On board water tastes bad (1 Viewer)

Jun 16, 2013
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We don't normally drink on board water but thought I would try oiling some for coffee. It tasted terrible, are we meant to flush it all out?
 
Feb 24, 2013
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not long enough
Did you fill up at home or when you arrived?

It might just be the water on the camp site, try filling kettle from site tap see it is different

But we only ever drink bottled water, even through the kettle :thumb:
 
OP
OP
Spidey
Jun 16, 2013
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No it's not the camp water we tried it directly in the kettle. It's a chemical taste, it is new so not sure if it will go away

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pappajohn

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Aug 26, 2007
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No it's not the camp water we tried it directly in the kettle. It's a chemical taste, it is new so [HI]not sure if it will go away[/HI]

yes it will, but it could take time.

Buy a bottle of milton fluid and tip that in the tank and fill with fresh water.
Pull some water through ALL the taps, inc the shower, then let stand overnight.
That will sterilise the tank and pipes

Drain down then Fill and drain the tank a few times then see if its improved.
 
Mar 29, 2011
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We use tank water for washing etc and keep a filter jug on the work top to use for all drinking & kettle, been working fine for us for nearly 3 years, I just change the filters on a regular basis as we use our van a most weekends

Dave

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TheBig1

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even if you just wash up with the tank water, you should sterilise the system at least once a year due to various water-borne bugs. either that or have cast iron guts as its no fun having raging diarrhoea in a van

sterilise using milton fluid or better still sterilising tabs from a home brew shop
 

vwalan

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just fill with chlorinated tap water .leave over night . drain and refill. thats what water companies use . they dont keep washing your pies out with milton .
in 14 years only ever used it as a cleaner . have had to put font /river and lake water in at times . but when town water is available . drain and refill.
the plasticy taste of a new tank soon goes away.
 

GJH

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Initially we simply didn't consider anything but drinking from the on-board tank in our first van. However, at one event the supply was from a pipe that was used infrequently so had been sterilised and (though the water was safe) there were off-flavours. So we started carrying a separate 5 litre jerry can for drinking water. However a subsequent event that used a bowser supply meant that was not totally successful so we bought a water filter jug and all drinking water goes through that (though we do tend to drink only boiled water in beverages anyway).

Another cause could be using sterilising tablets and not flushing the system through sufficiently. I sterilise the system once or twice a year and then run fresh water through. Each time I fill the tank at home I try water straight from the tap and if it tastes OK that is good enough :Smile:

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Nov 6, 2013
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No idea what you lot are worrying about. We just drink straight from the tap ..

wine-tap.png
 

pappajohn

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just fill with chlorinated tap water .leave over night . drain and refill. thats what water companies use . they dont keep[HI] washing your pies out with milton [/HI].
in 14 years only ever used it as a cleaner . have had to put font /river and lake water in at times . but when town water is available . drain and refill.
the plasticy taste of a new tank soon goes away.

they try washing my pies with water they'll get a smack in the gob :Angry: :roflmto:
 

Tootles

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Sep 14, 2013
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We have a 150 gallon water tank on the narrowboat, and found on our travels around the country that 'mixing' different areas water supplies could cause this terribly tasting water, like drinking something contaminated with Dettol. After making many enquires, it seems that different water areas need different chemicals adding. But mixing water can add too much say chlorine, giving the water the taste you describe. :Smile:

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jonandshell

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Dec 12, 2010
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Drink from the tank, what's the problem?::bigsmile:
We never experienced a taste of any sort, even from new.

It ain't like you are drinking something featured in an Oxfam ad on TV!:whatthe:

Just a sterilisation once a year keeps things clean.:thumb:
 

Movinon

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We would never drink the stuff that comes out of the tank. Over time all sorts of muck can build up where you can't see it. It isn't just about bugs, different areas can have different levels of chemicals, or particularly minerals, which may be harmless but can cause problems for people who happen to be sensitive to such things. We keep all our drinking water separate, filled by hand into 10 litre containers from reliable water sources and then run through a filter jug using good quality filters. Then boiled. In 50,000 miles over many years we've never had an illness problem this way.

There again, I've seen people drink straight from water taken from taps sited specifically for cleaning out chemical toilets. Presumably they survive, or possibly are just too dumb to die.

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jonandshell

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Dec 12, 2010
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We would never drink the stuff that comes out of the tank. Over time all sorts of muck can build up where you can't see it. It isn't just about bugs, different areas can have different levels of chemicals, or particularly minerals, which may be harmless but can cause problems for people who happen to be sensitive to such things. We keep all our drinking water separate, filled by hand into 10 litre containers from reliable water sources and then run through a filter jug using good quality filters. Then boiled. In 50,000 miles over many years we've never had an illness problem this way.

There again, I've seen people drink straight from water taken from taps sited specifically for cleaning out chemical toilets. Presumably they survive, or possibly are just too dumb to die.

Your local water company doesn't go to that trouble!!:Smile:
 

Puddleduck

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The instructions for our van say not to drink the water from the cold water tank. I'd hazard a guess because if you don't drain down your tank after use and just keep topping up then nasty bugs could be in there..... We've used the Milton to sterilise the tank but in our two trips so far in the new-to-us motorhome have used a couple of bottles of water from home and then just filled the kettle / topped up the drinking water bottles from the drinking water taps on site.
 

Steve

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May 8, 2013
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From a Previous thread,




I have now been retired a year, well Simi retired anyway, And one of the posts I held was the responsible person ‘RP’ for Legionella at a large research Institute. If you tried to follow all the advice given you would probably never go near water again. So a degree of common sense is required. But to start with good old basic hygiene will cover most tank feed water systems. Fill up and use as quickly as possible. If leaving for a few weeks drain. The ‘Bug’ will not ‘grow’ below 20c or above 50c and 60c will kill it. Regular use of ‘bleach’ is good practice. Pay special attention to shower heads, remove and clean at least once a month or after a period of non-use re clean. Most of the people who contract ‘Legionella’ have a health issue, that is why older people are more likely to fair worse than younger ones, anyone with a immune compromise condition should take greater care. I could go on about this in very great depth but will stop for now but if others want more info I would be happy to share.
Steve.

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daisy mae

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Mar 12, 2013
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I`m a newbie, now 1 year
I was told Milton was a no no, in moroeohme water systems, doesn`t do the metal any good. water heater, I use the granules from the motor home /caravan dealers, sterilised the tank at start of year and again when drained down at end of ear rinse and leave tap open after draining down for the winter,

In thirty years 28 of those caravanning, never had a problem with water, have two 5 litre containers for drinking cold drinks and for the dogs water, , anything else including tea/coffee, washing up, showering etc. comes off the tank.

Just my personal view, think that all the allergies that seem to be about nowadays, didn`t hear of them decades ago, are due to folk being too clean and fastidious, not giving their immune system to work as it should and did. Remember when we all drank from the fountains in the park never had a problem then, never even thought about it, just got on with living .jmho.
 
Apr 27, 2008
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Always use the tank water for tea/coffee etc. I do keep a bottle or two in the fridge but just filled from the mains tap when available. Water is to take my multitudinous tablets, I don't normally have it as a drink.
 

phodetheus

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Jan 20, 2014
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even if you just wash up with the tank water, you should sterilise the system at least once a year due to various water-borne bugs. either that or have cast iron guts as its no fun having raging diarrhoea in a van

sterilise using milton fluid or better still sterilising tabs from a home brew shop

We also tried boiling our on board water once! Wont do that again lol. Thanks for the sterilising tip will make sure its done.

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OP
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Spidey
Jun 16, 2013
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Thanks everyone. We will run water through the tank before we leave the site today. In our caravan we carried a 5 litre water container for drinking. I was hoping to not need it, but I suppose no difference to the caravan really. I have a bottle for drinking so will use that this week.
 

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