So I bought a boat that I thought was an amazing steal, turns out it wasn't. The boat needs everything, wiring, pumps, the works. I know now I should have hired a surveyor but I'm a fool. Anyhow when I pulled off the fresh water pump I was hit with a very heavy sulpher smell. What gives? Its a 10 gal. Poly tank. How do you suggest I clean it out? Thanks, John
Smelly fresh water tank
- Thread starter jf13624
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I have had the same sulfer smell. My cure was to put bleach in the fresh water tank. Perhaps an ounce per 5 gallons. We never drink water from the tank nor use it to cook with. The fresh water tank is used to clean dishes and to shower. Good fresh water is brought aboard for brushing teeth and for coffee. I would flush the system and then add bleach (couple of ounces per gallon) on the last fill up. Flush again and fill up with some bleach (this time a little less). My problem is that I do not use a lot of water and it sits in the boat for several weeks and gets nasty unless I add bleach.
If you take care to put only decent quality water in your boat's fresh water tank and properly maintain it, there is no reason to bring bottled water along for drinking, cooking, etc. Putting excessive amounts of chlorine in the water will lead to early failure of rubber parts such as pump impellers and washers.
There are many sources of information on how to "commission" or "shock" a boat's fresh water system, but basically, drain the system (don't forget the water heater but turn it off first), add chlorine, then fill the system with clean water and run each outlet until you can smell the chlorine. Let it sit a few hours, drain everything, fill and flush a couple times until the chlorine smell is gone. This is a good time to inspect and clean any aerators.
If you're filling the system with well water, you will need to add a small amount of chlorine to treat it just as city water is treated. With city water, if it makes you feel better, you can add just a little more chlorine, perhaps a teaspoon for thirty gallons. You shouldn't be able to taste or smell it.
I've been doing this for several years on two different boats. No smell, no bad taste, no problems.
BTW: Get a drinking water safe hose and use only this hose to fill your water system. Don't use it for anything else and don't leave it where someone else might use it for something else.
Thanks for the advice. Boat is 17 years old and never had a problem with impellers or washers. The smell of the water is much less than what a swimming pool smells like. I'm a weekend boater and need less than a gallon of fresh water to get me through the weekend. I do not see any reason not to play it on the safe side and bring water I know is safe, than to use the marina's well water. In fact the only time my water smells is when I use their water. If I bring from home to fill up the fresh water tank it seems fine. Problem is that it's a PIA to fill 5 gallon jugs to haul down to the boat versus a ounce of bleach.
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The reason the water smells from your marina's wells is that there are little critters in well water (just like city water sources, which is why they add Chlorine). Ron's advice is spot-on. A teaspoon of bleach per 30 or so gallons will take care of such issues and not damage anything. Feel free to bring that bottled water as well. It's your boat, by all means do what you feel comfortable with. But a tiny bit of bleach will keep that smell down for you.
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A trick I learned, from reading forums here on BE that I find to work like a charm, is after all of the chlorine treatments and subsequent flushing, add a bottle of cheap Vodka to the tank and fill it up. Let it set over night then flush and refill. You will be amazed at how fresh your water will Taste.
Also, I added a very high quality filter at the galley sink as an added measure. We regularly drink and cook with onboard water and never had any problems doing so.
Bob