Discussions

Wondering if anyone knows anything about cisterns, how to get them cleaned out-is there a company who does this, etc.  
We bought a house with a cistern underneath and would like to drain, clean and refill with fresh water.

There is a good pamphlet from the government on cleaning a cistern. We have a 5000 gal cistern we filled the cistern to the top so water is touching all the walls. I added 7 litres of chlorine or javex from the store. It sat for 24 hours with no water use. In other words disinfecting the cistern and the walls.  
 
Then we connected a hose into the cistern to a pump. The pump ran to a cheap filter from can tire. One that gets rid of 5 micron material and gets rid of chlorine taste. The other end of the hose went back into the cistern. So it was re-circulating. Depending on your pump you can run the water through that filter probably over night. Then use your water. Test for free chlorine  
 
There is a company but you can buy the filter and get a princess auto pump for 1/8 the the price they wanted to clean a cistern  
I’ll find the pamphlet that had gallons of cistern and chlorine needed to super chlorinate the cistern for a disinfection Plus you keep the pump and filter for doing another chlorination  
 
Edited by soko1955, 2023-08-24 19:00:33

I cut and pasted the disinfection procedure we followed the province of Alberta recirculating the water through a filter till there is no smell of chlorine or no free chlorine after a test. You can test your water for free chlorine with a little tube of test strips from can tire. Testing pool and spa water  
 
Edited by soko1955, 2023-08-24 20:41:14

Thanks so much for info!!