Advice needed: Disinfecting Water system

["Hi-Viz" Bill]

Hi All !!

We've owned our Landmark for 2+ yrs now. This last wkd, was out first time at a state park with no water facilities. We've never used our fresh water tank before. After filling our fresh tank, and setting up at our site, the first thing I did was turn off the valve that supplies water to our residential fridge. All went well for the wkd, and I drained the remaining water in the tank, before hitting the road.. Now back home, what must I do the disinfect my water system for city water use, next time out?? I assume I'll need to completely drain system, including wtr htr, start over, and use bleach in some way to achieve my desires. What is the best procedure to follow to get good results?? Thanking all responders in advance.

 

[JohnDar]

This is from the Water Systems Guide in the Tools section:

Fresh Water Tank
Heartland recommends a solution of 1 gallon of water and ¼ cup of household bleach for each 15 gallons of tank capacity. A 90 gallon tank would take a mix of 6 gallons of water and 1 ½ cups of bleach.
1. Add the recommended solution to the fresh tank and complete filling the tank with fresh water.
2. With pump on, open all faucets to release trapped air. Close the faucets and allow the pump to pressurize the system.
3. Let stand for 3 hours.
4. Drain and flush with fresh water.
5. A solution of 5 gallons of water with 1 quart vinegar may be used to eliminate excessive chlorine taste. Allow the solution to agitate in the fresh tank by vehicle motion. Do this over a period of several days if possible.
6. Drain the tank again and refill with fresh water.

If you don't have a standard gravity fill for the water tank, you can pour the required bleach into the supply hose, then connect it to fill the tank. There is also the "Purogene Method," based on the Purogene sold by the RV Water Filter Store (online). The instructions for using that are on their website.

When you filled at the campground, did you use a good filtering system, or just straight from the hose at the fill station?

 

[jbeletti]

Bill - I have some and have yet to try it, but you might wish to consider Purogene. Here's a link to it at the RV Water Filter Store. Use this code at checkout for the 15% Heartland Owners Club discount: HEART18

 

["Hi-Viz" Bill]

............

When you filled at the campground, did you use a good filtering system, or just straight from the hose at the fill station?[/QUOTE]

John !!

Normally, when using city water, I have a Home Depot "whole home' filter mounted ahead of my "On the Go" water filter/softener. But, when I filled at the campground; 1. Since I had never done before, didn't know that it might help to fill the fresh water tank routing the same way, thru both filters and, 2. I was in a bit of a hurry b/c the line at the fill station before the Labor Day wkd was starting to get a little long.

It that an advisable thing to do in the future??

 

[JohnDar]

............

When you filled at the campground, did you use a good filtering system, or just straight from the hose at the fill station?

John !!

Normally, when using city water, I have a Home Depot "whole home' filter mounted ahead of my "On the Go" water filter/softener. But, when I filled at the campground; 1. Since I had never done before, didn't know that it might help to fill the fresh water tank routing the same way, thru both filters and, 2. I was in a bit of a hurry b/c the line at the fill station before the Labor Day wkd was starting to get a little long.

It that an advisable thing to do in the future??[/QUOTE]

Using your filtration system to fill at a state campground would be advisable, especially since they are probably pumping well water that may or may not have been treated.

Or, go to the link that Jim provided and get some Purogene. It comes with instructions for both sanitizing your system as well as treating the water you plan to use from the tank.


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[avvidclif]

Use Purogene. No taste, no smell, nothing. No flushing to get rid of bleach taste and smell. Buy 2 quarts. First time sanitation will need most of one (100 gal tank). After that it doesn't take much to keep it sanitized. I leave 5-10 gallons in the tank with several ounces of Purogene and traveling sloshes it around. When filling the tank add it to the second filter and then fill the tank.

 

[Mrsfish]

We used Purogene 3 weeks ago before a dry camping trip we were doing. It is 100 times better, imho than using bleach and or vinegar. Absolutely no taste or smell.. very happy we discovered this- thank you to JimB for the rv water store😀

 

[JohnDar]

I also used Purogene earlier this summer. First to sanitize the water tank since we don't use it and are on city water all season. Then to treat about 30 gallons of water I keep in there just in case we need to use it to flush the toilet during a power outage. Don't want to get possibly funky water into the system doing that.

Next season, I'll probably use it to sanitize the entire system since we'll have a city water hookup at the campground instead of doing my dewinterizing in a storage yard. One of the benefits (I guess) of not being able to park the rig near home this winter but leaving it at the CG and doing the prep work there.

Any water going into the rig passes through my two filter system. When I was dewinterizing at the storage yard, I used three 6-gallon jerry cans filled with chlorinated city water from home (added some bleach to it) to pump in after eliminating the antifreeze. I followed that the next day with another 18 gallons of water without bleach, then once at the CG, a long flush again with filtered water. Been using and drinking the well water at the CG for 10 years without any ill effects.

 

[CoveredWagon]

Got me to thinking. I’ve done the pour the chlorine and water mix down the hose trick and what a pain in the (insert the word of you choice here) that is. Never again. �� I’ll be purchasing one of these $12 submersible pumps before I do that again.
I’ve used them before as part of a poor man’s ac system in my airplane. They work just fine. ��

 

[JohnDar]

Got me to thinking. I’ve done the pour the chlorine and water mix down the hose trick and what a pain in the (insert the word of you choice here) that is. Never again. I’ll be purchasing one of these $12 submersible pumps before I do that again.
I’ve used them before as part of a poor man’s ac system in my airplane. They work just fine.

View attachment 59351

Will it stand up to a dose of bleach?Stuff can be corrosive. One of the advantages of the old gravity fill port is being able to use a large funnel with a length of tubing attached to it for adding solution to the tank.


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[Gary521]

Hi All !!

We've owned our Landmark for 2+ yrs now. This last wkd, was out first time at a state park with no water facilities. We've never used our fresh water tank before. After filling our fresh tank, and setting up at our site, the first thing I did was turn off the valve that supplies water to our residential fridge. All went well for the wkd, and I drained the remaining water in the tank, before hitting the road.. Now back home, what must I do the disinfect my water system for city water use, next time out?? I assume I'll need to completely drain system, including wtr htr, start over, and use bleach in some way to achieve my desires. What is the best procedure to follow to get good results?? Thanking all responders in advance.

Why do you think you need to disinfect the system to return to city water? There is disinfecting the system to disinfect the system. Suggestions as how to do it posted. Was the water bad? Was it contaminated? If not, I see no need for you to disinfect the system just to change water sources. You did not say where the water source you filled came from.

 

[CoveredWagon]

Will it stand up to a dose of bleach?Stuff can be corrosive. One of the advantages of the old gravity fill port is being able to use a large funnel with a length of tubing attached to it for adding solution to the tank.
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Sure it will. The mixture is dilute first of all and you’d only be running it for at most a minute or two. Then run some fresh water through it and it’d be fine.
Sure there are advantages to having. A gravity fill, but for those of us that don’t pouring it into a garden hose sucks. 😡

 

["Hi-Viz" Bill]

Why do you think you need to disinfect the system to return to city water? There is disinfecting the system to disinfect the system. Suggestions as how to do it posted. Was the water bad? Was it contaminated? If not, I see no need for you to disinfect the system just to change water sources. You did not say where the water source you filled came from.

Thank you, Gary, for asking the question. The fact is I DON'T KNOW !! I was told early on (can't remember the source) that I should never consume water (drinking, ice, cooking) used from the fresh water tank. The only time I had ever put water in the tank was shortly after the rig was delivered to us, and that was at home and only to learn a little about the system, as we were completely new to this RV thing, at the time. So, in the time since (2 yrs), even tho' the tank was drained, I suspected that "things" might be in there festering, making additional water added at any time, not suitable to be consumed. The main reason I am concerned, is b/c our residential fridge is connected to the system, with water & ice in the door. So, I figured I would need to disinfect the system to be able to safely drink any new city water, from this point forward. The water used last wkd, was from a state park in Ohio, which I'm sure was fine, but I'm not sure about the inside of my tank.

Was I mis-informed about the fresh water tank usage?? Am I being a little paranoid about this whole thing.

Our next outing is in 3 wks, so I have a little time to address this, IF, I even need to.

TY

 

[jbeletti]

Bill - in the past, due to infrequent usage, we would never "consume" (as in taken by mouth), tank water. Then a few years ago, I updated my filtration system and built a whole-coach reverse osmosis (RO) system. The RO water cannot be produced on the fly in the quantities needed for on-demand use as we use it for 100% of our water needs (drinking, cleaning, bathing, dogs, CPAPs etc.). As such, we produce RO water and store in our 80 gallon fresh water tank.

As we travel 250 nights a year, I rarely disinfect the system as it's in constant use. But there are times where the unit sits at home for 1 to 3 weeks between trips with water in the tank. What I generally do is drain the tank, make a fresh batch of RO water, hit the road with it and drink bottled water (gallon jugs filled from home) until we go through a least one full tank of RO water. Is this disinfection? It is not. But it's something.

Today, I plan to use Purogene to disinfect my tank and plumbing system. It will be my first time using the product.

 

[Gary521]

It is always a good idea to flush and disinfect the fresh water tank. However, water from this tank is safe for use. It is made from the same plastic as the water lines in the trailer. Is it possible for this tank to have something wrong with it - anything is possible. I have never heard or read that water from this tank is not safe. I would like to add that I too am concerned with safe drinking water. I carry and use a disinfectant to spray on the water spigot and hose end before attaching. There is a greater chance here than in your water tank for picking up crud. I have seen people who stick their sewer drain hose on the spigot to wash it out - talk about disgusting. The best thing for drinking would be to carry and drink bottled water first and then maybe filtered water second, in my opinion.

In my younger days, I was camping high in the Rockies here in Colorado. Here is a pristine mountain stream with clear, cool water. My camping partner was thirsty and took a drink from this pristine stream. Shortly my partner got a little sick. This great looking clear water contained giardia.

 

[Lynn1130]

There is a small amount of water that remains in the tank(s) even with the drains open and moving around. I still get water coming out on trips when the tanks are not in use. It is possible for things to grow in the water left in the tank especially in our climate where it is hot and bad things grow fast in standing water. When I do disinfect, I use the bleach to water solution and allow it to sit for 3-4 hours. Then drain the tank and refill.

I don't drink the water from the tank most times but do brush my teeth and make coffee with it at times. It has not killed me yet.

 

[porthole]

Was I mis-informed about the fresh water tank usage?? Am I being a little paranoid about this whole thing.

To each his own on this issue.

We have always used the fresh tank for all uses, with some cautions, on 3 RV's now and 3 different boats. Washing, drinking, cooking etc


Stating with well sanitized tanks, and that was mostly bleach in prior years. Extra bleach, sloshing around, full tanks etc.
Once the initial sanitizing was complete, including flushing and rinsing I would just do a normal sanitize once in the beginning of the year and again mid season - or anytime I put water in the tanks other then from our house (or home marina).

Never had any filtering on the boats and we survived, although I also drank out of a garden hose and local streams as a kid.

The last two RV's have had a multiple whole house filter systems and a galley sink drink tap with additional filtering.

 

[avvidclif]

My main rule is: "Don't drink out of the river/stream downstream from the herd"