Do you drink water from your onboard tank?

[Deleted member 21686]

good point alan,when i noticed the algae growing in my containers i sprayed them black toute suite. i loved i mean LOVED the learning curve,why else are old farts like us on this forum? to share

That is correct algae grows in tanks and as pointed out there is a process to keep this at bay.

There are many bugs that live off the algae and live in the water.

 

[n brown]

As a non-medical person, I am convinced that one of the reasons for the increase in allergies among young children is because they are shielded from things that they should be building up immunities to. Our attitude (and that of our children to our grandchildren) is that they should be allowed to eat (and drink) dirt and our offspring are as healthy as they come! Obviously we take reasonable precautions but, like so many things, there is no point in worrying too much about it.

surely this is basic stuff.when i see people buying anti bacterial this and that i just think.fell for that dincha?when i was a kid we didn't know what an allergy was,and cared less

 

[DRoader]

I drink water from my tank and I sterilise it once a year after the winter drain down.
I change the water every seven days if has not been used, but normally just keep it topped up.

Tap water contains chlorine that kills all the nasty stuff in it. The chlorine also kills any bugs in your water tank as it sloshes around.

About 30% of commercial bottled water is tap water anyway, the rest you drink at your peril. The water may not be treated and is not tested for quality as much as tap water is.

Hi Phil assuming you go abroad as well do you drain down and flush out your full water system when you feel a little uncomfortable with the water supply or only once a year whatever? Using the mains water supply available regularly I try to flush out everything when I can and make the most of whats available.

 

[REC]

We dont have onboard water tanks so no problem!!:dance: I agree that children live a sterilised life and are better taking a bit of muck..its all relative though, I wouldn't use water from a stream but I would from a spring. Its what was upstream that worries me (dead sheep, someone putting fertlisier/ weedkiller on their land)! We often fill up with water from springs in Portugal and avoid the tap water in the villages. But then in the supermarkets 5l of water is 35cents.

 

[ivecotrucker]

How the Other Half live !!. WC flushing with filtered water & showering with bottled !!

Correct Phil, the quality regulations on bottled water are generally less onerous than on tap supplies.
We normally always drink unboiled straight from our own tank & never had the heeby jeebies; as VWAlan says, a fill every now & then from a chlorinated supply should fix most bugs. We have occasionally boiled before drinking if the source was dubious. I drain down & pump the whole lot out, including the boiler, on a roughly monthly basis. After 3 years service I stripped down our boiler & was amazed at the amount of scale; approx 15% of the boiler volume was scale. Being a self build we sourced a marine boiler with sacrificial Mg anode & that was approx 40% wasted at 3 years.

 

[John H]

..... assuming you go abroad as well do you drain down and flush out your full water system when you feel a little uncomfortable with the water supply ?

I have drunk tap water all over the world. The main reason why people get stomach upsets from drinking water abroad is because it is different not that it is more dangerous. After a few days your body gets used to those differences, so if you are going to Egypt, say, for a week it might be a good idea to drink only bottled water or else you will spend most of that week on the bog - but if you are going for several weeks or months then do what everybody else does and drink it.

 

[Deleted member 21686]

I have drunk tap water all over the world. The main reason why people get stomach upsets from drinking water abroad is because it is different not that it is more dangerous. After a few days your body gets used to those differences, so if you are going to Egypt, say, for a week it might be a good idea to drink only bottled water or else you will spend most of that week on the bog - but if you are going for several weeks or months then do what everybody else does and drink it.

There's a different mineral content that can upset you but there are also water bourne pathergens.

 

[Deleted member 21686]

UV filtration, this will zap all the nasties.

And is that the end of it?

 

[vwalan]

generally these days if its a tap for drinking it will be ok . even the srings in spain these days are regularly checked .there very often is a plate they stick check stickers on. you do have to be carefull if taking water in the agriculture areas as that might be recycled water . but its not hard to get potable water in all countries in the eu.
its getting harder in morocco as the street taps are disapearing as every one gets on mains water.
it happened the same in spain a few years ago . still some around . but i can always find water . i think its like free parking .the more you do it the more it becomes a natural thing . sometimes you may have to let the water run awhile as it may be in pipes opn the surface and after a while it cleans up . taste is very often the way or just rub it on your lips . if its horrible dont drink it .
it is wise to always have some known good water in a container for emergency . if you need sterile water for washing cuts or contact lenses .use fresh pee . believe me .its ideal.

 

[John H]

There's a different mineral content that can upset you but there are also water bourne pathergens.

Now you're trying to blind me with science, aren't you? Is this a picture of a water-bourne thingy? :boat:

All I know is that I've managed to reach the age of 65 without too much time wasted thinking about what comes out of the tap in whatever country I'm in at the time - so you won't change my mind with all your talk of pathergens! :lol-061:

 

[maingate]

We drink from the fresh water tank. No germs in there at all. The water we put in is chlorinated, we drain down on the way home and fill up before we set out again. Simples.

Allergies have little to do with the water you drink. If it is bad water you get sick, not allergic. I have drank dodgy water and got the runs at first but you soon build up antibodies. I had a perfect set of them (antibodies that is) until I got Malaria and it wiped the bloody lot out. :mad1:

 

[Deleted member 21686]

Now you're trying to blind me with science, aren't you? Is this a picture of a water-bourne thingy? :boat:

All I know is that I've managed to reach the age of 65 without too much time wasted thinking about what comes out of the tap in whatever country I'm in at the time - so you won't change my mind with all your talk of pathergens! :lol-061:

Yes John that's what they look like. lol.

You are right John we do build up a resistance to some water bourne bugs but not all some are pretty nasty.

 

[Deleted member 21686]

We drink from the fresh water tank. No germs in there at all. The water we put in is chlorinated, we drain down on the way home and fill up before we set out again. Simples.

Allergies have little to do with the water you drink. If it is bad water you get sick, not allergic. I have drank dodgy water and got the runs at first but you soon build up antibodies. I had a perfect set of them (antibodies that is) until I got Malaria and it wiped the bloody lot out. :mad1:

What happens then do you have start building antibodies again?

 

[John H]

Allergies have little to do with the water you drink. If it is bad water you get sick, not allergic. I have drank dodgy water and got the runs at first but you soon build up antibodies.

My defence is that I did say I was speaking as a non-medical person, so I got the terms wrong but I don't think it alters the basic point that we try to protect ourselves too much when we should be building up immunities. I'll try not to get malaria, though!

 

[vwalan]

bet you had a good dose of lariam to get rid of the maleria . that as its problems . dont know what to do about maleria . i,m told just take loads of larium if you should get it .but dont take a course before as it as bad side problems . always take some with us if heading south in africa orover to asia . glad i havent caught it yet.

 

[John H]

You are right John we do build up a resistance to some water bourne bugs but not all some are pretty nasty.

I'll just growl at the nasty ones. Or refer them to one or two members on here - that'll scare the life out of them :raofl:

 

[maingate]

What happens then do you have start building antibodies again?

Yes mate, that is why when the Malaria is under control you feel like £$%^ for months before you feel normal again.

Hi Alan, are they still using Lariam? I thought it would have been banned by now due to the side effects. It works though. I got some from my doctor to try before I went to Angola (my jobsite was in the Guinness Book of Records as the worst place on the Planet for Malaria, and they were right :mad1. I used to find myself at my Mothers house, 10 miles away from my house. I intended to drive there, I just could not remember doing it. Weird tablets man.

 

[vwalan]

hi maingate .as far as i know .i do have some here about 8 months worth if you used them on a course . but they do say dont take them for longer than 3-4 months .as a precaution . i know they arent cheap. think that lot was 200quid between two of us . after we got them another doctor friend said dont use as a course just take them if you get it . luckily we never got it . didfnt get to angola .only as far as nigeria . think we were lucky . used nets and coils . etc .
as for tummy upsets you cant beat doing your own cooking and looking after your own hygene . lots dysinfectant etc . amazing what you learn on your travels though . never liked putting iodine in the water tastes crap .but have drank lots of it . orange juice helps kill the taste. .

 

[Tbear]

No water is perfect. the sooner you drink it after it leaves the tap the better. The longer and the warmer it is stored in plastic the greater the chance of chemicals leaching out of the plastic. Which chemicals and how harmful they are who knows. Better to avoid them.

Boiling water kills germs but does not get rid of chemical contaminants.

If milton is good enough for babies bottles then its good enough for your tank.

There is not enough chlorine in tap water to sterilise your tank but a good flush out with good clean water will do it the world of good.

Cutting out the light may stop the algae (storing in black plastic) growing but does not effect many pathogens.

Alan,
Your urine is microfiltered but the "outlet" may be contaminated. Think where it's been and been stored. Then think cystitis. If in doubt use boiled water on cuts and grazes.

I agree with the old school that it does no good to keep kids in a sterile environment but on the other hand drinking contaminated water kills huge numbers of people every year

Richard

 

[Northerner]

Word of advice from someone who's been there. Never drink water in developing countries. Just because the natives have drunk it all their life doesn't mean that they've developed some kind of resistance to it and neither will you.

Children in these countries can carry up to 1000 hookworms, roundworms and whipworms in their bodies, which cause anaemia, stunted growth and other debilitating conditions. One gram of faeces can contain 10,000,000 viruses, 1,000,000 bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs and seven out of 10 childhood deaths in developing countries can be attributed to just five main causes of which one, diarrhoea, is caused by water-borne pathogens.

When I went to Tibet, where the water has very nasty parasitic worms called Giardia and Cryptosporidium, I took one of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aquapure-11...7AG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341559583&sr=8-1

I only needed to use it a couple of times as we were able to obtain bottled water, which is guaranteed to be free of any nasties.