Bottled water for icemaker

Wow, does the dip stick get in the way of pulling the impeller, or is it just a funny camera angle thing going on?
 
Sea Gull said:
Is there any way to prevent this hidden message stuff? I am spending all my time searching for encrypted bombs in white ink, bar codes, morse code and pictures. The ones in the pictures are especially hard to detect and decode.
Click to expand...

Wait till you see the book...
 
tobnpr said:
Have you considered a filtration system for the potable water aboard?
My wife drank nothing but bottled water, but since installing a Nature Pure system, which also serves the icemaker, she's a convert. Tasteless, odorless, colorless. Not cheap but worth it IMO.

http://www.generalecology.com/category/marine-rv
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You arn't kidding about not being cheap.. I was thinking more along the lines of a $50-$75 inline filter. Thats crazy expensive! Wouldn't a replaceable cartridge style work as well? My fresh water pump is right near the icemaker and there is room there. It seems like it would be pretty easy to mount one there. Having never used one, I wouldn't know the difference in quality or taste from the two styles.
 
I've made and consumed a whole lot of ice but only from dockside water. And it's caused only one case of dysentary that I know of.

For a hundred gallon tank of fresh water you need less than an ounce of 5% sodium hypochlorite (Clorox) to sanitize. That being said, I doubt I'd use that ice for anything other than storing a big bowl of pasta salad that I'm going to feed to people I don't really know.
 
rondds said:
For a hundred gallon tank of fresh water you need less than an ounce of 5% sodium hypochlorite (Clorox) to sanitize. That being said, I doubt I'd use that ice for anything other than storing a big bowl of pasta salad that I'm going to feed to people I don't really know.
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You've probably been served "tank ice" and never knew the difference. We've never had a guest ask where the water came from for the ice in their drinks. They just chug 'em down and ask for refills.
 
We don't even drink tap water at home, we have bottled water delivered.[/quote]

I can understand this part......... (New Jersey water)
 
inline filter for the icemaker line
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...3&productId=100044332&N=10000003+502588+90004
Just get ends that have the pipe thread to tubing connection. cut the tubing and put this inline. Either run water through it first, or throw away the first couple of batches, as they will have charcoal/carbon particles in the ice.

I replace mine every other season, and haven't had a complaint in over 800-1000 ice cubes /year yet.
 
wileecoyote said:
You arn't kidding about not being cheap.. I was thinking more along the lines of a $50-$75 inline filter. Thats crazy expensive! Wouldn't a replaceable cartridge style work as well? My fresh water pump is right near the icemaker and there is room there. It seems like it would be pretty easy to mount one there. Having never used one, I wouldn't know the difference in quality or taste from the two styles.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. Crazy expensive, but you don't know my wife, LOL. Less expensive units are mostly carbon filters, which will definitely get the job done. The Nature Pure filters are EPA certified microbiological, filters viruses out...it was the only way to get my wife to agree to me not having to carry twenty gallons of bottled water aboard every weekend we went away...
 
tobnpr said:
Yeah, I know. Crazy expensive, but you don't know my wife, LOL. Less expensive units are mostly carbon filters, which will definitely get the job done. The Nature Pure filters are EPA certified microbiological, filters viruses out...it was the only way to get my wife to agree to me not having to carry twenty gallons of bottled water aboard every weekend we went away...
Click to expand...

Mike,

If yours is like mine, she's got to have THE Double Throw Down, Super High Tech, Double Trick version of what ever it is to be had.:thumbsup:
 
Guys quick non subliminal message. Two things to be concerned with with Ice machine water filters. Use only one filter. ( small cartridge) The water cycle to fill the ice tray is timed. If we have too much filtration ull never have full ice trays again tastey water yes but not so full cubes. 2nd use a carbon filter so it eliminates odor and taste but purge the filter before u install it or ull have well brown cubes for a bit ( the loose carbon ) I have seen people install a filtration filter then a carbon filter and the pressure drop is so severe water drips from the tap. So just an FYI... ok back to subliminal messges and regular programming.


Rob
 
Working in the water filtration industry, this is one of the few boating questions that I can intelligently (some what) weigh in on. First, the pump system you are asking about would work well to pump water from a 5 gallon bottle to an ice maker. I used to own one and when in the bottled water business, sold many of them with good feedback. Now, as far as the application of marine use? Not such a good idea if there is water left in the system as bio film will quickly populate throughout the unit and it will quickly get pretty funky. Plus you will have to lug bottles of water to and from the boat and the worry about keeping the bottle itself sanitary.

Whether its a bottled water company or water treatment companys reccomendation to a consumer, a multi barrier approach is the best plan with water filtration. I'd suggest sanitizition using chlorine, then filtration using 0.5 micron efficiency or better. Ultraviolet light sanitizers are a consideration, but in marine applications chlorine has two advantages. First is contact time and the second is the fact that UV systems have max levels of many non harmful contaminants commonly found in water such as calcium, iron and general turbidity. The best location for a UV system is as the final downstream treatment. The other issue with UV is that the bulbs last one year and are designed to turn on and stay on which is impractical in boating. Most UV systems are in my opinion improperly installed and if you have water containing over 5 grains per gallon or iron over 0.3 ppm, a UV systems ability to do its thing is greatly diminished.

So, chlorine levels of 10 PPM - 20 PPM would be my advice. Chlorine does degrade with higher heat levels and I'd suggest non scented name brand bleach as some private label bleaches have been known to contain trace levels of heavy metals like mercury....good stuff. Then just for the water which will be consumed, put a 0.5 micron carbon block filter to remove the chlorine and filter out other suspended particles. For your wash down water, I'd just leave the chlorine in there. At that levels, bleaching concerns are minimal.

No sales pitch here as 3M has reassigned me out of my former marine duties, but Cuno, a 3M company has some perfect filters for marine applications. Do a Google search or check them out at rvmarinewater.com Some offer 0.2 micron efficiencies and bacterial capture claims. Some use a pleated membrane around the carbon block and offer very good flow rates. I truly think that these are the best systems offered for marine water filtration.

The human eye can see particles down to 30-50 microns. Common paracites like cryptosporidium & giardia (beaver fever) are 1-3 microns and most bacteria are in the 0.2 - 0.7 micron range. Viruses are smaller, in the 0.05 range, but the chlorine will typicially deactivate them rapidly. So, with water pathogens, its what you cant see that can hurt you.

BTW, quick comment on the bottled water industry...America's former media and consumer darling...now public enemy #1...USEPA regulates municipal water and FDA regulates bottled water as it is considered a food. Granted, bottlers do develop their own HAACP plans. But when I ran a bottling plant, we had city and state health inspections, the occasional OSHA inspection plus annual unnanounced inspections from NSF International. We used to bottle spring water, distilled water and filtered drinking water. What used to amaze me is that the city was allowed to send the public water with minute levels of lead, trihalomethane and other known carcinogens, but I could not put that water into a 5 gallon bottle unless I removed them. So sure, plastic bottles are an environmental problem. But the claims of bottled water companies groundwater withdrawls depleting aquifers is baseless as that industry uses about 2 tenths of 1% of all groundwater withdrawls.

Throw some chlorine in your tank and then find a good carbon block (not granular carbon) filter and have some peace of mind. Change the filters once per season or sooner and kick back and relax. Speaking of which, I'm turning off the laptop and going boating in beautiful Charleston to burn out some older fuel.
 
tobnpr said:
Yeah, I know. Crazy expensive, but you don't know my wife, LOL. Less expensive units are mostly carbon filters, which will definitely get the job done. The Nature Pure filters are EPA certified microbiological, filters viruses out...it was the only way to get my wife to agree to me not having to carry twenty gallons of bottled water aboard every weekend we went away...
Click to expand...
It seems in your case the price is reasonable, if not downright CHEAP!:smt043:smt038:smt043

The human eye can see particles down to 30-50 microns. Common paracites like cryptosporidium & giardia (beaver fever) are 1-3 microns and most bacteria are in the 0.2 - 0.7 micron range. Viruses are smaller, in the 0.05 range, but the chlorine will typicially deactivate them rapidly. So, with water pathogens, its what you cant see that can hurt you

I don't know if I agree with this. I contracted Giardia while in Asia, and it put a BIG TIME hurting on me!!
 
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wileecoyote said:
It seems in your case the price is reasonable, if not downright CHEAP!:smt043:smt038:smt043

The human eye can see particles down to 30-50 microns. Common paracites like cryptosporidium & giardia (beaver fever) are 1-3 microns and most bacteria are in the 0.2 - 0.7 micron range. Viruses are smaller, in the 0.05 range, but the chlorine will typicially deactivate them rapidly. So, with water pathogens, its what you cant see that can hurt you

I don't know if I agree with this. I contracted Giardia while in Asia, and it put a BIG TIME hurting on me!!
Click to expand...
Giardia - 1-3 microns....can't see it.....sure can hurt you. Which was exactly my point.
 
Aloha Friday said:
Working in the water filtration industry, this is one of the few boating questions that I can intelligently (some what) weigh in on. First, the pump system you are asking about would work well to pump water from a 5 gallon bottle to an ice maker. I used to own one and when in the bottled water business, sold many of them with good feedback. Now, as far as the application of marine use? Not such a good idea if there is water left in the system as bio film will quickly populate throughout the unit and it will quickly get pretty funky. Plus you will have to lug bottles of water to and from the boat and the worry about keeping the bottle itself sanitary.

Whether its a bottled water company or water treatment companys reccomendation to a consumer, a multi barrier approach is the best plan with water filtration. I'd suggest sanitizition using chlorine, then filtration using 0.5 micron efficiency or better. Ultraviolet light sanitizers are a consideration, but in marine applications chlorine has two advantages. First is contact time and the second is the fact that UV systems have max levels of many non harmful contaminants commonly found in water such as calcium, iron and general turbidity. The best location for a UV system is as the final downstream treatment. The other issue with UV is that the bulbs last one year and are designed to turn on and stay on which is impractical in boating. Most UV systems are in my opinion improperly installed and if you have water containing over 5 grains per gallon or iron over 0.3 ppm, a UV systems ability to do its thing is greatly diminished.

So, chlorine levels of 10 PPM - 20 PPM would be my advice. Chlorine does degrade with higher heat levels and I'd suggest non scented name brand bleach as some private label bleaches have been known to contain trace levels of heavy metals like mercury....good stuff. Then just for the water which will be consumed, put a 0.5 micron carbon block filter to remove the chlorine and filter out other suspended particles. For your wash down water, I'd just leave the chlorine in there. At that levels, bleaching concerns are minimal.

No sales pitch here as 3M has reassigned me out of my former marine duties, but Cuno, a 3M company has some perfect filters for marine applications. Do a Google search or check them out at rvmarinewater.com Some offer 0.2 micron efficiencies and bacterial capture claims. Some use a pleated membrane around the carbon block and offer very good flow rates. I truly think that these are the best systems offered for marine water filtration.

The human eye can see particles down to 30-50 microns. Common paracites like cryptosporidium & giardia (beaver fever) are 1-3 microns and most bacteria are in the 0.2 - 0.7 micron range. Viruses are smaller, in the 0.05 range, but the chlorine will typicially deactivate them rapidly. So, with water pathogens, its what you cant see that can hurt you.

BTW, quick comment on the bottled water industry...America's former media and consumer darling...now public enemy #1...USEPA regulates municipal water and FDA regulates bottled water as it is considered a food. Granted, bottlers do develop their own HAACP plans. But when I ran a bottling plant, we had city and state health inspections, the occasional OSHA inspection plus annual unnanounced inspections from NSF International. We used to bottle spring water, distilled water and filtered drinking water. What used to amaze me is that the city was allowed to send the public water with minute levels of lead, trihalomethane and other known carcinogens, but I could not put that water into a 5 gallon bottle unless I removed them. So sure, plastic bottles are an environmental problem. But the claims of bottled water companies groundwater withdrawls depleting aquifers is baseless as that industry uses about 2 tenths of 1% of all groundwater withdrawls.

Throw some chlorine in your tank and then find a good carbon block (not granular carbon) filter and have some peace of mind. Change the filters once per season or sooner and kick back and relax. Speaking of which, I'm turning off the laptop and going boating in beautiful Charleston to burn out some older fuel.
Click to expand...

Good post. That should be a sticky.

Doug
 
Greg,
I installed an in-line filter on our 330 right behind the ice maker and just change the filter every year. works great and we use ice all summer for drinks. Still also flush real good every spring. Got The kit at our local Carter Lumber but I'm sure Lowes or similar will carry
 
999ghosts said:
So how much bleach does one put in a 40 gal tank to sanitize the water system? Is bleach the best chemical to use?
Click to expand...


1. Use a solution of 1 pint Purex or Clorox bleach to 25 gallons of water). With tank empty, pour chlorine solution into tank.

2. Complete filling of tank with fresh water. Open each faucet and drain cock until air has been released and the entire system is filled. Do not turn off the pump; it must remain on to keep the system pressurized and the solution in the lines

3. Allow to stand for at least three hours, but no longer than 24 hours.

4. Drain through every faucet on the boat (and if you haven't done this in a while, it's a good idea to remove any diffusion screens from the faucets, because what's likely to come out will clog them). Fill the tank again with fresh water only, drain again through every faucet on the boat.

Note: their is often a in-line screen by the fresh water pump. Clean that one too.

5. To remove excess chlorine taste or odor which might remain, prepare a solution of one quart white vinegar to five gallons water and allow this solution to agitate in tank for several days.

6. Drain tank again through every faucet, and flush the lines again by filling the tank 1/4-1/2 full and again flushing with potable water.
 
Once you've sanitized, the maintenance dose is about 0.5 - 1.0 oz per 50 gallons. Not sure if that applies to keeping the water potable. I dont "pote" tank water so it doesn't matter for me. BUT it does keep the water smelling fresh for months.
 
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