Funny Tasting Water

[clbrof]

The water from the water tank has a funny taste recently. I don't drink it, but do brush teeth and wash veg with it. Any ideas ?

 

 

Maybe tank needs reblacking ?

[Tonka]

where did you fill up

[clbrof]

In packetboat marina....

[JDR]

Check the tank to see if there is a large amount of surface rust if an integral tank. If there does appear to be a lot of rust it will look worse than it is, you are then looking at cleaning tank then either blacking or coating with Vactan. Alternatively you might be lucky and get away with bunging some Milton sterilising liquid in the tank and flushing it through a couple of times to clean all pipework.

[DHutch]

.... you might be lucky and get away with bunging some Milton sterilising liquid in the tank and flushing it through a couple of times to clean all pipework.

 

This... or you have taken on some water from somewhere thats got a different taste.

 

 

What tastes funny about it it, even if the tank is in need of painting (from which I assume you have an integral tank, not a plastic or s steel one?) I wouldn't really expect it to suddenly taste different?

 

Another option for integral tanks is a liner, although you need to dry it and painting before fitting one really.

 

 

 

Daniel

[clbrof]

Thanks for replies. Water tastes fine straight from the tap on the post in marina, but still taste sickening from tank in boat. Chemically/metallic taste.

 

Opened the lid just now. Old blacking is basically all peeled off and looks generally rusty in there. Few bits of crud sitting on bottom. Going to get some potable blacking and re paint in there.

 

Do i need to use vactan before blacking or can i just scrape it and wire brush it then black?

[clbrof]

I have fertan already is that okay to use before blacking (is it safe to use in water tank?)

[MikeV]

I can't see anything on the Fertan web site that says it is suitable for potable water tanks. Vactan is certified safe for potable use.

 

Using Vactan will probably prolong the life of the blacking or, as some have done, you could just use Vactan on its own.

 

The worst part of the job is getting as much of the rust off as possible. It's a really dirty, dusty job!!

[clbrof]

Fertan is apparently non-toxic, harmless and non-irritating for humans. Called a marina to ask for vactan, but they said they use fertan?

 

The only irritation is the strong smell. But after a day or two this disappears. So ill probably give it a try. Will be blacking over it with potable blacking.

 

Still scraping! taken me nearly 4 hours!

[JDR]

I personally would be reluctant to use Fertan in a water tank for a few reasons: while it is a very effective rust converter and based on tannic acid like Vactan it creates a residue after it cures which needs to be scrubbed off creating more work and secondly try smelling Vactan next to Fertan. Vactan has no smell, Fertan smells like something the German army put in shells in WW1. Your boat, your choice. Good luck whatever you choose it is certainly not a fun job.

[Ianmc]

I'm just about to clean out my water tank and re paint,I had tank blacking on before,but this time I'm  going to use vactan for the first time, and not but any tank black on,I'm just going wire brush any flaky paint from before and coat it in vactan.

[Lily Rose]

That's exactly what I did just over a year ago. It was a lot easier than when I blacked it. So far so good.

[blackrose]

If you're only using Vactan with no blacking over the top it makes for an easier job and it will also be easier to prep and recoat next time. However, don't expect a water based coating to last very long in a water tank.

[Arthur Marshall]

After blacking, leave the tank open and empty if you can for a week or so to let the worst of the smell go. And the water will taste odd for quite a while after - I used a water carrier for months. Fine for teeth and washing up though .

[Ianmc]

2 hours ago, blackrose said:

If you're only using Vactan with no blacking over the top it makes for an easier job and it will also be easier to prep and recoat next time. However, don't expect a water based coating to last very long in a water tank.

Could I paint tank black on top of vactan? 

[Lily Rose]

1 hour ago, Ianmc said:

Could I paint tank black on top of vactan? 

 

That's exactly what I did 5 or 6 years ago.

 

Last year I decided enough rust patches were appearing (albeit nothing like as bad as it was before I did it) to make it worth doing something. I didn't fancy blacking it again so I just used Vactan. I don't expect it will last as long but it was much easier and more than a year on nothing seems to be amiss yet.

[Ianmc]

Have you only used vactan then,I've seen other comments that people have only used vactan so must be OK.

[Lily Rose]

To clarify, the first time was 5 or 6 years ago (and about 2 or 3 years after I bought what was then a 15 year old boat) I used Vactan followed by two coats of Black Jack blacking.

 

Last year I lightly sanded the rust patches that had appeared and gave it two coats of Vactan all over. The 2nd coat was probably of little benefit other than catching any areas I might have missed with the first coat. After leaving it a couple of days to dry and cure I rinsed the tank out before re-filling and using it again. I did not use blacking this time so it was much easier.

 

We carry fresh water separately for drinking and cooking. We would use tank water, as I'm sure it's fine, if we ran out of fresh but it hasn't happened yet.

[Ianmc]

I've just prepared my tank by sanding old bitumen as was flaky,just ordered vactan and a tin of  watertank black as my neighbour has recommended I re black to be safe than sorry.