Healthy/Green Fresh water storage tank

[SteelyDan]

Has anyone experimented with this? I was thinking a custom made stainless tank, or maybe bpa free food grade plastic?

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by SteelyDan

Has anyone experimented with this? I was thinking a custom made stainless tank, or maybe bpa free food grade plastic?

Sorta curious...what makes my good old fashion standard RV fresh water tank non healthy/green?

[SteelyDan]

Almost all clear food grade plastic contains bisphenol a, which is pretty nasty stuff. Plastic that is around 30 year old will most likely be starting to deteriorate at this point as well.
A mod like this definitely isn't for everyone, but considering the lengths we're going to make this a health conscious machine, I figured its worth investigating.

[reinergirl]

I intend to put a kayak hatch in mine so I have the ability of clean it really well. Most people don't drink from their tank do they? Read this thread about the need for a way to clean

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f443...tch-69584.html

I ordered mine from here Hatches : Toms TopKayaker Shop, Your Online Outfitter

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by SteelyDan

Almost all clear food grade plastic contains bisphenol a, which is pretty nasty stuff. Plastic that is around 30 year old will most likely be starting to deteriorate at this point as well.
A mod like this definitely isn't for everyone, but considering the lengths we're going to make this a health conscious machine, I figured its worth investigating.

Ok, I see. How much of a real problem do think this really is? I have to assume my new tank I installed in my home build toy hauler last summer is less dangerous then the old tank in my Airstream? What about the water pipes and fixtures? What are you going to do to ensure the actual water itself is pure that you put in the tank?

[SteelyDan]

We're planning on a heavy duty water filtering system, and on replacing all the fresh water piping with either metal or toxin free plastic.
It's hard to say how much of a problem it is. It's the worst when things heat up outside and the plastic gets a bit softer, which leads to leaching. I think its a safe assumption that the new tank you installed is "healthier" then the old plastic in your AS.

[SteelyDan]

@reiner girl, Most people drink from the city supply, but we plan on doing a good deal of boondocking, and need as much portable water as we can get! Does anyone have grey water recycling systems in their RV? That'd be pretty cool!

[eddiemoab]

I understand polypropylene is approved safe for drinking water which is what H2O tanks are made of. I put one in my vintage Boles Aero along with an under sink water filtration system just for drinking.

[SmokelessJoe]

SteelyDan, dadstoy:

If you read the thread below, as suggested by reinergirl, - top to bottom - you'll get a sense of what the problems can be with the 30+ year old molded plastic fresh water tanks in Airstreams:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f443...tch-69584.html


'Best you carry bottled water for drinking SteelyDan (Aluminum Trailer Man). I think you'll find that by the time your tank serves the toilet, dishes and showers there is going to be very little, if any, left for drinking.

I never drink from the tank but I don't want to shower in crud-filled water either. You can see in the attached thread what scuzzy stuff can accumulate there.



Sergei

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by SmokelessJoe

SteelyDan, dadstoy:

If you read the thread below, as suggested by reinergirl, - top to bottom - you'll get a sense of what the problems can be with the 30+ year old molded plastic fresh water tanks in Airstreams:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f443...tch-69584.html

'Best you carry bottled water for drinking SteelyDan (Aluminum Trailer Man). I think you'll find that by the time your tank serves the toilet, dishes and showers there is going to be very little, if any, left for drinking.

I never drink from the tank but I don't want to shower in crud-filled water either. You can see in the attached thread what scuzzy stuff can accumulate there.

Sergei

Sergei, I took a look at your link. Thanks for the heads up!

[perryg114]

You can get a good carbon filter to run water through that will get most of the organics out of it. It is best to clean your fresh water tank with bleach prior to using it. I am with the bottled water for drinking crowd. You can also get water filters that will allow you to filter water out of a stream and drink that. I would think the water out of the stream would be more of a challenge to clean than what comes out of your tank. It is really hard to get away from plastics. Plumbing is made from plastic, PVC, Polyethylene, Polybutyl, etc. Copper pipe even has lead solder many times. There are rubber gaskets in your fawcets. Bottled water even comes in plastic. If you are paranoid then run everything through a carbon filter or if you are really paranoid you can get a reverse osmosis filter with a carbon prefilter.

Perry

[0557]

I would recommend a good flouride filter as well. There are more negative results from flouride usage being absorbed into the skin, aside from the BPA
In plastic.
I use a 3 stage whole house filter Inline for everything. Around $300.
Worth it.

[Kosm1o]

I don't know of any statistics on this but I think the greater danger is an acute one from contamination that one might pick up from a poorly handled hose, or just being a little careless when filling a tank. We use a filtered hose adapter and take great care where we fill up and how we do it. And always protect the hose by attaching the male and female end to each other to protect them from contaminants. Keep the tank clean and your likelihood of injesting something bad will be greatly reduced.

[perryg114]

A little house hold bleach will take care of any biohazards. You can get some pool test strips to test for parts per million on Chlorine. You want something like 1-3 ppm. You can figure out how much chlorine to add using the strips as a guide. A carbon filter will get the bleach and Flouride out of the water. Even if your take really good precautions, stuff will grow in the tank unless you sterilize is periodically. There is some Chlorine in tap water that will help keep things clean if the tank is used often. So get in the habit of sterilizing before going on a trip.

Perry

[mefly2]

Originally Posted by SteelyDan

@reiner girl, Most people drink from the city supply, but we plan on doing a good deal of boondocking, and need as much portable water as we can get! Does anyone have grey water recycling systems in their RV? That'd be pretty cool!

... potable water for us ... carried independent of the AS tank supply ...

[ROBERT CROSS]

How many???

Bottle their own water.

We also never use the FW tank for consumption. But do bleach clean often during the season.

We sterilize our own containers and bring filtered water from home.

Dislike the landfill concerns with all those gallon jugs.

Plus.. good joe is just too important to jeprodize with funky water.

Bob

[tvoneicken]

We do not drink from the AS tank either. We carry three AquaPak's which we fill up from our home reverse osmosis system. In the AS I've removed the microwave and I put one of the aquapak's in the opening with the spout sticking out. Not pretty, but very convenient. Someday I'll improve the looks. While driving, the aquapak comes down.
We're 2 people and when boondocking we seem to first fill up the gray water, followed closely by emptying the fresh, and we still have a good amount of drinking water left.

[chromis]

I think most tanks are made out of white "opaque" HDPE, this typically doesn't contain BPA.. unlike the liner metal food cans or clear plastic polycarbonate bottles ( nalgene water bottles ). I think PEX is HDPE as well..

Even stainless put a small amount of contaminates in water .. it contains Chromium... so take care with the quality of stainless materials used to make tanks...

[Protagonist]

If you're shopping for potable water tanks, insist on tanks made of "food grade" materials, as certified by National Sanitation Foundation (NSF)/American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standard 61. If the tank has the NSF/ANSI 61 stamp on it, you will know that it will not leach any harmful chemicals into your drinking water.

As a caution, though, NSF/ANSI 61 does NOT tell you whether the material supports microbial growth or reacts with chemicals that are already in the water, only that the tank material itself is safe to be in contact with drinking water.

By the way, NSF/ANSI 61 applies not only to tanks, but also other plumbing fittings, pipe joint sealants, etc, every fitting or piece of equipment from the inlet to the faucet. Every component of your potable water system should be NSF/ANSI 61 certified.

I had to research this for my job, when we were installing new potable water wells at some of our field installations.

[SteelyDan]

Awesome info! Thanks everyone!