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Drinking water


Eternal422

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Bit of a newbie question here, but wondering about whether it's safe to drink water from a narrowboat's water tank.  We have just bought a share in a narrowboat having only hired before and drunk only bottled water on board.  But this is a real pain to constantly be buying and carrying back to the boat that we are wondering whether to just drink the water from the boat's water tank.

As far as I know at the moment there is no regular treatment of the tank, although as the boat is always out the tank will be constantly in use and refilled, so no chance of there being stagnant water in there.  I know about flushing water through the filler hose each time we refill the tank as well as keeping the ends of the hose clean that fit the water point and go into the tank.

So what do people think?  I've only found some very old posts on here about this subject, so maybe things have changed?  Any advice would be very welcome.

Edited by Eternal422
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We have always used the water from the domestic tanks for drinking just  as if it were tap water at home.

This has so far caused no issues whatsoev.............................................

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo

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The only water we drink from our water tank is boiled to make tea or coffee. We use bottled water to drink at other times. We have a stainless steel water tank which we treat fairly regularly with milton, so would be ok to drink directly from tank but we just choose not to.

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On 04/05/2017 at 23:11, alan_fincher said:

We have always used the water from the domestic tanks for drinking just  as if it were tap water at home.

This has so far caused no issues whatsoev.............................................

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo

Eeeeeeeeh Yakka-Boo, Yakka-Boo

 

Me too. 

Blibble blibble. 

 

No but seriously, a load of old tosh is written about not drinking from tanks. It's fine unless it is full of dead rats.

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I drink mine too. What's the point of a potable water system you don't use?  Obviously, as you already know, you need to take some basic precautions and the odd tank treatment won't hurt. Do a search and you'll find much discussion on the subject

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You will be fine, as the shareboat will be in use for most of the year, the water in the tank will have a quick turnover, unlike some leisure boats.

Before getting our own boat,  we had shareboats for 22 years, always drank the water from the tank, and have lived to tell the tale. 

Edited by cuthound
To unmangle the effects of autocorrect.
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8 hours ago, luggsy said:

If you don't want to carry bottles back from the shop/supermarket just fill your empty bottles when you fill up with water

This is not a good idea long term unless bottles are sterilised.

  • Greenie 1
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4 minutes ago, mross said:

This is not a good idea long term unless bottles are sterilised.

Why not? If the bottles are thoroughly rinsed from the tap before filling. We don't sterilise our glasses, etc., do we? Anyway, what do I know - as indicated in my previous post, I don't drink water.  But only because I don't like the taste.

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You can also leave bottled water in the sun to disinfect it, trouble is it's then too warm to drink:o

 

Been drinking our tanked water for years without problem, but it is a plastic one. If it were an inbuilt steel one iwould want a filter fitted. 

I wonder how many use a food grade water pipe to fill their tanks

Edited by rusty69
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9 hours ago, luggsy said:

If you don't want to carry bottles back from the shop/supermarket just fill your empty bottles when you fill up with water

In which case you've replaced a large and convenient system, specifically designed to store and provide potable water long-term, with a number of very small and inconvenient ones, probably designed for once-only use. 

If the boat engine was unable to provide enough power because of defects or poor maintenance, would we add another source of power such as an outboard to make up for it?  A potable water system should provide potable water - if it doesn't, it needs fixing.

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8 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Me too. 

Blibble blibble. 

 

No but seriously, a load of old tosh is written about not drinking from tanks. It's fine unless it is full of dead rats.

 Oh are dead rats bad? 

Blast better get that sorted then

Are you sure?

Even the long dead ones jammed in the corners?

Edited by tree monkey
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