Horrible smell found, now how to keep it away.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by boatman61

LOL... you should try showering in motels in NY State... serious bad eggs... and the Pamlico area you can smell the bracken... with your tap water services its no wonder you folk only drink bottled water..

Depends on the cause of the smell. From public works water is an entirely different thing than a stagnant, enclosed water tank.

[sabray]

I think you shock it with chlorine and rinse as described. Then put treated water in and change it every 6 months or so. Unless you can ventilate and completely dry it. Keep it full of treated water. Use it once its good.
Some water has a heavy sulphur smell usually its well water and it has no treatment. So you add chlorine in small cap full. Still it needs to be used and or changed out on occasion.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by sabray

I think you shock it with chlorine and rinse as described. Then put treated water in and change it every 6 months or so. Unless you can ventilate and completely dry it. Keep it full of treated water. Use it once its good.
Some water has a heavy sulphur smell usually its well water and it has no treatment. So you add chlorine in small cap full. Still it needs to be used and or changed out on occasion.

Adelaide water has a lot of chlorine, so I am hopeful that changing the water regularly will help. Plus a SMALL quantity of bleach as suggested.

[Dulcesuenos]

One thing i will comment on is we have a tree farm/ acreage in Fl and one of our larger campers has a 50 gal water tank. We add a few cups of chlorine / bleach to it when it wont be used for a few months. Last year we had some horrible thick algae growth going on. I guess the chemicals either wear off or theres some bacteria it does not kill.

[DumnMad]

In the toilet smells threads they say don't use bleach because it damages various bits and pieces. I'm thinking this would only be the case if concentrated and left for a while. I suggest after using bleach the tank should be washed clean. Free chlorine doesn't last long so the disinfecting effect of bleach has a limited life

[Teknav]

The advice given about using bleach is a sound one. Just be careful of the amount used, as bleach will eventually corrode metals. Boatman's suggestions are on target; cap-full quantities of bleach are enough to retard most bacterial growth.

Mauritz

[Bohemian17]

What are the tanks made of? Are they foamed in place? My boat has keel tanks and I've had a terrible smell. Turned out that the fiam used to install the tanks was full of water . Worst smell ever .

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by GILow

Adelaide water has a lot of chlorine, so I am hopeful that changing the water regularly will help. Plus a SMALL quantity of bleach as suggested.

FWIW
Not sure if it has already been mentioned but Adelaide water also contains a fair amount of mineral salts.

[Bohemian17]

Originally Posted by Bohemian17

What are the tanks made of? Are they foamed in place? My boat has keel tanks and I've had a terrible smell. Turned out that the foam used to install the tanks was full of water . Worst smell ever .

Yikes

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by GILow

Adelaide water has a lot of chlorine, so I am hopeful that changing the water regularly will help. Plus a SMALL quantity of bleach as suggested.

You don't "shock" with a small amount of chlorine. You use more than appropriate, let it sit a couple of hours to a day, hopefully sloshing the boat around (I took mine out for a sail.

Then you drain it out and do it all again, five times.

Then you RINSE it a couple of times by using water with a small quantity of water.

It is hard to get chlorine into all the little (and I do mean little) nooks and crannies it has to get into. Shocking uses a lot more bleach than normal use of the water tank does.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

In the toilet smells threads they say don't use bleach because it damages various bits and pieces. I'm thinking this would only be the case if concentrated and left for a while. I suggest after using bleach the tank should be washed clean. Free chlorine doesn't last long so the disinfecting effect of bleach has a limited life

Yes. We were talking about a water tank. I would not use lots of chlorine in my head system.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

One thing i will comment on is we have a tree farm/ acreage in Fl and one of our larger campers has a 50 gal water tank. We add a few cups of chlorine / bleach to it when it wont be used for a few months. Last year we had some horrible thick algae growth going on. I guess the chemicals either wear off or theres some bacteria it does not kill.

Chlorine is "volatile" -- it evaporates rather rapidly out of the water. That's why the tank needs to be shocked repeatedly. It can all be gone before it's gotten to where the little critters/plants can hide. That's also why I recommend taking the boat out and tossing it around a bit -- to get that water into all the nooks and crannies possible before the chlorine has escaped the water.

[zeehag]

i find vinegar works best in mine, but then i reside on board full time, so there is no runaway odor problem....and it only has to be used one time to experience good results ... and there are many things chlorine doesnt kill....it will turn em white so you think it is killed, tho....

[tamicatana]

I had to shock-treat my water tank, and when I ran the water out vis the taps, the taps clogged with algae (or whatever).

So if, when you clean, the faucets get clogged, take them apart and clean the screens. Or, more intelligently than I, just take the faucet screens out before running the shocked water out

[Khagan1227]

Originally Posted by boatman61

LOL... you should try showering in motels in NY State... serious bad eggs... and the Pamlico area you can smell the bracken... with your tap water services its no wonder you folk only drink bottled water..

New York is a BIG state Phil, I can guarantee many of the towns and villages upstate have very good (and pure) water with no "rotten egg" smell or taste.