Bacterial Water Filtration Necessary?

[peterroach]

One last thought - In the Bahamas water was $0.25 per gallon! This was Jan 2009 in the Abacos. I am sure the farther down you go the higher it gets. If possible you should really try to catch rain water. That is a whole other subject but you can't beat falling out of the sky. Also, there is something that appeals to cruiser when you get something for free.

[Hud3]

Don't use chlorine as a disinfectant if you have aluminum water tanks. The chlorine and the aluminum get together and conspire to clog up your pressure pump filter screens and tap diffusers.

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by Hud3

Don't use chlorine as a disinfectant if you have aluminum water tanks. The chlorine and the aluminum get together and conspire to clog up your pressure pump filter screens and tap diffusers.

Agree 100%. I ruined a brand new aluminum hot water tank in my camper by using chlorine to disinfect. Got pin holes after the first season.

I have three water tanks in my boat, two of which are aluminum. Having already learned the hard way, I did my research and discovered that food grade hydrogen peroxide is perfectly safe with aluminum (can even be stored in it). It works very well as a disinfectant. It's much more expensive than chlorine, but cheaper than custom aluminum tanks.

It can be dangerous to handle if you don't know what you are doing. Use eye protection until you get it diluted.

FWIW.

[Québec 1]

Is there a filter or something made for a non pressurized water system?

I have a non pressurized water system. It's the standard collapsible 5 gallon container from WM and the standard pump it by hand at the sink set up. I get my water from the hose at the marina. I had bad water last summer(some kind of bacteria I think, as it gave me that itchy feeling down below!)

What can I do to assure water safety in these conditions?
Q1

[clausont]

Hopefully this is not too far off topic. I used to work in a municipal water department and this is one article that we would point out to customers who asked if our water was "clean and safe". Very interesting.

[camaraderie]

Quebec...an easy solution would be one of the Brita filter pitchers.

[Labatt]

Alright... I was all set to use Clorox (we bought a bottle) until Hud mentioned the aluminum issue. Does it make sense to have stainless tanks? Or if they are metal, they are most likely aluminum? What's the best way to tell - I'm still not good at identifying metals. If they are indeed aluminum, will the Hydrogen Peroxide work as well as a chlorine bleach? Btw, the boat is a 1984 Passport 40 - the tanks are original, and have been re-welded numerous times (which is why I'm guessing they are stainless).

Chris
s/v/ Pelican
www.svpelican.com

[Hud3]

Chris,

The aluminum is a dull gray, the stainless would be shiny like the hardware on deck.

I've used concentrated hydrogen peroxide in my aluminum tanks, and it works well to keep the water fresh. Don't put too much in, unless you want the Admiral to come out of the shower a blonde!

[Sahara]

Late to the party, but I can give another testimonial for the Seagull IV water filter. My wife absolutely loves it.

[hellosailor]

Chris, if you look at some aluminum versus stainless on stuff you have around, there's usually a difference in the look and feel of the two. If you're not sure...I suppose you could put some wet salt on top of the tank, keep it damp and let it sit overnight. Most aluminum alloys will quickly pit in salt water, stainless won't. If you find pits...it was aluminum. If a magnet is attracted to it--the tank is stainless. Many, not all, stainless alloys have some slight magnetic property.

[Labatt]

Yep... it's stainless. We bought a whole house charcoal filter from Home Depot the other day and we're going to use bleach in our tanks. The filter inserts are like $15 each and the filter was fairly cheap too. We'll add the bleach to the tanks (and our jerrycans - is that a bad idea since they're plastic?) and then I can both drink the water and wash my whites

[Cormorant]

Something I use for sanitizing my homebrew equipment is "Star San," which is a very fast-acting antimicrobial. Homebrewers say it's okay to leave the film on -- no rinse needed. It can be drunk with no ill effect. (I wouldn't advise drinking it at 300 ppm, the cleaning concentration -- but a far lower concentration might be a good maintenance dose for a water system.)

Last summer I rinsed our boat's water bladders with Star San and left a little foamy film of it in there before filling them. The water stayed fresher-tasting longer than usual. For what it's worth. . . . Just another thing to check out and possibly experiment with.

http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/tech/starsan.pdf

You can buy it at any homebrew supply store or website.

[Lady Circumnavi]

So much depends on your deck set up, but can you catch rainwater on deck? This is a safe and mostly reliable option if you let the rain wash the salt off, plugs the deck drains and then open your intake drain. We had a 3 inch teak toerail which allowed for a substantial amount of rainwater to accumulate. We could fill our tank in a few minutes.There are also simple awning setups that can be rigged quickly when it starts to rain. This can be the safest option in Mexico, Galapagos or other places where amoebic dysentary is endemic.

Once in a desparate no-rain situation in the Tuomotus, I fished a dead rat out of the village's cistern, jerry canned water to the boat and chlorinated the heck out of it. Small hand pump filters are readily available today to backpackers that filter out giardia and other tiny critters. There's no reason not to have a variety of options on board. Water is life.