Water tank - dewinterising?

[Soph]

We've just bought a beautiful (even if i say it myself!) 40ft Hancock and Lane (1979). The previous owners have left the water tank empty as they haven't been using the boat at all over the winter. We're planning to take her out on her maiden voyage this weekend and I'm wondering whether we can just fill the tank and go or whether we should use something to flush the tank through first before we trust the water for cooking/drinking etc - if yes what would be the best thing to use?

[Paul Evans]

If the tank has been standing empty for some time, I would flush it through before using water from it. You never know what might have built up in it. A hire company told me that they put Milton's Sterlising Fluid (you can use 'own brand' bottle sterilising stuff instead - it's cheaper but just as good) into the tanks of their hire boats - about 20ml - fill the tank, let it stand for a bit and then flush it through. You will need to do this with the engine running or you'll be in danger of flattening your domestic batteries because it will take some time. If your week-end run takes you between water points you could fill up at the start, run the water off as you go along and fill up again at the end.

 

Take some bottled water with you to make tea/coffee whilst you're on the move. If it's cold you'll need it.

 

If you don't have one fitted already, you might consider fitting an in-line filter on the galley cold water pipe. It's not essential but will give you some peace of mind. This is something you can do at a later date.

 

You can buy water sterilising tablets that you drop into the tank when you fill up. Most chandleries stock them but I think you could also find them at Boot's at a lower price.

 

Have a great weekend!

[colinjw]

Hi soph,

 

I agree with Paul regarding flushing etc.

 

The filter Paul mentions is very good for drinking water and you actually finish up with less limescale in the kettle. They are available from: www.generalecology.com

 

I fitted mine in less than an hour an dwhen I renewed the filter in the autumn, there seemed to be so much fine sand like stuff on the outside of the filter that I was amazed it was still letting water through.

 

I started off with a new stainless steel tank 2 years ago but I was amazed at the amount of stuff the filter got out.

 

If you can get to a boat show, these filters are a decent bit cheaper than buying them from General Ecology and it gives you an excuse to go to a show.

 

Happy boating,

 

Colin

[dor]

Firstly decide whether you want to de-winterise it just yet; there is still the potential for lots of cold weather to come. Our water tank is quite large, so we don't fill & empty it lightly. A 5 gallon plastic jerry can does us for a weekend (although we need a shower when we get home!).

 

You definitely need a micro-ceramic filter on your galley cold water tap. All sorts of things can breeed in your water tank. I'd rather not look too closely into mine, but we've never been ill yet drinking water from the galley tap. There are several different sorts of filters available: as for most things look around the chandlery sites at the options. The filters all generally say they should be changed after two or three months. This is based on domestic situations; 12 months on a narrowboat is more realistic.

 

When you do decide to water up, Milton as suggested above makes sense.

 

Remember when you do drain down, plastic connectors are very vulnerable to freezing damage. You really need to reverse the pump connections and try and pump the water system dry before leaving it. Doesn't matter how much insulation you have, it only delays the cold getting in.

 

Plenty of people will t ell you they never bother draining their system - "doesn't need it". They don't tell you when they have a flood.

 

I don't expect to use our boat for more than weekends until Easter; we won't be refilling the water system until then.

[James York]

i can vouch for the RO filters if you have £300-£400 to spend. They remove 100% of chemicals, bacteria etc from the water. However you do need a smaller water tank under the kitchen sink. You'd be surprised how much better the water tastes!

[David Schweizer]

I am sure the filters mentioned are all very good, but I am not convinced that you need to spend so much cash to get clean water. I have fitted a Jabasco Aqua Filta which cost about £30, and a faucet tap for about £10. I have been drinking water from this unit for years now and have never suffered any ill effects.

[Richard Bustens]

I like the Milton idea but is 20ml enough i would put the whole bottle in leave it overnight then drain off, then flush again , then fill.

[John Orentas]

Well I seem to be an my own again, twenty odd years of boating, never bought a filter, never drained down, never had problems.

 

That probably sounds smug but the old taste buds are as accurate as anything, if your water tastes ok, the chances are it is ok. I have an integral tank, I just paint it inside every five years.

 

I did have problems once in my caravan days, some sort of micro-bugs, I found the best stuff was the fluid publicans use for beer lines (free too) but you do have to flush everything out.

 

The worst thing you can do is start draining everything down for the winter, apart from the things which are likely to be damaged by frost, the water tank is certainly not in that category.

[Alan Saunders]

Well I seem to be an my own again, twenty odd years of boating, never bought a filter, never drained down, never had problems.

. . .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In 10 years I have never drained the system in winter. The only time anything was damaged it was the Aqua Filter. The top was forced off and although it snapped back on it came apart under pressure.

 

Alan

[DHutch]

We never drain out tank, we just turn off the stopcock between the tank and the pump, open up the taps and drain it out just my the pump.

 

- then when it come to using it, we drain the tank out (to get rid of the plastic taste), refill it, and off we go!

- we only have course pre pump filter, but we have a third tap in the kitchen sink with if fillter, for drinking water. Its the same fillter we use for drinking water at home "freshwaterfilter" - its simple to post-fit, and does the job. And they even send you a reminder to replace your fillter (you tell them how often you want to change it), so all you have to do it sign and send back the letter, and you get your next fillter!

 

daniel

Edited January 20, 2005 by dhutch

[David Schweizer]

I have only fully drained down once when I decided to repaint the tank after the water began to develop a musty smell. I must have removed about half a bucket of mud from the bottom of the tank, but I think it was the lumps of wood and th 2ft length of plastic hose that suprised me. I repainted the tank (horrible job) and filled up , did all the proper flushings recomended by the bitumin makers, and 48 hours later the musty smell returned, At that point I resorted to the Milton treatment and filled the pipes with a mixture made up in the proportions recomended on the bottle, left the stuff in the pipes overnight and flushed out. The musty smell disapeared and has not returned. I fitted the Filter as a precaution as some water obtained from BW taps can have a slightly peculiar taste which is removed by the filter The tap at Dundas Wharf on the K&A gets top prize for the most unusual taste, but it may have been beacause BW were fitting a pump out thing at the time.

 

I do not empty my tank over the winter but do empty the pipes and calorifier. as I do very little cruising over the winter, and the boat is normally more than a hundred miles away from home. I do not want to risk burst pipes if we have a particularly hard frost lasting several days, and I am unable to get to it.

[Big COL]

Until this winter I had always winterised the boat with a complete drain down.

This year however we have used the boat every weekend, and to overcome the problem of any freeze ups during the week, as I didn't want to drain down each weekend I have fitted a frost stat to the central heating system. If the internal temperature reaches 0 deg then it fires the heating system until the temperature reaches 3 deg and all the domestic water pipes hot and cold are sited directly above the heating pipes. This sounds very smug but the heating system was able to incorporate this and it gives me peace of mind during any severe cold weather.

The traditionalists amongst you will throw your arms up in horror but having had to repair frost damaged pipes on boats and seen the mess it has left I take the view that prevention is better than the cure and as I have said before to each his own.

[dor]

The worst thing you can do is start draining everything down for the winter,

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I agree that draining the water tank should be unnecessary, but would still drain the system as connectors will break. I have also had a filter cartridge split - and that was after I thought it was drained!

 

It is such a hassle though trying to get the pipes drained that I don't bother to use th ewater system in the winter. I usually run the water tank fairly low before the winter, as I feel, maybe unnecessarily, that the water ought to be changed once a year.

[Alastair]

John isn't on his own here.

 

No filters, don't clean out tank, no tummy bugs or anything. 'course, I am using the tank all the time, so that may affect it - the water in there never lasts longer than 2 weeks.

[David Schweizer]

The worst thing you can do is start draining everything down for the winter, apart from the things which are likely to be damaged by frost, the water tank is certainly not in that category.

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Ithink the stuff they are supposed to use is called Isinglass, but when I worked a Weekend Bar, all we used was soapy water. We used to leave that in the pipes all week, and pumped it out every Friday.

[David Schweizer]

Something went wrong there, this was what I was refrering to:-

 

I did have problems once in my caravan days, some sort of micro-bugs, I found the best stuff was the fluid publicans use for beer lines (free too) but you do have to flush everything out.

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[maffi mushkila]

............................The tap at Dundas Wharf on the K&A gets top prize for the most unusual taste, but it may have been beacause BW were fitting a pump out thing at the time........................

 

Thanks for that image David just what I needed after a Pepper Sauce Steak.