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Water Treatment.

BLACKCOUNTRY LAD

By BLACKCOUNTRY LAD
in Boat Equipment

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David Schweizer Veteran II

David Schweizer

Posted
Posted

It's not a bad idea to steralise your tank and pipework occassionally, although how many of us actually get round to it I am not sure ( I have done it once in seven years !!) I used a Milton solution which I pumped into the pipes and left there for a few hours before flushing it out. It certainly got rid of the slightly earthy smell that was beginning to manifest itself. Don't worry about the warning they put on the bottle about prolonged contact with metal - I did a 48 hour test in a full strength solution and it had no effect on the metal objects immersed in it.

 

What is perhaps more important is to install a water filter for your drinking water supply. These can be obtained for as little as £30 up to well over £100 depending on how particular you are, I have one of the popular Jabasco Aqua Filters with replaceable cartridge fitted to my boat. Th advantage of thes eis that the spare filters can be obtained at almost any Chandlery and they they are not overly expensive.

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Rick Engager

Rick

Posted
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[ It's not a bad idea to steralise your tank and pipework occassionally, although how many of us actually get round to it I am not sure ( I have done it once in seven years !!) I used a Milton solution which I pumped into the pipes and left there for a few hours before flushing it out. ]

 

David,

What strength did you use the Milton at and where do you flush out to, the cut?

(Pictures in minds eye of fish spluttering to the surface )

 

Richard

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David Schweizer Veteran II

David Schweizer

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I used the strength recomended on the bottle for sterelising babies feeding bottles. I did not sterelise the tank as that had just been repainted so it was only the pipes that I filled (about a gallon if I remember correctly). I pumped it out into a bucket and put it down the drain and did the same with the next four gallons of fresh flushing water. However I doubt whether such a small amount of the diluted solution, slowly pumped into the canal would have any detrimental effect on the fihing stock. after all it is not poisonous and when used on babies feeding bottles you do not flush out the bottle before putting the milk in so millions of us have drunk small quantities with no apparent ill effects.

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Webchem Collaborator

Webchem

Posted
Posted

Milton is a solution of stuff with NaOCl (sodium hypochlorite) being the active ingredient which according to research on web gives about 3% available chlorine which is what does the sterilizing.

 

There should be no risk to copper piping, although if any boats don't have high quality stainless steel tanks, I would be a little wary of using full strength with an iron (not steel) tank. Lets face it this must be rare or else you would end up with rust flowing freely in your boat.

 

I am not sure how it would react with more reactive containment metals such as aluminium (Al), but as Al forms a hard oxide layer (which is what makes it desirable), there should be no problem.

 

As for the fish, you might kill a few of the localised flora and fauna (bacteria in the cut and the like) but unless you actually put a fish in a bath of concentrated Milton there should be no problem.

 

If anyone is using any kind of chlorinated solvent to clean brushes etc, under no circumstances should any waste find its way into the cut/river as these are extremely toxic to any kind of aquatic life. I suspect that any kind of degreaser also is a no-no to dispose of in the cut, but I am not sure about GUNK.

 

Lets face it we all shove shower gels/shampoos/fairy liquid into the cut and I don't think the fish have complained too much!

 

:(

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John Orentas Veteran II

John Orentas

Posted
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In my caravan days, we were plagued with some sort of bugs, algae I think, which built up in the transparent water pipes. After trying all kinds of recommended cures, I found that by far the most effective treatment was the stuff used for cleaning out the beer pipes in pubs. It's also the cheapest if you can scrounge it off your local landlord.

 

As David says, don't attempt to treat your water tank you can't guarantee to rinse every bit of the fluid out.

 

John Squeers

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rustyduck Contributor

rustyduck

Posted
Posted

A little too much information on that one Webchem. :(

 

On the subject of GUNK - my friends goat once drank some from a bucket when we were cleaning up an engine. No ill effects I'm glad to report, but then I think it's just about impossible to kill a goat by feeding it something. It's favourite snack was cigarette buts from waste bins. ;)

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Martin Contributor

Martin

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As a live-aboarder, my tank is effectively flushed every week - or at least emptied and refilled.

As such, we never find it necessary to sterilise at all.

 

If you leave your boat with half a tank of water for three months then I suppose it might start to grow.

 

I've no point to make really - but much depends on how you use the boat!

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John Orentas Veteran II

John Orentas

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My boat is more than 12 years old now, I have an integral water tank which I have repainted once and that was years ago. I have never had any kind of problems, I never drain it, it is left undisturbed for many weeks during the winter. I even drink the water unfiltered.

 

A lot of these theoretical problems are no more than that, or it is just luck.

 

John Squeers

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  • 2 years later...
Gibbo Veteran II

Gibbo

Posted
Posted

My boat is more than 12 years old now, I have an integral water tank which I have repainted once and that was years ago. I have never had any kind of problems, I never drain it, it is left undisturbed for many weeks during the winter. I even drink the water unfiltered.

 

A lot of these theoretical problems are no more than that, or it is just luck.

 

John Squeers

 

It's one of those rare occasions I agree with John.

 

I don't treat the water, have no filter other than the usual gauze before the pump, we all drink it straight from the tap, sometimes it can be water that has been in the tank for months. None of us have ever been ill (well we have but nothing to do with the water).

 

Gibbo

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Gibbo Veteran II

Gibbo

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Are you sure there are no ill-effects? You do seem very excitable and beligerent most days!!!!!! :)

 

Ahhh but that started way before I even set foot on a narrowboat. As you said, my parents didn't hug me enough.

 

Gibbo

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tomsk Experienced

tomsk

Posted
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Ahhh but that started way before I even set foot on a narrowboat. As you said, my parents didn't hug me enough.

 

Gibbo

 

Will you two girls go outside and make woopee, all this pent-up sexual tension your exuding all over your posts is quite off-putting. You seem to have the same sort of relationship as the one me and a girl I went to primary school had, at the age of 8...... We kept giving each other dead legs, throwing things at each other across the classroom and telling 'miss' that the other was doing something wrong or improperly, generally attention seeking 'cos deep down we liked each other but were too young to be able to identify those emotions for what they were :cheers: .... Twenty years later we almost got married! (close shave).

 

I cannot deduce whether you two know each other very well and are staging a kind of elaborate wind-up for your own amusement, or you really have nothing better to do than score points on extremely technical electrical points, again for your own amusement....... I think you may be better off getting jobs or joining the Sally army :cheers:

 

I 'spose its all very sweet really :)

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ChrisPy Veteran

ChrisPy

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We're going to spend our honeymoon on a wiring course. Looking forward to the crimping!

you could borrow my heavy duty crimper, if you can manage the size of the thing ...................... good for at least 100sq.mm .................................. :):cheers:

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tomsk Experienced

tomsk

Posted
Posted (edited)

Wiring course, I just don't know what to say!!!! :)

 

 

I do....SAD, SAD, SAD. There, said it, I have a well deserved reputation as a contraversialist but ferchrissake!!!! :cheers:

Edited by tomsk
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Breals Proficient

Breals

Posted
Posted

Back on topic (sorry to interrupt the slightly more interesting excursion!), thinking about the Brita jugs, one of our lecturers at college, who was a microbiologist, told us that these increased the chance of picking up a bug, as the oxygenated, de-chlorinated and well-lit still water allows bacteria to grow. His advice was drink it from the tap, don't keep it hanging about in little containers!

 

But I guess on a boat one of those in-line purifiers would be a good thing, although as I only ever drink coffee or wine, I won't be bothering...

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