Fresh Water Tank Flush

Pgitug · Jun 13, 2019

I have aluminum tanks so keeping my fresh water tank smelling good with bleach is not an option.
I found this product and it works great. My hot water heater smelled like bad eggs. Used this to fill the tank snd ran a pump to circulate the water. Water turned grey in just 15 minutes. Flushed the hot water tank with clean water and the smell is gone. Love this stuff.
And it’s cheap at Camping World. [emoji106]

dwhatty · Jun 13, 2019

Stink from hot water tank? When was the anode last changed?

RT Firefly · Jun 13, 2019

Greetings,
Mr. Pg. Any chance of posting an equally close picture of the English side please. My French is a bit rusty. Thanks.

dhays · Jun 13, 2019

Pgitug said:
I have aluminum tanks so keeping my fresh water tank smelling good with bleach is not an option.
I found this product and it works great. My hot water heater smelled like bad eggs. Used this to fill the tank snd ran a pump to circulate the water. Water turned grey in just 15 minutes. Flushed the hot water tank with clean water and the smell is gone. Love this stuff.
And it’s cheap at Camping World. [emoji106]

I seem to recall from my reading of Peggie Hall’s “Get Rid of Boat Odors” that you can do an annual commissioning of your fresh water system using household bleach even in an aluminum tank. IIRC it is a quart of bleach per 50 gal capacity. Drain the tanks, then mix the required amount of bleach with some water, then add it to the tank. Then fill up the tanks and run every faucet until you smell bleach. Let sit for at least 3 hours but I think not over 24. Then run the tanks dry through every faucet. Fill and then run tanks again once or twice to get rid of the residual bleach.

3 hours of contact with the bleach solution won’t corrode your tanks done once a year. Bleach is cheap.

Don’t trust my memory, look it up in Peggie’s book IIRC it is in the spring commissioning section....

firehoser75 · Jun 13, 2019

I have been told to avoid any chlorine in aluminum tanks. So to sanitize my system (excluding the hot water tank, it is bypassed) I use Thetford Fresh Water Sanitizer when spring commissioning. It is a 2 step process and therefore does involve a lot of emptying, flushing, and refilling. I use a small external pump to drain the 150 gal. tank which does speed up the process and minimizes the load on the boat fresh water pump.

I am reasonably sure that Steve D'Antonio advises against bleach in aluminum tanks. I use a General Ecology Nature Pure QC2 filter at the sink, and we drink the water from our tank. Tastes great.

Pgitug · Jun 13, 2019

dwhatty said:
Stink from hot water tank? When was the anode last changed?

Not sure I have An anode on the tank. Changed out the pop off valve but didn’t see an anode.

firehoser75 · Jun 13, 2019

On my tank, there is no anode, but I could replace the drain valve with an anode.

LN-RTP · Jun 13, 2019

. Stink from hot water tank? When was the anode last changed?

Ouch, what anode...?

This is my first boat with a hot water tank, tested it today and looked it over carefully, no leaks and the 120 volt heating element works.
Want anode and where is it?
(Unless you are a troll, if so, you did good and you woke me up)

Pcpete · Jun 13, 2019

I’m doing heavy internal maintenance on my 30 year old aluminum tank that’s probably used city water since day one. Last year it got so the dust and pebbles were clogging the strainer and filter constantly. It was surprising to me how little internal damage there was for the quantity of pebbles I vacuumed out. Somewhere between a quart and a half gallon. I’ve coated the inside with a food safe epoxy called brew coat and am in the process of installing the covers for the access holes but it’s looking good.

firehoser75 · Jun 14, 2019

LN-RTP said:
Ouch, what anode...?

This is my first boat with a hot water tank, tested it today and looked it over carefully, no leaks and the 120 volt heating element works.
Want anode and where is it?
(Unless you are a troll, if so, you did good and you woke me up)

Not all tanks come with an anode. As I stated, my new tank (a Kuuma brand stainless steel tank) did not come with an anode. To add one (as an option) you remove the drain valve and install an anode in it's place. The anode is a long rod that looks like an engine zinc and threads into the hole left when the plastic (in this case) drain valve is removed. On my new (last year) tank, the plastic valve was very tight and I did not want to inflict any damage so I decided against installing the anode. My old tank lasted 16 years and did not have an anode. If you see what looks like a "plug" that is probably an anode. (at least it could be).

HopCar · Jun 14, 2019

LN-RTP said:
Ouch, what anode...?

This is my first boat with a hot water tank, tested it today and looked it over carefully, no leaks and the 120 volt heating element works.
Want anode and where is it?
(Unless you are a troll, if so, you did good and you woke me up)

Dave is no troll. All residential water heaters that I know of have anodes. I know the Raritan Marine Water heaters have Anode’s as well. I don’t know if other marine water heaters have them.

Raritan is the only marine water heater that uses a glass lined steel tank similar to a residential water heater. The rest all seem to use stainless or aluminum tanks.

In residential water heaters it is recommended that you replace the anode if your water develops a sulfur smell.

Bacchus · Jun 14, 2019

RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
Mr. Pg. Any chance of posting an equally close picture of the English side please. My French is a bit rusty. Thanks.

RTF
Here's the link
http://www.camco.net/spring-fresh-1-gallon-bilingual-40207
I've looked at this before... its OK for deodorizing but not santizing. So my take is its OK to use in addition to santizing but not instead if one is looking to sanitize a FW system. It recommends 2 flushes after use... 2 flushes after bleach seems to take care of any tastes for us.
JMO

RT Firefly · Jun 14, 2019

Thanks Mr. B.

jimL · Jul 1, 2019

I have that 'rotten egg' smell, only when using hot water. I have a Seaward hot water heater with no anode (although I can replace the drain cock with an anode). The smell just started. I have had the boat for four years and never had this happen before. The water tank is aluminum and 125 gallons - which I use frequently. Any ideas what is causing the smell - no anode or bacteria?

Thanks,

Jim

FBoykin · Jul 3, 2019

The Kuuma tank on my Grand Banks 42 didn't come with an anode either. There wasn't a Kuuma manual when I bought the boat used 3 years ago. I couldn't find a manual online and called Kuuma for one and also asked the guy about using an anode (he sounded knowledgeable). He said the way they make their tanks, you really don't need one and that's why they don't come with one.

kchace · Jul 3, 2019

jimL said:
I have that 'rotten egg' smell, only when using hot water. I have a Seaward hot water heater with no anode (although I can replace the drain cock with an anode). The smell just started. I have had the boat for four years and never had this happen before. The water tank is aluminum and 125 gallons - which I use frequently. Any ideas what is causing the smell - no anode or bacteria?

Thanks,

Jim

The water you used to fill the tank could be the source. Clear water iron when heated can cause this smell.

Ken

jimL · Jul 7, 2019

I could not remove the tank valve without damaging it, so decided to use the Camco to see if that woks. So I used the Camco rinse and it eliminated the smell of rotten eggs from the hot water side. I need to rinse one more time and energize the hot water tank next weekend. For now it appears to have worked.

Thanks for the tips!

Jim

jimL · Jul 14, 2019

I have an update:

I had thought the Camaco treatment was working well, until we revisited the boat this weekend. The smell was present though the hot water tank water.

Some back ground: we installed a whole house water filter a few weeks ago that filtered the water between the tanks (which produce those white granules). This weekend we noticed significant lower water flow out of the faucets and continued smell from the hot water heater. After much trouble shooting I looked at the in line water filter. The filter was covered with tan slime and the filter did do what was intended by capturing the salt like crystals.

We drained both water tanks, added an additive and also installed a new in line water filter. We’ll have to keep an eye on when to change the filter.

The tan slime on the filer was interesting and I don’t know if it was bacteria or what? Any ideas? The water is from the marina, is city water, and is filtered before the water enters the tank…

And what was the light tan slime on the outside of the filter?

We use the water frequently and generously – wanting to flip the water tanks often.

Jim

HeadMistress · Jul 14, 2019

Water heaters that have metal (steel or aluminum) tanks do not typically have anodes...they have anodized metal tanks. The rotten egg smell in the hot water only happens when the anodizing has worn off. By then it's too late to install an anode. The only cure is a new water heater.

--Peggie

BDofMSP · Jul 14, 2019

I had this problem and I was told it was caused by residual antifreeze on the heating elements from not flushing well enough after winterizing. I wasn't in a position to mess with it so I just replaced the heater. It was relatively cheap and I have great access. Obviously it fixed the problem but now I've been vigilant about the flush. No problem so far.

Btw old heater had no anode. New one does.

BDofMSP · Jul 14, 2019

Thanks Peggy. I was always skeptical about that antifreeze explanation.

jimL · Jul 15, 2019

Thanks Peggy. We always value your advice.

Jim

Pgitug · Jul 16, 2019

jimL said:
I have an update:

I had thought the Camaco treatment was working well, until we revisited the boat this weekend. The smell was present though the hot water tank water.

Some back ground: we installed a whole house water filter a few weeks ago that filtered the water between the tanks (which produce those white granules). This weekend we noticed significant lower water flow out of the faucets and continued smell from the hot water heater. After much trouble shooting I looked at the in line water filter. The filter was covered with tan slime and the filter did do what was intended by capturing the salt like crystals.

We drained both water tanks, added an additive and also installed a new in line water filter. We’ll have to keep an eye on when to change the filter.

The tan slime on the filer was interesting and I don’t know if it was bacteria or what? Any ideas? The water is from the marina, is city water, and is filtered before the water enters the tank…

And what was the light tan slime on the outside of the filter?

We use the water frequently and generously – wanting to flip the water tanks often.

Jim

If you want to get rid of the hot water tank smell Before you get rid of the tank itself then do what I did. Remove the in/out lines from your hot water tank to be sure to drain all the hot water tanks water. Fill your boats water tank with Camaco treatment as directed. Then put back the input line and let your fresh water pump fill the hot water tank. When full put a temporary water pump in the loop of just the hot water tank’s input and output and circulate the Camaco treatment for twenty minutes. Then drain the hot water tank. Put all the hoses back as they were and flush your system twice. Smell will be gone. The circulated water from your tank that you drain will be a dark color. Worked great for me. [emoji106]

jimL · Jul 21, 2019

Thanks all, I'm replacing the water heater.

Fresh Water Tank Flush

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