Drinking Rainwater with Tiny Bugs Swimming in It

[a64pilot]

Sparrowhawk,
Where did you get your filters? I assume you bought two, and used two different filters, one sediment, the other activated charcoal?

[sabray]

What kind of bug. If they are the right bug and enough then it's a meal. If only a few then it's soup.



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[sparrowhawk1]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Sparrowhawk,
Where did you get your filters? I assume you bought two, and used two different filters, one sediment, the other activated charcoal?

I got the cheap charcoal one off of Amazon and the .05 either Home Depot or Lowes or some other hardware store. The water goes through the charcoal filter first which is 5 micron.price was 2 for $10. The .05 was around $50. These are standard filters. that's the beauty you can buy them anywhere. If I was filtering water out of a cistern I would have a sediment filter first. three in total. For years I only used the .05 micron filter and it would last about a year. just recently added the cheap pre filter not really sure if it's necessary but in the long run it will save me money

[Seaworthy Lass]

Funnily enough I was reading this thread when an email from a friend in Oz came through.

"I went out early by myself to clean out the Tank. I had looked into it a few days earlier and discovered about 10 dead starlings on the bottom. "

No filter. They breed us tough here .

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Jim,
Can bacteria be filtered? I assume most chemicals are not really filtered, but absorbed by activated charcoal?

Yes, a pore size of .05 (or even 0.5) micron will remove all or nearly all bacteria. Apparently at 0.5 some long slender bacteria can wiggle through, but they are the exception. Most virus will get through, though.

I'm a bit unsure about the removal of dissolved metal salts. The pore size is too big for mechanical filtration at the molecular level, and charcoal is not good at adsorbing those dissolved salts, so I don't know how that works (if it really does). Perhaps the metal salts are attached to larger particulates... I dunno. Reverse osmosis, of course, can and does remove salt molecules. I'd be interested in a citation relative to the filtration of 99.99 % of lead, etc. Mfg's claims are always a little bit suspect to me!

A caveat: I'm no expert, and willing to learn.

Cheers,

Jim

[forsailbyowner]

Ive cleaned the bottom of my boat in wide variety of water qualities. Bet I ate some not so small bugs over the years. So are the antiseptic, micro filtration crowd worried when they swim about getting water in their mouth?

[sparrowhawk1]

I'm suspect of manufacturers claims too. Just did a Google search 0.05 micron filters and the first one listed removes 98.6% of lead 99 .2 percent of mercury. I know my filter said 99.9 something % of pretty much everything heheh

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by forsailbyowner

Ive cleaned the bottom of my boat in wide variety of water qualities. Bet I ate some not so small bugs over the years. So are the antiseptic, micro filtration crowd worried when they swim about getting water in their mouth?

My concern stems from having aluminum tanks, Chlorine I believe is a slow but sure death for aluminum tanks, so I think I should slowly fill the tank through an activated charcoal filter to try to remove what chlorine I can and of course not treat the tanks with chlorine, so that leaves how do I disinfect the tank and how do I go about ensuring if we drink the water from the tank, how to not get sick?
Hydrogen Peroxide has been suggested, but how much and how often? And is that even an option really?
Military water purification tablets are iodine for some reason and not calcium hypochlorite like I would have thought, but surely I don't want to put iodine in my water, and even if that's the answer, how much?
SO I got to thinking maybe if you really can filter out bacteria and even viruses, maybe filtration is a better answer than disenfection?

[a64pilot]

I think aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer's and if that is true, maybe not drinking aluminum salts is a good thing?

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I think aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer's and if that is true, maybe not drinking aluminum salts is a good thing?

The aluminum to Alzheimer's connection is a correlation, not a causation deal. Aluminum salts have been found in the brain plaque of some Alzheimer's patients, but exactly how it got there and why and what effects it has, not so clear.

I don't know how accessible your tanks are, A64pilot, but FWIW, I have read of people circumventing the problem by installing polyethylene tanks after removing the tops, mostly, though, of iron tanks.

Something else i don't know (let me count them!) is whether iodine based water purification tablets would have the same downside as something with chlorine in it???

There are a couple of chemists on CF. Input, guys? And thanks.

Ann

[svmariane]

Originally Posted by Sailor g

+2 on water filter. We used the Water Fixer (paper and UV filter and UV light) the entire time we cruised Mexico. Never a problem. We used it also when we got back to LA without UV to get nasty taste out!! LOL.

Agreed. We also have a Water Fixer aboard. Used it the times we loaded dock water in California and Mexico; now, we always use it for rainwater we catch in the spare dinghy. {Walker Bay 8}

But okay! I get the point about no problem with drinking rainwater collected at a house ashore, or from the stream out back of the house. Why not? Hasn't hurt the person. I also grew up with tap water straight from the reservoir.

But... We move around the oceans on our sailboat, and the problem as I see it is that our rainwater comes from who-knows-where bearing who-knows-what. We won't chance it. Even on this otherwise delightful isle they burn diesel in their huge electric generators. When the wind eases the deck gets a light coating of - stuff. Bleah.

And, BTW, restaurants here sell little water bottles imported from Fiji. Roughly one quarter of the populace live in Boil Water zones since they've polluted the place.

So aboard Mariane: Double filter, paper/charcoal, and an UV light to kill the little micro-critters. Works for us.


Ultraviolet Water Filters And Purifiers Model 1000

[a64pilot]

Apparently the tanks are a real bear to get out, when that day comes I'm hoping to replace them with tanks made from 316 SS and be done with it

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Apparently the tanks are a real bear to get out, when that day comes I'm hoping to replace them with tanks made from 316 SS and be done with it

Yikes - I would go with polypropylene (black to keep all light out for algal growth), and I'm the biggest fan of metal possible...

316 CAN do OK, but it's a real lottery, especially with standing water (either in the tank or in the bilge, the latter generally being rather conductive), where the oxygen comes out of solution over time and stops protecting some areas which are then attacked by adjacent material within the same piece.

It's also difficult to get well made tanks. Most welders, even very good ones, have little if any knowledge of the quirks and pitfalls of SS watertanks in boats over the long term. Joint design, baffle design, takeoffs, mounting, access....

It's all (as I say) quite a gamble.

[JPA Cate]

^^^^
Once had s/s tanks welded up to our design, in our first boat, they were without pinholes after 13 yrs., and as far as I know know, after 17 yrs. The water always tasted good. At the time, having them made was reasonable, $ wise.

A64pilot, if your whole boat is aluminum, I'd worry about how you would insulate the al from the s/s, because of dissimilar metals electrolysis problems.



Ann

[J Clark H356]

Look into SafeH2O systems . I put one just after the water tank and before the distribution manifold and our entire boat water goes through our system. Unit is rated at 3GPM and boat Pump is 2.8 GPM. It is two inline filters and UV. We don't worry at all about our water source and have no problems at all cooking, drinking etc. unit cost $228 dollars and is 12v powered off our water pump circuit. Annual replacement parts including new UV filer around $50.

http://www.safh2ouv.com