Dewinterized this afternoon and sanitized water system. I know that the bleach and water should sit in tank and plumbing for a few hours but my question is can it be in there too long? My camper is over an hour from my home and we are coming up on Saturday to clean and restock camper. Is it OK to leave the bleach in the system until then? Thanks in advance.

It shouldn't cause any problems. The bleach solution loses its effectiveness after 24 hours or so. Any bacteria should be long since killed by then though.

The problem is that you then will want to drain the tank and refill it with clean water and pump that through the system until there is no more chlorine smell. IMHO leaving bleach water sit in the system for 30 minutes or so is sufficient for all but the nastiest of bugs.

I used to much bleach and let it sit to long ( you know if a little is good a bunch is better syndrome). Took forever for the bleach smell to get out of the system.

Diluted bleach in your plumbing system needs time to develop the amine of sodium hypochlorite to kill bacteria. IOW, it is not the bleach that directly kills all bacteria but a chemical that is made by the bleach. Leaving it in your system for more than 12 hrs. will allow it to work effectively. If you still have bleach odor after rinsing, put a solution of baking soda through the system.

westend wrote:.... If you still have bleach odor after rinsing, put a solution of baking soda through the system.Good tip I didn't know that. Guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! :B

Dewinterizing | Good Sam Community

beemerphile1
Explorer
Apr 10, 2014
rockhillmanor wrote:

...Go to any 'restaurant supply house' they have the 'best' sanitizing products that work way beyond what bleach does. Health dept's kinda require they use them....

When I was in the restaurant biz in the 1970's there were two types of dishwashers. One kind had an over 180 degree F rinse cycle. The other had a reservoir filled with regular bleach which mixed it into the rinse cycle.
rockhillmanor
Explorer
Apr 12, 2014
Bartender's well under the bar where there is a spinning brush. No high temp heated water in that well. Health department requires a certain disinfecting non foaming soap to be used at all times to disinfect.
Harvey51
Explorer
Apr 14, 2014
All this talk of sanitizing makes me wonder if I need to sanitize the water system in our house, which is on town water supply. Same thing, really, chlorinated water flows in, some is stored in a large hot water tank before use. I know the insides of the copper pipes are dirty after 50 years of use. Does the fresh flow of chlorinated water eliminate bacteria in the pipes? Or might this be evolving some strains that are immune to chlorine?

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