Camping Trailer water tanks.

A mate of mine had the same problem with the plastic vats he was using for his home brew. He went to a home brew shop who sold him some solution to remove the foul taste. Having tried the before and (lots of) the after samples, I know the solution worked a treat. Perhaps try your local brew shop.

For nasties to grow you need water with copious quantities of air. If you empty your tanks after use there will always be some water left in the bottom (unless you take it off and turn it on end.) An "empty" tank will have plenty of air to feed the bit of water in the bottom.

It is better to chock fill your tank and thus eliminate most of the air. You will have less air in a full tank than water in an empty tank. You will thus have less growth of nasties.

PeterD

The plastic taste could be comming from the hose you use to fill the tank, try filling it through a food grade hose (can get from Bunnings) and all your hoses on the tank are food grade aswell.
Cheers Dave...

The main culprit for foul water in tanks is filling with a common garden hose. For sweet water use only a Quality Food Grade Hose after letting the water flow through it for about 30 seconds.
To clean the tank try one of the following.
# A cup of plain household bleach (Non scented like lemon - Yuck) mixed with a full tank of clean water. Method used by most caravan dealers for used vans.
# 1/2 pkt of Bi-carb soda as above.
# 1/2 bottle of "Miltons" Baby bottle steriliser or Brewers steriliser etc.
# There are also a number of Commercial brands of tank cleaners available at Caravan accessory and Cmaping Store outlets.
Allow the solution to stand in the tank for a day or two then drain and flush the tank with clean water. Refill and allow to stand again.
Then flush and refill again. Everything should now taste and smell OK.
Don't forget to pump some of the solution through the water hoses and pipes etc and the same with the fresh water when flushing.
Good luck.
ozjohn

ged-day
hi the product tank clean/kleen i think from memory? was seen by me at a bunnings store or camping store or it could have been a camec caravan supplies outlet but not 100% sure on that.

and if you do locate this product it's important to fill the tank and leave it for a few days so the product can do it;s thing, dont be impatient it's not a 5 minute fix

as far as the tank goes and i'll stand to be corrected by anyone alse as there's always a smorgasbord of opinions you will get on here

in saying that ,this is my bit on it
after decades of dealing with algae growth in tanks and troughs from my farming experience over many years with metal/concrete and fibreglass tanks and troughs
i have found that tanks that are full all the time never seem to grow grunge (unless a bird gets in and drowns) but those that have a 3/4- 1/2 - 1/4 or less water level will always have algae as it needs oxygen and light and low levels aid this and we also found that when a tank was scrubbed out to remove algae it was always important to leave it dry during a couple of hot days this would kill the bacteria otherwise it would instantly start growing if the tank was refilled immediately

as for the odour problem your tank must be made out of al-cheapo plastic as i had a tank made by bunbury welded plastics out of black polly and have had no taste or odour/algae problems and always keep it full in storage i have done the same with my caravan that i had for 24yrs with good results

the pipe or hose fitted to your camper may be the where the plastic taste is coming from if the tank is of quality material
i fitted food grade hose to mine when i installed it obtained from clark rubber or camec caravan supplies
hope the above is off some use but know that i will probably be contradicted anyway cheers
mazcan barry

I guess I am not unique when I say that both my mum and my wife have extensive collections of Tuperware. No I don't want to criticise the product but for a while I carried my lunch to school in such a product. It was great, kept the lunch fresh and stopped the sandwiches getting squashed by all those books. On the odd occasion I did not eat the delicious lunch lovingly prepared by mum it would get replaced by the next days supply. Unless of course this strange event occured on the last day of term. Then the sandwiches would sit in the plastic box for up to 6 weeks gradually aquireing the taste of the plastic, The solution was to eat the lunch quickly, don't keep it in the box for 6 weeks.



I believe the problem of taste comes from long term storage in a plastic tank. My parents had a problem with water when they were living on board a boat and had water stored for long periods in aluminium tanks. They lined the tanks in an effort to stop the taste but that only changed the taste. They tried bladders like in a wine cask and that too failed to stop the water tasting bad.

When the boat was placed in storage for any length of time they used compressed air and heaters to dry the tanks and when refilled the taste was not evident but it always came back.

I carry my drinking water for extended trips in plastic jerry cans and use a siphon to access it. I only carry the water I need and when I am finished the trip I empty the cans onto the garden. I usually fill direct from the tap but have used a garden hose on more than one occasion. These jerry cans are stored empty with the lids loosly screwed on to keep dust out but allow the can to breath. I have never had a problem with taste.

It's what works for me.

Duncs

Iwannon tainted water, DON'T use the garden hose to fill the tanks. Food grade plastic hose (white with blue stripes), readily available from Bunnings, is the way to go. Good luck.

I had the same problem - ended up being the hoses supplied with the tank. Changed the lot to the blue braided water hose (Nylex or Neta brands) and solved the problem - tank itself was fine.

And just a warning about the Pope brand light blue drinking water hose - it tastes like plastic - as bad as most garden hoses.