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Bleach and water softeners

Discussion in 'Watermakers' started by C4ENG, May 25, 2008.

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  1. C4ENG

    C4ENG Senior Member

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    I use a water softener to fill the fresh water tanks onthe boat. I would like to add a cup or 2 of bleach to the tanks and the easiest way to do this is through the water softners.
    Does any one know if that would hurt the water softner to have some bleach run through it mixed with the incoming fresh water?
  2. Ken Bracewell

    Ken Bracewell Senior Member

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    Why not just put it in the tank prior to filling? It dispurses readily enough.
  3. C4ENG

    C4ENG Senior Member

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    Becuase the water softher is plumbed in real nice to the water fill port and I don't want to go disasambling the plumbing...
  4. Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    Try good old Aquasol, I have'nt found anything better in 25 years.
    On the big boats we used make 40 tonnes a day and had to add a pre-mixed powder for the recipe of water!!!!!!!
  5. C4ENG

    C4ENG Senior Member

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    Although I just now realize that there is a by-pass plumbed in the softner and I can easily poor a cup of bleach down the deck fill with out any concern.. But I am now still curiuos if you could still hurt a softner with bleach...
  6. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Why are you particularly wanting to add bleach to your water tanks?
  7. C4ENG

    C4ENG Senior Member

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    I have R/O water in the tanks now and I am back on the dock taking on fresh water. I often wonder if there is micro organisms that could spond with the R/O water to give it a picular smell after being a couple days old. I know what R/O water in the tank being fresh is like...
    Thats why I was thinking of througing a cup of bleach in for, but yet I still had not done it and it's probably not going to get done today by the looks of things now....
  8. Garry Hartshorn

    Garry Hartshorn Senior Member

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    I understand your reasons for chlorinating your water but it's not really a good idea because.

    1. If you have an biological black water treatment system even such a small amount of chlorine with harm the bacteria

    2. If you flush or clean your watermakers with chlorinated water you will harm the membranes
  9. Seafarer

    Seafarer Senior Member

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    Chlorination levels tested at 0.3-0.5 mg/l. (3 3/4 mg/gallon) free chlorine for drinking water are sufficient to knock out most common or expected pathogens. That's a really low amount, and in order to maintain it (over .5 mg/l. free chlorine water starts tasting bleachy) you really need to monitor the outflow almost daily if you're replenishing with city water, well water, or R/O, typically using a DPD testing kit that tests only free chlorine not total chlorine. If you have space, the easiest, safest, most accurate/precise/consistent setup would be an injection system, which would allow the chlorine to be added after the softener system and only inject it as water is consumed. Most chlorination systems recommend using distilled or softened water for making up the chlorine solution - not sure what harm it'd do to the softener, however, to run chlorine through it.

    If your concern is disinfecting the tank, then superchlorination would probably be your best bet, followed by a thorough flush of the system through every tap (cleaning the house lines at the same time). This is a time consuming process to be done right, finding the chlorination breakpoint, even more so in a drinking water system than a pool, though most information you can readily look up on the subject is likely to be for swimming pools. The same concepts and math apply.

    It's not as simple as pouring a couple of cups in the tank, as you can do more harm than good that way.
  10. Antonio Torres

    Antonio Torres Member

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    I'm not aware of what is available for boating in particular, but ultraviolet rays kill germs.
    If you have an ultraviolet light device before the water flows into the tanks, you will get sterilized water without need for chlorine.
    Its recommended to filter the water before the ultraviolet light device, to remove particles that might hide germs from light.
    Ultraviolet light is used to sterilize water with success, even on large systems.
  11. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Antonio, you would do some good to read up on the regulations covering drinking water on yachts.

    UV is not acceptable for treatment of water on the way to Storage Tanks.
  12. C4ENG

    C4ENG Senior Member

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    So, how much do U V's really do?

    That's a whole other interesting subject on it's own.....
  13. Seafarer

    Seafarer Senior Member

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    UV's do a lot. My home water system (well water that was contaminated with MTBE 8 years ago, before I bought the house) is treated with particulate filtration, then a three-stage carbon filter system, then UV. While the biological pathogens are nearly zero before the filtration, they are at zero after the UV. I've been told by Severn Trent (the company that does the filtration) and the company that does the monthly testing that UV light treatment is highly effective, even where there is a much greater biological concentration.
  14. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    In a marine application a UV Steriliser can be used in a Domestic Fresh Water circulation system to treat water on the way to the consumer, the system must have a certain maximum size for "dead legs" (sections where the actual connection is made to the consumer and there is no circulation).

    In the LY 2 Code (Section 21.8)The MCA refers to either Silver Ionisation or chlorination of the Water Making Machines water as an acceptable disinfection arrangement.
    Last edited: May 28, 2008