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Old 26-01-2021, 12:11   #1
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Silver in the water tank?

We use water from the water tank on the boat for cooking and making coffee or tea. My wife refuses to use chlorine to prevent water from spoiling. So we decided use silver( heard it from our grandparents). Before last trip as usual I filled up the tank( 20 gl.) from water hose at marina and dropped in small roll of silver wire.
The trip before( without any treatment) it took about one week before water started to smell. This time it was different.
After approximately same 1 week in the morning we would smell bad water initially coming out of the faucet but after we drained a couple glasses of water it would not smell at all. So our theory behind is that since silver is in the tank and not in the tubes, water still may rot in the tubes.
We exhausted 20 gallons in two weeks and after one week it was same story every morning - first bad water( still can be used if boiled) then good water.

Any thoughts?
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Old 26-01-2021, 12:30   #2
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

https://www.silverinstitute.org/silv...s%20and%20odor.

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation...r-02032018.pdf

Just do a Google search. There are millions of articles discussing this concept.
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Old 26-01-2021, 14:08   #3
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shrew View Post
Yes, there are.
Let me rephrase then, did anyone try it before?
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Old 26-01-2021, 14:40   #4
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

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Originally Posted by facciatosta View Post
Yes, there are.
Let me rephrase then, did anyone try it before?
I haven’t but this guy took it to the next level lol
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.nyda...outputType=amp
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Old 26-01-2021, 15:13   #5
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

The only way I got silver ions into the tank was with Katadyn MicroPur liquid - this seemed to work but not easily available and is expensive.


We ended up with putting basic bleach in the tanks, flushing through all the faucets. Wait a couple of hours then flush again, clean the gunge out of the tap nozzle screens, and then good to go. We installed an in-line charcoal carbon filter in the galley water line, this gets rid of any residual chlorine, can get 0.5micron and this catches almost everything, but does restrict flow.
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Old 26-01-2021, 15:23   #6
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

Not quite the same, as i don't drink the water, but I switched from a chlorine based sanitization of my hot tub 4 years ago to one that relies on these silver ion cartridges and an ozonator. I've never had any algae, or other growth since making the change. So while I can say that it absolutely keeps growth out of the water, I can't speak to the health effects of ingesting it.
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Old 26-01-2021, 17:20   #7
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

Well, this is a subject which I can shed some light. Over 2 decades ago I helped students at a well-known university start a chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Our main interest was local water treatment for developing countries where a water system approach was not appropriate. One of the methods we tested was colloidal silver. Others were chlorine, solar, and simple filtration. Colloidal silver is an excellent treatment and provides even better residual treatment of the water as it is never actually destroyed in the process, where chlorine will deteriorate. Be careful to use colloidal silver and not some dissolved silver salt, such as silver nitrate. The nitrate is harmful to infant and enough will even turn an adult a pale blue.

It takes about 1 oz (30 ml) of 36 ppm colloidal silver to treat 158 gal (600 l) of water, but as stated above it will keep the water sweet for an extended period where chlorine will not. The down-side is likely the expense of the colloidal silver. I have not researched it recently but it was always much more than chlorine.

In nearly 30 months in sub-Saharan Africa over 8 years I used colloidal silver exclusively for drinking water with no problems. Much of that water looked pretty bad even after filtering through a t-shirt. It was interesting that locals did not accept colloidal silver because they could not see that anything had been done to the water. We ended up mostly using clay filter pots coated on the inside with colloidal silver. They liked the physical process of filtering.

After all that I might point out that I use chlorine - either from the dock water or I add it if making water or acquiring non-chlorinated water. For drinking and cooking on the boat I run the water through a series of filters under the sink to remover particles, remove chlorine with a carbon filter and further treat with a UV light. Much cheaper than buying colloidal silver. Hope this helped.
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Old 26-01-2021, 17:30   #8
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

Use chlorine to keep the tanks and lines clean and use decent charcoal filter to remove all taste of chlorine.
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Old 26-01-2021, 17:38   #9
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

The story I heard was that people would put a silver coin in the milk and it wouldn’t sour.

Our water doesn’t rot... even when months old, it’s just fine. I think it is getting contaminated from something in your tank.

It must have been 10 years ago that I sterilized our tanks with chlorine. Consumption water gets filter by an NSF rated carbon block filter. We like to put it in stainless steel CleanKanteen bottles in the fridge and it’s the best tasting water I had.
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Old 26-01-2021, 19:22   #10
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

I'm no expert, but seems to me that you could have some bad stuff growing in the pipes &/or water heater..... perhaps the water in the tank is ok, but a little bacteria hung up in an elbow or other fitting, scratch, or whatever...when allowed time to fester with stagnate water overnight is giving you the problem.
Maybe it's not happening in the first week because there could be enough chlorine residual in the water you use to fill the tank to keep things in check for a few days

If it were me, I'd sanitize the whole system with a strong chlorine shock, letting it sit in all the lines for a time.... and plan on repeating this once in a while..... maybe once a season...maybe a bit more. (depending on the water you fill with)

Look into chlorine dioxide if you don't want to use regular bleach (sodium hypochlorite). Chlorine dioxide can be a little less offensive and if memory serves its more affective. Just for reference Aquamira is a brand folks use for backpacking. (small scale)

Just to illustrate that there are lots of other options....I have no experience with it, but camco makes a non bleach product for the purpose too....
Spring Fresh

Steramine is another product that would probably work well....
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Old 27-01-2021, 03:39   #11
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

As for the filters, there is very little space on the boat. I need to do research about the sizes and mounting options.
Probably the best option for now is to flush the system with chlorine before the voyage. It should be enough. 20 gallons are not going to last more than 2.5 weeks anyway.
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Old 27-01-2021, 06:04   #12
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

Quote:
Originally Posted by skipmac View Post
Use chlorine to keep the tanks and lines clean and use decent charcoal filter to remove all taste of chlorine.
This ^^^^^^


Safest and most cost-effective way to sanitize water. And a good charcoal filter really will remove ALL of the chlorine smell and taste.
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Old 27-01-2021, 07:24   #13
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

Both silver and copper kills bacteria. Use copper tub to sink may be a consideration. As a note the COVID 19 virus explodes when it lands on copper or silver.

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Old 27-01-2021, 08:14   #14
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

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Originally Posted by psjanker View Post
Both silver and copper kills bacteria. Use copper tub to sink may be a consideration. As a note the COVID 19 virus explodes when it lands on copper or silver.

V/r

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Wouldn’t that ruin the galley?
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Old 27-01-2021, 09:42   #15
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Re: Silver in the water tank?

Quote:
Originally Posted by wefleenor View Post
Well, this is a subject which I can shed some light. Over 2 decades ago I helped students at a well-known university start a chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Our main interest was local water treatment for developing countries where a water system approach was not appropriate. One of the methods we tested was colloidal silver. Others were chlorine, solar, and simple filtration. Colloidal silver is an excellent treatment and provides even better residual treatment of the water as it is never actually destroyed in the process, where chlorine will deteriorate. Be careful to use colloidal silver and not some dissolved silver salt, such as silver nitrate. The nitrate is harmful to infant and enough will even turn an adult a pale blue.

It takes about 1 oz (30 ml) of 36 ppm colloidal silver to treat 158 gal (600 l) of water, but as stated above it will keep the water sweet for an extended period where chlorine will not. The down-side is likely the expense of the colloidal silver. I have not researched it recently but it was always much more than chlorine.

In nearly 30 months in sub-Saharan Africa over 8 years I used colloidal silver exclusively for drinking water with no problems. Much of that water looked pretty bad even after filtering through a t-shirt. It was interesting that locals did not accept colloidal silver because they could not see that anything had been done to the water. We ended up mostly using clay filter pots coated on the inside with colloidal silver. They liked the physical process of filtering.

After all that I might point out that I use chlorine - either from the dock water or I add it if making water or acquiring non-chlorinated water. For drinking and cooking on the boat I run the water through a series of filters under the sink to remover particles, remove chlorine with a carbon filter and further treat with a UV light. Much cheaper than buying colloidal silver. Hope this helped.
I agree here. I've made colloidal silver in the past for personal use and can imagine it would work well in a boat's water tank, but it might be challenging (and expensive) to generate or purchase the amount needed.
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