Water Tank Filling Checks

 

Healthy water tanks = healthy sailors.

Filling the water tanks from a town supply can be a hit and miss affair, in the past we were caught out when we filled the tanks with water that was so highly chlorinated we think the local public pool would have had less. While we are not sure of the reason for the over chlorination we now follow a short procedure prior to filling the tanks every time. The test procedure is that we let the hose run for at least a minute and take a sample; we then check the sample for smell, clarity and taste. Once the water passes our short test we fill a tank, but don’t fill the next tank with out doing the same tests again. 

We use a charcoal filter every time now

Water tank filling charcoal filter setup, this unit can also be taken ashore in the tender and used if your not taking the boat to the dock

The charcoal filter ready for storage, this stops the filter drying out. 

In addition to the pre fill tests we then run the water through an activated charcoal filter to filter out organic impurities. The parts required to put a filter together are available at the local hardware store and it’s easy to assemble your own. Another good reason for using an activated charcoal filter is to stop sludge from entering your tanks, if you have a water maker the water in the tanks now has greatly reduced chlorine if you require to do a back flush. Then if you run all your water through a charcoal filter the risk of bringing aboard bacteria into the water tanks is reduced. Good quality filters sometimes actually give the specs for bacteria control using the filter.   Lastly if your tanks are aluminum the risk of corrosion from suspended metals and chlorine is reduced.