# unhealthy pipes



## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi, just been cleaning under the fixed bed and around awkward areas of the MH, and I noticed that the clear vent pipes x 2 for the clean water tank have a lot ( a very lot)of black deposits in them.

So can they be cleaned and if so how, as they appear to be bonded at each junction and where they go through each bulkhead/floor/wall, so a nightmare to remove and change let alone clean, on finding this I took the lid off the tank and there seem to be like a light brown sandy coloured dust in there, but I could see no black stuff anywhere in there.

I know it might seem off topic, but it is a health issue I think, so of concern to all, however Mods will be Mods, so please move it if needs be.

Kev.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Hi Kev_n_Liz

I have moved this to this forum since I feel it is more likely to get the attention it needs. 

Hopefully one of the mechanical wizards will be able to give you the advice that you need.

Dave
On behalf of the Moderating Team


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## inkey-2008 (May 24, 2008)

The sandy deposit is normal comes from rusty pipes etc. 

The black mould if in the over flow pipes wont affect you either, you could put Milton in the tank fill it to over flowing and block the pipes to trap the mixture for awhile that should kill off any bugs.

We never drink water from the tank always get fresh from the tap.

Andy


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Sorry I meant to say we never drink from the taps, but it has on a Cajun been known for us to brush the tooth from the tap, but everything else is from bottled water from home, (not paying for stuff which is free (ish) we have also made tea using tank water, which I believe is safe, or at least not as dodgy.

Kev.


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

The sandy looking deposits are .......sand and won't hurt you.

Just how much straight water do you drink from the tap?

Most is boiled and taken as tea or coffee, this will sterilise it, or as near as dammit.

You could run some Milton or similar through the water system just for peace of mind.

I have always drunk water from the tap, here and in France with no repercussions. Just descaled the system with a white wine solution, thats as near as I get to sterilising the system.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

I thought it might be sand from the filter beds, and not too concerned, but the black in the clear pipes is a worry, as it looks a bit mouldy, they are of course open to the air being vents, and they also must lead to the tank, it could be some sort of mould, there must be some way of getting them clean.

Kev


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

I think mould in an overflow pipe is a given. Its always exposed to air occasionally washed but continually exposed to water vapour condensing from your tank. Water doesn't have to be hot to give off some vapour. It is made worse by being clear and adding light to the equation so giving the chance of algae as well as mould. How much mould is likely to find its way back into your water? Very little chance of that I would have thought.

More worrying is mould on the top inside surface of your tank.

However ingesting mould is far less serious than breathing it in. Which is why black mould in/on your soft furnishings or hidden surfaces is much more dangerous.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi Frank,

The filling vent pipe does fill with water from the tank when I overfill, which is every time as I can't tell if it's full other wise, the electric method is very fallible, so some water must drain back into the tank.

As for mould on the inside top of tank, I've not really looked for that, I shall be doing now though.

To clean the pipes, while the tank is empty, I could try to find the connection in the tank and try to put bit of softish wire up it followed by some cloth, and just keep doing, and changing the cloth until the cloth comes out clean, I may as well let the tanks go completely dry and perhaps try to vac and debris I can get to.

It has been suggested to use Milton or even white wine, I'm not really game for that, are there any other methods worth looking at, what bothers me is getting whatever is used back out of the system without spending a few days filling and emptying the tank endlessly to get rid of the smell/taste.

Kev.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

*update*

Well that was a lot easier than it looked at first, I disconnected the pipe at the tank end, found a bit of old aerial cable and poked that in, it all but disappeared.

So some thinner but stiffer 6mm wire and about 10 metres later I thought it must be outside underneath by now, but upon looking there was no sign of it, so I lifted the bed and lo, loads of wire, it had pushed the pipe of the back of the water filling cap, so I pulled back the wire, pulled on the pipe as it turned out it was only about 2 foot long.

It proved really easy to clean by tearing up and old duster (clean) and poking two ends of the wire down the pipe and putting the duster in the loop formed at the other end to drag it through, Seemples!! a few goes doing that and a few rinses under the hot tap, it is now spotless and back in situ, doing what it was meant to do.

Going to proceed with sucking any remaining water out of the tank, sweep, and get out any debris I can find, give it a good swill, and I think that'll do for me, and no chemicals were harmed in this procedure :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks for the helps chaps and chapesses.

Kev.


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> Hi Frank,
> 
> It has been suggested to use Milton or even white wine, I'm not really game for that, are there any other methods worth looking at, what bothers me is getting whatever is used back out of the system without spending a few days filling and emptying the tank endlessly to get rid of the smell/taste.
> 
> Kev.


Although Milton taste can cling for a while, white wine vinegar only needs one rinse to completely remove any lingering taint.


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi you can also use Citroxx to sterilise the tanks and water, its 100% bio degradable and safe to drink.

http://www.citroxx.com/citroxx.php?pid=endorsements

Olley


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Hmm, spurred into action by this thread I decided to have a look at the water system in our van.

I found brown gunge in the short length of 5cm dia polysomething pipe that connects the water tank to the outside water filling inlet.

Nothing in the tank spout or the water inlet, just in the 12cm length that connects the two.

How weird is that!

Perhaps the pipe material attracts gunge.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Spacerunner said:


> white wine vinegar only needs one rinse to completely remove any lingering taint.


Thanks for the tip, I seriously thought you were kidding about the white wine, what ratio do you add it, as I don't want be done for illegally running a mobile fish and chip van.

Kev.


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## TDG (May 26, 2009)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> Hi, just been cleaning under the fixed bed and around awkward areas of the MH, and I noticed that the clear vent pipes x 2 for the clean water tank have a lot ( a very lot)of black deposits in them.
> 
> So can they be cleaned and if so how, as they appear to be bonded at each junction and where they go through each bulkhead/floor/wall, so a nightmare to remove and change let alone clean, on finding this I took the lid off the tank and there seem to be like a light brown sandy coloured dust in there, but I could see no black stuff anywhere in there.
> 
> ...


Every few weeks we put a couple of Aqua Tabs in the tank and fill it to overflowing which seems to keep the whole system clean & fresh. We occasionally drink the water direct and so far :wink: have never suffered.
However we are of the persuasion that thinks that occasionally eating some food that landed on the kitchen floor is a good hardening off process 8)


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

_eating some food that landed on the kitchen floor is a good hardening off process _

So do we, but the dog invariably catches it before it lands!


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## HarleyDave (Jul 1, 2007)

pippin said:


> I found brown gunge in the short length of 5cm dia polysomething pipe that connects the water tank to the outside water filling inlet.


I found the same in our Eura.

I was easy enough to remove the 30 cm length of filler pipe between the back of the filler connection and the tank.

With the pipe removed, I put it in a wash bowl at home with a strong bleach solution and followed that up with a scrub through with a bottle brush - result, a nice clean pipe again.

I had to soften it in warm water to get it back on to the stubs at each end though.

I also have "sand" in the bottom of the fresh tank but the pickup pipe is about 15mm off the bottom so that doesn't bother me at all.

We tend to take a couple of bottles of "home water" to begin with for squash (and to put in the Scotch) but refill these from the site taps as we go.

For tea and coffee, teeth, soup etc etc we use water from the tank.

I usually drain the fresh tank when the MH is just sitting at home to save the water going "off" and possibly tainting the tank.

Cheers

Dave


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## TDG (May 26, 2009)

pippin said:


> _eating some food that landed on the kitchen floor is a good hardening off process _
> 
> So do we, but the dog invariably catches it before it lands!


Appropriate training will help you win the odd scrap 8)


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Eating off the floor, not done that for a while, todays kids are going to be sick adults, with no immune system at all, unlike us tough old buggers.

Back to the topic of health again where I originally put this thread :lol: 

I have to have a look at the filler pipe, it's going to be awkward to get at though on the tank end I think, and it's a corrugated one too, so not easy to clean out properly.

Kev.


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> Spacerunner said:
> 
> 
> > white wine vinegar only needs one rinse to completely remove any lingering taint.
> ...


2 parts white wine vinegar amd 10 parts water.

Put it into the water tank and then use the control panel pump switch to pump it into the boiler. Leave for up to 4 hours then drain.

Refill the fresh water tank and fill and empty the boiler a couple of times.

Completely drain the fresh water tank.


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## vardy (Sep 1, 2006)

Having worked in big Psychy hospitals for years, I've eaten off everything, with anything and by anyone :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Ya made no friends if you turned down a cake off a mucky plate.

So I reckon I'm safe from bugs - but a recurring worry I have is whether anything I put into the water tank goes through my Carver water boiler. It will won't it???

I had a little bit of advice on first getting the van - that powder tank purifier was OK and wouldn't damage the parts. However, I've seen a few different opinions since then but would still like to run something through occasionally.

Gin sprang immediately to mind - but that might cause me to present with one of my usual scary combustion questions. nfire: 

I also thought 'get rid of boiler and fill up with best bitter' - might get him indoors off the sofa. :lol: :lol: 

-Quite serious about asking the boiler question though. 

Many thanks, - Helena.


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## TDG (May 26, 2009)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> ........ and it's a corrugated one too, so not easy to clean out properly.
> 
> Kev.


Methinks that corrugated fresh and waste water pipes :x should be banned for the reason Kev states.
Seriously bad smell from washing machine recently traced to horrible build up of sludge in the corrugations of the waste pipe :twisted: 
Almost impossible to clean out so fitted new pipe 8)


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