Sanitize Fresh Water Tank

[Brent Hohlweg]

Hey guys,

Has anyone sanitized their fresh water tanks? I can't seem to find a winterize or siphon connection on our 2004 Marquis? Is there one, or do I need to install one? Any recommendations what kit we might have to buy?

We want to do like this: http://youtu.be/jEepug8N-aE

Cheers Brent

[Gerald Farris]

Brent,
Your 2004 may not have a winterizing kit installed, however if it does the connection will be by the water pump. But you do not need a winterizing kit if you just want to add bleach to your fresh water tank. To add bleach to your fresh water tank, just take an empty water hose, hook it to the coach, pour the bleach into the hose, then hook the other end to the supply facet, and fill the tank in the normal manner. This will force all of the bleach into the tank as it fills with water.

Gerald

[Bill Sprague]

I've never shock treated any house I've owned.  

When our coach was new, I flushed it with chlorine bleach once or twice a year just like the video.  Then, I read somewhere that there was enough chlorine in city water to keep entire municipal water systems AND my motorhome clean.  I have not "shock treated" it for several years.  

I've also read that filling your tank through a carbon filter removes the benefit of the free municipal chlorine.  If I am adding water to my tank, I make sure it is not going through a carbon filter.  That said, I do have a common 3M carbon filter under four sinks between our condo and RV.  

I do use the water in the tank and go out of may way to put fresh water in when I like the taste and hardness.  In 20 years of RVing and boating, I've never met anyone that was sick or damaged by drinking water or showering from installed tanks.  I have read of people that did not do well drinking water in foreign countries with less water treatment.  

I watched the above video.  There are a few flaws in it.  One is the suggestion that an RV water pump will die when run dry.  RV water pumps use a diaphragm and check valve so that when they run dry, they DON'T get damaged.  The more common impeller style water pump used in other applications will quickly die when the rubber impellers get hot from friction on the pump housing.   Another flaw is the suggestion you should drain your 100 gallons of bleach infused water on the ground in an RV park.  I agree it probably won't cause damage to the ground, buy you WILL probably cause damage to your relations in the neighborhood.  

[Joel Ashley]

You might review this old Forum thread, Brent, where I posted my methodology:

http://forum.bacrallies.com/m-1341760145/s-16/highlight-Bleach/#num16

I think if a rig stands in storage for any length of time it is safest to sanitize the water tank prior to next use, generally once annually as part of a routine dewinterizing procedure.  This is recommended practice by most well-known RV care specialists and journalists;  there is in fact a relevant article in the March issue of Motorhome Magazine.  Chlorine concentrations in fresh city water may not be strong enough to adequately deal with residual tank microbial growth during long term storage.  

Joel

[Michael Marcocchio]

Hello what I did to my water tank was cut a hole in the top side of the tank and installed a blue threaded cap  ( like the one in the service bay for putting your water hose though ) now I can fill my water tank quicker and also add water tank sanitize fluid faster easlier way of doing it.If interested I took pictures.

[Brent Hohlweg]

Joel and gentlemen, huge thanks once again. I'm off to the garden center to replicate Joel's idea above. What an inventive idea!

Cheers Brent

[Stan Simpson]

Hello all. Stupid question. I read about sanitizing fresh water tanks, see remarks such as these: "after a few rinses" "drain the water" etc. Where do you folks drain the water to? Are these methods when you are on the road and you can drain directly to a sewer connection at an RV park?

My method to drain the fresh water tank each year, before winterizing, has been to open the drain valve while on the way home, and let the fresh water just drain on to the roadway.

I can't drain 100 gallons of water on to the driveway at home, nor in the storage area. I'm just wondering if what I do is okay, or is there a better way.

Thanks,

Stan

[Edward Buker]

Stan,

Not sure why you cannot drain 100 gallons at home. You can partially pull the drain lever and let it drain at a pace were the runoff rate should not hurt anything. In a good rainstorm in excess of a hundred gallons comes off your roof. As long as it is clean water I do not see an issue.

Later Ed

[Stan Simpson]

Thank you, Ed. I'm so glad there are folks here who know these things. I have no idea how much water comes off the roof at home! How in heaven's name did you measure that!   Probably an engineering calculation of some sort, I'd guess. I was an A student in math. It has all disappeared from my head.  

Thanks again,

Stan

[Edward Buker]

Stan,

I wasn't actually going to do this, it was just a guess. But the question did raise some curiosity...231 cubic inches of water in a gallon, 100 gallons would be 23,100 cu inches of water. Assume 1 inch of rain, that  would yield 144 cu in of water per sq ft. of roof. So the answer would be 160 sq ft of roof yields 100 gallons of water in a 1 inch rain storm.

What I would like to know is why this 100 gallons of water will not push all the leaves out of my gutter so I would not have to get up on a ladder and clean them :-)

Later Ed

[David T. Richelderfer]

Because your downspout is plugged.   hahaha

[Stan Simpson]

Stan,


What I would like to know is why this 100 gallons of water will not push all the leaves out of my gutter so I would not have to get up on a ladder and clean them :-)

Later Ed

Gutter guards are around $1000 or less, installed, so if your time is worth $100 per hour, 10 trips you don't make on the ladder would pay for them.  

Thanks,

Stan

P.S. I would have to make 4 trips per year. Once each for my own leaves in the spring and fall. And then once more in the fall when the stupid weeping willow tree down the street waits until the wind is blowing in our direction, and then deposits millions of leaves in the gutters after they have been cleaned once. And then again in the spring when 10 million seed pods go flying in too! Gutter guards eliminate all of that!  

[Joel Ashley]

So does a grandson or two that are adept on roofs and ladders     And they're already paid for...    ...well, mostly.

My fresh tank dump is activated by an electric switch... It's either open fully or closed;  I am not aware that there is a way to vary the valve opening.  If Stan's is like that, he may have reasons not to splash that much water in one spot suddenly.  If so, I'd think he could configure a splash block and drain hose or a modified plastic catch container with a sewer hose adapted to carry the effluent to a more amenable spot in the yard or toward a street drain.

The way he's doing it now would be problematic for me because my rig needs to be parked by the house to easily run a series of fills and flushes, bleach, soda, rinse, and fill.  But then I'm parked over a gravel pad that absorbs and slowly dissipates the water.

Joel

[Edward Buker]

Hopefully my downspout will clear and my gutters will run free.....

Later Ed

[Stan Simpson]

Yes, Joel I have an electric water drain opener thingy too.

Stan