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Drinking water hose...


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For approx. 9 months on from buying 'The Dog House' we have struggled with a blue coloured hose to fill our water tank.

 

I've never seen anybody either on the cut or on our marina similarly struggle, almost to the letter they seem happy with filling their water tanks with the same type of hose I would be happy to water the garden with...

 

is there any REAL difference as they seem generally more very compact and easier to handle.....

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A few are obsessesed that you must use a drinking water quality hose, but, as you say, most don't.

 

I think the idea is that plasticisers, (or something like that!), can leech out, but I can't say I've ever bothered.

 

There will be one or two with strong opinions that 99% of us are putting ourselves at risk.

 

I've seen inside the water tanks, and I think the hose is probably the least of my worries!

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Thanks-

 

any body want to buy 30m of very stiff and difficult to handle blue water hose with a short extension,

 

oh and a stupid brass tap connector too??

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We had some mega stiff blue hose and we had more arguments with that than we did with one another! Sold it at a car boot for a £5 which helped towards a garden hose.

Im not trying to teach to suck eggs MJG but a couple of things - we always run the hose a couple of minutes before filling the tank - a biologist friend of mine said it will help in clearing any bacteria things that have developed in the remaining water in the hose left over from the last time of using. Secondly - have made a small hose extension piece that fits onto the main hose - it is this that we put in the filler hole - not the main part of the hose. Helps in reducing any muck that might have got into the main pipe.

Enjoy your new hose!!

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We have garden hose on a reel but feed the water in the opposite direction to 'normal' the reel stays at the boat and the hose extended to the tap. The short extension goes from the reel to the filler. Similar to Woollymishka, I think.

 

We also run the water to clear the hose of any 'old' .

 

OK so far, 18 months.

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If you use one of the big plastic 'feed-through' hose reels, use it backwards. Put the tap connector on the end of the long hose on the reel, and at the boat use the short length that is attached to the centre of the plastic drum. That way, on your own, you can attach to the tap and slowly walk backwards paying it out as you go until you reach the boat. When you have finished, reel it in as you walk back to the tap. It greatly reduces the chance of a loose end falling in the water or on to the towpath.

 

And as others have said, always run some water through for a minute or two first, gets rid of bugs and plasticiser.

 

AH, I see Bottle has just said much the same thing. It must be right!

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On Ripple, we had a "flat hose", and I'm going to get one for Juno simply because they take less space and with only 23 feet of boat space is at a premium. The have a slight disadvantage in that you have to unwind the whole thing.

 

We don't drink the water from the tap. I buy a couple of five litre bottles from the supermarket, and when they are empty, refill them direct from a water point. I used to use rather more robust vessels, but found after about three months they started to get mildew, so I just use the supermarket ones until they break or mildew and then go and buy another one.

 

I don't suppose the water in the tank would make us ill, but it does seem to taste slightly.

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On Ripple, we had a "flat hose", and I'm going to get one for Juno simply because they take less space and with only 23 feet of boat space is at a premium. The have a slight disadvantage in that you have to unwind the whole thing.

 

We don't drink the water from the tap. I buy a couple of five litre bottles from the supermarket, and when they are empty, refill them direct from a water point. I used to use rather more robust vessels, but found after about three months they started to get mildew, so I just use the supermarket ones until they break or mildew and then go and buy another one.

 

I don't suppose the water in the tank would make us ill, but it does seem to taste slightly.

[/quote

 

We used a flat hose for a while, very handy, but it kept perforating at the tap end resulting in a foot or so having to be cut off each time, happened with two separate hoses (the blue stuff on a white reel) never did figure out why, suspect it was the higher pressure near the tap? Bit weird really

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Bought a very cheap yellow hose from Alde when it was on offer about ten years ago. Still using it. No ill effects, unless plastic absorption turns one into a cranky old forum poster.

 

My water tanks are disgusting inside. The water tastes a bit like mud but makes a nice flavourful cup of tea. Never used purifiers. never will.

 

Tone

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We had some mega stiff blue hose and we had more arguments with that than we did with one another! Sold it at a car boot for a £5 which helped towards a garden hose.

Im not trying to teach to suck eggs MJG but a couple of things - we always run the hose a couple of minutes before filling the tank - a biologist friend of mine said it will help in clearing any bacteria things that have developed in the remaining water in the hose left over from the last time of using. Secondly - have made a small hose extension piece that fits onto the main hose - it is this that we put in the filler hole - not the main part of the hose. Helps in reducing any muck that might have got into the main pipe.

Enjoy your new hose!!

Thats what we do as well but we have a washing machine filter in the connection to take out any silt, etc.

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Ingesting pthalates (spelling?) contained in plasticisers probably won't kill you even if you do it for 20 years, which may account for the fact that several contributors to this thread are still alive. After all, many people used to drink water carried in lead pipes for many years but not all of them died from lead poisoning. Similarly, I have friends who?e smoked for 20 or 30 years and they're still alive, but I don't think we should consider this as a good reason to smoke.

 

So while I'm not trying to equate the hazards of plasticisers with lead or smoking, I'm just making the point that just because something doesn't kill you it doesn't follow that it's entirely benign. Personally I use a food quality hose because I drink the water and I'd rather avoid any migration of plasticisers into that water. For similar reasons I insist on food grade polymers when I purchase any food or drinks packaged in plastics. Fortunately food standards legislation covering the subject means I don't have to check each product.

 

If people want to use garden hoses to fill their water tanks then they're perfectly free to do so, but hypothetically would they buy a bottle of water in a supermarket if the plastic bottle was marked "Packaged in non-food grade PET"? No it's not going to kill you, but why buy it if a safer food grade plastic bottle is available?

 

It just seems sensible to me to use the correct grade of polymer for the job.

Edited by blackrose
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Isn't there a difference between water that has passed through a hose, and water sold to you in bottles ?

 

To my layman's eyes, the water that ends up in your tank will have had only the briefest of contact with the hose.

 

Water that is in a bottle may have been in contact with it weeks or months.

 

I would have thought what could leech into the water in the "hose" case is a minute fraction of what might be possible in the "bottle" case, simply because of the many orders of magnitude in actual "contact time".

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I'm not sure as I don't have any of the scientific facts to hand, but I think it's a resonable assumption that the polymers in a garden hose that's used again and again, left out in all weathers, exposed to UV, etc, will become relatively friable (spelling?) compared to when it was new and therefore become more prone to leaching plasticisers.

 

A plastic bottle on a supermarket shelf only has to get it's contents through the distribution chain once and is only used again if the consumer wishes to refill it.

 

Tell me something, does your garden hose feel harder and more brittle than it used to be, or is it still as soft and flexible as when it was new? If it's the former then those plasticisers must have gone somewhere.

 

But in any case, even if your garden hose is ok, considering the lack of information needed in order to make a truly informed decision, I still can't think of a good reason not to use a proper food grade quality hose. They may cost a bit more but it's not like it's going to break the bank..

Edited by blackrose
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In my opinion all this talk about plasticisers leaching out of hose pipes and contaminating your drinking water is all but a marketing rouse to create hysteria. Bit like Calgon tablets in dish washers that lull you into a false sense of security that they will make your dishwasher last longer. Really? Got any credible evidence? A classic case of if you create a need you create a market for your solution.

I’m not saying that plasticisers don’t leach into water but like others have hinted the leaching process takes a damn site longer than the briefest length of time the water is in contact with a hose between the tap and your tank.

Obviously it makes perfect sense that if a hose is left with water residues in then plasticisers will be present after an extended length of time but then again so will be bacteria which I think presents a far bigger risk to health. Buying a good quality standard hose won’t do you any harm if you purge the hose for a few minutes before dropping it into the tank which less face is common practice anyway.

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Cheers all -

 

As we were moored at Sawley I popped into the chandlers there but they only sold hose like I already had or a very expensive flat 'blue' type on a reel which was only 15m long. Asking if they had an 'ordinary' garden hose on a reel 'no we don't sell them as you are not supposed to use them for drinking water'- 'yes thanks I know the theory...'

 

so

 

just ordered This one from Amazon

 

Cheers all..

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We have three 10 yard lengths of (red) hose - all the friendly to humans type. Each has clip in connectors each end so we can have a short hose or join 3 together to get a long one depending how far from the water tap we are.

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I still can't think of a good reason not to use a proper food grade quality hose. They may cost a bit more but it's not like it's going to break the bank..

 

Cheers BR - the main factor for me is that the 'blue' hose I have is just so damn difficult to handle, it's not the cost. As the weather is at the moment it's quite pliable and easier to handle (but still a bit of a chew).

 

In the winter it's nigh on impossible to unfurl neatly and quickly, it also takes up an unreasonable amount of space in the locker, I'll be glad to see the back of it TBH.

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I have a blue hose, and used it once. To flood the bilge under the engine room, when I needed the stern to sit deeper in the water. My steenless steel water tank in the front is also there for balasting.

 

As a true working boater, I use a can for my daily water needs, in the engine room.

 

Which is also where the Thetford will reside..

 

 

:-)

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We have three 10 yard lengths of (red) hose - all the friendly to humans type. Each has clip in connectors each end so we can have a short hose or join 3 together to get a long one depending how far from the water tap we are.

 

If it's red, aren't you only supposed to use it for hot water?

 

(To answer "yes" would only be slightly more ridiculous than suggesting that a significant amount of plasticiser could leach out of a garden hose in the few minutes taken to fill a tank)

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