White spirit in water tank

[jacob]

Evening all,

 

I recently repainted our well deck, which was pretty much caked in rust. The water tank hatch was also rusted down, so I drilled out the bolts and prised it out. The paint job was a success, but now about 5 days after the event our water smells of white spirits and has a bit of a chemically tang to it - I used white spirits to wipe down the metal before painting it, and reckon that a small amount got into the tank through now unsealed hatch.

 

Does anyone have any ideas for how best to go about flushing the system clean? My current thinking is to just leave the taps running and a hose in tank to cycle everything, but if anyone's got any experience with this fairly niche incident that'd be helpful

 

Cheers!

Jacob

[alias]

8 minutes ago, jacob said:

Evening all,

 

I recently repainted our well deck, which was pretty much caked in rust. The water tank hatch was also rusted down, so I drilled out the bolts and prised it out. The paint job was a success, but now about 5 days after the event our water smells of white spirits and has a bit of a chemically tang to it - I used white spirits to wipe down the metal before painting it, and reckon that a small amount got into the tank through now unsealed hatch.

 

Does anyone have any ideas for how best to go about flushing the system clean? My current thinking is to just leave the taps running and a hose in tank to cycle everything, but if anyone's got any experience with this fairly niche incident that'd be helpful

 

Cheers!

Jacob

 

White spirit doesn't mix with water, it floats on top, so attempts at dilution will have limited success. Personally I'd run the tank low then add some washing  up liquid/water mix and then run it dry. A couple of repeats of this should clear the problem, (then you just have to wash out the detergent). 

Edited June 9, 2022 by alias

[PeterF]

If you fill from the hose at the same time as you are emptying then it will slowly dilute any contaminants in the tank as the fresh mixes in, but it could take a long time to dilute it. The fredh will not stay separate from what is already in the tank. Much better to empty the tank, then fill a bit and empty again then try a full refill.

[Momac]

This ................

In the meantime, if you can,  use portable containers for drinking and cooking water , We use 5 litre water bottles from a  supermarket which we refill from a mains  supply as we prefer not to drink tank water regardless of whether it is contaminated.

[David Mack]

3 minutes ago, MartynG said:

 

 

And to encourage the white spirit to evaporate you should open up the water tank hatch for a few days to allow the air to circulate. And make sure it is properly sealed when you refit it so no other nasties from the deck can find their way into the tank.

[Tony Brooks]

It may also help speed things up if the walls of the empty tank are washed down with detergent solution and the dried.

[Tracy D'arth]

Overflow the tank, the WS will be on top.

[jacob]

Cheers all - we drained it out, sprayed it down and shovelled out a carrier bag full of silt and crud from the bottom, it's running clear and fresh now