So a few things we've witnessed in the past several months. Rare indeed, but only takes once to catch a nasty infection from an unsanitary site.1. This weekend, watched a person few spots down rinsing their black water hose right under the fresh water spigot, splashing water from the water hookup all over the hookup itself. Stood there in disbelief and reached for my phone to zoom in to see if I was really seeing straight. Not in time.Waited until they left and headed down there to sanitize the fresh water hookup with alcohol wipes and let the water run for a while. In hindsight, know I should have scooted over there and said something. Wasn't up for a brawl that early in the morning and wanted to be sure of what I saw. Just gross, though.2. Earlier in the year, we arrived at after dark and went about our normal routine with headlamps only to find out after 20 min or so that I'd been walking through some black water runoff in tall grass near the hookups (toilet paper gave it away). It had been raining the night before so no solids and such.. Again, just gross.We've added these to our checklist upon arrival: 1) always sanitize the water hookup because we have no idea what the people before were doing. We've always ran a little water before hooking up. But now it will get sanitized and then ran. And 2) Expand that all-important walk abound of the camp site prior to hookup. For what it's worth. Play safe out there.

All to common unfortunately. Watched a newbie guy lay down at the Oh Ridge campground dump station to hookup the hose. Wife watched and coached him on what to do. Dumped, jumped back in their rented C and off they drove. Thankfully they skipped refilling their fresh water tank.

Regrettably this is not new information. Pretty scary.

Ride S40T wrote: In hindsight, know I should have scooted over there and said something. Confronting the person would have done absolutely nothing except raise your blood pressure. They were part of the 'all about me' society and anything you said would have been ignored.Sanitize everything before you hook up when at a new site. Most people are not hogs, but......

I'm Leary of everything in a campground. Just walk into one of the bathrooms in the am, what the hell happens at night ? People are gross and most don't care to clean up after themselves.

I really dont see the problem. If you hadn't seen it you would never know either.

Campsite Sanitation - Beware | Good Sam Community

63 Replies

JRscooby
Explorer II
Nov 05, 2019
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DewLess wrote:
Along these same kinds of germ contamination that I have seen was the grossest to me was during days when still employed. The large breakbulk that we hauled freight into had a restroom for both drivers and dock labor. Being in Michigan during winter it seemed to be the best place for lunch,, seeing someone perched on throne, lunch bucket between ankles, pants down, takin care of business. Odors abundant,, I will not go on.

Is that any worse than handing the BOL to grocery receiver clerk, "Is there a restroom I can use?" No!
qtla9111
Nomad
Nov 04, 2019
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That's just as bad as sitting there and talking on a cellphone telling someone how much you love them :)
DewLess
Explorer
Nov 04, 2019
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Along these same kinds of germ contamination that I have seen was the grossest to me was during days when still employed. The large breakbulk that we hauled freight into had a restroom for both drivers and dock labor. Being in Michigan during winter it seemed to be the best place for lunch,, seeing someone perched on throne, lunch bucket between ankles, pants down, takin care of business. Odors abundant,, I will not go on.
4x4van
Explorer III
Nov 04, 2019
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Ride S40T wrote:
4x4van wrote:
drsteve wrote:
Love these threads, there's always someone who thinks sanitation is no big deal because they haven't died yet.
And there's always someone who thinks that dumping your black tank requires a full hazmat suit and decontamination facilities.

BTW, I've seen it mentioned here a couple of times that "manufacturers recommend sanitizing RV water tanks every 6 months..." Hmmm...I've never seen that recommendation from an RV manufacturer. I've owned 3 RVs over the past 30 years, all 3 purchased used...and I've sanitized the freshwater system maybe twice...just because the water got a bit stale after sitting a couple of months.

There's an independent packet or notice I read that said to sanitize the tank every 6 mos but the big manual says every year. We tend to camp about every 2-4 weeks throughout the year (empty nesters) so the water in the tank doesn't sit long. From our manual:

Sanitizing the Fresh Water System
Keeping the fresh water system clean and free of any potential contaminations should be a top priority. Sanitizing the system before initial use and thereafter annually, or whenever water remains unused for prolonged durations, is recommended. This will help keep the water system fresh and discourage harmful bacterial or viral growth.
Keystone RV Company Owners Manual 4/1/2018

I'm a big fan of using the fresh water tank as well. We usually do 2-dayers Fri/Sat so we try to keep it simple at setup and get into the woods or off fishing. We did 3 trips of about 1,000 mi one-way and on those we just keep enough to pee on the road. No sense in beating up the tank bands with the extra weight, fuel mileage, etc.
I stand corrected: In my owner's manual, it does indeed address sanitizing the freshwater tank, although it gives no specific time frame:
"DISINFECTING FRESHWATER SYSTEMS ON RECREATION VEHICLES (As approved by the U.S. Public Health Service)To assure complete disinfection of your fresh water system, it is recommended that the follow-ing procedure be followed on a new system, one that has not been used for a period of time, or one that may have become contaminated."

I travel with a full tank, filling from a safe treated municipal supply at home, and seldom if ever refill on the road from campgrounds.
lakeside013104
Explorer
Oct 28, 2019
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Ride S40T wrote:
Well, I started this thread. Glad I did. Great discussion and great points.

If someone is fine with folks before them being a bit less than sanitary and have been good - that's great. Wish them the best and uneventful camping.

For the rest of us who tend to lean toward keeping things a bit more sanitary (not phobic), that's great as well. There's a reason we use separate black water flush hoses and fresh water hoses, there's a reason the manufacturers recommend sanitizing the tank(s), there's a reason the nation's CDC recommends washing hands after well, everything...including intimate follies.

Just don't see the oopostition to using basic sanitary routines. What's the worst that comes from it? Think it's a waste of time? No problem. Do what you believe is good for you and the fam. It's not a phobia, it's based on science. As is the science of building a good immune system by not eliminating all germs.

The point of the post was to raise awareness. RV sales are reportedly up 300% over the past decade. That likely means many newbies to the game, like me. I did A LOT of research, watched every video possible, talked to friends who have RVs and read most all of the threads on this and other sites before our first trip last year - just to be sure we would do it right, have a good experience and yes, not break anything that cost major bucks. Not everyone is so diligent and as explained above, some may leave us unexpected gifts. And not singling out rookies like me, could be anyone who just doesn't care or someone who simply makes a mistake in what they're doing at a site. It happens.

Just shared for awareness. But the discussion has been great! Hope to see you down the road and I promise, WE WILL leave the campsite you're rolling in to very clean. No trash, no poop (ours or our dogs') and it will be better than we found it.

Great post and well explained. Welcome to the RVing world.

Lakeside
Ride_S40T
Explorer
Oct 24, 2019
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4x4van wrote:
drsteve wrote:
Love these threads, there's always someone who thinks sanitation is no big deal because they haven't died yet.
And there's always someone who thinks that dumping your black tank requires a full hazmat suit and decontamination facilities.

BTW, I've seen it mentioned here a couple of times that "manufacturers recommend sanitizing RV water tanks every 6 months..." Hmmm...I've never seen that recommendation from an RV manufacturer. I've owned 3 RVs over the past 30 years, all 3 purchased used...and I've sanitized the freshwater system maybe twice...just because the water got a bit stale after sitting a couple of months.

There's an independent packet or notice I read that said to sanitize the tank every 6 mos but the big manual says every year. We tend to camp about every 2-4 weeks throughout the year (empty nesters) so the water in the tank doesn't sit long. From our manual:

Sanitizing the Fresh Water System
Keeping the fresh water system clean and free of any potential contaminations should be a top priority. Sanitizing the system before initial use and thereafter annually, or whenever water remains unused for prolonged durations, is recommended. This will help keep the water system fresh and discourage harmful bacterial or viral growth.
Keystone RV Company Owners Manual 4/1/2018

I'm a big fan of using the fresh water tank as well. We usually do 2-dayers Fri/Sat so we try to keep it simple at setup and get into the woods or off fishing. We did 3 trips of about 1,000 mi one-way and on those we just keep enough to pee on the road. No sense in beating up the tank bands with the extra weight, fuel mileage, etc.
JRscooby
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2019
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dieseltruckdriver wrote:
After reading through the entire thread and laughing at several posts, I have to admit, I don't use the "cute" little booties, I don't use gloves, but I do wipe my hands with a sanitizing wipe when I am done.

I also had a question.

Why is everyone so afraid of using their fresh water tank. I never leave home without it being full. I never use water hookups, and my water pressure is always consistent.

I have seen people stretch several hoses to reach a water spigot a couple sites away at a spot meant to be a fill so they could avoid using the tank. I do not get it. Note, these are NOT water hookup sites.

I once watched people from half a dozen sites hook hose end to end, and filled all their tanks. Thought that was great.

I do know that if that is being done and I need to refill water, their hose will be disconnected and left laying on the ground while I refill. Luckily I haven't ever had to do that.

I have seen that. First time, I ask how much longer to fill their tank, got growled at. Next time, unscrewed and dropped. (Tent, my "tank" was called "bucket") More growling, louder and longer. Next time Buckit. (At that time the Buck went on belt when pants went on butt). This time, I told him to call a Ranger, I would only listen with fist.
mdcamping
Explorer
Oct 23, 2019
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pasusan wrote:
mdcamping wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
Turn on spigot for few seconds, connect hose run for a few seconds, connect to RV.

yup

At a state campground in MA about 5 yrs back I was starting to finish up at a 2 way island dump station, guy pulls up on the opposite side in a New Class C, I glanced over noticed he was kind of nervous, well he opens his black tank valve and lets it rip! NO SEWER HOSE! I just got out of dodge fast! while leaving I did notice he was trying to wash it down with the non potable water spigot.

Mike

We just saw that at Liberty Harbor. It was a class C from overseas - I could tell because it was shaped weird and had a funky license plate.

They just pulled up close to the drain and opened the valve. No rinsing either. I wondered if that's the way they do it where they come from...

Luckily there was a good rain before we had to dump.

Yup, we were there about 5 yrs ago too, I noticed lots & lots of rental Class C's and overseas visitors. (guy next to me was from Germany as I helped him fix a problem with his fresh water hose)
I'm not surprised that happened as my guess most have little to no experience with a RV.

Mike
WTP-GC
Explorer
Oct 23, 2019
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ppine wrote:
Third World countries have tremendous health problems because the water and waste streams are not entirely separated. That is exactly what we are talking about here. Bad practices by people that don't know or don't care about fecal contamnation of fresh water.

I was teaching some high school kids about water quality last week on the Carson River. Fecal coliform bacteria is one of the main parameters we measure. At 5 ppm no problem At 100 ppm it can be a big problem. Use caution. People are stupid.

Apples and oranges my friend. In this thread, we’re discussing minor potential contact with potable water and a waste product. In those third world countries, an entire community is pooping in a latrine, and downstream, people are gathering drinking water in buckets that have never been cleaned.
dieseltruckdriv
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2019
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After reading through the entire thread and laughing at several posts, I have to admit, I don't use the "cute" little booties, I don't use gloves, but I do wipe my hands with a sanitizing wipe when I am done.

I also had a question.

Why is everyone so afraid of using their fresh water tank. I never leave home without it being full. I never use water hookups, and my water pressure is always consistent.

I have seen people stretch several hoses to reach a water spigot a couple sites away at a spot meant to be a fill so they could avoid using the tank. I do not get it. Note, these are NOT water hookup sites.

I do know that if that is being done and I need to refill water, their hose will be disconnected and left laying on the ground while I refill. Luckily I haven't ever had to do that.