When I break camp, I drain all tanks.How much water should I put in the tanks to travel.I am thinking a couple gallons with some bleach

Fresh water tanks, we flush with a little bleach once a year or so. Grey/Black, I drain them completely before we travel if at all possible, or at the first dump station. As far as how much water to carry with you, I usually travel with my fresh tank full.

I travel with about 10 gallons in fresh tank unless going boondocking. Gray tanks empty,black tank empty then add 1 toilet full of water with chemical for travel.

We normally travel with our fresh water tank completely empty. Contrary to what other say, when I have water in the tank, I can feel the difference pulling the trailer. There have been occasions when I've forgotten to drain, or we had water in the tank at home and I didn't drain when we left for a trip. One mile down the road and I'm always saying to my wife, something is wrong, it just doesn't feel right. She says every time, "Did you drain the water?" Duh. I can tell the difference. We carry a 6 gallon jug in the camper with filtered water from home. We use this for my wife's coffee and to use to flush the toilet if we are on the road.Now about the black and grey tank. We travel with the grey tank as empty as possible. But if we end up using the sink, we have no problems letting water go down the drain (there again, using that 6 gallon jug.)The black tank is a little different. When flushing the tank, it's always back-flushed with the grey first, then empties completely. Once we know it's cleaned out as humanly as possible, we'll add 2 or 3 gallons of water. If we want to clean the tank a little, we'll add a bit of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, and sometimes some bleach. We only add bleach if we know we can refill the tank and dump it all. I don't like bleach water in my tank too long. I don't want to risk the valve seals drying out, or crumbling because of bleach exposure. Bleach is caustic if it sits long enough. So, when using bleach, I have to be able to rinse the tank and flush within a short while. We'll do this sometimes when traveling and moving from one camp ground to another, or do it at home when leaving, knowing that afternoon we'll be in a full hook up camp site and I can flush the tank then. If using Dawn or Tide or something like that in the tank, all you need is a couple gallons of water and a nice generous amount of Dishwashing or Laundry soap. All the sloshing around in the tank when driving will pulverize the inside of the tank and clean it real nice. No need to dump it, just use it and dump when full at the campground. We have, on occasion, traveled with a few gallons of water in the fresh tank. But we avoid it as much as possible.

We only drain when we winterize. We prefer to travel with water as we don't always know where we'll spend the night - if there will be water available. Have seen several RV breakdowns on the roadsides the last couple of days and I wondered if their water tanks were full or empty?Bill

We keep enough clean water and enough in black tank so we can use bathroom while traveling. Works well.

How much water in holding tank | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

starcraft69
Explorer
Apr 13, 2017
kennethwooster wrote:
We keep enough clean water and enough in black tank so we can use bathroom while traveling. Works well.

+1
dbbls
Explorer
Apr 12, 2017
I never leave home without a full tank.
justafordguy
Explorer
Apr 11, 2017
DutchmenSport wrote:
Yea! That's one of those real benefits about country living!

Just one of many. :C
IdaD
Explorer
Apr 11, 2017
I put probably 3-5 gallons of water in the black tank after I'm done dumping it. I've never bothered adding water to the grey tank after dumping but maybe I should.

I fill my fresh water tank before any trip. When camping we generally dry camp so I need the water. If we're vacationing somewhere with hookups like Disney or the Oregon coast I'll still fill it up - I just prefer having it with us. I only have a 40 gallon tank and 6 gallon water heater so it doesn't amount to much extra weight.
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Apr 11, 2017
richardcoxid wrote:
After living in the "country" for 30 years and having my own deep well domestic (175 ft) water that is non chlorinated and non treated we have found that he water in some areas is almost "un drinkable" unless it is below freezing we travel with a full FWT (80) gal.

I sure agree with you on this one! That's why we carry a jug of water from home. We are also on a well. It's not as deep as yours, but after having it for years now, when we taste city treated water the chlorine taste and odor is awful in some places. We fill our fresh water at the campground and use that water. We've never run into a bad water situation. We camp well established campgrounds, State Parks, and such. But for my wife's coffee, for consistency in taste, we use the water from home. (That's the main reason we carry the extra jug).

And one more thing about having your own well. We lived in the city several times over the years, where water is supplied from a water treatment plant. The water from a well, not treated, has natural minerals in it, that's not been stripped out by some kind of treatment. So there is an element of "rust" in water. Over time, white surfaces will begin to turn slightly red or brown. No problem making them white again, but that "rust" is iron. How many use city water and then pop pills to supplement their iron intake? How about calcium? You know that white hard stuff that forms on your faucets over time? Probably not so noticeable with city treated water, but on a well, it does build up over time. Yea, calcium? Ring a bell? How many folks take calcium supplements for bone density and bone health? If on a well, you get this naturally. And how about that chlorine in the city water. Who wants to drink a bottle of bleach? Well, over time, that's exactly what you're getting on city water! Yea! That's one of those real benefits about country living!
richardcoxid
Explorer II
Apr 11, 2017
After living in the "country" for 30 years and having my own deep well domestic (175 ft) water that is non chlorinated and non treated we have found that he water in some areas is almost "un drinkable" unless it is below freezing we travel with a full FWT (80) gal.
bbaker2001
Explorer
Apr 11, 2017
Thanks all
lanerd
Explorer II
Apr 09, 2017
Just about everybody has their own idea and methods on this subject.

However, common sense will tell you that if you have a few gallons in the black and gray tanks while traveling, the back and forth motion of the water will slosh around and help to dislodge any solids or tp that is clinging to the sides and sensor probes. I try to aid this sloshing by putting in a cup of liquid laundry detergent along with about 5 gallons of water. I do this for both black and gray. Some add Calgon water softener to aid the soap and to make the interior of the tank slippery.

We NEVER use any type of rv tank chemicals along with rv toilet paper. Total waste of money in my opinion.

Like others, I typically only put in enough fresh water in the fresh water tank to aid in flushing the toilet (we drink bottled water).

Ron
MarkTwain
Explorer
Apr 09, 2017
dmck413 wrote:
I travel with about 10 gallons in fresh tank unless going boondocking. Gray tanks empty,black tank empty then add 1 toilet full of water with chemical for travel.

X1, when traveling, I carry 10 to 20 gallons which is usually enough for 2 people to be able to use the toilet for the day's travel. On one ocassion, I even pulled into a rest area and took a quick shower.
korbe
Explorer
Apr 09, 2017
If after I dump I feel the need to rinse a bit more ,I will add one bucket full, about 5 gal, in the black tank and dump it when we get home. I may do that if we do not plan on campin' for a bit. Otherwise, we dump and head out empty.

I always keep a minimum of about 15 gallons in my FW tank for use along the journey.