Potable water treatment & handling

waynezworld

waynezworld

New Member
Aug 29, 2009
12
NE
Boat Info
60 Sundancer Garmin Glass
Engines
Mann 1100’s
Hi Boaters, I have a 60 Sundancer and need some help with two issues.

1) Any recommendations on how to extend the time it takes before the fresh water “goes off”. I usually try to get away for three day weekends only to find the 2 hundred gallon water tank needs to be drained and refilled before every trip.
2) Any recommendations on how to drain the tank without using the very expensive fresh water pump? I hate using up the limited lifespan of these pumps (I’m on my fourth).

Thanks in advance,
Wayne
 
I remember seeing some treatment chemicals for water systems. Supposed to keep water "Fresh." Google might help.

As for draining, maybe siphon it out?
 
I use camco water freshener and it works well. I’m in Houston TX and I can keep safe nice water for 3 weeks. I wouldn’t worry about running the freshwater pumps. You should have strainers in them and they last quite a while. If you haven’t already make sure you sanitize the tank with bleach every so often as well

Welcome to CSR! I love the 60 and where are you located?

Josh
 
I have never had an issue with needing to drain a FW tank for other than winterizing when we had a 260DA. We use the tank when away from the dock for everything including drinking. I refill tank when it gets down to 1/2 and just use it as we need. I do run it through a filter when I fill the tank. Never had an issue.

Bennett
 
NotHerDecision said:
I use camco water freshener and it works well. I’m in Houston TX and I can keep safe nice water for 3 weeks. I wouldn’t worry about running the freshwater pumps. You should have strainers in them and they last quite a while. If you haven’t already make sure you sanitize the tank with bleach every so often as well

Welcome to CSR! I love the 60 and where are you located?

Josh
Click to expand...
Thanks for the update Josh, I got some Camco 40207 TastePURE Spring Fresh from Amazon. I just read the fine print and found out it’s a freshener / flush for spring.

I had a 48 before and love the 60. Home base is the south shore of Long Island & we boat up to Nova Scotia.
 
IMG_4230.JPG
The water pumps do last a very long time. We drained our tank every week while washing the boat. We just opened a washdown hose in the cockpit while going about other washing duties. Never felt we were waiting for the tank to empty and you can hear the sputtering telling you the tank is empty. Last thing before turning off the wash hose was to stick it in the fill opening to refill. While putting away the cleaning supplies the tank is refilling. Doing this every week means you always have fresh, drinking water. I know some people do not like tank water, but it is actually better than having a hose sit on the dock baking your drinking water, growing who knows what, and then feeding that into your faucets. It is illusionary to think that hose water is cleaner than water from a properly cared for potable water tank. Our boats have never worn out a water pump. The last one was going strong after 15 years of making ice, taking showers and washing the boat.
 
Agree with above - fresh water pumps can ... and should last a long time. We use ours every time we leave the dock and can leave it on for days without fear of cycling or running hot.
 
bbwhitejr said:
I have never had an issue with needing to drain a FW tank for other than winterizing when we had a 260DA. We use the tank when away from the dock for everything including drinking. I refill tank when it gets down to 1/2 and just use it as we need. I do run it through a filter when I fill the tank. Never had an issue.

Bennett
Click to expand...
I'm with Bennett - use it and refill it. We change our filter every 6 months and use a Camco filter when we refill the tank...
 
What kind of filter are you guys using on the boat? Where inline do you have it installed?
Thinking the best place would be in place of the little screen filter near the pump.
Not really looking to give up a lot of space to filter water I probably wouldn’t drink anyway but if there is an easy way to install and maintain something out of the way I would consider it.
When using the Camco filter to fill the tank, do you just put it inline somewhere on the hose you’re using to fill the tank?
Trying to imagine the net benefit of filtering treated municipal water, but always open to suggestion.
I use an RV drinking water hose to fill my tank. Figure since I keep a hose at my dock anyway it might as well be something I can get water to fill ice cube trays with.
 
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JVM225 said:
What kind of filter are you guys using on the boat? Where inline do you have it installed?
Thinking the best place would be in place of the little screen filter near the pump.
Not really looking to give up a lot of space to filter water I probably wouldn’t drink anyway but if there easy way to install and maintain something out of the way I would consider it.
When using the Camco filter to fill the tank, do you just put it inline somewhere on the hose you’re using to fill the tank?
Trying to imagine the net benefit of filtering treated municipal water, but always open to suggestion.
I use an RV drinking water hose to fill my tank. Figure since I keep a hose at my dock anyway it might as well be something I can get water to fill ice cube trays with.
Click to expand...

I have the filter attached at my power pedestal where the spigot is. I have a RV drinking water hose attached to the shore water connection in the transom hatch. We drink it, shower, and make ice with it. To fill my tank, I have an extra RV drinking water hose that I attach to the filter at the power pedestal spigot and fill. I do not have a filter on my onboard tank. I have gone to am Amazon RV filter that I really like.

5D3C9FF1-F1ED-4B1D-AA10-C1F79E4ECAD7.jpeg
 
Thanks!
I don’t use my Shore water hookup too often, if at all, so I do really need one there.
I could mount up an RV type filter on my stand alone water stanchion (basically a 4x4). What do you see as a benefit of filtering the municipal water that you fill your tank with?
Mine is the same treated drinking water that supplies all of the houses in the neighborhood.
 
IMG_4230.JPG
JVM225 said:
Thanks!
I don’t use my Shore water hookup too often, if at all, so I do really need one there.
I could mount up an RV type filter on my stand alone water stanchion (basically a 4x4). What do you see as a benefit of filtering the municipal water that you fill your tank with?
Mine is the same treated drinking water that supplies all of the houses in the neighborhood.
Click to expand...
I believe it depends on the water quality your city water system provides. Our water comes from Lake Michigan which is very high quality. While it is chlorinated, the water system does not go overboard on adding chlorine. So it tastes and smells good out of the tap. After a week in the water tank it still smells good and tastes great. We lived in Iowa City during the college years. That water came from the Iowa River. It was heavily chlorinated and had an oder to it. Many people used filters. So whether you see a benefit or not depends on the source. Most well water I've tasted would benefit from a filter and many municipalities use wells. We have been in a few marinas that are quite large with water lines that run for hundreds of feet before reaching slips. I always wonder about what may be in those lines. Maybe a filter would help in that situation as well.
 
For drinking water I took off the original filtered spigot and siliconed this rechargeable pump, with a 5 gal Poland Springs bottle under the sink. This may be a little overkill but you can never be to safe on filtering ANYTHING that goes into your body.
upload_2019-6-5_21-43-31.jpeg

Calogy Electric Drinking Water Dispenser Pump for 5 Gallon Bottle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWU0Q1Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_f7g-CbN205AKH
 
I just did a little research and it turns out my water company uses chloramine instead of chlorine. This might be part of the reason my untreated water starts smelling funky after about 1 week. Not sure about other boats but my 60 and old 48 SDA have plastic tanks. I had an older boat with a aluminum tank.

I agree with everyone;
1) Always use potable water hoses
2) Try to avoid marina water at all cost (if you use a TDS gauge you will be shocked how bad marina water can be)
I use this one, it’s like 15 bucks:
upload_2019-6-5_22-0-55.jpeg

TDS Meter Digital Water Tester, Lxuemlu Professional 3-in-1 TDS, Temperature and EC Meter with Carrying Case, 0-9999ppm, Ideal ppm Meter for Drinking Water, Aquariums and More (LX-TDS1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079DN9DRS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5mh-CbEXA19TS

3) Try to use filters to fill your tank whenever possible!

Wayne
 

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JVM225 said:
Thanks!
I don’t use my Shore water hookup too often, if at all, so I do really need one there.
I could mount up an RV type filter on my stand alone water stanchion (basically a 4x4). What do you see as a benefit of filtering the municipal water that you fill your tank with?
Mine is the same treated drinking water that supplies all of the houses in the neighborhood.
Click to expand...

Our dock water is city water also. I hate the chlorine taste though faint it may be. The filter does remove that.

Bennett
 
We only put softened water into our tanks. Dock water goes through a 5 micron sediment filter, then a softener.

Never remove the chlorine before it goes in the tank. You need the chlorine to prevent growth. If you are filling with unchlorinated water, add chlorine.

After the water pump we have an activated carbon filter that removes taste and odor (and chlorine). Water is further filtered for ice and drinking water, but not for general use water.
 
IMG_4230.JPG
Sea Gull said:
We only put softened water into our tanks. Dock water goes through a 5 micron sediment filter, then a softener.

Never remove the chlorine before it goes in the tank. You need the chlorine to prevent growth. If you are filling with unchlorinated water, add chlorine.

After the water pump we have an activated carbon filter that removes taste and odor (and chlorine). Water is further filtered for ice and drinking water, but not for general use water.
Click to expand...
Doesn't soft water have high levels of sodium in it? Home water softners are usually connected to the hot water side of the water system vs. the side you drink from. Right?
 
sbw1 said:
View attachment 70837
I believe it depends on the water quality your city water system provides. Our water comes from Lake Michigan which is very high quality. While it is chlorinated, the water system does not go overboard on adding chlorine. So it tastes and smells good out of the tap. After a week in the water tank it still smells good and tastes great. We lived in Iowa City during the college years. That water came from the Iowa River. It was heavily chlorinated and had an oder to it. Many people used filters. So whether you see a benefit or not depends on the source. Most well water I've tasted would benefit from a filter and many municipalities use wells. We have been in a few marinas that are quite large with water lines that run for hundreds of feet before reaching slips. I always wonder about what may be in those lines. Maybe a filter would help in that situation as well.
Click to expand...

We’ve got good quality and tasting municipal water so I guess there is no benefit to filtering it before it goes in the tank.
As good as I am about keeping my tank clean by flushing and using it all the time to keep it fresh I still wouldn’t drink out of it or make ice cubes with it.
If there were a simple enough solution to filter it properly between the tank and the faucets, and it could be tested safe, I wouldn’t mind having the option to fill ice cube trays and make coffee with it.
Right now we take a couple of gallon jugs of store bought water along for those purposes and it would be nice not having to remember to keep replenishing them.
 
Sea Gull said:
We only put softened water into our tanks. Dock water goes through a 5 micron sediment filter, then a softener.

Never remove the chlorine before it goes in the tank. You need the chlorine to prevent growth. If you are filling with unchlorinated water, add chlorine.

After the water pump we have an activated carbon filter that removes taste and odor (and chlorine). Water is further filtered for ice and drinking water, but not for general use water.
Click to expand...

What make and model filters are you using and where/how do you have them installed?
Not looking to drink it, bottled drinking water is more convenient for us on the boat, but would be nice to trust it enough to make coffee or ice with it.
 
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