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Permanent water hook-up?


Jasonbw

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If you leave a hose out on the jetty it shouldn't be permanently connected to the water inlet fitting. When filling up you should connect at the tap end first, turn the tap on and allow water to flow to waste for a while to wash any nasties out of the hose, before you start filling the tank. Especially if you are using cheap garden hose rather than food grade. Plasticiser leaches out while the hose is not in use and will taint your tank if you don't flush it through first. Ditto bugs, beasties and biofilm.

Edited by David Mack
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51 minutes ago, Jasonbw said:

...... I just want to avoid having to run it out and connect it each time. 

 

 

I don't like leaving a hose out especially in summer when there is opportunity for the heat to assist bacteria building up in the hose - less risk if the hose is put away. 

 

Your boat sits in water that may be polluted. I think the perceived risk here is the hose might  accidentally trail in the water and risk contamination entering your water tank but also risks contaminated water back tracking to the mains water . 

 

For you own health best to put the hose away after each use.

 

I recall a hose being left out on the pontoon and the owner of the hose said use it when you want -  another boat owners dog found the hose reel an irresistible piss post . Another reason I like to use my own hose .

 

Edited by MartynG
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1 minute ago, David Mack said:

If you leave a hose out on the jetty it shouldn't be permanently connected to the water inlet fitting. When filling up you should connect at the tap end first, turn the tap on and allow water to flow to waste for a while to wash any nasties out of the hose, before you start filling the tank. Especially if you are using cheap garden hose rather than food grade. Plasticiser leeches out while the hose is not in use and will taint your tank if you don't flush it through first. Ditto bugs, beasties and biofilm.

If you leave a hose out on the jetty it shouldn't be permanently connected to the water inlet fitting. When filling up you should connect at the tap end first, turn the tap on and allow water to flow to waste for a while to wash any nasties out of the hose, before you start filling the tank. Especially if you are using cheap garden hose rather than food grade. Plasticiser leaches out while the hose is not in use and will taint your tank if you don't flush it through first. Ditto bugs, beasties and biofilm.

If you leave a hose out on the jetty it shouldn't be permanently connected to the water inlet fitting. When filling up you should connect at the tap end first, turn the tap on and allow water to flow to waste for a while to wash any nasties out of the hose, before you start filling the tank. Especially if you are using cheap garden hose rather than food grade. Plasticiser leaches out while the hose is not in use and will taint your tank if you don't flush it through first. Ditto bugs, beasties and biofilm.

So go you said it thrice......??

 

But yes good point, flushing stagnant water out the hose is important.

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2 hours ago, Graham Davis said:

The tank might have an overflow that goes overboard, but the concern is for a leak BEYOND the tank, and that could easily result in a flooded or sunk boat. It has happened!!
That is why this is a stupid idea.

Yeah, in American RVs there are typically two water inlets, one is the same as a narrowboat, you insert a hose and fill the onboard tank. The other is threaded, to be left connected and bypasses the tank and uses mains water pressure, bypassing the pump. As has been said already that could totally go pear shaped on a boat.

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9 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

So go you said it thrice......??

 

But yes good point, flushing stagnant water out the hose is important.

Another reason to flush, is if the hose is lying on contaminated ground (diesel spill, old farming or industrial site etc) some chemicals, especially hydrocarbons will diffuse through the pipe wall even with a new hose and contaminate the inside of the pipe, a quick flush is a good idea.  Whilst drink slightly contaminated water occasionally may be no problem, after a few years, who knows.

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29 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

Another reason to flush, is if the hose is lying on contaminated ground (diesel spill, old farming or industrial site etc) some chemicals, especially hydrocarbons will diffuse through the pipe wall even with a new hose and contaminate the inside of the pipe, a quick flush is a good idea.  Whilst drink slightly contaminated water occasionally may be no problem, after a few years, who knows.

The same could be true of a caravan but shore water connection appears  to be permitted on the basis that products are available to purchase . For example...........

https://www.leisureoutlet.com/hoses-and-connectors/water-and-waste/caravans-and-motorhomes/35606-grove-15m-food-quality-hose-with-fittings--ultraflow

 

I think the rules  about boats relates more to the possibility of toilet waste in marina water and possibly contamination with sea water ?

 

 

Edited by MartynG
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28 minutes ago, MartynG said:

I think the rules  about boats relates more to the possibility of toilet waste in marina water and possibly contamination with sea water ?

Reading the regulations would suggest that the concern is that any 'nasties' in the pipe (either leached thru from the ouside, or, growing inside the "stagnant water" on a hot day) can be fed back into the water mains system (backflow).

 

6.1 Using a storage cistern with fluid category five backflow protection When filling a boat’s water-holding tank, it is essential that the quality of water entering the tank is wholesome and that backflow of contaminants into the supply mains pipework is prevented. It must be considered that water already stored on board the boat may not be wholesome. The recommended method is to supply the hoses used for filling water tanks from a storage cistern incorporating an air gap. (See Figures 1a and b). Without this protection in place, if the mains pressure dropped whilst the hose outlets were submerged in marina water, drains or puddles, backflow could cause contamination of mains water.

 

That is why with an acceptable 'plan'  double check-valves, approval of, & agreed by, the Water authorities you can connect  directly to the standpipe.

 

As previously posted :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screenshot (52)_LI.jpg

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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11 hours ago, transplant said:

Yeah, in American RVs there are typically two water inlets, one is the same as a narrowboat, you insert a hose and fill the onboard tank. The other is threaded, to be left connected and bypasses the tank and uses mains water pressure, bypassing the pump. As has been said already that could totally go pear shaped on a boat.

I use to moor by a live aboard boat, his hose was permanently connected, the tank vent plugged and his water pump turned off. He had done it that way for years

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7 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I use to moor by a live aboard boat, his hose was permanently connected, the tank vent plugged and his water pump turned off. He had done it that way for years

Many years ago, a friend of mine had an arrangement like this.  On a very frosty winter morning he turned on the tap and nothing came out as the pipes had frozen.   He went off to work and several hours later received a frantic 'phone call from a neighbour to advise that his boat was rather low in the water and leaning alarmingly.

Luckily he was not too far away, and was able to get back and turn off the tap that he turned on in the morning and forgotten to turn off as nothing was coming out and it looked like it was off.

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9 hours ago, CLAN1 said:

Think its a selfish attitude,'its mine' have you checked with marina?????

I dont actually think they were claiming legal possesion or title to the tap in question. I think it was more along the lines of:-

 

'the tap on the pedastal that is closest to my boat which I normally have exclusive use of'.

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1 minute ago, twbm said:

You might want to use refilling your tank as good practice for traversing the apparently daunting gunnels when you go out cruising. 

If you are on a mooring in a marina, I really don't see the need to traverse the gunnels.

Get off the boat, walk along the bank / pontoon, lean into the bow and put the hose in the hole.

 

or

 

Walk down the inside of the boat.

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47 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Get off the boat, walk along the bank / pontoon, lean into the bow and put the hose in the hole.

 

Unless like many marinas it's a short pontoon only half the length of the boat.

However then it makes more sense to moor bow in ?

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2 hours ago, Thomas C King said:

There are a few Agenda21 moorings near Oxford with a hose permanently hooked up. They're still alive and have probably been doing it for years. But it's also not much of s time saving...

Very true. Rolling out a hose and back up again and stowing it is just part of boating, its a non event.

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