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RTrider's avatar
RTrider
Explorer
Jun 05, 2017

Sanitizing fresh water tank - no open inlet

Did a search and could not find my topic even though is likely discussed previously. Likely not using the right search criteria.

Anyway, .....

2009 Tiffan RED. Fresh water inlet fed from the rig water hose inlet through a two way valve. Meaning to fill the fresh water tank you simply change the valve to fresh water tank and it fills through the main system.

The tank has never been sanitized and we think we picked up some water that is not so good.

How do I get bleach into this closed system/tank?

A second related question is I cannot find the fresh water tank drain. I would hate to use the water pump to drain the tank. Where should I look.

Thanks for any help in this matter.
Class A
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    Jun 05, 2017
    Pour bleach in to the hose before you connect it to the water valve to fill the tank.
    On my coach, all of the drain valves are in the back of the wet compartment.
  • Dick_B's avatar
    Dick_B
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2017
    The drain should be directly below the FW Tank but it might require getting under the rig to find it. Mine is a small (1/2 inch or so) plastic pipe with a petcock (1/4 turn valve) on the end.
  • naturist's avatar
    naturist
    Nomad
    Jun 05, 2017
    Dick_B wrote:
    The drain should be directly below the FW Tank but it might require getting under the rig to find it. Mine is a small (1/2 inch or so) plastic pipe with a petcock (1/4 turn valve) on the end.


    Mine consists of a hose hanging down with a pipe plug screwed in. To drain, unscrew the pipe plug. Talk about a cheap fitting!

    I can't fathom having a water tank that can't be drained. What on earth would one do in freezing weather? So I'm sure there is a drain, somewhere. Finding it might be the issue. It should be noted that on the left side of my TT, at the very bottom edge of the side, is a sticker identifying where (a) the fresh water thank drain, (b) the water lines low point drains, and (c) where the gray and black water drains are located (as if you could miss the last of these).
  • 10forty2's avatar
    10forty2
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2017
    My drains are located in the very back of the wet bay as well. I have one main tank drain and two low point drains. All three have 1/4 turn valves inside the wet bay and the drains are 1/4" (I think) pvc lines.

    as for getting bleach into the tank, if you do not have a gravity fill for the tank, then like stated above, put the bleach into the water hose BEFORE hooking up to the connections and then turn on the water. I usually do that to sanitize my hoses each year as well as sanitizing the tank through the gravity fill.
  • rk911's avatar
    rk911
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2017
    RTrider wrote:
    Did a search and could not find my topic even though is likely discussed previously. Likely not using the right search criteria.

    Anyway, .....

    2009 Tiffan RED. Fresh water inlet fed from the rig water hose inlet through a two way valve. Meaning to fill the fresh water tank you simply change the valve to fresh water tank and it fills through the main system.

    The tank has never been sanitized and we think we picked up some water that is not so good.

    How do I get bleach into this closed system/tank?

    A second related question is I cannot find the fresh water tank drain. I would hate to use the water pump to drain the tank. Where should I look.

    Thanks for any help in this matter.

    pour the bleach into the hose, connect the hose, flip the switch to TANK and turn on the water.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Jun 05, 2017
    Alternately, if you have a winterize suction inlet, you likely can use that to pump water (or a bleach solution) from a container into the fresh water tank by setting the valves for winterizing and filling at the same time. I think pouring the bleach into the hose is the easier method, though; just remember to wear old clothes unless you're far more neat and coordinated than I am.
  • bwg's avatar
    bwg
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2017
    Look in your owners manual, if you don't have one Tiffin has most of them available online. The oldest I could find on the Tiffin website was 2010, but it should give you a pretty good idea of the procedure to follow (chapter 11).
  • luvlabs's avatar
    luvlabs
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2017
    The drain for the water tank will be in line with the water pick up line for the water pump. If there is no actual drain valve installed, you can remove the intake line for the water pump and let gravity do its job. You can add a T to that line and a valve and your future needs are met.
  • phays's avatar
    phays
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2017
    I use an external cannister filter for sediment and use that filter housing to add bleach to the tank. I remove the filter element, add bleach to the housing, screw on the top and run water through the filter into the tank.
  • Hank_MI's avatar
    Hank_MI
    Explorer
    Jun 06, 2017
    DrewE wrote:
    Alternately, if you have a winterize suction inlet, you likely can use that to pump water (or a bleach solution) from a container into the fresh water tank by setting the valves for winterizing and filling at the same time. I think pouring the bleach into the hose is the easier method, though; just remember to wear old clothes unless you're far more neat and coordinated than I am.


    That's how I pump a bleach solution into our tank. We do have a gravity feed port but that's hard to dump bleach or bleach solution into without it running down the side of the MH.

    Our water tank is between the front and rear axles. I can see it from one of the basement compartments. It has a quarter ball valve to drain it. The low point drains are in the compartment with the water pump and water heater. That probably doesn't help the OP since it's a different manufacturer.

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