water is very good tasting but do not mistake bottled water for spring water. Bottled water is nothing more than water taken from a municipal water supply and filtering it which you can do the same with a good on-board filter. Spring water is not as widely available as bottled water. My personal preference for real spring water is Poland Spring from Maine.

There is certainly nothing wrong with my water from a health standpoint and it's perfectly safe to drink. I just prefer the taste (or absence of taste) from spring water. At around 80 cents a gallon, it's well within my budget since I'm not buying the $50+ bottles over on the bourbon thread. Although my morning espresso addiction has a significant price.

Btw, for those that buy bottled water in gallons, 4 nest very nicely in a milk crate, remain protected, and can be stored easily.

Ted

 

[backinblue]

I also carry some gallon jugs of spring water for making coffee mostly. The water tanks feed the shower, sinks and toilet, although I do use ice made from from the ice-maker that is connected to the water tank. My tank is not very big so gets emptied and refilled regularly. Probably could drink the water but prefer to carry some spring water. Also some smaller water bottles bedside.

 

[RLKramer]

We have always drunk the water on all boats. Once you are clean and satisfied, keeping the water drinkable is not a problem. I used to add chlorine but after getting city water that has chlorine in it, the extra chlorine seems unneccessary.

 

[O C Diver]

True spring water is very good tasting but do not mistake bottled water for spring water. Bottled water is nothing more than water taken from a municipal water supply and filtering it which you can do the same with a good on-board filter. Spring water is not as widely available as bottled water. My personal preference for real spring water is Poland Spring from Maine.

I'm well aware of the differences. Bottled water is generally a generic term as opposed to tap (from the faucet) water. Generally, bottled water is either spring water, purified water, or distilled water. I buy bottled spring water for drinking and distilled water for the batteries and to mix with antifreeze for engine coolant.

Ted

 

[Ducatihottie]

This is all very useful.

Along with many of the ideas above, I'll be putting a water filter on my hose. That said, what type of hose do you recommend, (name so I can buy one preferably on Amazon).

I might have missed it: Does it help if you add "aquatabs" or something similar? Can they "clog" up the system if I just drop them in?

 

[Slider70]

My aluminum water tank is 33 years old. Water taste is not good last I tried, a few years back. Carry large bottles of water for drinking & cooking, sometimes refilling from rain water, if on long trip and isolated from community source. Rest of water needs done by the tank water.

Works for me so far but I do have a strong gut. Mexico never bothered me like some I traveled with.

 

[backinblue]

This is all very useful.

Along with many of the ideas above, I'll be putting a water filter on my hose. That said, what type of hose do you recommend, (name so I can buy one preferably on Amazon).

I might have missed it: Does it help if you add "aquatabs" or something similar? Can they "clog" up the system if I just drop them in?

Hoses that are suitable are rated as "Drinking Water Safe". Not all hoses are. My favorite hose I bought this year on Amazon is a Flexilla. Soft and flexible, drinkable, bright green color, good quality fittings. There is no hose that everyone likes but I recommend this. Last year I had a white/blue marine hose that I fought with because it was so stiff, and by the end of the year one of the fittings was leaking.


Not sure that a filter on a hose adds much value if you have a good water source and proper hose and flush it out before filling. Just my opinion. An onboard filter between the tank and faucet probably is more effective.

 

[Ross Macdonald]

Everytime we fill the boat water tank which is about once every 10 days, (Liveaboard) we use a filter system with a 1 and 5 micron filter and an ultra violet light in line. Fill at no more than 3 gal per min. to assure the UV works. We clean or replace the filters often. When travelling we make water. We have spent many months in marinas in Mexico and have filled tanks always using our filter system and filling at the recommended rate and have drunk the water on every trip. 4 poly ethelene tanks totaling 300 gallons.

 

[Ducatihottie]

They have several size Flexilla hoses. What length of hose should I get? My mooring faucet to boat is no longer than 25 feet. I don't know about other mooring places or if I'll have to run it to shore while on vacation?

I figure the shorter the hose the less grime build up.

 

[ScottC]

More is better! If you plan on a lot of cruising, you will need more than 25’. I carry 2 x 60’ hoses. One takes care of me 75% of the time. I need to add the second hose the remaining 25% of the time. Wipe grit/grime with a damp cloth in one hand when you coil .

 

[ScottC]

I find about the same to be true with shore power cables too.

 

[RickyD]

We drink the water.

We re-commissioned our tanks every Spring... with the standard recipe. (Search for posts by the HeadMistress, PegHall; Peggie has posted the ratio a number of times...

Then we filtered water as we fill the tanks. Two filters; first is 25m/1m household size sediment filter (with adapters to connect to garden hose threads), second is a .5m carbon block household size filter (ditto adapters).

For actual drinking water, water for coffee and the portable icemaker, etc. we kept a Pur filter pitcher on board, full, in a fridge. (Brita would be similar.) Otherwise, normal tank water was fine for cooking, teeth, etc.

We also cycled our water frequently. Seldom connected to dockside pressure water; almost always filled the tank, used the tank, filled the tank, used the tank, etc.

-Chris

I also use a two stage 25/1 m house 10" diameter filter to filter incoming water to my tanks. Then I use my tanks for everything except drinking water. Coffee, teeth, ice, all ok. I have a five stage RO system at home and I refill 1 gallon jugs for drinking and we also purchase a case or two of bottled water for guests as back up. I am on the boat every week so its easy to keep up. Cycling the filtered water in the tanks works great after we commissioned them this spring with the chlorine treatment. We also have a water maker so I can refill the gallon jugs at sea but so far that has not been necessary. I would not hesitate to drink a full glass out of our tanks, I have just chosen a different path.

 

[backinblue]

They have several size Flexilla hoses. What length of hose should I get? My mooring faucet to boat is no longer than 25 feet. I don't know about other mooring places or if I'll have to run it to shore while on vacation?

I figure the shorter the hose the less grime build up.

I think the grime buildup is overrated. More likely a problem When dragging it around your yard or garden. I'm not seeing a problem at my dock. I have 50 ft which allows me enough length not just to reach the boat but to be able to wash down the entire boat.

 

[rslifkin]

I use a 75 footer. Long enough for washing, filling the tanks in places where I'm not right next to a spigot, etc. I carry a second 75 footer aboard as well. And once I did need both for a water fill, as the water source was about 100 feet away.

 

[Capt Dan]

Wow

 

[catalinajack]

In the winter I need 250 feet of hose to reach a water source.

Wow

 

[firehoser75]

Likewise.
In the winter where I dock, the marina turns off the dockwater around the end of October (really early and very conservative) leaving only one tap active in an insulated cabinet. That tap is a long way from my boat, probably at least 150 feet, and I am the closest boat to that tap on the "regular" dock. There is a breakwater dock where you could be closer, but I don't want to be there.

 

[Mischief Managed]

I have learned in all this definitely not to trust water filters online claims ...the filters I used are a sawyer filter , then a zero filter , and finally a $300 berkey filter which is supposed to be the ultimate filter capable of filtering all protozoa ,giardia crypto bacteria and even viruses ...cant believe out of close to $500 bux in filters I'm still sitting here on the toilet....granted my pool water looks like a swamp and had a dead bird in it but still these filters claims are turns dead bird swamp water into bottled water....definitely false advertising....tds meter read zero but my toilet would disagree

I use a pair of Sawyer minis when backpacking. One is inline on my camel back so that every drop is filtered before it goes in me, and I use the other to filter water before it goes in the camel back. I have drank swamp water several times through the sawyers minis without ever having an issue.

 

[HiDHo]

A sediment filter is okay on your dock water fill hose, I would avoid a charcoal filter as it removes the city water chlorination which can lead to funky tank water. Don’t ask me why I know this !
Best to use a dedicated water tap for charcoal, etc filtering.

 

[catalinajack]

Disagree. How do you explain our having good water from our tanks using non-chlorinated well water from our marina? The problem to which you refer is for a reason unrelated to not having chlorinated water.

A sediment filter is okay on your dock water fill hose, I would avoid a charcoal filter as it removes the city water chlorination which can lead to funky tank water. Don’t ask me why I know this !
Best to use a dedicated water tap for charcoal, etc filtering.