Water tanks and drinking from them

Ok so I'm a new trawler owner just purchased our boat 2 weeks ago and I'm curious how does everyone keep their water in their tanks potable.....I know you can add small amount of bleach and be safe but bleach only lasts so long and then the stagnant water becomes useable ....newbie lessen already learned....I have a pool my kids decided to quit using and it went green well considering the tanks in the boat hold 400 gallons of water and the water has been sitting in the tanks for 3 months i know its probably bad by now .... I did a little experiment on our green pool today ...filtered the water with a Sawyer filter first, then a zero filter and finally a berkey filter.....and still threw up twice today and feel like crap despite all 3 filters claims to take all pathogens out of the water.....I did however miscalculate bleach drops to add to the water and only added 2 drops per gallon instead of 2 drops per quart but I really had high Hope's the 3 filters would have gotten all contaminates out but as I lay in bed listening to my stomach churn i know that's not the case .....what does everyone do to their water tanks to make it safe to drink???

A very small percentage of the water in most boats is drunk. On my boat, most water is used by showering, dishwashing, and toilet flushing. So, I carry gallon jugs of spring water for cooking and drinking. I consume less than a half gallon per day.

Regarding tank water, there are several threads on the forum for commissioning your water tanks. This includes enough bleach and water with a period of time for the bleach to have the proper effect. Then you flush the tank atleast a couple of times to remove the taste. For most places you will refill your tanks, the water will be municipal and contain the correct amount of chlorine to keep the water safe. Being an enclosed tank the chlorine lasts a long time. I would guess the water to be safe for months. If you're concerned that it's sat to long, empty the tanks and refill them with municipal water (which has chlorine already).

I don't like the taste of chlorine. So I installed a whole house carbon block filter which removes the smallest particles including chlorine. Cartridge is usually an annual replacement. I consider the water in my tanks perfectly safe and use it for brushing my teeth. I just prefer spring water for drinking and cooking.

Ted

Whgoffrn said:

what does everyone do to their water tanks to make it safe to drink???

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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

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.

I use the ice machine all the time at the house so the water tank (1000 gallons) is filled every week. Maybe you should drain the tank if you know your not going to use it for a while. I drink it, doesn't taste bad but the wife uses bottle water.

We do the Peggy Hall tank cleansing every spring and make sure our water is properly—but not excessively—chlorinated. We also have a whole house charcoal filter immediately downstream of the freshwater pump. For drinking water, I plumbed in a two-stage under-sink filter that scrubs out most contaminants, including lead. Overkill for some, but we no longer worry about having healthy potable water.

We drink our water. We live aboard, though, and use up our 300 gallon tanks every 3 weeks or so. We do not charcoal filter on the way in - that removes the city water chlorine. We want that chlorine. We only use a fine sediment filter when filling.

We have a robust fridge filter (water and ice in door) and a galley sink drinking water filter after the tank on the way out (don't need chlorine anymore at this point).

The key is turnover. You need to USE your water (yes, you have to refill more often). You might decommission one or more so that the remaining one(s) get refilled more often.

Closed water tanks are not an open pool! If the tanks are clean and the water going in is clean, even a very small amount of chlorine Will keep the water clean(I use 2 capfuls per 100 gallons). The water in my tanks right now was put in there almost 3 months ago and I can still detect the very slight chlorine odor at a non filtered faucet.

That said, we have a General Ecology water filter system for our drinking water.

Ken

Our boat carries 300 Liters of water in 2 connected plastic tanks. We use the water for cooking, dish-washing, drinking and showering. Head flushing is with sea water. We have never used any chlorine or chemicals and have, thus far (in 10 years), not suffered from algae or other problems. Given that the tanks are not huge, we generally end up re-filling every 4-5 days while on extended trips. I imagine this frequent “cycling” of fresh water helps keep away problems. Also, I empty the water tanks when laying the boat up for the winter. I flush them at Spring launch by filling and emptying them three times in immediate succession. Finally, and I think most importantly, we use a 3M US-E2 water filter in the cold water line. 0.2 microns. As I understand it, this is about the best filter one can buy not only from a taste/sediment/odor standpoint, but from a health standpoint. Specs say it filters out Protozoan Cysts/Giardia/Cryptosporidim and e-Coli bacteria. Unfortunately, the cartridge price is about $150. I change it once a year. No matter where we've filled up, the water seems to be taste-free, which is something I cannot say about our city water at home.

We drink the water all the time.

I empty the tank and refill with fresh before every cruise if it has been sitting a while. Follow Peggie's instructions at least yearly not forgetting every water line, not just the tank.
I have never been comfortable with the icemaker because it doesn't allow full sanitizing flush like all the other lines.

A charcoal filter at the potable faucet will improve taste.

We have two tanks, 700 & 200 gallons, and fill them routinely from marinas and fuel docks. Bleached and flushed them after purchase two years ago and have used them for drinking, cooking, showers, head flush, dish washing and clothes washer since then. We use a small Brita filter/pitcher for drinking water. No problems so far.

When we cruised the Med and Caribbean by sailboat we had a small water tank, maybe 75 gallons, and filled it from almost any available source including rain, village water systems, small streams and rivers. We added iodine based purification tablets or small amount of bleach.
Also no ill effects.

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

Maybe it wasn't the water.

As I said earlier, carrying enough bottled water in gallons isn't tough, space consuming, or expensive.

Ted

I might change my tune if we were ever to have a bad water-related experience. Fortunately, that hasn't happened to us yet. Rather then schlepping water bottles, we have a bubble maker, so we can make our own fizzy water, right from the tanks

We drink our water all the time. We prefer our RO water, especially from Frederick Sound

Currently we carry bottled water to drink, but we'll use the tank water for ice, coffee, etc. I've found that my tanks and lines seem to give the water a slightly off taste and smell over time, even after sanitizing. It isn't noticeable in ice and it seems to cook out while making coffee. I'd drink it in a pinch (it's safe to drink), it just doesn't taste good.

I'm currently planning out a filter setup to hopefully give us better tasting water, which should leave it drinkable.

Collect a water sample from your tanks by using local laboratory-provided containers. Return the containers to the lab and have them run for ‘residential’ drinking water. You’ll find out quickly and cost effectively if your water is suitable to drink.

I have aluminum water tanks, so in addition to the above, I had the lab run an analysis for metals. Mine came back high in aluminum (expectedly). Because of the water analysis, I choose to drink and cook with bottled water, like Ted, but use tank water for everything else; toothbrush, showering, etc. Keep the guessing out of the equation.

Your gastric system will thank you for it!

We drink (and make ice from) our water when it is either RO or municipal water from a supply we trust. All of the water runs through a UV (and charcoal) filter. We have never had a problem.

A very related aspect of this topic hasn't been touched upon yet: Filling hoses.


I continue to be amazed at the number of people I see that obviously don't think about this at all.
- dropping the fill-end of the hose into the harbor
- putting the fill-end of the hose directly into the water tank fill without first running the water a while to flush out the quite-possibly stagnant water in the dock piping.
- using marina hoses that look like they've been through the war without even flushing them.


When I bought my boat, one of the things I ended up struggling with early on is the decision on which type of hose to buy. It was a surprise to have to burn so many brain cells on this seemingly simple subject. Some, in the extreme camp, said food-grade hose was the only way to go. Food-grade hose is difficult to find, in bulk, and the cost is beyond staggering. So, for mere mortals selecting from more standard types of hose, I learned that one should try to get as opaque hose as possible, so as to prevent light from fostering growth of algae. Finally, I learned that I should take great care in coiling up the hose, as trapped water will also foster the growth of algae and other bad things. Store the hose in a dark compartment, just in case it isn't 100% opaque.



I went the extra mile to buy high-quality hose that won't kink and has a good "memory" for coiling. I've had my hose for 10 years now and it's showing no signs wear.

Good point on hoses. I always let the hose run for a few minutes before filling. And I only fill from my own hose, which is immediately drained and brought aboard after use.

I have 2 x 500 lt stainless steel water tanks. These are either filled at the marina berth or by RO water when away. I do have a dedicated drinking water fill hose. These tanks have not been drained in the last 15 years.
I have a carbon block filter on the supply pump outlet and we use our water for everything , drinking, washing, showers etc.
We use stainless steel personal water bottles for going ashore walking etc and I do not allow bottled water on board. (one of the great cons in our lifetime)
We spend a fair bit of time on board so water is used fairly constantly and has never been bad.
Sometimes it does sit for 6 weeks or more.

Ok thanks for the post. I just took everything out that was sitting on my water tank to see how much I had in there and noted it was time fo dill, tasted it, seemed fine and I didn’t even fill it last year- then drained and refilled it. Chicago City water ain’t that bad.

rslifkin said:

Good point on hoses. I always let the hose run for a few minutes before filling. And I only fill from my own hose, which is immediately drained and brought aboard after use.

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I’m amazed also that boaters don’t fill with white pvc drinking water hoses. Garden hoses will give off bad tasting water unless your a kid drinking out of a hose for the first time which we have probably all done.
Always keep the hose ends away from contamination, drain and coil it from the male end. Then connect the ends for storage. Before connecting it to the dock faucet flush the faucet then connect and flush the hose for several minutes. I stopped filtering the dock water with a hose charcoal filter because it removes the city water treatment chemicals. Our 300 gallon potable water tanks are stainless steel and we make ice cubes and drink the water. The water tanks get filled frequently because I use potable water for anchor chain rinsing, flush water for the head and showering, washing, dish cleaning etc.
Keep your water fill hose clean, it pays off, no Montazomas revenge !

"And I only fill from my own hose, which is immediately drained and brought aboard after use."
I have seen boaters give their black tank a "rinse" using the supplied marina hose by just putting the end in their pumpout port!! Always use your own hose, and ensure it is clean!
Even though it can waste water, flushing the docklines for a bit is not a bad idea either. May need to be altered due to summer shortages, etc.

firehoser75 said:

"And I only fill from my own hose, which is immediately drained and brought aboard after use."
I have seen boaters give their black tank a "rinse" using the supplied marina hose by just putting the end in their pumpout port!! Always use your own hose, and ensure it is clean!
Even though it can waste water, flushing the docklines for a bit is not a bad idea either. May need to be altered due to summer shortages, etc.

Click to expand...

My slip is near the end of my dock. I used to use a dedicated hose for filling water tanks, but gave that up years ago. I'll use the hose at my slip and let the water run a very long time. I'm more concerned about getting any impurities or metals out of the water pipes than I am about the hose.


We have good water and I'm very happy to drink it. I can't convince my wife and kids so I do have to take some bottles water to the boat for them. That is a waste of energy and space that could be used for critical components such as beer.



I do like the convenience of bottles water however so I'll drink one of my wife's bottles and then such continue to fill it up from our water tanks and stick it in the fridge with my initials on it.

I hope you are kidding about drinking water from your kids pool. If not, it was a very foolish thing to do.

And you are worried about your tanks?

Your post sounds like a scam, please don't do this. People really put thought and consideration into their responses.

pete

What is RO?

I started off hauling water jugs aboard, but after the second one leaked on the boat, and another one split open in the grocery store, I decided that I was done screwing around with 'em. Besides, I hate paying for water, and then throwing away all that plastic.

I drink mine from the tanks. I use a my own hose, let it run for a few minutes before using, then give it a taste from the hose, and filter the water on it's way into the tank. I have 200 gallons of aluminum tanks, and I turn those over every week or so. It tastes good, and I haven't puked yet!

I do have a filtration system that runs to a separate tap in the galley, but it leaked when I last used it, and haven't got around to doing anything about it yet. I really haven't felt the need.

Capt Ray said:

What is RO?

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Reverse osmosis....

Does anyone use one of the “as seen on TV” type stretchable hoses? We’ve got a 75 footer that I’ve used for two years. Stores in a small nylon sack in a cabinet. When I’m finished I always coil the hose after removing the feed end from the water bib, draining the hose as it contracts and as I lift the hose to coil it. No problems with quality or side effects so far. I started using filters at fill time but wasn’t aware that the charcoal filter removed chlorine as well as and smells so I guess I will replace the carbon filter with a filter that has finer filtration - sort of a two step process. I do alternate between our two tanks, drawing down one before switching.