Sanitation of water system

david5311

Member
Just FYI. We have not sanitized our water system since 5th wheel was brand new. We only camp a few times a year and our trip in June when we got to the lake our water stunk up the whole trailer. We only hook to city water. Have never used tank. After running a lot of water through it got better. Two days ago i added 1 1/4 cup of bleach to our 75 gallon tank. Filled tank with water ran water through all faucets to get bleach to complete system. Let it set for 24 hours. Our tank has a very small drain value so i used the pump to empty the tank. Refill the tank twice and run water through faucets to empty the tank. To day i am going to hook to city water and run ice machine and refrigerator water to clean any bleach from that system. Water is much better with no smell.
Does everyone drain their hot water tank between trips? Just letting everyone know that this fixed the smelly water problem.

David
 

Oregon_Camper

Well-known member

We only empty the water heater 1x per year, when we winterize...note we are not full timers tough.

Here is my process to sanitize the tank and water lines.

1/4 cup bleach for every 15 gallons of water. Fill your tanks with this formula...run this bleach water through your lines...allow to sit for 24 hours. Drain entire tank...fill with fresh water...run water through lines....sit for 24 hours. Drain tank and fill again. Flush water lines until you no longer smell bleach. Done...now you will have a CLEAN tank and water lines. I do this every Spring when we take the RV out of Winter storage.
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
Or use the Purogene system. I believe there are several threads on here about it or you can google it.

You do not say what the "stink" was but if it smelled like rotten eggs it was probably your water heater. While some say that the "closed" system in an RV will not allow the water to go bad, I can tell you from experience that water left anywhere in the system, in warm weather especially, will grow all kinds of nasty stuff. The water I forgot to drain from my water heater one time came out black when I got back to it.
 

NYSUPstater

Well-known member
We do the same thing as Oregon, only I run the chlorinated water thru the hot water tank too. Then dump everything and repeat.. To some, it's a waste of 140 gallons of water, but I look at it as cheap insurance. No one gets sick and no smell.
 
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