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Domestic water quality


jammin1620

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5 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

The water coming out of a stand pipe is sufficiently well contaminated with chlorine to kill off any bacteria as far as I am concerned. I trust the regulations imposed on the local water company more than my personal approach to hygene.

You say that and i dont actually disagree with you but I bet in most cases of legionaires, the water originally came from the water company.

 

In my job we have to tempiture check the hot and cold water and we also have to flush every tap through once a week. Off course we don' have a cold water tank that I'm aware off.

Edited by thebfg
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1 hour ago, MartynG said:

Perhaps it would be safer to drink wine or beer ........out of a glass bottle.

Wine is presumably the safer of the two as it doesn't have water added while beer is made with lots of water.

 

 

Funny you should say that. I was out with gastroenteritis for 3 weeks once after drinking orange squash out of a pint glass in a pub. 

I don't recall ever suffering from anything after drinking alcohol, or is it just that I can't remember? 

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10 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

I thought this sounded promising, so I looked it up.

From the Dr Johnsons Safety Data Sheet:

Environmental Hazard - Aquatic Chronic 3 H412.

Hazard H412 - Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects.

Precautionary Statement P273 - Avoid release to the environment.

The majority of what comes out of our fresh water tanks ends up in the canal or river, so I'll be giving it a miss.

LIKE Miltons sterilising fluid this is just diluted bleach.  The Johnsons product is 1.3% bleach and you dilute it before use.  When it acts upon germs and vegetable matter in the fresh water th amount of active chlorine diminishes further.  I don't think the amounts discharged into canal or marina can cause any measurable harm.  The MSDS warnings refer to the ingredients in their undiluted state.  Probably every household chemical will have the same sort of ingredients which are harmful when 'neat'.

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31 minutes ago, mross said:

LIKE Miltons sterilising fluid this is just diluted bleach.  The Johnsons product is 1.3% bleach and you dilute it before use.  When it acts upon germs and vegetable matter in the fresh water th amount of active chlorine diminishes further.  I don't think the amounts discharged into canal or marina can cause any measurable harm.  The MSDS warnings refer to the ingredients in their undiluted state.  Probably every household chemical will have the same sort of ingredients which are harmful when 'neat'.

Yes, I agree. It's the cumulative effect though, isn't it. One plastic bag in the ocean doesn't make a massive difference either. 

I'm not an environmental scientist or eco warrior, so I'm neither qualified nor evangelistic enough to champion the cause, but I'm gonna pass on using this stuff myself.

 

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27 minutes ago, MartynG said:

There seems to be  a perception of risk in anything these days . 

There usually is an element of risk in any undertaking. Nothing wrong with taking risks you understand, it's t'others that bite you in the bum!    I'll bet the COHSS sheet for burying ones head in the sand is a beaut...  :D

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9 minutes ago, jddevel said:

Must confess my cold water tastes distinctly "earthy" and even smells tainted even after only 2-3 days in the tank. New stainless tank and water run for awhile before filling. Out of curiosity do filters help?

Break out the popcorn! :giggles:

Yes, they can. You shouldn't need it though if you're putting potable fresh water into a clean potable fresh water system. If good water goes in and bad water comes out, fix the system rather than adding a work around. Why drink filtered badly-stored water?

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1 minute ago, Sea Dog said:

Yes, they can. You shouldn't need it though if you're putting potable fresh water into a clean potable fresh water system. If good water goes in and bad water comes out, fix the system rather than adding a work around. Why drink filtered badly-stored water?

Now obviously concerned! Completely new installation with water having been in the tank for about 5 weeks including topping up. Thoughts please.

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2 minutes ago, jddevel said:

Now obviously concerned! Completely new installation with water having been in the tank for about 5 weeks including topping up. Thoughts please.

How many times has it been flushed through?

Also, have you tried drinking the water before it goes in the tank?

Edited by rusty69
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6 minutes ago, jddevel said:

Now obviously concerned! Completely new installation with water having been in the tank for about 5 weeks including topping up. Thoughts please.

Flush, flush, and flush again. A brand new system is bound to have arisings in it.

Personally, after those flushes, I'd use "Elsan Fresh Water Tank Cleaner" in a full to the brim tank, draw it into all pipework and leave it 24 hours before a final flush. YMMV.

 

So pretty much what Rusty said at the same time!  Other methods of tank cleaning/sterilisation are a bit cheaper and preferred by some. I go with that particular brand as an annual clean in my system as it's utterly tasteless. In the drinking water I mean! :)

Edited by Sea Dog
Rusty bit.
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Take a jugful of input water (from your standpipe). Allow to stand for 30 mins. Any taint noticeable?

Repeat but take the water through your (hozelock thingy) hose to jug. Any signs?

Take a jugful out of your water system first thing in the morning. Is this worse? (having been standing in your pipework rather than the tank.)

Edited by system 4-50
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1 minute ago, system 4-50 said:

Take a jugful of input water. Allow to stand for 30 mins. Any taint noticeable?

Repeat but take the water through your hose to jug. Any signs?

Good point.

Actually,  I just remembered that we had a bad taste recently which was cured by fresh tea bags! :D

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22 hours ago, rowland al said:

We boil all water from the main tank before consuming it or using it for cooking. 

For drinking water we just fill up a few plastic 5 litre water bottles from the stand pipe each time we fill our tank. You can get them (complete with some form of spring water) from places like Tescos for about £1. 

I'd never be happy drinking water from a boat water tank, well unless there was an emergency, 

We always used to drink straight from the tank. Occasionaly you get a smelly tank full but never had any problems. We have for last few years used a brita jug for coffee etc but that's because it seems a good idea, for the previous twenty odd years we did nothing. We still survive.

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51 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

How many times has it been flushed through?

Also, have you tried drinking the water before it goes in the tank?

Good point. Really ought to think about these things PLUS when any doubts ask this forum!!!! Thankyou. Job for the next visit. I really am quite stupid at times.

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On 14/12/2017 at 20:20, rowland al said:

We boil all water from the main tank before consuming it or using it for cooking. 

For drinking water we just fill up a few plastic 5 litre water bottles from the stand pipe each time we fill our tank. You can get them (complete with some form of spring water) from places like Tescos for about £1. 

I'd never be happy drinking water from a boat water tank, well unless there was an emergency, 

 

This all seems supremely pointless if your goal is to avoid catching legionnaires disease. You don’t get infected by drinking water containing legionella. Infection happens by atomised infected water entering the lungs. One has to breathe atomised infected water. 

Previously boiling the water for your orange squash isn’t going to prevent infection. Keeping your calorifier at 60+ will though. 

Jammin says there are risks from the shower head alone but I’ve never heard of a single case of a boater catching legionnaire disease so it can’t be a widespread problem. 

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

This all seems supremely pointless if your goal is to avoid catching legionnaires disease. You don’t get infected by drinking water containing legionella. Infection happens by atomised infected water entering the lungs. One has to breathe atomised infected water. 

Previously boiling the water for your orange squash isn’t going to prevent infection. Keeping your calorifier at 60+ will though. 

Jammin says there are risks from the shower head alone but I’ve never heard of a single case of a boater catching legionnaire disease so it can’t be a widespread problem. 

Exactly this. In the early days it was thought it could be caught from showers, but this has been discredited.

It is almost always caught from infected wet cooling towers associated with air conditioning plant.

Operators of these have to register thrm with the local authority and provide evidence of regular biocide dosing and testing for legionella.

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30 minutes ago, cuthound said:

It is almost always caught from infected wet cooling towers associated with air conditioning plant.

 

Yep, just another box ticking/money making exercise for the landlords who should carry out a legionella risk assessment:)

Edited by rusty69
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On a boat or at home Legionnaires disease is generally a potential risk from shower heads as I think was mentioned earlier. You dont get it from drinking the water but from breathing in mist droplets.

A little used shower head being the greater risk. Air conditioning  condensers being a risk too but not much of a risk in the UK.

Some data on number of cases on the following. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/660831/Monthly_LD_Report_-_October_2017.pdf

 

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