Fresh Water Tank clean up?

[tonyiiiafl]

I want to use my ice maker, but also am leery of the condition of the fresh water tank. I took off the inspection plate and yep! there are cruddy deposits of sand and goo on parts of the bottom. No real way to get inside and scrape and clean up. I was thinking, what if I enlarged the inspection plate to say 10" wide by 20" long? Then when I was done cleaning up the inside, I made a gasket from rubber, and got a plate of aluminum 1" larger than the hole and screwed it down with a LOT of self tapping screws? I know I would need to drill the holes first so I could clean up the fines from the drill. Any further ideas on the conundrum?

[Lyndon670]

Tony, make a suck box. Take a old used 5gal used oil pail (make sure it is clean though) and take the large opening cap out of the top. Stick the end of a shop vac into this hole and seal it with duck tape. Now, on the other side, make a hole for a 3/4 heater hose. Stick the heater hose in this hole and seal it with duck tape. Now, the 3/4 heater hose will act like a vacumn when you turn on your shop vac and you will be able to insert it into the inspection hose and vacumn everything out.

Works great for those hard to reach spots in your bilge as well.

[feeez]

Great suggestion Lyndon..... added this to my arsenal for sure....

Fraser

[tonyiiiafl]

Now THAT is ingenuity without causing any extra work! I will try it! Thanks Lyndon!

[mjk1040]

Ingenious, personally I only run the ice maker when at the slip on the shore water. But if one would like to use both water supplies, the best advice I can give you is to use the tank water all the time. Thus keeping it fresh. Also we quite using clorax in the fresh water tank and started using a camco product that runs about $5 at Walmart and 5ounces treats a 100 gallons if I remember right. Mike

[Lyndon670]

Mike is right on. I do exactly that - I run on the tanks all the time and have no issues with taste/smell. We don't drink the water directly, but do conusme ice from the icemaker. The product from Camco comes in both powder in liquid (I believe, unless it is a competitor I am thinking of) and works quite well. I am not a fan of the bleach.

[feeez]

When we are at the Marina we run of the marina water. I agree that it would be a idea to run of the tank to keep the water fresh in there. Unfortunately, the water fill for our fresh water is in one of the storage lockers at the bow of the boat so it is a bit of task to fill it (I know.... lazy ass).
I have always thought it would a great set up to plug into shore water and through some valve system have it fill the tank as required without the tank having to be pressurized. Having said that last season our Marina water although potable had a "bleachy" odour about it..... Just rambling on here looking forward to spring!!!

What is the full name of the Camco Product??

Cheers
Fraser

[Viper]

This is what I use and is probably what you guys are talking about; http://www.camco.net/product/tastepure-spring-fresh-10063/

It's a great product IMO and I've used a few different ones. I've tried both powder and liquid products. The problem with some powder products is that they have to be dissolved first before you pour them into your tank or they end up clogging all your faucet strainers. Warm water helps break it down but you have to agitate for a while...time consuming.

The first time I used the TastePURE on my own boat was when I first bought the boat so it was part way through the season. The system had already been cleared of plumbing antifreeze, rinsed, and in use for some time. I ran the product through the system and let it stand overnight. When I rinsed the following day, you'd think it was plumbing antifreeze that came out, it was so pink! It had stripped the lines of antifreeze stains. Given that I didn't know whether the previous owner had ever done this before, I wanted a very concentrated mix so I added the entire gallon to the tank and just enough water to ensure it covered the entire system less the hot water tank. I use it at every Spring commissioning now.

Good stuff.

[mjk1040]

feez; I've thought the same thing. I think if we Tee the out put line of the tank water pump and the inlet line to the pump and put a valve, (on/off valve) in the middle, we would just have to flip the valve while hooked to the shore water and fill the tank. We would have to be past any inline check valve. Then again who's to say the marina shore water is any better?
In our marina, the shore water is run around in black water line exposed to the sun. Some days it takes for ever to get cold fresh water? Thus we always haul in drinking water from home or the spring water from the store for consumption. So in all reality should we consume the ice in the ice maker? What I do know is this Camco product works great. Mike

[bud37]

Howdy from down south....I believe the active ingredient in that camco product you are all talking about is sodium hypochlorite 12% according to their MSDS sheet, that is the chemical name for bleach, just the stronger version.......

Fraser, you should check , I know our marina is on a well, maybe so where you are as well, not sure but I don't think city water runs up Champlain.........