Keeping Water Fresh

[wolfe10]

Larmans,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

While there are some other much more expensive chemicals that you could use, common unscented bleach is by far the most widely used method of tank sanitation worldwide.

[hermanmullins]

Fill up the water tank. Add bleach-- there is a formula of how much per gallon of water. Take a drive. Run water through all outlets till you smell bleach. Then let it stand for a couple of hours. Drain tank. Fill tank. Run water through all out lets. Drain tank. Fill tank. Again, run water through faucets if no more bleach smell. Drain tanks one more time and refill tank.

It is always best to filter the water coming out of the tank and not water going into the tank.

There is so much water into and out of the tank during cleaning I have a pump so I can pump the water out faster and can run it into my DWs flower beds.

[Guest BillAdams]

I highly recommend using a sediment filter (at least) for water coming into your coach. Should you run into some "dirty" water this will remove the big stuff which could damage your water pumps and remain on the bottom of your tank to be sloshed up again and again. We stopped at a park in OR along the beach and parked at the brand new (I was the first user) pull-through sites. I filled my tank and was later asked by someone if I had sand in the water. I didn't know, but I went back to the coach and checked. The bottom of the filter had about 1/2" of sand. That filter turned out to be a life saver!

[wolfe10]

As I posted above, I agree with Bill. A sediment only filter is an excellent idea for all water coming into the coach. Been using a 5 micron sediment only filter for decades.

Only takes a few grains of sand (not that unusual in well water and not harmful to humans) to make a mess of a water pump pressure switch.

[Briarhopper]

We had a similar experience as Bill's on the OR beach. Just had installed new filters and a day later our water flow went to Zero. The filters looked liked they had been dipped in a mud bath. We think it was likely a broken water main and subsequent repair contamination.

I believe the setup we installed on our coach is similar to what Brett describes. We use two large filters in tandem hooked to the camp supply; one pleated to catch the big chunks and one with finer medium to catch the little chunks. Both allow the chlorine from the camp supply to pass through (assuming there is chlorine in the camp supply) into our tanks and lines for the sole purpose of keeping the system sanitized. We then have a smaller filter under the kitchen sink that does remove chlorine for the coffee and tea water.

When we bought our first RV, I talked to a friend of mine who works for the local municipal water supply to gain a better understanding of safe water. If your objective is safe water or a "clean system", all you need to know is if you have any free chlorine in the system. Chlorine is lost as it kills the bad guys. If the bad guys are too much for the chlorine, there is no chlorine left (no free chlorine). So, if you test for free chlorine and you have any, your water should be safe and your system is essentially sanitized. Don't know if it really matters how much PPM you have in a small system, as long as you have some free chlorine to show it has overcome the bad guys. I think any test kit that yields free chlorine would be OK, but not positive on this. I test the supply when we pull into a new camp and then test again before filling our fresh water tank. He also said chlorine will mix with a tank of water without stirring, so you can add some chlorine to your tank and not need to drive. Ditto too on chlorine leaving on its own and not letting water sit.

The small bottles of water freshener you can buy at Wally’s or CW are just a sodium hypochlorite solution (household bleach) in small bottles.

We do use store bought bottled water when we are in travel mode and had one about 2 weeks ago that smelled just like pond water. Reminded me of home, lazy summer day, fishing pole in hand, bobber just beyond the moss…… Hope this was worth the read time.

Added Note: Looked at a gallon jug of fresh water treatment that had some type of alcohol as the active ingredient instead of a form of chlorine. I had mentioned the small bottles of sodium hypochlorite above, so though I would add this note. Have not used it and probably won't, but it may be a bleach alternative.

[MuckSavage]

All good advice, but let's start at the source. Before you hook up your hose to the water connection at a c.g., Carry a small spray bottle with bleach & spray the spigot liberally before you connect your freshwater hose! Too many times I've seen someone dump their holding tanks, then disconnect their drain hose & proceed to slip it onto the water spigot in attempt to rinse out their waste hose. Sanitize that spigot first!

[Butch39]

All good advice, but let's start at the source. Before you hook up your hose to the water connection at a c.g., Carry a small spray bottle with bleach & spray the spigot liberally before you connect your freshwater hose! Too many times I've seen someone dump their holding tanks, then disconnect their drain hose & proceed to slip it onto the water spigot in attempt to rinse out their waste hose. Sanitize that spigot first!

Hi Tim,

Have to agree with you, have used the spray bottle w/bleach for years, after observing a camper wash his sewer hose out under the spigot. One has to be prepared to protect oneself and family from the posibilty of contracting a serious disease due to someone elses, less than safe, actions. Have read forums about "pros & cons" about the using of the bleach.........but we would rather be safe than sorry.........to each his own.