Disinfecting hot water tank

[England]

Hi all

First post here but have been reading for a while.

I would like to sterilise my hot water tank. It is the open sort with a loose lid, has 2 electric heating elements and 2 connected chambers and supplies hot water for bathroom and kitchen.

The reason I would like to do this is I looked in it recently and it looked quite dirty. Now I brush my teeth in the shower and use the shower water to rinse my mouth so I am frequently swallowing a little of this water.

I did think of pouring some baby utensils sterilising fluid in (weak sodium hypochlorite) but the web said this chemical is not safe in contact with copper which I presume the tank is, so I didn't do it. There must be something I can pour in then flush out by running the hot water taps for say 20 minutes.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Whitespirit66]

The dirt was probably just limescale. Make sure the stat is set to between 60 and 65 degrees. This will make sure that any harmful bacteria is killed off.

Any lower than this can encourage bacteria and legionella growth. Much higher and it will be a scalding risk.

 

[buck51]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_chlorination

info click the link.