Contaminated onboard water tank

[medenview]

My T25 went in to a local garage, one I've used before, to have some work done (new water pump, oil filter change, minor service) recently. They also put some fuel additive in the petrol tank as it was expected that she would be stood for long periods of time
through the autumn/winter period.

Anyway, shortly after this, we went away for a couple of days and found that the water in our 45 litre onboard tank was contaminated. It had a strong smell similar to White Spirit. I emptied the tank and was unable to use the tank for our short trip.

Since then I have flushed it through about 3 times with a garden hose, leaving the tap open for it to go right through. I've also filled the tank twice and put 9 Milton sterilising tablets (1 per 5 litres of water) in each fill and still it tastes wrong.

The garage did not admit to doing anything untoward either on purpose or by accident and I didn't really expect them to.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can clean the water tank. All advice gratefully appreciated.

Cheers
Simon

[72BUG]

Your local camping shop (if you have one. Loads round here) should sell a cleaning fluid especially for flushing water systems in campers / caravans. Failing that have a word with a friendly publican and use some of the stuff they clean their beer lines with.

[medenview]

Many thanks for that. Off to the local caravan accessories shop tomorrow

[Ian Hulley]

Many thanks for that. Off to the local caravan accessories shop tomorrow

You'll probably need to replace the water tank (or more precisely your local garage will have to replace the water tank ) These are available from CAK tanks.

Ian.

[medenview]

Many thanks for that. Off to the local caravan accessories shop tomorrow

You'll probably need to replace the water tank (or more precisely your local garage will have to replace the water tank ) These are available from CAK tanks.

Ian.

To get the garage to pay for replacing the tank, I'd have to prove it was them that contaminated it. They are the likely candidates but I need proof. That would involve testing for what the contamination is. I'm going to try the cleaning process first. May replace the filler pipe which I've done before.

[eatcustard]

Get the stuff you use to clean out home made wine/beer barrels

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Steriliser-Cleane ... 5ad3044f93" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[paul holmes]

hi i work in a motorhome repair shop and we get a lot of our customers filling there fresh water tanks up with deisel and we tell them to wash them throw with lots of warm soapy water.hope this helps.

[medenview]

hi i work in a motorhome repair shop and we get a lot of our customers filling there fresh water tanks up with deisel and we tell them to wash them throw with lots of warm soapy water.hope this helps.

Thanks for that. I've washed it with hot soapy water today. Replaced the pipe from filler to tank. Have now filled with clean water and added a couple of Aqua Clean purifying tablets to be left overnight. I'll then empty tomorrow and wash again with hot soapy water.

I've also ordered some Biomagic which claims to remove all odours and is apparently good for flushing water tanks after getting contaminated by fuel etc.

[boatdog]

sorry to hear your problem i would go with asking local pub for some beer line cleaner its safe for drinking water but really cleans the pipes/tank i usually half fill my tank with cleaner and drive around for a while. i think its a common problem i pulled into a petrol station in wales and when i got out of the van the attendant was trying to unscrew my water cap!

[medenview]

sorry to hear your problem i would go with asking local pub for some beer line cleaner its safe for drinking water but really cleans the pipes/tank i usually half fill my tank with cleaner and drive around for a while. i think its a common problem i pulled into a petrol station in wales and when i got out of the van the attendant was trying to unscrew my water cap!

I only handed three keys over to the mechanic, ignition, krooklok and yes, the water filler cap. I've now taken the water key off and will only hand over two keys in future. I've ordered some Biomagic ( 2 x 500ml bottles) which is meant to be great for removing the odour from the tank. The beer line cleaner will be my next step if that doesn't work.

[Cafnod]

Concerned that it may have eaten into the fabric of the tank and be reacting with the plastic. Is it possible to find out what this additive was and the effects it would have? How long was it in the tank? Was there water in with it?

[medenview]

Concerned that it may have eaten into the fabric of the tank and be reacting with the plastic. Is it possible to find out what this additive was and the effects it would have? How long was it in the tank? Was there water in with it?

I don't know how or where to go to find out what was put in. I phoned the garage and they say it wasn't them. They aren't going
to admit to something like that are they? I've replaced the pipe from the filler cap to the tank and this does smell, so I'm hoping
that this will help to remove it quicker.

I'm waiting on my order of Biomagic to arrive and I'll give it a clean with that. When I asked neighbour to smell it, he thought it
was diesel. I thought it was like white spirits, but they are all pretty much the same. I can see me having to replace the tank
in the end which I suppose isn't a bad thing in the long run.

I may also have to replace all the pipes from tank to pump and pump to tap as well.

[T'Onion]

I'd take it to the local petrol station with a good jet wash , get the hottest wash without anything else (wax etc) , put the lance into the filler and wash , make sure the empty tap is open and that the sink tap is on , reason i think this may help , with the sound of it whatever has been put in is oil based so like you have already said hot soapy water , I'd try the jet wash and then rinse well with the hose at home, then use puriclem (sp) ,got to be worth a shot

[Fozzie]

If it was me...

I'd make sure to speak to the garage manager - ideally the owner (easy if it's a 1-man-band) - and have a calm, let's be honest, not-blaming-anyone-only-trying-so-solve-the-problem chat, and agree with him/her that it's obvious what's happened and can we calmly and rationally agree what can be done. Tell them what you've tried so far before involving them, but get them to accept that they just might have been part of the problem and you only want a bit of help to get it sorted.

Don't say how much the fix will cost at this stage...

If they agree then you're half way home. It's just a question of how you split the costs (and of course the figure you put on those costs is entirely up to you).

In my experience you've got a better than 50% chance of this working well and everyone ending up as friends. Worst case is they tell you to pee off, in which case you're no worse off anyway.

Good luck...

[medenview]

If it was me...

I'd make sure to speak to the garage manager - ideally the owner (easy if it's a 1-man-band) - and have a calm, let's be honest, not-blaming-anyone-only-trying-so-solve-the-problem chat, and agree with him/her that it's obvious what's happened and can we calmly and rationally agree what can be done. Tell them what you've tried so far before involving them, but get them to accept that they just might have been part of the problem and you only want a bit of help to get it sorted.

Don't say how much the fix will cost at this stage...

If they agree then you're half way home. It's just a question of how you split the costs (and of course the figure you put on those costs is entirely up to you).

In my experience you've got a better than 50% chance of this working well and everyone ending up as friends. Worst case is they tell you to pee off, in which case you're no worse off anyway.

Good luck...

I've already spoken with the owner, who I have been very friendly with when dealing with him in the past, but there was no way he was going to admit that any of his mechanics had done something like this. I don't think it would make any difference phoning them again. Might help if I went to the garage with the now remove pipe and ask his advice as to what might have been put in it.