Drinking Water from watertanks

[tobo]

As we get our new Hanse 508 by the end of this year we are thinking of the use of the water tanks for drinking purposes as we are really tired of hauling aboard these masses of PET bottles every week. Reading an article in the German Yacht recently I was impressed by the UV-system "Double Blue" of Instant Trust Marine (InstantTrust Marine - Always clean drinking water on board) . Does anybody have experiences in this field?

[Paradoxus]

I use a standard Seagull IV filter combined with a Acuva Tech UV purifier for drinking water out of the tanks, which has gone through a regular filter at the tap also. Good taste and no issues to date.

[sailorboy1]

I just use a carbon filter at the sink and just ........................... drink the water. If I feel the water is "old" I add a little bleach and let the carbon filter take it out.

[Dockhead]

I've been drinking boat tank water since practically since I was born, and not dead yet.


Last 10 years with a Seagull IV filter.


Humping bottled water to a boat is just nuts in my view. Wouldn't ever do it, personally.

[PLANET EXPRESS]

+1 carbon filter at sink the kind you can get anywhere cheep.

[Lepke]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I've been drinking boat tank water since practically since I was born, and not dead yet.

Me, too. Close to 60 years. But have a UV light after the membranes and filter before galley sink on current boat.

[S/V Illusion]

Reminds me of the people who smoke cigarettes with that cute little filter on the end - “so far, so good”.

[sailorchic34]

Here I am 15 years drinking unfiltered water from the water tank. Myself having helped design several biopharmaceutical plants, I realize that the filter media used in water filters happen to be a perfect growth media for bacteria.

That's the main reason I don't put a filter on my water tank. Well other than the fact that we have a millions of years of evolution, where we did nothing but drink water out of streams or well's.

[Shenandoah52]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

That's the main reason I don't put a filter on my water tank. Well other than the fact that we have a millions of years of evolution, where we did nothing but drink water out of streams or well's.

So basically, the old, "Buy a filter or be a filter" is a pure marketing ploy. I actually see the wisdom in your view. If you're used to the germs they'll be used to you.

[Pete7]

Or take the view that Sailorchic like me would rather know something is going wrong before it gets serious. We drink straight from the tank no filters, just an annual dose of bleach to keep us alive

Pete

[Mike OReilly]

I’m in the “not sure what problem you’re trying to solve” group. We always drink our tank water. Source from clean places. Take some basic steps to avoid introducing junk. Shock the tank once a year. If water is questionable, add some bleach. We run it through a basic physical filter and then a carbon filter to remove any odours. Not dead yet.

The idea of using bottled water on our boat seems nuts to me. We just got in from a six week cruise where we touched one dock (and took on no water). Where the heck would I store all that bottled water .

[TheRailRoader]

We have old tanks.. dubious water quality + kids I'd rather not see sick.

So I also have a two stage water filteration system at the tap.

RR

[Tsuru]

Our potable water always tasted like plastic and sometimes plastic with chlorine. It wasn’t bad but we used water jugs for drinking water.
We now now use a system similar to Mr. OReilly’s. Sanitize the system each spring with bleach, rinse, and then add a small amount of bleach to keep mild chlorine residual in the tanks. This keeps this system clean throughout the season. We use this water for all boat needs except drinking. Drinking goes through a Seagull IV like many others use. (.05 micron carbon would be good too). The Seagull does a good job with most common water problems and the water tastes very good. I like the idea of the UV purifier.

[a64pilot]

The issue of a filter, filtering out biologicals, and bacteria or other nasties growing on that is real.
That’s why some good filters have colloidal silver in them, the colloidal silver kills bacteria and other nasties.
However so does chlorine, municipal water is chlorinated to 1 PPM, which is only a tiny bit, so those that are tossing a cup full of bleach into their tanks are likely using way more water than necessary.
I’ve got a chart somewhere, let me see if I can find it.
Found it, 2 teaspoons per 100 gl for 1PPM

[Mike OReilly]

Thanks for the chart. We tend to follow Peggy’s formula for shocking. To be honest, I almost never have to add chlorine to the system since most of the places we fill from are municipal sources that are already chlorinated.

We do use a basic physical (5-10 micron) and then carbon filter on our water, although sometime it’s only the carbon. My spouse is particularly sensitive to off-tastes, so the carbon seems to do the trick.

We tend to change out the filters every few months if they start to develop a gunk. It’s easy to know when to change by being aware of the water pressure and how the system recharges. When the pump action starts to change, then it’s time for a new filter.