Your water heater sanitizes itself - heat does that job. Ice maker? 1 run of ice would do it.
I'm a former pool and spa technician, so here's the deal: the bleach form of chlorine is a very fast-acting oxidizer, and if there's bacteria in your water lines, they are killed immediately, assuming the bleach can get to them. Letting the solution sit for extra time doesn't really accomplish anything. But you're doing a good job of sanitizing!
Regarding a spray for the exterior of faucets, etc - I would use a Clorox spray. They use a longer-lasting form of chlorine - if you mix up a sprayer of bleach and water - it's good for your one application - a week later, that solution isn't effective any more. Peroxide is a good second choice for a topical sanitizer.
I always tried to fill our freshwater tank from a chlorinated source; and then used a carbon-block filter attached to the kitchen faucet to either filter out "stuff" - or remove the taste of the chlorinated fill water.
