How do I keep my fresh water fresh?

[Roy Batty]

Dear all,

 

Please excuse me if I am asking the most obvious question ever posed to an experienced boater, but I am quite new to this world.

 

In November I bought my first narrowboat. It is a 23 year old 48 foot trad stern narrowboat manufactured by R&D. There were lots of small jobs to do to bring her up to speed including cleaning out 23 years of silt from the fresh water tank, scraping, prepping and repainting the inside of the tank....so that I actually had clear fresh water coming from my taps rather than rusty water.

 

I have noticed though that, because it is such a sizeable tank (built in under the bow deck) that does not need topping up for some weeks, the water coming from the taps has a strong musty smell that stays on your hands if you wash them.

 

Is there a way to keep the water fresh in the tank?

 

Just to add a little information, the tank is completely sealed. There is no breather point, just the cap for filling.

 

If anyone can help I would be very grateful.

 

Regards

 

Roy

[Bobbybass]

Dear all,

 

Please excuse me if I am asking the most obvious question ever posed to an experienced boater, but I am quite new to this world.

 

In November I bought my first narrowboat. It is a 23 year old 48 foot trad stern narrowboat manufactured by R&D. There were lots of small jobs to do to bring her up to speed including cleaning out 23 years of silt from the fresh water tank, scraping, prepping and repainting the inside of the tank....so that I actually had clear fresh water coming from my taps rather than rusty water.

 

I have noticed though that, because it is such a sizeable tank (built in under the bow deck) that does not need topping up for some weeks, the water coming from the taps has a strong musty smell that stays on your hands if you wash them.

 

Is there a way to keep the water fresh in the tank?

 

Just to add a little information, the tank is completely sealed. There is no breather point, just the cap for filling.

 

If anyone can help I would be very grateful.

 

Regards

 

Roy

You could....actually filter the water to remove the taste...otherwise I'm not sure you will ever completely get rid of the problem without a weekly drain and refill of the tank ?

 

I have the General Ecology filters on my system....and have added a separate little tap on the sink to dispense clean drinking water...

Its a bit costly though...

[saltysplash]

Just add a couple of tablespoon fulls of ordinary thin bleach every couple of months or so.

 

Dont use thick bleach.

[Higgs]

I think to keep your freshwater fresh it has to be used, and used up on a regular basis. It may mean not filling it to capacity. Also, the pipework could need a good flushing through. Could these be responsible?

 

My tank is situated in the bow locker. A couple of years ago I just blasted it through the filler until it came through clear. In ten years I haven't physically cleaned it. Looks ok, tastes ok. It does get used down to running-out levels and remains ok. Frequent use and filling helps.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Higgs

[NB Alnwick]

I think to keep your freshwater fresh it has to be used, and used up on a regular basis. It may mean not filling it to capacity. Also, the pipework could need a good flushing through. Could these be responsible?

 

My tank is situated in the bow locker. A couple of years ago I just blasted it through the filler until it came through clear. In ten years I haven't physically cleaned it. Looks ok, tastes ok. It does get used to running-out levels and remains ok. Frequent use and filling helps.

 

Absolutely - if the tank is in regular use and being frequently topped up then the mains water 'treatment' will be sufficient to keep your water fresh.

 

On the other hand, if left for weeks on end - especially during warm weather, it will need flushing out and treating to avoid unwanted bacterial or biological growth.

 

Specialised water treatments are available from chandlers. I would not recommend adding/using domestic bleach unless you are absolutely sure of the contents and the relevant safe dilution ratio.

Edited June 18, 2012 by NB Alnwick

[windy miller]

Just add a couple of tablespoon fulls of ordinary thin bleach every couple of months or so.

 

Dont use thick bleach.

 

Or to be a bit more precise - 20 parts per milliom (ppm) of chlorine effectively sterilises water without it tasting like a swimming baths.

 

Can't remember how I worked it out, but I put 36ml of thin bleach in 150 gallons when I refill the tank in spring. This seems to work, but the water around here is very soft and doesn't make decent tea or coffee, so we drink and brew with bottled water, and just use the tank water for washing.

[mrsmelly]

I think to keep your freshwater fresh it has to be used

 

 

Hi

 

This sentence says it all. We never get musty water and never treat it with anything.

 

Tim

[David Schweizer]

The water in your tank should not go musty if the tank is clean, we keep the tank on our boat about half full over the winter, without using the boat, and apart from one instance several years ago, the water has smelt and tasted fine in the spring. In fact, during my illness we did not use the boat for over a year, but the water was still fine when we stated using it again.

 

You say that you have cleaned out the tank, but have you cleaned the pipes? They are more likely to harbor smells than the tank, and is where our problem occured some years ago. To clean them, you need to fill them with a Milton solution and leave it in them for about an hour, and then flush them through with fresh water, you will be surprised to see how much gunk comes out!!

 

On our boat the pipe from the tank has a stop cock between it and the supply pipe, enabling it to be separated from the tank, if you have the same facility, the pipework can be filled from a couple of large buckets, if not I would suggest draining the system and partially re-filling the tank with a Milton solution and running this through the pipes until you can smell it at all outlets (do not forget the shower) leave it for about an hour and empty the tank again. refill with fresh water and run through the pipes until there is no bleachy smell.

 

You can use a small amount of thin bleach imstead of Milton, but I am not sure what the proportions should be, wheras these are given on the Milton bottle. One hint, Wilkinsons sell their own sterilizing fluid which is the same as Milton, but much cheaper.

Edited June 18, 2012 by David Schweizer

[Roy Batty]

Thank you everyone for imparting your knowledge. You have largely confirmed my many suspicions. I have dosed the almost empty water tank with Milton....and will now run through all of the taps including the shower, making sure that the hot water tank is purged too....and then I shall not fully fill my water tank so that it doesn't stay in there long enough to get musty.

 

Thank you for your advice. I am sure I will be back with more quieries soon.

 

Happy boating everyone!

 

Roy

[saltysplash]

I would not recommend adding/using domestic bleach unless you are absolutely sure of the contents and the relevant safe dilution ratio.

 

yep, dont use thick bleach. Thin and simple domestic bleach is what you want and I can recommend adding it, have added it to all my boats tanks over the years from fibreglass integral tanks on a yacht to integral steel tanks on inland boats and always used the boats tanks for drinking water.

[Naughty Cal]

We dont normally treat our water but we have done for the last few top ups as we have picked up water from a suspect source.

 

We just use water sterilising tablets that can be bought cheaply from any chandlers or caravan shop. We also use our water fairly quickly so have a high turn over of fresh water in the tank, which isnt huge.

[ditchcrawler]

yep, dont use thick bleach. Thin and simple domestic bleach is what you want and I can recommend adding it, have added it to all my boats tanks over the years from fibreglass integral tanks on a yacht to integral steel tanks on inland boats and always used the boats tanks for drinking water.

When I worked offshore we added Champions sterilising bleach. The reason for using that brand was that we had analysed it for choline content. The maximum we added was 1.25 pints to 40 tones of water and at that rate you could just taste it. What caused real problems was adding the bleach before bunkering water and the boat miscalculating how much water he had left and could only give you 10 tones, then you couldn't drink the water until you had another top up and flushed all the pipe work.

[Arthur Brown]

FILL the tank up then add an egg cup full of thin domestic bleach. This will sanitise the water and all the surface area of the tank and all the pipework. After this keep only a couple of weeks worth of water in the tank so that the chems remaining from sanitising the mains water will continue to hold the bugs at bay.

 

Use a swimming pool test kit if you need to quantify the free chlorine content. If it tastes, either use a filter (jug?) or boil the water for a minute.

[Roy Batty]

Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses.

 

The funny thing is that my water system was probably fine all of the time and not getting musty at all.

 

It was actually the smell of the milton tablets that I was mistaking for it being musty.

 

Now, I just keep on using the water and it stays fresh. I don't use milton at all now....and the water smells great....well, it doesn't smell....you know what I mean!

 

The moral of the story? Learn what Milton sterilising tablets smell like.

 

Happy boating everyone!

 

PS I have posted my next cry for help....I need clues on how to drain the water systems before putting in a modern twin coil calorifier on my narrowboat.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Roy Batty

[lee b]

army and naval stores sell water purifying tablets...might be worth adding a couple on every top up...you can take water from a river and drop these tablets in...you can buy them in packets but in the army they are put into 24 hour ration packs...the food in them was better than most of the shit they put on ya plate in the canteens lol

[Paul C]

Doesn't the tap water from canal side water points already contain chlorine?

[lee b]

tap water does contain chlorine but a pour glass and leave it over night next to ya bad,drink it the next morning and it tastes like crap,chlorine is a gas and once released from a tap/water supply and it reaches room temperature it disperses withing 24hrs leaving water to bacteria to take hold ...leave the glass of water for a few weeks and take a sip you will most likely be shitting through the eye of a needle...

[Catrin]

Roy, I'd love to think that you are really called 'Roy Batty'. OH says you are, on the analogy of 'Nora Batty', 'Walter Batty', etc. But I think not - tears in rain.

 

Oh, we disinfect with Milton fluid (very) occasionally, and use a filter system for the drinking water - from B & Q if I recall correctly.

[alan_fincher]

The moral of the story? Learn what Milton sterilising tablets smell like.

Does it take virtually a year to learn what Milton sterilising tablets smell like, or do you reckon it is possible to cut that down at all?

[Biggles]

You must have a breather somewhere. do a search and make sure this is not drawing in surface water. Not that I think this is you problem.

 

We had a taste when the tank was new so fitted a General Ecology filter system which we love as it makes great tea. A year in and the main tap tastes fine now but we still use the GE for drinking water as its so nice.

[Maggsy]

Please do not use domestic bleach thick or thin in your water supply, there are many alternative products widely available and are rigorously tested and passed for human consumption. the most obvious is Milton which if used in accordance to the manufacturer's instructions are perfectly safe why else would you be using it for babies bottles etc .

Domestic bleach products might use the same chemical components but they will certainly not be of a grade/ purity for use in the manner which you require, in addition do you know what other chemicals are added other than the sodium chloride/chlorine ? and what effect they will have on the water delivery system the pipes, joints, seals, pumps etc..

I work as a chef and the EHO advises us to avoid the use of "bleach" in any form as there are equally effective alternatives to use in a food preparation area. It is classed as a poison.

Please be safe rather than sorry