Water Problem

CMart
CMart Forum Participant Posts: 26

I have just bought a new caravan and there is a distinct unpleasent taste to the water when we make tea using water from the tap.  Any thoughts on what we can do to get rid of the taste?

Comments

  • Briang
    Briang Club Member Posts: 670 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #2

    Has the lines been cleaned.? We never use the water on board always have a 4 litre plastic bottle which we drink water from.

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #3

    Clean all water pipes and containers with Puriclean, flush several times afterwards, see if that helps.

  • JillwithaJay
    JillwithaJay Club Member Posts: 2,485 ✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #4

    I hope you find that cleaning out the pipes resolves the problem but, like many others, we keep a small container of fresh water on board for drinking and refill it daily.  I wouldn't drink water that was days old at home and prefer not to do it in the caravan. Happy

    300 siggy photo 6b161378-22ab-47bd-97dd-22af5e8f67ba_zpsbtkpqljt.jpg

  • richardandros
    richardandros Club Member Posts: 2,681 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #5

    In more than 30 years of yachting, interspersed with a few years of caravanning, we have always used 'on board' water for drinking and never suffered any ill effects.  We do use a Brita filter or something similar but I'm not entirely convinced that actually
    achieves anything! Our Aquaroll and on-board tank are filled at least once per day, so the water is never stale.  I agree that flushing the system through with Puriclean or Milton might help, but it's not an issue we came across with our new van.

  • Aspenshaw
    Aspenshaw Forum Participant Posts: 611
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    edited April 2016 #6

    Like KjellNN, I use Puriclean to keep my water system clean.

    But before you do that, I'd try and isolate where the unpleasant taste arises. Does the water taste unpleasant straight from the tap or just when it is boiled for tea? If it's the latter, the kettle needs cleaning or replacing. How clean is your water tank
    or container [is it food grade?]? That might be the cause.

    I would be tempted to get the dealer to sort it out if it is the caravan's water system as it should not have been supplied in such a state.

  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
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    edited April 2016 #7

    Perhaps  Cy  or  Admiral  have  the  definitive  answer  to  this  problem  ! 

     

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,670 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #8

    I believe this is a Bailey caravan, did they not have some problems with an unpleasant taste due to the type of pipes used a few years back?

    Could it be something similar?

  • DSB
    DSB Club Member Posts: 5,669 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #9

    I can recommend Puriclean too.

    David 

  • Navigateur
    Navigateur Club Member Posts: 3,880 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #10

    Just been fixing this on my Bailey Senator as I was getting fed up of having to fill the jug all the time. First you need to discover where the smell/taste is occuring.

    1.  Start with your own tap water.  Fill a container, seal it and leave overnight.  Taste and make tea from it in the morning. If OK on to next step.

    2. Use your fill hose to do the above.

    3. Use your fill hose to part fill your AquaRoll or similar. Do the same as 1 above.

    4. Still finding the water OK - then it is in the van. Use the AquaRoll and pump water through tap to taste and tea.

    5. And if there is an onboard tank part fill it, leave overnight and taste and tea.

    You will now have an idea what part of the system is adding the taste, but I would still treat all the above parts with the Puriclean, and at a slightly stronger concentration than stated on the tub. Also, overnight soak if possible. If there is an onboard
    tank, remember to run the solution into the drain pipe and the overflow.  Also, run through the hot system as well - not that I advocate drinking the hot water, but to ensure there is no back contamination from the hot system.

    Then do it all again, at least from the point where you established the taste was added.

    Remember that the favourite brand of tea you use at home can taste vile using water from another location. Same reason one should not put tap water in whisky - unless you are at the distillery!

     

  • CMart
    CMart Forum Participant Posts: 26
    edited April 2016 #11

    Thanks for your advice everyone.  Much appreciated

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited April 2016 #12

    My yacht had a 200L s/s water tank. I don't know the age of the filter but it was only replaced when I forgot to drain it and the frost split it one winter. I never drained down the water tank so some of the water was possibly months old. I lived to tell
    the tale. Taste buds can just about differentiate between curry and custard. Wink

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,644 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #13

    I have just bought a new caravan and there is a distinct unpleasent taste to the water when we make tea using water from the tap.  Any thoughts on what we can do to get rid of the taste?

    Could it possibly just be that the water you've filled your barrel with is different from what you have at home. We find sometimes that water in different areas does have an unpleasant taste especially with tea and is not so noticable when we have coffeee..

  • Boff
    Boff Forum Participant Posts: 1,742
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    edited April 2016 #14

    I don't think that the has described the unpleasant taste.  I think that the Bailey problem was a TCP type taste a few people reported getting rid of it by flushing with orange squash.  Alternatively if your tea taste horrible it could simply because the
    water is different to your water at home. 

  • Vanbirds68
    Vanbirds68 Forum Participant Posts: 149
    edited April 2016 #15

    We had an unpleasant taint to the water after flushing through with Puriclean and eventually tracked it down to the Aquarolls. They seem to have absorbed some of the chemical. After soaking in 4 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda per Aquaroll we had
    lovely water again. The Aquaroll website actually recommend this method of cleaning, but NOT to flush through the system!

  • Suppy
    Suppy Forum Participant Posts: 40
    edited April 2016 #16

    We flush our water system through with Milton... Cheap and seems to work a treat, no need to go to a camping shop either :)   

    i can never remember how much to add though, but Google always helps!

  • ADP1963
    ADP1963 Forum Participant Posts: 1,280
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    edited April 2016 #17

    We flush our water system through with Milton... Cheap and seems to work a treat, no need to go to a camping shop either :)   

    i can never remember how much to add though, but Google always helps!

    Write your comments here...4 caps full to the Aquaroll we use.Allow it to remain in the system for 30 minutes then 2 flushes through with fresh water.Our caravan has an on board tank.

  • richardandros
    richardandros Club Member Posts: 2,681 ✭✭✭
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    edited April 2016 #18

    I have just bought a new caravan and there is a distinct unpleasent taste to the water when we make tea using water from the tap.  Any thoughts on what we can do to get rid of the taste?

    Could it possibly just be that the water you've filled your barrel with is different from what you have at home. We find sometimes that water in different areas does have an unpleasant taste especially with tea and is not so noticable when we have coffeee..

    Totally agree - when we were at the Chatsworth CC site, last year, the water tasted awful and that prompted us to get a water filter.  However, when there this year, it was OK. Not experienced  a problem anywhere else, so far. 

  • Malcolm Mehta
    Malcolm Mehta Forum Participant Posts: 5,660
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #19

    Just been fixing this on my Bailey Senator as I was getting fed up of having to fill the jug all the time. First you need to discover where the smell/taste is occuring.

    1.  Start with your own tap water.  Fill a container, seal it and leave overnight.  Taste and make tea from it in the morning. If OK on to next step.

    2. Use your fill hose to do the above.

    3. Use your fill hose to part fill your AquaRoll or similar. Do the same as 1 above.

    4. Still finding the water OK - then it is in the van. Use the AquaRoll and pump water through tap to taste and tea.

    5. And if there is an onboard tank part fill it, leave overnight and taste and tea.

    You will now have an idea what part of the system is adding the taste, but I would still treat all the above parts with the Puriclean, and at a slightly stronger concentration than stated on the tub. Also, overnight soak if possible. If there is an onboard
    tank, remember to run the solution into the drain pipe and the overflow.  Also, run through the hot system as well - not that I advocate drinking the hot water, but to ensure there is no back contamination from the hot system.

    Then do it all again, at least from the point where you established the taste was added.

    Remember that the favourite brand of tea you use at home can taste vile using water from another location. Same reason one should not put tap water in whisky - unless you are at the distillery!

     

    Write your comments here...You don't need to put water in whisky surely! The best way to enjoy whisky is Scotch on the rocks. You can buy ice from the ice company if you need the ice made from pure clean water. I get my ice from Tesco. I like the Giant Super
    Ice!

  • Malcolm Mehta
    Malcolm Mehta Forum Participant Posts: 5,660
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #20

    In more than 30 years of yachting, interspersed with a few years of caravanning, we have always used 'on board' water for drinking and never suffered any ill effects.  We do use a Brita filter or something similar but I'm not entirely convinced that actually
    achieves anything! Our Aquaroll and on-board tank are filled at least once per day, so the water is never stale.  I agree that flushing the system through with Puriclean or Milton might help, but it's not an issue we came across with our new van.

    Write your comments here...As we live all the year round in our caravan, the water is always fresh as it flushes through the system all day everyday.

  • Malcolm Mehta
    Malcolm Mehta Forum Participant Posts: 5,660
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    edited April 2016 #21

    If you're worried about water for your ice cubes, I would recommend buying 1kg pack of Super Cubes. They are so big that two cubes can fill a glass of Scotch on the rocks. They melt slower too so that you can taste the real flavour of the whisky. Cheers! Enjoy yourself! If you're not enjoying it, I certainly am, right now! I've finished work and this is my time! The boss said I could finish earlier tonight.

  • Nuggy
    Nuggy Forum Participant Posts: 512
    edited April 2016 #22

    Cmart,  You said that your caravan is new, but is the roller barrel a few years old?  The blue pipe that carries the water up from the barrel to the side of your caravan can get full of black gunge on the inner
    surface of the water pipe and flushing with puriclean may not shift it. I once cut open a blue pipe and was shocked when I saw the inside of the pipe. This is caused by the sun shinning on the pipe and the water inside is frequently stationary so gunge builds
    up.

  • Malcolm Mehta
    Malcolm Mehta Forum Participant Posts: 5,660
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #23

    We use our water from the Aquaroll every day all the year round. We haven't had any problem with it. It doesn't get time to stagnate because of being in constant daily use.

  • kenexton
    kenexton Forum Participant Posts: 306
    edited April 2016 #24

    Cmart,  You said that your caravan is new, but is the roller barrel a few years old?  The blue pipe that carries the water up from the barrel to the side of your caravan can get full of black gunge on the inner
    surface of the water pipe and flushing with puriclean may not shift it. I once cut open a blue pipe and was shocked when I saw the inside of the pipe. This is caused by the sun shinning on the pipe and the water inside is frequently stationary so gunge builds
    up.

    Write your comments here...Nuggy may well have a point;on a previous motorhome I made the mistake of cleaning the water system with Milton,the water tasted of TCP thereafter.This was  due to a reaction with the plastics in the system.I have used Puriclean
    ever since with no issues on the current MH.When we owned caravans I also experienced grunge inside the hose from the pump to the van-I used to clean the hose with a long bottle bush,however they were not all sealed/crimped units in those days.Progress?

  • CMart
    CMart Forum Participant Posts: 26
    edited April 2016 #25

    Thanks so much to everyone for taking the time to answer.  Much appreciated.  I will try all recommendations given.  Cheers

  • geoffeales
    geoffeales Forum Participant Posts: 322
    edited April 2016 #26

    Sterilize your system and fit a new filter - or do what we've always done - buy it in 5ltr bottles and only use the tank water for washing