A reminder for those who sanitize the water system.

Bobbo wrote:

Kit Carson wrote:
Is it necessary to completely fill the tank or can you just do half tank?

If you do half the tank, you can't get the solution on the top of the fresh water tank.

Actually, after I put in the bleach and fill the tank with water, I drive the RV around a hilly block about 3 times to both mix the bleach and slosh it onto all tank surfaces. Only then do I go home and run it through all of the lines/other tanks, and start the 4 hour time.

Thanks, Bobbo, I did not think of the top of the tank. Makes perfect sense to me. And, I could be exercising my generator while driving around the block....

Old-Biscuit, I think you may be preaching to the choir here. :h

With all the "things to do on an RV" I sometimes wonder if folks have time for enjoyable things in life.

I have my money on the city water doing the job for my system.

^X3. Never sanitized my water system since 2010. We don't use the fresh water tank and always hooked to city water. We use water to brush teeth and I use to make coffee that I only drink. None of us have been sick yet. Too much paranoia today.

Any water including City Water will only hold a Chlorine Residual for a few days, then you have no protection. It is always a good idea to sanitize at the beginning of each season.

My owners manual says after draining the bleach solution, refill with a water & vinegar solution to remove the bleach taste and odor. The solution should be kept in for up to three days, drained and then rinsed.

Been doing this annually (or so) for thirteen years. Works great.

mlts22 wrote:
When draining, I like dumping part into the black tank, part in the grey tank, which helps on odor control.

Bleach in the black tank kills the bacteria that decomposes the contents.

Cecilt wrote:
^X3. Never sanitized my water system since 2010. We don't use the fresh water tank and always hooked to city water. We use water to brush teeth and I use to make coffee that I only drink. None of us have been sick yet. Too much paranoia today.

If you never use your fresh water tank why are you posting on a discussion of fresh water tanks? It is obvious that you have nothing to contribute. I do agree, there is too much paranoia. Hundreds of folks don't use their tank city water, only bottled water.

We never ran the vinegar solution after the bleach solution, just flushed it pretty well with water. That seemed to work well too - but then, we usually don't drink the tap water in the camper, just wash & flush the toilet with it. (And brush our teeth with it, so - ) Anyway, when we've ended up with the most awful-tasting/smelling water was when we didn't sanitize after the camper had sat for a while (tank empty or partially so, it didn't matter.) So sanitizing is highly recommended.

bob213 wrote:

mlts22 wrote:
When draining, I like dumping part into the black tank, part in the grey tank, which helps on odor control.

I have been told that if you use chemicals in the black tank (not the geo method) that you should not put bleach in the tank. The bleach kills the enzymes in the chemicals and tank and they no longer do their job of breaking down the waste.
I'm not a chemist, so I don't really know if this is true, but it is what I've been told........

I would agree with that assessment. Putting a bleach solution in the black tank would kill the bacteria that are necessary to break the waste down. I never put any sort of chemical in the black tank, not even deodorizer. There is never any unpleasant smell just leaving the tank alone and the bacteria to do their job.