Aluminum Water Tanks / Health Concerns ?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Therapy

... I guess I am not going to win and get out alive. :

No One Here Gets Out Alive: Amazon.ca: Jerry Hopkins, Daniel Sugerman: Books

[JiffyLube]

Originally Posted by anjou

Just because we are surrounded by aluminium, doesnt mean its ok to go on exposing ourselves to it. Strong links to alhzimers from ali, and spray on deodorants, carbonated drinks cans and kitchen utensils are a big worry

To say there is an absense of evidence isnt evidence of absence

No matter how well we try to protect ourselves, we're going to be exposed to something. Our fate from birth is to die, so I think it's more important to enjoy life as much as we can before that fateful day.

[Solstice]

We've lived on our boat with aluminum tanks for five years and are healthy. For the first 4.5 years, we drank the tank water exclusively. Since our summer in the Med we've started buying bottled water because the flavors from the various marinas and tank flavors combined to be too much.

Do watch out for chlorinated water, though. Our previous boat also had aluminum tanks and had problems with aluminum salt build-up. A nice epoxy coating on the inside of the tanks sounds like a good idea.

[Sonrisa]

I'm all for living fast and dying young, but to be honest I don't get that much of a thrill from drinking the tank water

So there's not much definitive evidence one way or the other I guess? It's more of a concern lately as my wife is pregnant, and we drink almost exclusively from our tanks.

I guess the lack of literature out there at least implies that the situation isn't deadly. Is there a service that will analyze your water to let you know what's in there at least?

Originally Posted by Saucy Sailoress

This one is from a medical journal: THE PREJUDICE AGAINST ALUMINIUM COOKING UTENSILS

Ahhh. Good. Now I feel safe again!

That article is from 1933!

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by Sonrisa

I'm all for living fast and dying young, but to be honest I don't get that much of a thrill from drinking the tank water

So there's not much definitive evidence one way or the other I guess? It's more of a concern lately as my wife is pregnant, and we drink almost exclusively from our tanks.

I guess the lack of literature out there at least implies that the situation isn't deadly. Is there a service that will analyze your water to let you know what's in there at least?



That article is from 1933!

On the contrary, the evidence is there for seeing every time you open up the filter(s) on a chlorine treated aluminum water tank. Considering that some of the salts are also soluble as are numerous other chlorinated hydrocarbon byproducts of improper water tank chlorination, some of which are carcinogens, you have all the arguments you would ever need to stop drinking it. Deadly probably not but chronic exposure prenatal is a whole other set of considerations you'd be unwise to ignore. Please tell your wife to stop drinking this stuff!

Testing is widely available in the U.S. as well as most other parts of the world but the real question is how extensive and what detection levels the lab is capable of reporting. Simple turbidity (solids) testing is cheap and essentially worthless as a basis for any health determination. What you want (and need as a minimum) is far more extensive VOC, PAH and heavy metals testing to drinking water standards. Not cheap but if you insist on drinking tank water, how you value your unborn child's health is more important than any single expense.

[Sonrisa]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

On the contrary, the evidence is there for seeing every time you open up the filter(s) on a chlorine treated aluminum water tank. Considering that some of the salts are also soluble as are numerous other chlorinated hydrocarbon byproducts of improper water tank chlorination, some of which are carcinogens, you have all the arguments you would ever need to stop drinking it.

We don't chlorinate our tanks. Is Death still stalking me?

What about the alternatives? Is plastic better than aluminum for health concerns? Stainless steel? Unobtainium? I can't find any information comparing the options.

[S/V Illusion]

Not sure what it is specifically you want in a comparison - leachate from the metal or plastic/glass? reactivity? etc...? It depends also on what contaminants are already in the water with which to react so any comparison(s) you might find would be highly dependent on the water quality, dose rate, exposure rate, etc..

If you want to measure safety in terms of "dead" and ignore chronic exposure effects, that's one measure but you might also consider how your soon to be born child is in 20 years.

[marc2012]

Well after reading this sounds like canned beer ok.marc

[daddle]

Canned beer is a major source of aluminum.

I would think the safest tank material is food-grade polyethylene. It does not react with anything. Easy to clean. No rust. Next to that would be food-grade stainless steel. The food-grade spec is important. Materials can contain heavy metals, nasty organic chemicals, etc.

A far bigger health concern than aluminum are the brass and bronze fittings folks like to use. They are largely unacceptable for water systems because of their heavy metal content.

[JiffyLube]

Originally Posted by daddle

Canned beer is a major source of aluminum.

I would think the safest tank material is food-grade polyethylene. It does not react with anything. Easy to clean. No rust. Next to that would be food-grade stainless steel. The food-grade spec is important. Materials can contain heavy metals, nasty organic chemicals, etc.

A far bigger health concern than aluminum are the brass and bronze fittings folks like to use. They are largely unacceptable for water systems because of their heavy metal content.

It's interesting that the FDA or other government offices in the states has never suggested a ban on the use of Aluminum containers used for liguids or food to be consumed...at least none that I've read or heard about.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by JiffyLube

It's interesting that the FDA or other government offices in the states has never suggested a ban on the use of Aluminum containers used for liguids or food to be consumed...at least none that I've read or heard about.

Probably because there is nothing inherently dangerous about aluminum containers as long as we don't disinfect our beer with bleach.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by daddle

Canned beer is a major source of aluminum.

.

I'm screwed.

[sailvayu]

Aluminum oxidizes on the surface creating a protective film. The amount of aluminum you would get from drinking water in a aluminum tank is almost non existent. Plastics leach chemicals into the water. Stainless is ok but the welds tend to be problematic. I think we over analyze these things too much thousands of boats out there have tanks of all materials, they all have pluses and minuses. Go with what fits your budget and and is readily available and spend the the time you would have worrying, sailing!

Fair Winds

[atmarine]

Has anyone had much long term experence with marine ply and epoxy tanks coated with a food greade epoxy? The food grade epoxy I looked at was Bar-rust, and also NSP120. Both are NSF approved for potabel water usage. The kicker is that they were approved for 1000 gallon tanks. Our smaller tanks will have much more surface contact to volume ratio. Is this any concern? Combined with a General Ecology filter I suspect that it shouldn't be a problem. I spoke with tech support as system three, and MASS and both said that their product was not certified for potable water use, but both said that they would use it for potable water use. They said that after fully curring after a week or so that the solid plastic that epoxy forms is inert. West System reccomended double mixing is 2 seperate pots with 2 seperate mixers to FULLY mix epoxy used in potabe water applications. Any takers?

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