contaminated water tanks ?

T

TJM

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My 1981 Taiwenese made trawler (which I have owned for one year) all of a sudden has started dispensing amber colored water from its on-board storage tanks. No foul smell, just a bad color. It affects the hot and cold water supply. I am baffled. All of the fittings that I see are either SS or plastic, the tanks are SS. The plumbing on the boat is terrible so diagnostics are tough. The three water tanks (total of 120 gallons) are connected in series with no check valves or isolation equipment.
The condition gets better when I hook up to the dock water supply but does not go away completely.
The first year that I had the boat I would drink the water and it would be fine. I ran bleach thru the tanks a month ago and it got a little better but know it has returned.
I use my water every day for showering etc... so it does not get stale from lack of usage.
In all of my 30 yrs of boating I have never treated my water system with any chemicals. Have I just been lucky ?

Anybody have suggestions as to the source ? Or what can I treat it with ??
I am a winter liveaboard so this definitely needs to be solved in a few months, lol
 
Amber color? Could it be rust somewhere in your system?

If the condition gets better when you hook up to dock water, do you happen to know where the dock-side inlet bypasses your tanks? There has to be a check-valve somewhere or you'd be pressurizing your tanks.
 
Jim, would that cause his cold water to be discolored too?
 
Not if only cold is turned on for a long time (more than a minute or two).
 
You put bleach into a stainless steel tank? That's the cause of your problem.
 
He did that after the problem arose I believe, Mike. If it wasn't a ton of bleach and wasn't left in too long the stainless should be able to deal with it.
 
Is it possible someone dropped something into the fresh water fill cap like a nail or something that can rust? If rust color is straight from tank, then it's something in the tank. Maybe cut a access hole on the top so you can look in.
 
Hogan:
I put the bleach in after the problem appeared hoping it would kill any bacteria (a long shot guess). I only put about a 1/4 cup of bleach in each tank,let it run into the system through all of the faucets. I then let it sit for about 6 hrs (remembering Peggy Hall's suggestion) and then flushed all of the tanks and lines empty.
I like the suggestion about the anode in the hot water tank. I will investigate that tonight.
I am thinking that it is rust, it has a slight smell of it ?????

I have also removed a few "gate valves" UGH !!! between the tanks that were frozen (rusted) open.
 
The bleach is a nonissue. Can you draw water from each tank separately?

Take a water sample and have it tested.

Have your dock water tested too.
 
Had a friend with the same thing recently. Turned out in his case the accumulator tank was rusting. Swapped that out and problem solved.
 
quote:
Originally posted by JohnC

Had a friend with the same thing recently. Turned out in his case the accumulator tank was rusting. Swapped that out and problem solved.

Click to expand...
<---THIS sounds like the most logical culprit.
 
I do not have an accumulator tank in the system. The variable speed pump does not require it. The water pump is a Jabsco with an in-line screen filter.
I am leaning towards the anode in the hot water tank being a possible culprit.
 
I too have a variable speed pump that does not require a accumulator tank. But, when my mechanic was looking for a reason why the pump was cycling every 60 seconds he found a tank under one of the bunks. When he tried to air it up water squirted out the fill valve...meaning the internal membrane was shot.

He put in a new tank, tightened up one water line under the sink and now the pump does not cycle until the tank pressure comes down enough to activate the variable speed pump. Sure, I could do without the tank but it keeps the pump from coming on instantly when a faucet is opened.
 
drain the tank and open the inspection port. something is in the water tank, a piece of wood or possibly rust from the accumulator tank. you would taste rust in the water. take a sample of the water and send it to a lab if you don't have an inspection port, at least then you will know what you are looking for.
 
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