Let me first congratulate the Port Huron Museum for the lovely restoration of their combine. That sure is some fine looking woodwork.

I noticed the picture of the antique water cooler. We have a whole bunch of these for our coaches at Whitewater Valley and I have just been given the assignment of restoring them. It seems our group wants them cleaned up and restored to working order and I have no idea how to get inside them to do this.

I assume (yes, I know about assuming) that the railroads cleaned them out once in a while, as this was in a time before water softeners and they must have gotten pretty cruddy inside. I thank anyone in advance for whatever help they can give me in figuring this out.

Didn't realize they were so blasted heavy until I went to put one in my car.Whatever solution is used to solve this, you can bet I'll be moving these things with a two wheeler.

-Angie

ladypardus@cs.com

> I noticed the picture of the antique water
> cooler. We have a whole bunch of these for
> our coaches at Whitewater Valley and I have
> just been given the assignment of restoring
> them. It seems our group wants them cleaned
> up and restored to working order and I have
> no idea how to get inside them to do this.

As a minimum you will want to disinfect the water coolers. And then disinfect them on a regular basis. The railroads in modern times did this to their water systems on a regular basis. Just about every lightweight car I recall seeing had a record card listing dates of this disinfection.

I would use a chlorine aqueous solution and let it stand for several hours, if not a day. Then the system has to be flushed with clean water to get rid of the chlorine. Chlorine bleach or swiming pool solution can be used for this.

Similarly, water utility systems have to disinfect there new pipes and reservoirs before placing them into service. Also they have to treat reservoirs after maintenance work has been done and often on a regular basis to maintain water quality. This is besides treating at the well or other source.

Brian Norden
Senior Designer/GIS Technician
Suburban Water Systems


bnorden49@earthlink.net

I'd also check them for lead solder if they are made of soldered sheets. If lead is present, perhaps they could be coated inside with some material that would seal the lead solder. Hopefully, the sealant would not be more toxic than the lead.

> As a minimum you will want to disinfect the
> water coolers. And then disinfect them on a
> regular basis. The railroads in modern times
> did this to their water systems on a regular
> basis. Just about every lightweight car I
> recall seeing had a record card listing
> dates of this disinfection.

> I would use a chlorine aqueous solution and
> let it stand for several hours, if not a
> day. Then the system has to be flushed with
> clean water to get rid of the chlorine.
> Chlorine bleach or swiming pool solution can
> be used for this.

> Similarly, water utility systems have to
> disinfect there new pipes and reservoirs
> before placing them into service. Also they
> have to treat reservoirs after maintenance
> work has been done and often on a regular
> basis to maintain water quality. This is
> besides treating at the well or other
> source.

> Brian Norden
> Senior Designer/GIS Technician
> Suburban Water Systems


ryarger@rypn.org

You could boil it out with Lye. That would clean it and provide additional toxicity such that the solder would be a moot point. Also, it would discourage passengers from draining the tank by drinking the water thusly eliminating those time consuming fill ups.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

The product you are looking for is an epoxy coating suitable for drinking water. One such product is Ameron Amercoat 233H. To view a product data sheet go to
http://www.ameroncoatings.com/www/

Search by product for the 233H. Other similar products are available but make sure to look that they are NSF (National Sanitary Foundation) apprved.


Ameron Coatings

Thanks for the kind words Angie. We don't plan on using ours again in the future, so I will defer judgement to those who are the experts in watertreatment. You are correct though; they sure aren't light, although they are pretty interesting. Did also notice the separate tank in the bathroom for the sink? It was also a top-filled water tank, with a small faucet at the bottom; if you want hot water I guess you had to heat it on a stove, but somehow I don't think this was as much of an issue in the mixed-train service days she had at the end.

T.J.

> Let me first congratulate the Port Huron
> Museum for the lovely restoration of their
> combine. That sure is some fine looking
> woodwork.

> I noticed the picture of the antique water
> cooler. We have a whole bunch of these for
> our coaches at Whitewater Valley and I have
> just been given the assignment of restoring
> them. It seems our group wants them cleaned
> up and restored to working order and I have
> no idea how to get inside them to do this.

> I assume (yes, I know about assuming) that
> the railroads cleaned them out once in a
> while, as this was in a time before water
> softeners and they must have gotten pretty
> cruddy inside. I thank anyone in advance for
> whatever help they can give me in figuring
> this out.

> Didn't realize they were so blasted heavy
> until I went to put one in my car.Whatever
> solution is used to solve this, you can bet
> I'll be moving these things with a two
> wheeler.

> -Angie


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

I was going through some of the old drawings in our Pullman Library (at Illinois Railway Museum) and there was a standard stencil and lettering plan indicating that the Pullman Company steamed the water tanks on a regular basis and recorded info and dates on the inside of the tank compartment door.

That would be for a system of all metal parts without rubber gaskets or o ring seals. It would not have removed all dirt, but achieving a temperature of 212 F would kill any bacteria and so any remaining dirt would be 'clean' dirt. Use of steam would obviate the need to consider residual chemicals in the system or any corrosion or damage strong chemicals might inflict on the tank and seams. If any seams need to be repaired use silver solder or have them brazed with a suitable alloy.

68trolley@attbi.com

You know Ange, there is a reason we went to bottled water. The potential problems of cleaning and keeping clean the tanks as well as the filling and draining are intensive in comparison.

You have to question whether it is worth the added continuing effort to make them useful.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net