sterilising water system

[RichardJ]

Morning all

I was reading last night that the water system should be sterilised at the end of the season, we did'nt last year, How is it done?, is the water re-circulated with sterilising fluid mixed in? The water in the system is never used fpr drinking, so if there were anu funny tastes we would not have noticed. For all those members who do this,what is the best way?

Regards

 

[JTQ]

If its a van with a Truma boiler don't Milton or any chlorine based steriliser as these can attack the stainless steel cylinder.

If you cant live without knowing its been sterilised and must use these products then for sure don't leave them in for more that an hour or so and purge well afterwards.

Just using a whole Aquaroll of truly fresh tap water run through the system is all you should need to do to keep it sweet.

 

[RogerL]

Milton is recommended by Truma as an alternative cleanser !!

We use Puriclean, which like Milton is chlorine-based - just fill the external water container, let it stand for an hour to cleanse, then fill the caravan system and let it stand for another hour - drain down, refill with clean water to rinse and drain a final time.

 

[parker1158]

I do mine as described above but don't forget if you have a filter the steriliser will render it useless so this will need changing after the clean up operation.

 

[Oldfogey]

Even if you don't use it for drinking, you should still sterilise - if there are any germs in the system, washing up, showering, cleaning teeth etc. all put you in contact.

And if you are going to use Milton - get the identical Tesco own brand at half the price!

 

[JTQ]

RogerL,

I am surprised at your comment that Truma recommend Milton as quoting from my 2002 Truma manual it states the opposite.

The full quote is: "Maintenance

Use wine vinegar for de-scaling the water neater this being introduced into the appliance via the water supply. Allow the product to react and then thoroughly flush out the appliance with plenty of fresh water. To sterilise the water we recommend ,Certisil-Argento". Other products; particularly those containing chlorine are unsuitable.

Note: The water container that is used is made from food-proof VA stainlesssteel. The plastic angled water connectors and the safety/ drain valve fulfill the EC guideline for food quality in plastic parts 90/128/EEC.

However, in order to avoid the colonization of micro-organisms, we recommend heating up the tank to 70

 

[alaintaylor]

This is all very worrying. 70 degrees is nowhere near enough to sterilise using heat only and note Truma say to "avoid infestation", not sterilise. Check the Truma website, the comment about chlorine was withdrawn from post 2002 heater manuals. Go to http://www.truma.com/_anweisungen/Truma-Katalog/gb/boiler/ultrastore.html for details.

Anyone know what Certisil or Micropur Forte are? These are what Truma recommends for sterilising.

Alan

 

[rob_jax]

Hi,

I know Micropur is a mixture of Silver (as a soluble ionic salt) and Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate...

The Silver ions will help keep sterile water clean for month and month.

But guess what - Dichloroisocyanurate is a real Chlorine steriliser - it releases free Chlorine on contact with water.

Normal bleach type (Sodium Oxychloride) solutions - such as Milton - work because the Oxychloride ion is good at killing bacteria. And it only goes "wrong" when the water is made acid - and the Oxychloride decomposes into free Chlorine and water.

Helping to stop Oxychloride decomposing is the fact that it is naturally alkaline - and that's going to cause a few issues for low grade stainless steel.

But back to Micropur - So why recommend a steriliser based on a compound that instantly reacts with water to release free Chlorine? That stands a very good chance of tainting any plasticiser in any plastic tubing, bottles, whatever.

But thinking about this a bit more - maybe some of the problems have been due to the camper thinking "I'll make up a stronger solution to make sure it's really clean" or even not bothering to accurately dose the containers with either the steriliser or the wash water. This thought came to me thinking about how campers add the pink and blue fluids to their toilets - most don't boter to measure with any accuracy...

And on stainless steel - it's resistance to Chlorine is very dependent on the grade (composition) of stainless steel - some are impervious, some are awful. And couple this with the alkaline nature of traditional "bleach" based sterilisers and I'm sure that's more than enough to cause the odd problem.

Robert

 

[KeithJ]

Hi

I bought a bottle of Milton this week to sterilise the system in my 'van. On the bottle it says allow 15 minutes for the mixture (Milton and Water) to take effect. From what Robert is saying it looks as though this is critical, as is the mixture strength - I have always been one of the guilty ones that he mentioned - and with toilet chemicals! Just goes to show that we've all got room to learn. Thanks Robert

Keith

 

[AnnM1]

I recently read an article where denture sterilising tablets were useful for flushing through the caravan water system. Was considering trying this method. You can also purcahse sterilising tablets which might help. Just pop one into the water container on each filling.

 

[catherine2]

I have just purchased a bottle of milton for other purposes but it does say on the back to avoid contact with metal, which I suppose is what the water heater is partly composed of. When I rang the company they advised that milton can be used on metal but with a maximum contact time of half an hour.

Hope this helps.

 

[welshlass]

i have used milton as a sterilizer put in for 5 mins run through the system until empty then rinsed the system and water carrier out with fresh water until the milton smell had gone.

now i use sterident tablets they are easier i wait until they dissolve run all the taps until barrel is empty, refill barrel with fresh water and run this through the taps as well. job done. fill up barrel with fresh water.

hope this helps richard

 

[RichardJ]

Hi

Thanks for all teh replies, did not quite understand one of them, but I think having been on the Truma site and all the info on here I will be using the tablets, at least to start with, see how we get on.

Thanks once again to all who offered advise.

Regards

Richard

 

[newton_374355356]

Hi

Thanks for all teh replies, did not quite understand one of them, but I think having been on the Truma site and all the info on here I will be using the tablets, at least to start with, see how we get on.

Thanks once again to all who offered advise.

Regards

Richard

use Bi Carbonate of soda my granny and her granny used it costs next to nowt and works