Water tank treatment

[MattWhite Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MattWhite]

Hey all. I have done a search to no avail. I am looking for some advice on treating our on-board water tank. It has a real strong plastic taste and I am also worried about any little nasties building up over time. Had thought about asking the local caravan shop monday but I thought one of you might have had some experience and some tips to share. We still carry separate 20 litre jerrys of water but can only really carry two of these easily.
Any tips appreciated, thanks
Matt

[Chuck Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck]

I have the same problem have tried tank cleaner but does not seem to have made any difference.
Have watered the lawn 120l at a time in an effort to flush the tank.

[MickL Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MickL]

Have you tried bicarbonate of soda?

Mick

[Chuck Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck]

No but I will put it in tonight.

How long should I leave it in for?

[MickL Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MickL]

When I did mine I just poured a little into the tank (maybe a couple of table spoons, tank is 21lt poly tank) and filled with water. Left it over night and flushed a couple of times. You can leave it in longer I guess, because as far as I know there are no ill effects, just flush well.

It was also suggested to me to try baby bottle cleaning tablets, however I can't vouch for this method as I didn't try it.


Mick

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

It was also suggested to me to try baby bottle cleaning tablets, however I can't vouch for this method as I didn't try it.

Milton tablets (for sterilizing baby bottles) is what I used on the plastic water jerry cans on the camper. They worked a treat.

Cheers
Chippy

[MTpockets Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MTpockets]

Try putting 1/2 a bottle of vinigar in the tank overnight when the water tank is full of water. then half empty the tank, put in some bi-carb and take the camper for a drive to swish it all around. Do that once or twice during summer, or however many times you like. Both product are non toxic and do the job.
cheers

[raydes Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close raydes]

Water tank treatment

How do you fill the tank ? You can get a plastic taste from the hose/pipe you fill the tank with. You can buy water hose from the camping shops to fill the tank. I have a plastic tank on our camper trailer and put some Micropure drops in it (from ranger camping ) kills the bugs and never has a plastic taste

[MattWhite Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MattWhite]

Thanks all. Yeah, must admit to using the old garden hose! :roll: Will check out the ranger camping optionand get a proper hose. It's on our trailer and it holds 86L so think I'd need a few baby bottle tablets! Thanks again and will get back to you all.

Thanks
Matt

[jeff s Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close jeff s]

Hi Matt.

As yours is a challenge as is ours I would like to add something here.
We had the same problem. Challenge brouchure recomended using lemon esscence in the water. But as Linda is allergic to lemon its out for us.
We use the drinking water hose to fill up the tanks. That works great, Never use the old garden hose.
We still had issues with plastic taste.
We used the tank cleaner you get from camping/ caravan shops.
Not good in our case.

Then I tried a little elimination.

After I filled the tanks I tasted the water coming straight out of the tanks. Water was great.
I tasted it out of the lines on the camper, Tasted great.
I tasted it our of the pump. PPPPFFFFFWERTSPIT. Yuck.

It was a black bodied water/caravan pump. The taste was coming from the pump itself.
Changed the pump to something that wasnt fitted for price but for quality and never had a problem since.

You will definatly get taste from a garden hose, We did that first because we didnt know. And possibly thats were the taste got into the pump in the first place?

Jeff.

[MattWhite Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MattWhite]

Thanks for that Jeff. Will check that also. I must admit the taste is a secondary thing to contamination. As you know we can carry 2x 20lt jerrys on the trailer for drinking and just shower and wash dishes etc in the water tank water. It worries me the few bits of water sitting in there week after week going stale. Dont want gastro or similar one camping trip!
Did you just have no success with the tablets or an actual bad reaction somewhere?

[jeff s Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close jeff s]

We didnt have any gastro or anything like that, Just plastic taste.
I usually fill them up when we get home, Dump it and refill them before we go, Maybe with a flush as well depending how long it has been.