Keeping fresh water fresh

Tank rinsers are avl in any rv store. water heater tank rinser

We use bottle water for drinking and cooking too.

Draining the WH by using the drain plug always leaves an amount of water in the bottom of the tank, this wand mixes fresh clean water to that leftover water . Run it for a few minutes to allow the clean water to dilute the old. Insert it thru the drain port and let it run to flush things out.

I allow the fresh water tank to drain after a trip, then replace with new water when leaving on a trip.

2x a season I add a 1/2 cup of bleach to the FW tank, run it thru and let it sit in the tank and lines overnight, then drain it and flush things out with new water.

MobileBasset wrote:
The chlorine in city water is only effective for a short while. If the water sits for very long it will grow organisms. In very rainy times when much less water gets used because no one is watering their lawns, cities can have problems with their water tanks going bad from low usage. The RV systems need to either keep treated water flowing through at a good rate (refilling and using up and refilling) or be emptied and sanitized periodically. Sanitize by emptying and refilling with 1/4 cup bleach per 10 gallons of water, open all the faucets until you smell the bleach, let it sit for a few hours or more, then empty and rinse until the smell is gone. I close off the hot water heater from this process but make sure I open it and get it thoroughly rinsed with fresh treated city water.

This is correct.

Personally I don't think it hurts to fill the water heater, too.

If you are putting well water in your tank, that will make the problem worse, but even pre-chlorinated water isn't going to hold indefinitely.

And after you do this, drain the tank and run more water through the system before you use it, to get the bleach out.

It is also a good idea to let the bleach mixture slosh around in the tank and get it completely cleaned, by driving around a while, as someone said.

If there is a water filter anywhere in the system, you could try replacing it, too.

Are you on a well?
If treating with bleach it helps to treat it and drive it to slosh it around in the tank.

The chlorine in city water is only effective for a short while. If the water sits for very long it will grow organisms. In very rainy times when much less water gets used because no one is watering their lawns, cities can have problems with their water tanks going bad from low usage. The RV systems need to either keep treated water flowing through at a good rate (refilling and using up and refilling) or be emptied and sanitized periodically. Sanitize by emptying and refilling with 1/4 cup bleach per 10 gallons of water, open all the faucets until you smell the bleach, let it sit for a few hours or more, then empty and rinse until the smell is gone. I close off the hot water heater from this process but make sure I open it and get it thoroughly rinsed with fresh treated city water.