Sanitizing the water system
I see that information about sanitizing the water system has turned to some peoples opinion on whether they think it needs to be done. Because everybody's circumstances vary it is sometimes practical ...
Forum Discussion
Bumpyroad wrote:ScottG wrote:SaltiDawg wrote:
The Medical Corpsman sanitized our Potable Water tanks annually with Chlorine Bleach. Water tasted "bad" for days. The Doc had to hide from the rest of us in the crew!
All he had to do is dump a tiny amount of perfectly safe Hydrogen Peroxide in and it will kill bleach on contact.
a tiny amount won't work. the stuff available at drug stores is what, 5%. diluted down, forgetaboutit. IIrc pharmaceutical manufacturers use 30% solution to sterilize surfaces. but "kill bleach"???
bumpy
Hydrogen peroxide combines very very readily with sodium hypochlorite (bleach) producing oxygen gas, water, and salt (sodium chloride). If you have a slight taint of bleach in the water system, it would work well to eliminate the taste and odor. Hydrogen peroxide is itself not very nice stuff to consume in any great concentration, as it's a strong oxidizer; but the quantities needed to sweeten the water system should be slight enough to pose no real hazard.
In more concentrated settings, the reaction can be dangerous as it's quite quick, exothermic, and releases a significant amount of gaseous oxygen that could pressurize a closed container (as well as contributing to fire hazards).
