Cleaning,Sanitizing water tank

[rwappleton]

What is the best way to do clean and sanitize the water tank?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Fill with water and add chlorine bleach. Let it sit, then pump out and refill with fresh.

 

[Jasper]

Just a "by the way" comment. Hope you don't mind, I am not being a know all.

For many years I only use a "drinking quality hose type" from the water tap at the mooring to refill my water tanks in the boat.
I mention this because many of my boating friends were surprised to see this and now they realise that much of the bad taste and poor water quality of the water from their boats was due to using the garden hose or whatever hose was lying on the wharf to refill the water tanks.
Makes an ENORMOUS difference to the quality and length of time you can store water on your boat.
Just my 2 c.
Cheers,
Jasper

 

[bobk]

I like to avoid high concentrations of chlorine if it will contact rubber and plastics like the pump. My preference is to add a box of baking soda for each 50 gallons of water. You have to pre-dissolve it in hot water and add it as the tank is filled. Then let is sit a few days and pump it out. This has worked for me for almost 50 years now and we always drink the water.

Bobk

 

[drburke]

(I pay careful attention to what BobK says since he is the resident chemist.)

In my case, my boat came up from Mexico so I knew that I had "Montezuma's revenge" in the tanks. For each 94 gal. tank I added a half gallon of bleach to "shock" it, and only used it for showering. After three treatments, I began drinking it.

Yesterday, by coincidence, a marina neighbor showed me one of these, which I think I will put inline from my already food-grade hose:
http://www.amazon.com/Camco-40043-TastePURE-Flexible-Protector/dp/B0006IX87S

Here are some guidelines for how much bleach:
http://www.sanidumps.com/sanitizervfreshwatersystem.php

Finally, I will take Bob's advice to heart and will minimize harsh chemicals going forward.

DAN

 

[MikeP]

I do pretty much the same thing when I de-winterize - I add a cup of Clorox when I fill the tank (tank is emptied for winterizing). I do that again for the second tank. I don't add any more for the rest of the season. I use tank water 99% of the time. The only time shore is hooked up is if I get to the boat late at night when I arrive for the season and it's too much hassle to mess with filling the tank/priming the pump, etc until the next day.

I have never used a food grade hose…heck we all drank out of the garden hose when I was a kid… But it's undoubtedly a good idea. (the food grade hose, not the garden hose)

 

[Artzco]

I like to avoid high concentrations of chlorine if it will contact rubber and plastics like the pump. My preference is to add a box of baking soda for each 50 gallons of water. You have to pre-dissolve it in hot water and add it as the tank is filled. Then let is sit a few days and pump it out. This has worked for me for almost 50 years now and we always drink the water.

Bobk

I agree on the soda. I've used it for every boat over the years and always had fresh smelling and tasting water.

 

[Ted Smith]

We only drink bottled water on board unless we're attached to shore water. Tank water is for washing etc.