Here's the "Shock Treatment" that Peggie Hall has recommended:

In a container, mix a solution of 1/4 cup of household bleach to a gallon of
water.
Empty your tank(s) and pour in 1 gallon of this solution for each 15 gallons
of tank capacity.
Fill the tank completely full and run all faucets to fill all the hoses and
faucets. Don't forget the one in the cockpit.
Top off the tank with fresh water and let stand for 3 hours.
Then pump all the water out, fill again, pump dry again and fill for use.

Don

"R.W. Behan" wrote in message
...
Cindy,

When we bought our 20 year-old Victory Tug, the "water" in the tanks
looked something like chicken gravy. We pumped all that out, then
scrubbed as much of the inside of the tanks as we could reach. Then we
filled the tanks with a fairly stout solution of chlorine bleach and
water. I don't recall the proportions, but we weren't too concerned
because we intended to pump the tanks dry again. We left the stuff in
there over night, and then pumped the tanks dry and refilled them with
plain water--twice. (We made sure we pumped at lot of the water through
the hot water faucets, to get the hot water heater tank cleaned out, too.)
We filled them one more time, assuming the trace of chlorine couldn't be
any more than you'd find in domestically treated water. We've been happy
ever since, but we make it a point NOT to be stingy with our use of the
boat's water. (A distinct turnaround from our sailboat cruising days.)
We want to keep pumping fresh water through the system rapidly, to
minimize the chance for beasties to grow in it. AND we change the water
filter fairly often, too.

Hope this helps.

Dick Behan
LNVT "Annie"


"Cindy Ballreich" wrote in message
...

I've been doing a long overdue cleaning of our two stainless steel fresh
water tanks. All appears to be well with the tanks and I didn't find any
nasty surprises when I opened them up. I've cleaned out the small amount
of sediment that I found, and rinsed the tanks several times with fresh
water. Before I button them up, I'd like to do anything I can to remove
the last of the "tank taste". I'm concerned about using a chemical that
would cause problems with the water system or leave an unpleasant flavor
of it's own. I know that baking soda and hydrogen peroxide have been
discussed here before, but never quite in this context. If anyone
(especially Peggie Hall) would like to offer comments, I'd love to hear
them.

Thanks

Cindy


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