Drinking water from Stateroom bathroom faucet

[Munday]

Hi Everyone,

 

I just wanted to pass along an experience we had on our Adventure of the Seas repositioning cruise from Quebec City to Ft. Lauderdale from Oct 8 - 21. We’ve all read about how the water from the bathroon faucet is potable and safe to drink. Here’s what I found. We were in cabin 7378 - near the aft, on the starboard side. We had very poor water pressure out of our sink faucet. While I was waiting for the sink to fill one night, I decided to take off the aerator. It came off easily, but was packed with, well, crud. I washed it out in the sink as best I could. While it was off, I decided to see how good the pressure really was. I opened both handles and watched as mostly brown water came rushing out.

 

I let the water run for a while, until it was clear, then reinstalled the aerator. No, I didn’t call Maintenance and report it beause I had already called them 3 times. Once to unplug our shower drain, the day we boarded. Once to replace the broken hose on the hand held shower and once to fix our loose toilet seat.

 

We had brought on bottled water, so we started using that to brush our teeth. I don’t think we’ll be drinking water from the cabin bathroom faucet on a cruise ship anymore. 

[sandy toes]

Just wondering, we you in port or at sea? 

[Munday]

1 minute ago, sandy toes said:

Just wondering, we you in port or at sea? 

 

We were at sea.

[chengkp75]

The "crud" in the aerator, and the discolored water is a fairly common occurrence on ships, when the piping has been drained for maintenance.  The calcium carbonate (the active ingredient in Tums) added to the water to control the pH of the water (its acidity is important both from a viewpoint of corrosion of piping, as well as the need to keep the pH in a tight range so that the chlorine used to sanitize the water works at its optimum capacity) forms a scale on the inside of the piping.  While the pipes remain full of water, this scale remains on the wall of the pipe.  When the piping is shut down and drained to fix something, the scale dries out and falls off the piping.  Since the water in the ship's piping is constantly flowing, even when no one is using water (it recirculates back to the tank), this scale is carried back to the tanks within a few minutes.  However, the static legs of piping (no flow until you open the valve) like your cabin sink and shower, will accumulate this scale.  This can cause blockage of the aerator, and this is why the water will run clear after a minute or two, depending on how long the static leg to your sink was.

 

While unpleasant in appearance, there is nothing harmful in the water, it is just an antacid.  Water is tested onboard every month, from a minimum of six random locations, like a passenger sink, a galley faucet, etc, for to meet health requirements.

[dv70]

47 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

The "crud" in the aerator, and the discolored water is a fairly common occurrence on ships, when the piping has been drained for maintenance.  The calcium carbonate (the active ingredient in Tums) added to the water to control the pH of the water (its acidity is important both from a viewpoint of corrosion of piping, as well as the need to keep the pH in a tight range so that the chlorine used to sanitize the water works at its optimum capacity) forms a scale on the inside of the piping.  While the pipes remain full of water, this scale remains on the wall of the pipe.  When the piping is shut down and drained to fix something, the scale dries out and falls off the piping.  Since the water in the ship's piping is constantly flowing, even when no one is using water (it recirculates back to the tank), this scale is carried back to the tanks within a few minutes.  However, the static legs of piping (no flow until you open the valve) like your cabin sink and shower, will accumulate this scale.  This can cause blockage of the aerator, and this is why the water will run clear after a minute or two, depending on how long the static leg to your sink was.

 

While unpleasant in appearance, there is nothing harmful in the water, it is just an antacid.  Water is tested onboard every month, from a minimum of six random locations, like a passenger sink, a galley faucet, etc, for to meet health requirements.

 

Exactly as the plumbing in your house.

[birdylady]

Great post and excellent detailed information.  I find this post timely as just yesterday a friend of mine and I had the discussion of water from the bathroom sink. She says she would never drink that water. But always gets water from the windjammer.  I tried to explain, that water comes from the same place as the sink. She insists the the WJ water is filtered. I asked 'How do you know that?' She couldn't answer. LOL

 

Thanx for the specifics.

Erika

[chengkp75]

7 minutes ago, dv70 said:

 

Exactly as the plumbing in your house.

Well, not exactly.  The water supply to your house does not circulate, it sits stationary in the underground pipes until someone turns on a faucet to cause it to flow.  So, the sanitizing agent the municipal supply uses, typically chlorine, can dissipate while sitting in the pipes overnight, while the ship's water is constantly circulated, and the chlorine level is constantly monitored during this circulation, and constantly dosed to maintain a residual of chlorine.

Also, since ship's piping is non-ferrous, things that flake off the piping on a ship don't include things like rust, etc.  And since the pipes aren't underground, there is no risk of contamination from a break in the pipe and contaminated soil.

 

As for the difference between the water in the cabin and at the buffet, there is a difference.  All water dispensers, whether a self-serve one in the buffet, or the water station the wait staff use to fill their water pitchers, or the bar guns, or the ice makers, all have a carbon filter installed to remove the required residual chlorine.  This is not done for taste, but because the chlorine can cause scale in the equipment's piping, so to prevent problems the filter removes the chlorine right at the point of use.

[birdylady]

4 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

As for the difference between the water in the cabin and at the buffet, there is a difference.  All water dispensers, whether a self-serve one in the buffet, or the water station the wait staff use to fill their water pitchers, or the bar guns, or the ice makers, all have a carbon filter installed to remove the required residual chlorine.  This is not done for taste, but because the chlorine can cause scale in the equipment's piping, so to prevent problems the filter removes the chlorine right at the point of use.

And so I learn something new, again. 🙂

I guess I owe my friend an apology.   Maybe I won't be refilling my cup/water bottle from the bathroom sink any more. 

Thank you

Erika

[chengkp75]

14 minutes ago, birdylady said:

And so I learn something new, again. 🙂

I guess I owe my friend an apology.   Maybe I won't be refilling my cup/water bottle from the bathroom sink any more. 

Thank you

Erika

If you want to replicate the water in the buffet using your cabin sink, simply fill the glass or pitcher from the sink, and let it stand open (on counter or in fridge) for a couple of hours, and the chlorine will dissipate naturally.  And there is nothing wrong with the water from the sink, it just has chlorine in it, at about 0.5ppm, which will not harm you in any way, and is not detectable as a taste for many people.

[dwayneb236]

I've always drank water from the sink, at least after it's clear. I'll keep doing it. Don't bother me none. I haven't died yet.

[birdylady]

36 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

If you want to replicate the water in the buffet using your cabin sink, simply fill the glass or pitcher from the sink, and let it stand open (on counter or in fridge) for a couple of hours, and the chlorine will dissipate naturally.  And there is nothing wrong with the water from the sink, it just has chlorine in it, at about 0.5ppm, which will not harm you in any way, and is not detectable as a taste for many people.

That works for me.  As I always say, 'What doesn't kill me......' LOL

Erika

[Cigar King]

With no data to back this up, I'd be willing to bet that for many people the water out of their room on board is cleaner than the water they have at home.

 

[schmeed]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

As for the difference between the water in the cabin and at the buffet, there is a difference.  All water dispensers, whether a self-serve one in the buffet, or the water station the wait staff use to fill their water pitchers, or the bar guns, or the ice makers, all have a carbon filter installed to remove the required residual chlorine.  This is not done for taste, but because the chlorine can cause scale in the equipment's piping, so to prevent problems the filter removes the chlorine right at the point of use.

Interesting how inconsistent filtering is.  When on Freedom a few weeks ago, noticed this:

1.  Water from bathroom faucet tasted/smelled like you would expect.  Desalinated, drinkable, but not Evian

2.  Water from MDR and Windjammer clean with little smell and tasted fine.  Probably filtered.

3.  Water from Chops tasted like #1, water from our stateroom faucet.

 

Maybe they needed to change the Chops filter. 🙂

[cb at sea]

I was going to say, I have to clean the aerators in my house, periodically, too!  The water is potable.....but if it's running brown, don't drink it!  

Any water tastes better when chilled.  The tap water doesn't EVER "run cold", no matter how long you let it run, so it does need either ice or chilling!

[johnjen]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

The "crud" in the aerator, and the discolored water is a fairly common occurrence on ships, when the piping has been drained for maintenance.  The calcium carbonate (the active ingredient in Tums) added to the water to control the pH of the water (its acidity is important both from a viewpoint of corrosion of piping, as well as the need to keep the pH in a tight range so that the chlorine used to sanitize the water works at its optimum capacity) forms a scale on the inside of the piping.  While the pipes remain full of water, this scale remains on the wall of the pipe.  When the piping is shut down and drained to fix something, the scale dries out and falls off the piping.  Since the water in the ship's piping is constantly flowing, even when no one is using water (it recirculates back to the tank), this scale is carried back to the tanks within a few minutes.  However, the static legs of piping (no flow until you open the valve) like your cabin sink and shower, will accumulate this scale.  This can cause blockage of the aerator, and this is why the water will run clear after a minute or two, depending on how long the static leg to your sink was.

 

While unpleasant in appearance, there is nothing harmful in the water, it is just an antacid.  Water is tested onboard every month, from a minimum of six random locations, like a passenger sink, a galley faucet, etc, for to meet health requirements.

That was a most concise, excellent and well written response to the OP....I know what CHENG means....Nice work, shipmate. I worked Comms on my ships in the Navy but loved engineering and realized how much I loved getting my warfare quals down in the pit.

[SRF]

On 11/2/2018 at 7:52 AM, dv70 said:

 

Exactly as the plumbing in your house.

 

Except your house is not randomly tested often. 😄

 

[SRF]

On 11/2/2018 at 9:20 AM, Cigar King said:

With no data to back this up, I'd be willing to bet that for many people the water out of their room on board is cleaner than the water they have at home.

 

 

And cleaner that many bottled waters. 😄

 

I am on a well at my house.  I have some sediment in the water.  I have filters, but some very fine stuff is still there.  I have been drinking the water for 30+ years. 😄

[DISFANS3]

Think I will still bring on a case of water if I can..

[Wine-O]

5 minutes ago, DISFANS3 said:

Think I will still bring on a case of water if I can..

Their recent new policy is that you can only bring on 12 bottles of water on embarkation.  I'm not sure if it is enforced, but if you are Diamond, you can always get a couple of bottles of water a day at the Diamond lounge during Happy Hour.

[grest]

Oh,, that is so nasty!

[purplepirate]

On 11/3/2018 at 11:01 AM, Wine-O said:

Their recent new policy is that you can only bring on 12 bottles of water on embarkation.  I'm not sure if it is enforced, but if you are Diamond, you can always get a couple of bottles of water a day at the Diamond lounge during Happy Hour.

I think it depends on the port.  Last month (October) at Baltimore they confiscated 12 bottles out of my 24-bottle case.