bobgarden Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Its water I'm talking about ! Obviously we all take water on board on different sites - personally I never drink it - but cooking with it would be safe presumably. However there is a faint odour with the "fresh water" through the system which is about as bad as the after taste of Milton as a purifier for me. I've tried searching the forums for an alternative tank cleaner/water purifier without success. So please how do real motor-homers do it - keep healthy tanks that is? Regards Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 We only use the main tank water for washing and washing up our drinking water we use is from the same tap on filling up but kept in 5ltr containers and only used for hot drinks and cooking if you run short of water there is always a water tap in a cemetery usually just inside the gate we have never run out yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Since 1977 we have used the main tank as it is and never had any sort of problem both within the UK and abroad. Taste is a personal thing and I am not suggesting that you are being paranoid, just that our personal experience has never resulted in us suffering any problems from using water straight from the tap into the tank and thence into us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjmike Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 The way I look at the problem of drinking water is to take two five litre bottles with us. These are miltoned and then filled at home, if we are in the UK they will be filled from a reliable source. If we are on the continent then I just buy replacements as and when required. The thinking behind this is that if either of us do have an upset stomach that could be bad water then its easy just to throw away said containers and purchase new. The alternative is having to go through the process of cleaning the water tank and all the pipe work, not that easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgarden Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Thanks Kelly58. That's an eminently practical method. Any ideas on a tank cleanup?? regards Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RupertGS Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 It may have been Dave Newell who said that he'd never drink from the tank because he's seen the gunge that forms inside them.Saying things like: "We've always drunk from the tank and never had any problems." is a bit like saying; "I've been driving without a seat belt all my life and never had any problems."Well, there's a good chance one day that you will!I'm not paranoid about water and will use tap water from anywhere in Europe but we put it into ordinary 2 litre milk containers. We're fortunate as we've a nice little slot to store four of them. We use these for all drinking and are happy to use the tank water for everything else.I find the 2 litre bottles much more convenient than 5 litre ones and when they get a bit battered we just rinse out another Tesco milk bottle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza454 Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 bobgarden - 2009-09-04 1:05 PM Thanks Kelly58. That's an eminently practical method. Any ideas on a tank cleanup?? regards BobRinse the whole system through 2 or 3 times per year with this and you should be ok -http://www.leisureshopdirect.com/caravan/water/product_18684/puriclean_400g_tub.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgarden Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Thanks Bazza454 Puriclean sounds as if I can have a fresh start with the tanks. Another contributor suggested Elsil. So I have some options. I now have no excuse not to get on with it. Regards Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo3090 Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 We use the vehicles tank water, filled from a potable sourcein what ever country we are in, for washing up, cooking, showering, teeth cleaning and making tea. We drink sparkling water from bottles. I would have no hesitation in drinking the tank water if I was thirsty, but I prefer the gassy stuff! We clean the tank out twice a year with the stuff you can buy for cleaning home brew gear out with. It leaves no after taste and is reasonably cheap to buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Using cleaners to sterilise a dirty water tank is obviously a good thing and I suppose Milton is as good as it gets, but the question that puzzles me is; how did the tank get dirty in the first place? If the tank is clean, why do you want to sterilise it? We drain the tank of any leftover water at the end of a trip if the van is not going to be used for a month or so, in order to remove any possibility of a 'plastic' taste building up. A friend of mine is an aircraft fitter and often laughs about water tanks and how they are filled on planes. The tank is filled from the local water supply wherever the plane is at the time: end of story. Hotels, Public Buildings, Banks and Insurance Companies all have large buildings. The drinking water supply for taps within these structures all come from water tanks within the buildings. How often do you think these tanks are cleaned out and sterilised? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 A lot of people still talk about using 'Milton' , Milton and other Baby-bottle steriliser liquids are Bleach based, this means that they Damage all metal that they come into contact with, as I found out to my cost, My Carver boiler cylinder started to Leak, holes in it burned through with Milton Residue (I HAD flushed it,but obviously not enough) also my low wattage kettle element destroyed, Aqua-roll sterilised with Milton (i was a Tugger back then.) and not rinsed enough, The water in the kettle turned black just before the element went 'Bang'. I use PureeKleen now. and make sure that the system is WELL flushed through. :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RupertGS Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Spospe said: A friend of mine is an aircraft fitter and often laughs about water tanks and how they are filled on planes. The tank is filled from the local water supply wherever the plane is at the time: end of story. Hotels, Public Buildings, Banks and Insurance Companies all have large buildings. The drinking water supply for taps within these structures all come from water tanks within the buildings. How often do you think these tanks are cleaned out and sterilised?My answer to that would be that people rarely drink tap water on planes, it's nearly always bottled and of course it's boiled for tea and coffee.The public buildings analogy is also false in that a public building is just like your home. I've no problem drinking tap water at home because it isn't from a tank. My cold water supply comes directly from the mains. And even if the home or public building stores its cold water in a tank, that tank is being refreshed daily or even hourly.The problem with motorhomes is that the tanks can lie empty for weeks on end, but of course they are seldom completely empty. There's often a bit of water that's not drained completely and this can be a breeding ground for all sorts of nasties.As I said above, you could drink motorhome tank water for years and suffer no ill effects. You can also drive your car for years and not wear a seat belt, but one day....!Apart from which, the water that I store in my bottles (ordinary tap water) always tastes fresh, whereas the tank water occasionally gets a vile, TCP-like tang to it, and that's why I started putting drinking water in separate containers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild rover Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 We never drink the motorhome water, we only use it for showering, washing dishes, etc. We usually buy mineral water, and use it to make coffee. We're not great water drinkers anyway, preferring wine and beer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smifee Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 You can cross the road ok time after time but one day....the bogey man will get you. I won't stop crossing the road or drinking the water from my tank which I have only cleaned once in 4 years. Each to their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 We've always used the water in the tank for everything, never had a problem yet. Unless you only use the tank water for washing/showering (be careful not to get it in your mouth though 8-) ), or after it has been boiled you cannot possibly avoid any contamination, assuming there is any. Using it to wash-up, rinse/clean salad and vegetables, is still a 'risk', if that's what you want to classify it as, just like drinking it 'neat' is. The only way to eliminate totally any perceived risk is to go the whole hog and not use the tank water for anything that may come into contact with your lips and therefore inners, only using bottled water, which would mean that you might as well not have a tank at all in most cases! That includes brushing your teeth with bottled water too ... and I'd like to see you try to get a shower with bottled water though ... could be quite fun to watch!!! :D When using the van, I drink copious amounts of tea (addicted to the stuff :$ ) which is obviously boiled, and otherwise tend to drink lemonade or soft drinks as I prefer these to plain water anyway, whether at home or away in the van. I use the tank water for everything else where water is needed, I do occasionally drink the water from the tank, say for taking my vitamin tablets etc, and I've not had any ill effects at all. There are too many things to get paranoid about in this world, I'm not adding 'tank water' to the list! :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RupertGS Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 smifee - 2009-09-04 5:58 PM You can cross the road ok time after time but one day....the bogey man will get you. I won't stop crossing the road or drinking the water from my tank which I have only cleaned once in 4 years. Each to their own. I won't stop crossing the road either but intelligent people take simple steps to minimise risk and when I do cross the road I won't blindly charge across, I'll stop and look both ways first. You can drink and drive and get away with it for ages, but one day....You can smoke cigarettes all your life and drink heavily, and some people will be unaffected, but for others they'll be fine until one day........To me that simple equation of a tank lying empty for weeks on end is a blindingly obvious breeding ground for bacteria. People are perfectly free to use tank water, good luck to them, but for some of them, one day may come sooner than they think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Had a 22 year old motorhome in today and found several dead insects inside the inboard water tank which otherwise looked perfectly fine. Drink water out of an on board tank voluntarily? Not a chance! D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RupertGS Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 davenewell@home - 2009-09-04 6:37 PM Had a 22 year old motorhome in today and found several dead insects inside the inboard water tank which otherwise looked perfectly fine. Drink water out of an on board tank voluntarily? Not a chance! D. And there speaks a man who must see the inside of tanks on a regular basis, and I've never imagined Dave Newell as being some kind of sissy paranoid. That just reinforces my view that drinking from tanks, when there's a simple alternative, that's no trouble at all to employ, is silly and unnecessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Having once had a nasty bout of "squirty bottom" that lasted most of 24 hours (but felt like a lifetime and at least four hours of which were spent with me bum looking at porcelain 8-) )due to contaminated water there is no way I would voluntarily consume water that has been stored at room temperature (or higher) for 24 hours or more and was taken on board from an unknown source. I've seen people using the drinking water tap to swill out their toilet cassettes 8-) >:-( . D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 As an ex plumber, where do you think your mains water come from? often from tanks, also there are always leaks etc on the system, obviously no contaminates ever get in the pipes. No, people are getting more and more parinoid about health and safety, why dont we all use more commen sense. As someone said drain tanks at end of each trip, then fill well with fresh water from mains, job done. its not a bad idea to steralise the tank yearly. P.S. if dave has seen rubish in tanks he should see what we have seen, Dead rats and birds in tanks where the house is on a bore and all water is used from the tank, I did have a cup of tea before i saw it once, always a bit careful after, but i am still here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 We use water from our on board tank all the time, wether in the UK or abroad. Our tank in under a bunk and via the large Filler cap we can see if there is anything untoward inside. Its flushed through regularly. The water that go's in from the mains is so called clean and contains chlorine therefore it should kill any unwanted bugs (or so we are told by the water companies). The problem today is that we are told to clean everything thoroughly, therefore we have become a race of people that have no natural defences against bugs. My Grandmother always said you will eat a peck of dirt before you die. The cleanest water and sweetest I have ever drunk has come from a spring on a farm in Cornwall, it was on the side of a lane that the cattle used every day from the dairy to the fields. Bottled water uggh David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Rupert, you do it your way, I'll do it my way, my simple steps are: - I always emptying the tank after each trip - I check the tank is clean - as the emptying 'bung' is inside the tank I have to look in it to stick it back in after emptying so can see if it needs cleaning or not, so if necessary it gets a clean - I flush it through for a while each time when filling for the first time before a trip - I always clean the filler tap before attaching the hosepipe to it, both at home and away - If we're away for a fair amount of time I'll periodically totally empty the tank and fill up with fresh water. If you are sensible and make sure you keep the tank and water system clean and fresh, and only fill from potable water supplies, then using the water from the tank shouldn't cause any problems at all. The whole point of having a water tank it to hold fresh water so that it is 'on tap' (pun intended!) and readily available, and I intend to use it as such. I take it this meets your remit of how to qualify as an intelligent person? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Und now, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Nice one PKC :D . Personally I don't try to tell anyone else how to live their lives, I'm just telling it as I see it, and I see it all too often! If you choose to drink water from your on board tank then that's fine by me but having seen some of the nasties that can collect in water tanks (and having three female chefs in my direct family, all of whom have been through health and hygiene training (in fact the eldest daughter has just finished her latest three day refresher course today)) and hearing words like campirobacter, spirobacter, and baccillus (to name only a few) on a regular basis I choose to be a little more circumspect in where my drinking water comes from. No I'm not over sensitive or overly hygienic come to that, I regularly eat my breakfast sandwich after only a quick wipe with a paper towel of my hands (not I hasten to add after handling water system equipment) but I have suffered the effects of dodgy water, I have seen the crud and dead insects that can collect inside water tanks and pipework and I have suffered the after effects of a water borne stomach infection. What I don't understand is people who shout down thoswe like myself or Rupert who choose to be careful about our drinking water :-S . You do it your way by all means but please let us do it ours without pouring scorn and derision upon us as over sensitive softies. D. In edit: Of course my preferred method of making sure that any water I consume is safe is to only drink that which has been through a decent brewery or distillery :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avongas Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Exactly, we use bottled 5 ltr mineral water for drinking, coffee tea etc. and the on board water for flushing and washing and such like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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