A 6" opening could be just enough room to finagle a drill with a step bit into the tank to cut some holes in the baffles. Then perhaps a pressure washer wand can be inserted through those holes?

If you can reach the top of different areas of the tank, then cutting additional access ports in baffled areas would work.

Just spitballing. Once this stuff gets attached it can be hard to get off by any practical chemical treatment.

Mark

 

A 6" opening could be just enough room to finagle a drill with a step bit into the tank to cut some holes in the baffles. Then perhaps a pressure washer wand can be inserted through those holes?

If you can reach the top of different areas of the tank, then cutting additional access ports in baffled areas would work.

Just spitballing. Once this stuff gets attached it can be hard to get off by any practical chemical treatment.

Mark

There are some spaces in the baffles. It appears they were assembled as strips to the outer contours and spot welded, leaving odd triangular shapes thru them. Still not regular enough to allow access. The tubing on the air-gun produces a violent bubbling. I think I just have to keep at it ;/
Maybe some baking soda today ?)

 

When you say you've used bleach & water, how much have you diluted the bleach?

My thought would be to remove all water and add 5 gallons of the highest concentration bleach you can find, 6%.
Then go for a sail in a stiff chop for a week or so. Or maybe a few weeks.

Bleach won't hurt SS. Or fittings.

Mark

 

When you say you've used bleach & water, how much have you diluted the bleach?

My thought would be to remove all water and add 5 gallons of the highest concentration bleach you can find, 6%.
Then go for a sail in a stiff chop for a week or so. Or maybe a few weeks.

Bleach won't hurt SS. Or fittings.

Mark

Yeah, I could use a few weeks of agitation

 

As commercial maple syrup operators we clean a lot of stainless steel. There is a safe and efficient cleaner called MilkStone Remover and Acid Rinse, a dairy industry product we pick up from Fleet Farm. Use hot water for most effectiveness. We also use 30% Hydrogen peroixide, this is very strong, use gloves! For our boat water tanks we prefer H2O2 to bleach as it leaves no after smell, nor does it damage any plumbing lines. When left in water for more than a day it just releases that extra oxygen particle and becomes inert. We've brought life back to old dairy equipment with no problems. Good luck, Melinda

 

A great first post! 🤩🤩🤩🤩 Welcome to SailNet!!


Mark

 

So the tanks are starting to resemble something like clean after 2days. I'm pondering non-porous, crystalline poly-shapes that would float, be large enough to not clog the pick up tube and would provide constant mechanical cleaning while under way like an abrasive polishing tank in addition to the usual.

 

Sorry, should have stated we use food grade hydrogen perozoxide, H2O2. Regular H2O2 has some additives that make it not suitable for use in food processing. When washing our maple sap collecting lines we use one quart of the 35% per 60 gallons of water for disinfecting. We buy it on line from 35% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide Discount Ordering Page - Since 1983. We get the 4 gallon box but this place sells small quantities as well. I have seen other online sources as well, depending on where you are you can find stores that stock it.

 

Just to be clear, you are using this to disinfect and clean, but not as routine addition for consumption?

Mark

 

Right, not as an addition for consumption. The process we use for our sap collection tubing includes the addition of air pressure to pressurized water with the H202. This provides some agitation and scrubbing action in the tubing. In situations with heavy biofilm we would use the acid wash, followed by rinsing, then disinfecting with H2O2.

The sap storage tanks we use all have easy access for cleaning and are all repurposed from the dairy industry. One of them though did come with a tank washing appliance as a labor saving device. This is a device with a high pressure pump and swirling spray heads that are inserted in to the top of the tank. You fill up two reservoirs with acid wash and disinfectant, connect it the tank drain and to hot and cold water and it automatically sprays, circulates and then dumps the solutions and rinse water after a certain amount of time. Some method like this could possibly be applied to the water tank in question?

 

Also I should add, H2O2 is primarily a disinfectant, not a cleaner. When we are cleaning our sap tubing the air pressure agitation provides the cleaning. Unless it especially dirty when we then use the acid cleaner along with agitation to work on heavy biofilm.

 

We cleaned waste water membranes using caustic soda, lye, sodiium hydroxide its what is in Oven cleaners. Won’t touch ss but will eat aluminum like you won’t believe. WEAR GOGGLES & GLOVES!!!! Heat helps a lot. About doubles the efectiveness of most cleaners for every 10 F you raise it. We cleaned at 110 F. If a system wouldn’t clean we purchased a water heater.
A good way to heat the cleaner in a stainless tank is a Hot Water High Pressure Washer. I used to rent them all the time for cleaning.

 

Restaurant industrial grease remover with also cut the gunk. I'd alternate some nights with it. Wear gloves and eye protection. It will eat you alive.

Also, people swear that pool cleaner is better than regular bleach. I did a bake off and realized that they were right.

I'd get something like this:

Drill Brush Set Power Scrubber Brushes with Extension Attachments Handle All Purpose Cleaning Kit for Bathroom Floor Grout Toilet Tile Shower Tub Kitchen Car Detailing Grill 7 PCS Devinci https://a.co/d/5iX4QuC

 

May sound silly, but when I was a waiter we used crushed ice to clean the BUNN coffee pots.

Put crushed ice and some water along with a cleaner (you could probably use baking soda,) in the tanks then go sail your butt off. The rougher the water/wind the better better. The ice grinding/slapping against the sides of the tanks acts as an abrasive without causing any damage or creating any contamination. Worth a try.

Same for cleaning holding tanks......

Cheers

 

48D North gets the gold star.

Caustic cleaners are good for grease and burned on grease, but not bio films. Bleach is good for sanitizing after cleaning, but not for this type of cleaning. A few percent organic acid, such as citric acid, is the best approach for a combination of biofilm and scale. And it will pasivate the stainless tank at the same time. A common recommendation in food processing, and at least a few boat builders.

Every sailor should keep some citric acid on hand. Many uses. Inexpensive, perhaps the most effective organic acid for most uses, and safe.

• ASTM/ISO standard for passivizing stainless.
• Rust remover. Also brown waterline stains.
• Urine deodorizer.
• Cleaning biofilm.
• Scale removal. Lactic acid is slightly better.
• Neutralize bleach (pH and chlorine both).