The water system in your RV provides water to drink, wash dishes and take a shower. Do not assume it will stay safe and fresh like the water system in your home. Contaminated water is extremely dangerous. We not only have to deal with a water system that hasn’t been used for some time, but when we travel in the RV we hook our water system up to a different water source every time we stop for the night. We hook up to city water, well water, and eventually contaminated water. You’ve probably heard people caution to not drink the water in Mexico. Well that can be true anywhere. We stopped at a campground one night to get a few hours of sleep and I didn’t bother to use the water filter. The water coming out of the faucet was cloudy and had small particles suspended in it.
Possibly the most important step you can take is to keep the fresh water system sanitized. At a minimum you should sanitize the system every spring when you take the RV out of storage and any time you notice stale water or an odor. It’s really quite simple to do.
Start by draining the water heater. Go to the outside compartment where the water heater is located. The drain plug is located in the bottom left hand corner. Remove the plug and open the pressure relief valve on top of the water heater to assist in draining. CAUTION: NEVER drain the water heater when it’s hot or under pressure.
Next you need to locate the low point water line drains. There will be one for the hot and one for the cold water lines. This is the lowest point in the water system. Open these and let the water drain out.
Now, find the drain for the fresh water holding tank and drain all of the water from it. At this point you can turn the water pump on for a moment to force out any remaining water. Do not let the pump continue to run once the water stops draining. Close all of the drains. At this point, we have removed most water from the system.
Now take a quarter cup of household bleach for every 15 gallons of water that your fresh water tank holds. Mix the bleach with water into a one-gallon container and pour it into the fresh water holding tank.
FILL THE FRESH WATER TANK almost completely full. Turn the water pump on, open all hot and cold faucets and run the water until you smell the bleach at each faucet. Close the faucets. If possible, drive the RV or pull the trailer so the water can move around to assist in cleaning the entire tank. Let it sit for at least 12 hours. Drain the entire system again and re-fill the fresh water tank with potable water.
Open all of the faucets and run the water until you no longer smell any bleach. It may be necessary to repeat this process again to eliminate all signs of bleach from the water system. Once this is done it is safe to use your water system.
If you follow these simple steps you can rest assured that the fresh water system in your RV truly is fresh.
I go a step farther. When I connect to a non-city water system, I operate off my tank and refill it as follows:
ReplyDeleteFor a 100 gallon tank, add 12 milliters of household bleach (about 2 capfulls from a quart bottle) to the gravity fill port on the tank, then fill the tank. After 30 minutes, check the Free Chlorine with a swimming pool test kit (colormetric strips). IF the Free Chlorine is less than 0.5ppm, add another 6 milliters, wait 30 minutes and check again. This will result in developing and maintaining a Chlorine residual of 0.5 to 4 ppm which fits nicely within the EPA guidelines for disinfection.
I have a class A motorhome and the only way I have found to add anything to the water tank is to put it in the hose and then attach it to water and the motorhome - never works very well.
ReplyDeleteWhat would you suggest?
Our rv doesn't have the old style slide-out drawer, just a non-threaded opening, so I cut a 2 foot piece of hose & attached a funnel. Works OK, I just make sure no fellow campers are around to laugh at me !
ReplyDeleteD&D,
ReplyDeleteHow about a cartridge filter holder - one with a replacable filter. Remove the filter, then add the bleach to the filter bowl. Hook it up in the water line and flush at least 5 gallons through it to move the chemical into the tank. Don't forget to replace the filter - and try real hard not to get any bleach or diluted bleach on your Blue Jeans.
When I hook up to any water supply I add 1/2 teaspoon of dry clorine to the end of the hose that attaches to the faucet. When I drain and refill the 75 gallon tank I add 1 tablespoon of the dry clorine. This ammount is calculated from thedirections on the bottle. I have yet to get a clorine taste and I know even my hose is protected
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get past the phrase "every spring when you take the R V out of storage." I live in mine and can't imagine why it would be coming out in the spring. How odd.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious what you think about the Horst Miracle Probes for the black water tank.
ReplyDelete