Fresh Water Tank-gctid815823

[Guest]

Can some one tell me the best way to keep the fresh water tank on my Bayliner cruiser clean? We don't drink from it, but there must be a product or best practice to keep it clean and sanitary.

[Neo]

Common Bleach - light dilution - "Sodium Hypochlorite" ... used it in my drinking water well couple times a season.

OR if you want more of a sanitizer used in water treatment plants and sent to your home if not on a well "Chlorine Dioxide" - can usually purchase "Activated" from water softener/treatment places or online as "Sodium Chlorite". I used the liquid version in a chlorine injection system for a Drinking water well filter system to sanitize and precip. out the iron/sulfur dioxide.

If you go high school chemistry class route it will have to be activated with something like Citric Acid or Real-lemon, when acidified it it becomes a very aggressive sanitizer and unstable for long term storage//so its activated and used right away...break out the Google-Fu for some more info.

[Jeffw]

Drain the tank, and the water heater, if you have one.

Refill it, adding 1/4 cup bleach per 15 gal. capacity, including water heater. Round up if necessary.

Pump this solution through all the lines and fixtures (til you smell chlorine) and refill the WH, then top off the tank.

Let it sit for at least 4 hours, 8 is better.

Then drain the entire system again, fill with fresh, flush the lines and WH, then top off.

Now you have a sanitized system, do this every 3-6 months. The water is quite safe to drink.

I've been doing this to boat and RV tanks for over 30 years, no problems.

We also drink this water, but when I fill the tank, I use an in-line filter.