In my other life as a recreational home brewer, sanitation is a big
deal.  Bleach is sometimes used because it is cheap and effective,
although there are better methods available.  The following are
generally accepted concentration/contact times for various sanitizing
solutions.  However, these are *just sanitizers*, they are not
cleansers.  For any sanitizing to be effective, the items must be clean
& free of anything that will harbor bacteria and prevent a sanitizer
from being able to fully contact all surfaces.

Bleach:
1 tbsp bleach per gallon of water.  At this concentration, let soak for
20 minutes and drain. Rinsing is not necessary, although not detrimental.

Star San (acidic sanitizer):
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=star+san+sanitizer&btnG=Search+Froogle
1 oz per gallon of water.  At this concentration, only 30 seconds of
contact are necessary for effective sanitizing.  Again, no rinsing is
necessary.

Idophor (iodine based sanitizer):
http://web.iwebcenters.com/brewersdiscount/item57343.ctlg
1 tbsp per 5 gallons of water (12.5 ppm of titratable iodine).  2 minute
soak time.  10 minutes will disinfect to hospital standards. No rinse
necessary.

FWIW, I recently replaced the (nonworking) submersible pump and the line
between the tank and the sink.  I filled the tank with an idophor
solution and pumped the entire volume out through the faucet.  Worked
brilliantly and I haven't had any indication of regrowth of any nasties.

Cheers,
-jd

Tim Demarest wrote:

> In my long-past career in food service, we always used bleach to
> clean/sanitize kitchen equipment, and rinsed with water. Kills any and
> all
> surface bacteria, and rinses away farily easily. I don't know that I'd
> want
> to let it soak long in a plastic tank, but a short drive to slosh it
> around, a run through the spigot to clean out the hoses and a couple of
> good rinses should do the trick.
>
> Tim
>
>
> At 08:11 PM 8/16/2004 -0500, pete or nancy owsianowski wrote:
>
>> Greg:
>>
>> Will the water be safe for drinking with this method?  Our sink
>> wasn't used
>> for a few years, also.  Flushed it out and the water smells and looks
>> fine,
>> but what about drinking it?
>>
>> Pete
>> '87 Westy
>> "Joe's Van"
>>
>> Flushing with water a couple of times will be fine. Fill the system 3/4
>> > full, and drive some bumpy roads. Then drain completely. Repeat this
>> > process one more time and you shouldn't have any detectable amount of
>> > bleach left in the system.
>> >
>> >
>> > Happy trails,
>> >
>> > Greg Potts
>> > Toronto, Ontario, Canada
>