Using bleach to clean water tanks

I sanatize my tank each season at the begining of the year after dewinterization. We use the water in our rig for drinking, cooking and hygene. I follow the household clorine method throught the hose mentioned in prior posts, run through all outlets, then let it sit for a while, drain and refill with fresh water.

I have never had a problem what so ever. Hope which ever method you use meets your needs, this one does for us.

We had to do a bleach treatment a couple of weeks ago. The last time I used water in the rig was when I replaced the water pump late May. The hot water tank had some stank to it. Not a little bit of stink, but some stank! Drained the hot water tank, added an entire bottle of bleach to a half full fresh water hold and then turned on the pump to refill the hot water. A couple of hours later, drained the hot water tank again, turned back on the city water faucet and refilled the hot water with fresh city water. No longer any foul smell with the hot water.

Bleach for 2-4 hours will do fine.

Have used bleach with no issues. Doesn't take too long to refresh either.

K Charles wrote:
Go to some campground when they open in the spring, some have more then enough chlorine in the water already.

This is good advice, but make sure they aren't on well water first. I'm at a campground in Maine now and the water is fantastic. No chlorine in it at all. It's straight from the well.

2oldman wrote:

ricelake922 wrote:
I would like to clean my water tanks

you have more than one?

We have 2 50 gal tanks - able to be isolated from each other, or open a valve, and we have 100 gals of fresh water.

Sully2 wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
A lot depends on how often you use your RV and how long you let the water sit in the tank. I sanitized when I got my clipper (and the TT before it), but haven't needed to re-sanitize. My city water is clean and I always fill at home. I use the clipper often enough that the water doesn't sit and stagnate in the tank.

Rather than using bleach, I use chlorine granules. 1/2 teaspoon for my 40 gallon tank. I'd rather smell a bit left over chlorine in my water than left over bleach.

And the difference is??? What you're smelling when you use bleach IS the chlorine in it

Bleach has a much harsher scent. It irritates my eyes, nose and asthma - chlorine smells like summer and doesn't irritate.

midnightsadie wrote:
it only takes a couple hours over night ?it might leave a tastes in the water for a long time, might hurt the pipes to.

If your RV is from the 1990's, then it could have polybutylene (PB) plumbing which bleach could corrode. But my now you'd probably already know that.

Otherwise, the plumbing in your RV is most likely PEX, ABS, polyethylene, or Santoprene (waste valve seals). None of these plastics are affected by bleach.

vic46 wrote:
Have a look at using peroxide rather than chlorine bleach!

Over-the-counter hydrogen peroxide (3 - 6%) will work as well as bleach as long as you heat the hydrogen peroxide (+ the water in your holding tank) to 130 degrees.

Now if you want to use Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide (AHP) to disinfect, that's different, but I think AHP is pricey and might be hard to buy as a just a consumer.

And baking soda, as someone suggested, is not a sanitizer.

ricelake922 wrote:
I would like to clean my water tanks and I have read on this site is to put bleach into my tank and leave overnight. I can't find where the bleach would be poured into as I have a closed system. Can anyone assist please?

The "official" RV standard (NFPA 1192) recommends the following:

• 1/4 cup of household bleach per 15 gal of tank capacity. Let sit at least 4 hours.
  
• or 1/2 cup bleach per 15 gal of tank capacity. Let sit at least 1 hour.
  

Then drain and flush with water.

To get the bleach solution into the water tank, some folks pour it down the fresh water hose. (Don't wear good clothes.) Or, some RVs have a siphon that is typically used to get RV anti-freeze into the tank.