cleaning water filters

[rogerc]

hi

 

due to the very cold weather i actually drained my water system this year, and am re fitting it and doing some mods.

 

i noticed the ceramic drinking water filter is looking very rusty, how do i clean it? and what does it indicate?

 

similarly the rope filter is all rusty colourer is it best just to rinse it?

Roger

[RLWP]

hi

 

due to the very cold weather i actually drained my water system this year, and am re fitting it and doing some mods.

 

i noticed the ceramic drinking water filter is looking very rusty, how do i clean it? and what does it indicate?

 

similarly the rope filter is all rusty colourer is it best just to rinse it?

Roger

 

We have washed rope filters, but in reality they don't cost much from chandlers so we now replace them instead. The rustyness probably means that you need to repaint the inside of your water tank.

 

Richard

[steelaway]

hi

 

due to the very cold weather i actually drained my water system this year, and am re fitting it and doing some mods.

 

i noticed the ceramic drinking water filter is looking very rusty, how do i clean it? and what does it indicate?

 

similarly the rope filter is all rusty colourer is it best just to rinse it?

Roger

 

 

Hi

 

I am afraid you cannot clean them, you have to replace them.

The string one is the first stage, taking out the lumps, the ceramic one is to provide drinking water quality.

The advice is to change them regulaly.

It idicatees you have a built in steel water tank that should be repainted inside periodicaly

What size and make are the filters?

 

Alex

[Speedwell]

Our ceramic filter gets a brown coating quite quickly, which blocks the pores and slows down the water flow. It can be cleaned by scrubbing and scouring to remove the clogged surface. They need replacing every few years on our rate of useage (6 - 8 weeks a year) to make sure the wate quality remains good.

I know nothing about string/rope filters as we don't have one.

Arthur

[rogerc]

Hi

 

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I think I will try rinsing them this year and noting the make/model and replace them next year after painting the tank.

Doesn’t sound a very pleasant job, I imagine it is done bent backwards down a hole with very little space. Do you have to use the same stuff(paint?) as previously used? Does it have to dry long.

 

I did search for this but only found one that says it is a lousy job that no one will take on.

 

Alex the rope filter itself is about 9 inches long and 1.5 diameter, the hosing is bigger (of course). the ceramic is a Doulton about 8x 2.

 

Roger

[Nickhlx]

I used to distribute domestic water filters and the thoughts at the time regarding frequency of replacement of the filter cartridges was 6 months although that did change to annually. I still run a reverse osmosis system at home and do have a simple filter system for the drinking / cooking water at the sink. I think it important to change the filters annually lest a bug gets in and multiplies... perhaps not so important if you don't drink it, but people do get used to poor quality water, and do manage to avoid their system getting bugs - good re-fill procedure e.g. not dragging the hose end along the tow-path at re-fill points !

 

Personally, not a CC, I drain the water tank over winter, when there is a risk of frost damage to water pipes / fittings, and when ready to re-fill, disinfect and re-fill... after fitting new replaceable filters...

 

Nick

[blackrose]

Hi

 

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I think I will try rinsing them this year and noting the make/model and replace them next year after painting the tank.

Doesn’t sound a very pleasant job, I imagine it is done bent backwards down a hole with very little space. Do you have to use the same stuff(paint?) as previously used? Does it have to dry long.

 

I did search for this but only found one that says it is a lousy job that no one will take on.

 

It is indeed a lousy job, and one which people tend to put off.

 

You basically need to drain the tank, get the hatch cover off, dry the tank out and take off all the surface rust with a wire brush attachment on the end of a drill or angle grinder. Then give any remaining rust a coat of Vactan and a couple of coats of bitumen. You can get bitumen which says it's suitable for potable water tanks, but it's basically the same stuff which has been tested (the reason it's twice the price).

 

Vactan dries in a couple of hours, but I think most bitumen takes 12 - 24 hours a coat to dry depending on the temperature. Because it's in an enclosed space I'd give it the full day between coats and 48 hours before refilling to give the solvents a chance to evaporate properly.

Edited April 7, 2010 by blackrose

[RLWP]

Hi

 

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I think I will try rinsing them this year and noting the make/model and replace them next year after painting the tank.

Doesn’t sound a very pleasant job, I imagine it is done bent backwards down a hole with very little space. Do you have to use the same stuff(paint?) as previously used? Does it have to dry long.

 

I did search for this but only found one that says it is a lousy job that no one will take on.

 

Alex the rope filter itself is about 9 inches long and 1.5 diameter, the hosing is bigger (of course). the ceramic is a Doulton about 8x 2.

 

Roger

 

For goodness sake, the rope filter is a fiver: Midland Chandlers

 

Replace them and protect yourself and your water pump from the bits of rust and rubbish coming out of the tank.

 

Richard

 

Painting the tank is indeed a "down the hole with a brush" job, but you will be surprised how much headroom there actually is

Edited April 7, 2010 by RLWP

[blackrose]

For goodness sake, the rope filter is a fiver: Midland Chandlers

 

I'm sure the OP will appreciate the link you posted, but I'm not sure his question warranted a minor bollocking?

[Mrs Tawny Owl]

yes repainting the watertank is a HORRIBLE job.

 

When we bought Tawny Owl she needed a major engine rebuild which we had done at Calcutt. While she was there we took the opportunity to refurbish the water tank and engine bay. I won the watertank.

 

As Richard said there is a surprisingly large amount of space in there, but it's a pig to get at. I could almost sit up but not quite, so spent days lying on my side with an angle grinder, wire brushes and then a paint brush.

 

Using an angle grinder in a confined space is VERY noisy and dirty, so I was togged up in boiler suit, ear defenders, headscarf, face mask and goggles. With so much stuff to put on I found I could only do five minutes before I had to take the goggles off and demist them. Very frustrating, and the language was not particularly ladylike

 

I declared I was never going to do this again so we bought a custom made rubber tank to fit inside the existing water tank. We lined the metal tank with that thin flexible polystyrene packing material you sometimes see (which comes in hugh wide rolls) to protect the rubber tank, and we have been very happy with it.

 

It went in 6 years ago and no problems.

 

The water did taste a bit rubbery to start with, but we fitted a separate drinking water tap with an inline filter which is supposed to be so good it will make canal water safe to drink.

 

We did this not just to get rid of the rubbery taste, but because we use the boat infrequently so the water doesn't get changed as often as it perhaps should, and we wanted to drink safe water.

 

We change the filter on this every 2 or 3 years, the manufacturers instructions say change when the flow slows down, and it suits us fine.

 

Not the cheapest solution, but it suited us in the long term. We still have to change the rpopwe filter occasionally though.

 

Sue

[blackrose]

We still have to change the rpopwe filter occasionally though.

 

Do most people have these rope filters? I just have a plastic strainer attached to the pump. It only ever has a few small bits in it. The pump has had 5 years of liveaboard use and is still going strong.

[Keeping Up]

I've been told (no personal experience, my tank is stainless steel) that many bitumens which used to be marked as suitable for potable tanks, are no longer marked as such even though nothing has changed, because that is the simplest way of being certain that nobody commences legal action after getting sick. They are of course just as suitable as they used to be.

[Nickhlx]

I've been told (no personal experience, my tank is stainless steel) that many bitumens which used to be marked as suitable for potable tanks, are no longer marked as such even though nothing has changed, because that is the simplest way of being certain that nobody commences legal action after getting sick. They are of course just as suitable as they used to be.

 

 

I am sure our water tank, which is formed into the pointy bit, is painted on the inside with some sort of epoxy, which I am sure I was told is unlikely to need re-painting unless we suffer a very hard bash sufficient to crack the epoxy skin by deformation of the metal...

 

The water doesn't taste of anything unusual, like araldite or anything ( whatever "epoxy" is ....) - I imagine one of the qualities of the product that was used was acceptable for constant immersion in water and suitable for contact with potable water, although its dangerous to assume .... it's been fine so far... and was what the builder has always used ....

 

Is it not possible to "line the tank" with some sort of bag that "inflates and deflates" with filling and draining ? Painting with bitumen sounds a bit of a dated practise these days...

 

 

Nick

Edited April 7, 2010 by Nickhlx

[Mrs Tawny Owl]

Is it not possible to "line the tank" with some sort of bag that "inflates and deflates" with filling and draining ? Painting with bitumen sounds a bit of a dated practise these days...

 

 

Nick

 

Yea that's what I was talking about in my ramble about the delights of painting the water tank.

 

The rubber tank we had made was in fact a lining in the form of a sealed bag with inlet and outlet points that connect to the boats water system and an inlet pipe.

 

We had to fairly accurately measure the existing tank and specify where we wanted the inlet and outlet points, and it was made to those measurements. It does inflate and deflate as we fill and empty it, and at least we know no rubbish can get into it easily. The original tank was filled through a hole ion the floor of the front deck so always seemed vulnerable.

 

Sue

[DHutch]

Do most people have these rope filters? I just have a plastic strainer attached to the pump. It only ever has a few small bits in it. The pump has had 5 years of liveaboard use and is still going strong.

We're the same.

 

Simple stainless strainer to protect the pump (never caught anything yet, but pays to be safe) and jobs a gooden. We have a 'fresh water filter company' ceramic and charcoal filter at home and did have provision for simular on the boat (like, an extra tap and cold feed, but nothing else) but it has never actaully been used.

 

 

Daniel