Got to Have Good Water!

[edroid]

Best thing that I have done to the SMB is to install a Seagull water purifier. It removes all nasties, and tastes great.

The recommended procedure is to chlorinate the water in the tank up to 3 ppm, preventing mold, bacteria, etc. The chlorine dosage is supposedly 1 tsp of Clorox per 10 gallons of water. The Seagull filter then strips the chlorine out (also any viruses, bacteria, cysts, etc) and it really tastes great.

I can't stand the idea of carrying a jug of Clorox around. I will eventually spill it, or it will leak, hard to measure, etc.

This product called Aquatabs sounds perfect. Three tabs for a 15 gallon tank to bring to about 3 ppm of chlorine. It is specifically for potable water (not pool chemicals) and also includes a chlorine test strip per tab. BUT NOT AVAILABLE IN THE USA!

http://globalhydration.myshopify.com/co ... marine-kit

The only tabs I have seen for sale in the USA are for treating one quart at a time, so my tank would take about 60 tablets!

Questions:

Does anyone know of any chlorine tablets that might work?

How about high quality chlorine test strips?

[edroid]

So I called the Canadian distributor of Aquatabs. He said that it took about $100,000 to have the smaller 1 liter tablets reviewed and certified by the EPA for sale in the US.

He said it just wasn't worth it to take the larger tablets through the regulatory process for an uncertain US market.

Remember years ago when Americans would make fun of all those silly foreign bureaucrats?

[LenS]

A tsp 'typically' equals 100 drops and 100 drops of fresh Clorox bleach would yield 25 ppm chlorine concentration. That in a half hour should kill and viruses and bacteria in water that is even cloudy to start with.

Blousing web page on several Seagull systems ($500-$1,000) indicates that the filter stage is a 0.4um ABSOLUTE filter. That is good and would take out all (99.99%+) of all cysts (the stuff that resists clorine).

To be a true EPA registered (EPA does not do the testing. The vendor must pay $$$ an independent lab to do it and submit paperwork to EPA) water PURIFIER Seagull should be publishing reduction number for cysts, bacteria, and virus right up front in their advertizing. Are they really EPA certified?

I would think a pint container of Clorox would treat 100 15 gallon tanks of water. That would be enough almost to be a full timer in an RV. A pint size container would be easier to handle.

Any pill (dry dose of chlorine) I think would cost your $2-$4 per tank full of water. Clorox would only cost you a few cents a fill.

Here is a good article on your options:

http://www.whentechfails.com/node/27

[edroid]

Originally Posted by LenS

A tsp 'typically' equals 100 drops and 100 drops of fresh Clorox bleach would yield 25 ppm chlorine concentration. That in a half hour should kill and viruses and bacteria in water that is even cloudy to start with.

Blousing web page on several Seagull systems ($500-$1,000) indicates that the filter stage is a 0.4um ABSOLUTE filter. That is good and would take out all (99.99%+) of all cysts (the stuff that resists clorine).

To be a true EPA registered (EPA does not do the testing. The vendor must pay $$$ an independent lab to do it and submit paperwork to EPA) water PURIFIER Seagull should be publishing reduction number for cysts, bacteria, and virus right up front in their advertizing. Are they really EPA certified?

I would think a pint container of Clorox would treat 100 15 gallon tanks of water. That would be enough almost to be a full timer in an RV. A pint size container would be easier to handle.

Any pill (dry dose of chlorine) I think would cost your $2-$4 per tank full of water. Clorox would only cost you a few cents a fill.

Here is a good article on your options:

http://www.whentechfails.com/node/27

LenS,

25 ppm is over the top strong. Municipal systems usually chlorinate to .5 to 1.5 ppm. The article you linked to showed 2 drops / quart would yield a 4ppm solution. That would be 120 drops for my 15 gallon tank. I think I want a bit less than 4ppm. There are lots of different dosing recommendations, so I am going to try and find some way to test my water for chlorine concentration to be sure.

You are absolutely correct on the tablets being a more costly solution - that is until I spill the Clorox on my carpet and have to replace the whole thing!

The Seagull filter is awesome. I highly recommend it (as long as it holds up long term). It is expensive, but hey, they have to pay for all the lab work they had done! Here is the link to all their EPA certification stuff:

http://generalecology.com/info/test_data

[LenS]

Everyone wants to be on the safe side and make safe recommendations. The common dose number is 8ppm of chlorine for clear water. For cloudy water most everyone recommends doubling the dose, so that on the surface takes the water 16ppm. In the ball park of the 25ppm. They keep on adding more to try and kill the bugs and cysts.....which, the cysts, in the final analysis they "probably" don't neutralize anyway. Dose levels are also figured on a 30 minute dwell time. Oh, some people might not wait 30 minutes....so up the dose so that the water is safe in 15-20 minutes. Etc.

Organic particles in the water (cloudy water, etc) suck up chlorine and that chlorine is not available to kill the bacteria and virus.

The 0.5ppm to 1.5ppm in community water systems is the RESIDUAL chlorine level they try to maintain at the farthest point in the system. The residual is needed to keep the 'bugs' from starting to grow again and also keep the water in bike rack water bottle safe for several days.

Attached is a survey of many articles on making water safe.