Sanitizing water system

[Dan54]

Our Landmark 5th wheel has been sitting at our campground as guest accommodations since July 1st. It has been hooked up to our well water system & has developed a bad smell when the water is running. I think it has been caused by the high interior temperatures as the trailer has been closed up & unused for weeks. Plan on disinfecting the water by using bleach before we take the trailer to Myrtle Beach next month. Looking for suggestions on how to do this effectively. Thanks


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[taskswap]

It doesn't take much bleach to sanitize water, I believe it's about 1/3cup per gallon. But my understanding is chlorine is not the recommended way to do this. As it kills what's in there, it can produce THM as a by-product, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trihalomethane#Water_pollutants. These are carcinogens. They aren't a problem in pools because the concentrations are low and you aren't supposed to drink it. But for an RV I'd use something like Aqua Shock Sanitizer or similar. It's expensive but one bottle is like a 5-year supply, you only use an ounce or two.

 

[GK2018]

We're on a well also and we use bleach to sanitize ours. I usually shock the well about every 3-6 months by dumping 2-3 gallons of bleach down it (definitely overkill in the amount of bleach needed) and then running that water through our rv until the bleach smell dissipates and usually help it along with a load of white clothes in the washer. You could also fill up the fresh water tank with bleach or the cleaner taskswap mentioned and run it through the lines using the freshwater pump.

You could use vinegar as well although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it unless it's all you have on hand because it's not very friendly with material made of rubber and you'd have to be more particular with flushing the vinegar back out than you would with bleach.

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[Oregon_Camper]

Are you asking how to clean the well (source) water or the tank in your RV?

For the tank, 1/4 cup bleach for every 16 gallons of water or 1 ounce per eight gallons. 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.

Might consider a real water filter too. Not those cheap $20 filters, but a real filter. Here is a link to a YouTube filter I did for a 3 canister filter from Clearsourse

 

[RoadJunkie]

If it stinks when you run the hot water, then you have another problem, not just sanitizing the fresh water tank. You can search for clues on dealing with water heater odors.

 

[NYSUPstater]

I 2nd OC's post and would like to add to run his procedure thru the hot water heater as well both times. Have done it this way for years and still alive.

 

[Mrsfish]

PUROGENE…the best water tank purifier out there!! Developed for the marine industry it does not use bleach - which takes forever to flush out and is bad on your seals. It uses lemon juice to activate the chemical in it and 1 flush and you’re done.

 

[JohnDar]

PUROGENE…the best water tank purifier out there!! Developed for the marine industry it does not use bleach - which takes forever to flush out and is bad on your seals. It uses lemon juice to activate the chemical in it and 1 flush and you’re done.

Used it on our rig while we had it.


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[Bobby A]

One other thing I would like to mention hear guys. Not sure if you use your washer/dryer prep lines, but I know people that have had a funky odor and it turned out to be the hot/cold lines for the washer. Once they dis infected those lines the issue went away. Just saying.

 

[Dan54]

One other thing I would like to mention hear guys. Not sure if you use your washer/dryer prep lines, but I know people that have had a funky odor and it turned out to be the hot/cold lines for the washer. Once they dis infected those lines the issue went away. Just saying.

Good point, we have a washing machine. Will make sure to run sanitizer thru those lines as well. Gotta get rid of that rotten egg smell!


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[Bobby A]

Good point, we have a washing machine. Will make sure to run sanitizer thru those lines as well. Gotta get rid of that rotten egg smell!


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We live in Fl. for 9 months out of the year. Every couple months I have to remove my water hose from the spicket and from the coach and put bleach in the hose at the spicket end and let it set for a 1/2 hour and re hook the hose at the spicket and run water through the hose. You wouldn't believe the green crap that comes out the other end of the hose. It has something to do with the hot sun and the water hose on the ground. I do replace my water hose ever year after I seen that. Also, have you removed the screen and cleaned it ?? The screen is located on the coach where you hook your hose to the coach.

 

[JohnDar]

We live in Fl. for 9 months out of the year. Every couple months I have to remove my water hose from the spicket and from the coach and put bleach in the hose at the spicket end and let it set for a 1/2 hour and re hook the hose at the spicket and run water through the hose. You wouldn't believe the green crap that comes out the other end of the hose. It has something to do with the hot sun and the water hose on the ground. I do replace my water hose ever year after I seen that. Also, have you removed the screen and cleaned it ?? The screen is located on the coach where you hook your hose to the coach.

Depending on your water source and if you're using a filtration system, that little screen can get plugged with debris and reduce your flow. Not a bad idea to get a package of those screen/washers and just replace rather than cleaning them. Use them on the inlet of your filter system, too.