Keeping fresh water fresh

[vjswhippet]

Do you empty your fresh water tank every trip or is there a trick to keep it fresher? I take bottled water for drinking and usually do not empty it until I winterize. A couple times I’ve noticed a funky smell and added bleach. Seams the fresh water treatment had no effect. The motor home I just bought, we emptied their water and filled with our own. A week later it smells awful.

[maillemaker]

I have not sanitized my water system since we bought it 9 years ago.

I fill it with city water every trip (about once a month), and drain the left-overs after every trip. We don't use the on-board water for drinking (other than teeth brushing). We use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Only issue I have have ever had is the small clear rubber tube that runs from the tank to the vent on the fill plate sometimes gets gunk growing in it. I remove it and run a bottle brush through it once a year or so. The tank itself looks clean as a whistle - I can see it from my rear cargo hatch or lift up the bed shelf as it is under my bed.

Same thing with our black water tank. I never use one of those wand things to clean it. I just put an enzyme packet in before every trip and fill it full before doing the final dump after every trip.

Steve

[ron_dittmer]

Stim wrote:
For all, you need to use one of the white hoses (designed for potable water), NOT just a regular hose!
Regular hose might have chemicals you don't want in your water.
I always drained and rolled up white hose and connect it to itself to keep it clean and run plenty of water through it before using it again.

X2

[Stim]

For all, you need to use one of the white hoses (designed for potable water), NOT just a regular hose!
Regular hose might have chemicals you don't want in your water.
I always drained and rolled up white hose and connect it to itself to keep it clean and run plenty of water through it before using it again.

[AJR]

When sanitizing the tank with chlorine I just fill it till full. Run it through all plumbing (remember the outside shower) and leave it sit for a day or two. Then drain the tank and each tank refill, as I mentioned above, is also run through all the plumbing. No need to drive around if the tank is full.

You want that tank full when not in use.

[bobndot]

Standard bleach works fine. I think its 1/4 cup per 10 gals. 10 gals is all you need to do the job. Let it sit in the system as well as all the lines, water pump, outside shower toilet , for 6 hrs or so. You can google the method for the exact amt of bleach or better yet, go to youtube where you can see a video of 50 people doing it. When it's time to winterize it, use youtube as well.

[garmp]

Thanks for all the info. As a nubee to RV'n, I need to learn as much as I can. Our unit is just over a year old and there's a lot of things I need to consider.
Our unit has sat for 3 months as we ready for a fall trip. So I guess the best thing would be to totally drain the fresh water tank, water heater and all, fill with a chlorine mix, drive about, empty and repeat before filling for the trip, My question is just standard bleach what to use or is there another product?
Thanks and sorry if I hijacked the thread.

[AJR]

I use the fresh water tank for everything. I am on well water.
All water is passed through one of those blue in line filters right as it goes into the tank.

Spring time I sanitize the system. I empty the tank and refill two times to get rid of the chlorine smell. The third filling is to the brim and normally tastes good.

When not in use the tank is full to the brim all the time. No air equals minimum chance of things growing. If the camper has set for a month. I drain and fill.

I let water run out of the hose for five or so minutes before I do any filling. Then I add the filter and run water for two more minutes through the filter.

If hot water starts to smell. I drain it squirt some bleach into it. Fill it and let it sit for a day. Drain it and fill it and live with a faint bleach smell till it is gone.

Oh, The dog always gets first crack at the new campground water. If she will not drink it after a days drive. Nor will I.

[bobndot]

Insects crawl into the hoses too . I have made the same mistake in the past, I realized it when cut a hole on top on my FW tank to install a marine deck plate, so I could reach in and clean the inside of my tank. I found some dead insects inside the FW tank. Now I make it a point to run some water thru the hose first.

[2oldman]

vjswhippet wrote:
I should have run the hose before filling my FW tank.

That's a mistake I've made before. It doesn't take much of that stinky water to smell up the tank.

[vjswhippet]

I've realized another mistake I made. I should have run the hose before filling my FW tank. All I did was fill it with a bit of water that had been sitting in the hose in hot weather before cold water came out. Dang it.

[bobndot]

Tank rinsers are avl in any rv store. water heater tank rinser

We use bottle water for drinking and cooking too.

Draining the WH by using the drain plug always leaves an amount of water in the bottom of the tank, this wand mixes fresh clean water to that leftover water . Run it for a few minutes to allow the clean water to dilute the old. Insert it thru the drain port and let it run to flush things out.

I allow the fresh water tank to drain after a trip, then replace with new water when leaving on a trip.

2x a season I add a 1/2 cup of bleach to the FW tank, run it thru and let it sit in the tank and lines overnight, then drain it and flush things out with new water.

[coolmom42]

MobileBasset wrote:
The chlorine in city water is only effective for a short while. If the water sits for very long it will grow organisms. In very rainy times when much less water gets used because no one is watering their lawns, cities can have problems with their water tanks going bad from low usage. The RV systems need to either keep treated water flowing through at a good rate (refilling and using up and refilling) or be emptied and sanitized periodically. Sanitize by emptying and refilling with 1/4 cup bleach per 10 gallons of water, open all the faucets until you smell the bleach, let it sit for a few hours or more, then empty and rinse until the smell is gone. I close off the hot water heater from this process but make sure I open it and get it thoroughly rinsed with fresh treated city water.

This is correct.

Personally I don't think it hurts to fill the water heater, too.

If you are putting well water in your tank, that will make the problem worse, but even pre-chlorinated water isn't going to hold indefinitely.

And after you do this, drain the tank and run more water through the system before you use it, to get the bleach out.

It is also a good idea to let the bleach mixture slosh around in the tank and get it completely cleaned, by driving around a while, as someone said.

If there is a water filter anywhere in the system, you could try replacing it, too.

[Stim]

Are you on a well?
If treating with bleach it helps to treat it and drive it to slosh it around in the tank.

[MobileBasset]

The chlorine in city water is only effective for a short while. If the water sits for very long it will grow organisms. In very rainy times when much less water gets used because no one is watering their lawns, cities can have problems with their water tanks going bad from low usage. The RV systems need to either keep treated water flowing through at a good rate (refilling and using up and refilling) or be emptied and sanitized periodically. Sanitize by emptying and refilling with 1/4 cup bleach per 10 gallons of water, open all the faucets until you smell the bleach, let it sit for a few hours or more, then empty and rinse until the smell is gone. I close off the hot water heater from this process but make sure I open it and get it thoroughly rinsed with fresh treated city water.