Im planning on sanitizing my water system today. In everything I have read, nothing seems to mention sanitizing the city water inlet. Fresh water tank, lines, etc are all covered but not the city water inlet. Do people do this? Seems like a good idea to me....

I keep a bottle of 50/50 bleach water and just spritz the inlet and hose ends before I connect.

If a little dirt hasn't killed me yet, I don't worry about it. My water inlet is in the same bin as the sewer stuff, but I try to keep everything separate. When not in use, I connect the ends of my fresh water hose attached together to keep bugs and stuff out.

I used a bleach water mix to spray the inlet and the RV park hose bib.You need to make it fresh often though because it deteriorates pretty fast even though it still smells like bleach. The following is an email from Clorox."How long does diluted and undiluted bleach last? For the answer to this question, see the clorox@casupport.com email to the Director of WCMC EHS dated February 6, 2003:Thank you for asking about the shelf life of Ultra regular CLOROX liquid bleach. When bleach and water are mixed together to create a cleaning or disinfecting solution, the solution is only good for 24 hours. The temperature of the water does not affect the cleaning or disinfecting abilities of the solution. After the 24 hours, the solution begins to lose needed disinfecting properties. Therefore, it is recommended that for disinfecting purposes, the solution is made fresh daily. Our bottles do not have an expiration date, however, they do have a production date. Once you understand how to read the production date, you can decipher the shelf life of the bottle. Please look below for a chart explaining our production codes. CODE PLANT YEAR DATE MD21002 MD2 1= 2001 002nd day of year A90288 A9 0= 2000 288th day of year We recommend storing our bleach at room temperatures. It can be stored for about 6 months at temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. After this time, bleach will be begin to degrade at a rate of 20% each year until totally degraded to salt and water. Storing at temperatures much higher than 70 degrees Fahrenheit could cause the bleach to lose its effectiveness and degrade more rapidly. However, if you require 6% sodium hypochlorite, you should change your supply every 3 months. I hope this information is helpful. Again, thank you for giving me this opportunity to discuss our product."

Since the only way I can add bleach to sanitize the coach water system is via the city water inlet, the internal part gets a good dose at the same time. As said, a spritz with a bleach mixture or other disinfectant would take care of the exposed portion. I use a spray can of Lysol hospital grade disinfectant for that and the park water tap if I feel the need.

I do make a point of letting the water tap run for a bit before attaching my hose, then let a bit more flush through the hose before attaching to inlet. Some of those water systems do build up a bunch of crud in the lines. Most city water systems have enough clorine to sterlize the lines, but flushing out the water that has been sitting for a while is a good idea. Check with the campground management when you check in is not a bad idea either.

Sanitizing city water inlet | Good Sam Community

24 Replies

rhagfo
Explorer III
Sep 01, 2015
Ed_Gee wrote:
Most fresh water spigots in parks have also been used for black water hoses to flush and clean the septic hose and area. I would certainly not want to hook up my fresh water inlet to a spigot that just had a black water hose attached a few hours earlier that morning.

The guy using the Lysol probably has the best solution for cleaning.... plus the running of the faucet a bit before connecting is also a good idea.

Can we get a little more paranoid!!

Lets see the fresh water system in both you Trailer and Sticks and brick is connected to the Toilet, so don't drink the water from your house either. The flusher valves have back flow preventers.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015
Ed_Gee wrote:
Most fresh water spigots in parks have also been used for black water hoses to flush and clean the septic hose and area. I would certainly not want to hook up my fresh water inlet to a spigot that just had a black water hose attached a few hours earlier that morning.

I don't think that the bad stuff can swim back 30 ft or so against the stream of water from the area of the black tank. I connected both black and white hoses to one wye back at the spigot area.

bumpy
Ed_Gee
Explorer II
Sep 01, 2015
Most fresh water spigots in parks have also been used for black water hoses to flush and clean the septic hose and area. I would certainly not want to hook up my fresh water inlet to a spigot that just had a black water hose attached a few hours earlier that morning.

The guy using the Lysol probably has the best solution for cleaning.... plus the running of the faucet a bit before connecting is also a good idea.
TechWriter
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015
enblethen wrote:
Why buy a rig with fresh water system and not use it for all purposes?

RVs have a water system. Whether it's fresh or not is a different story.
Muddydogs
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015
wanderingbob wrote:
Have ya ever taken a drink from a garden hose ? Did ya sanitize it ?
I do not believe it is worthwhile to worry about ever little thing , just take reasonable precautions . As for joining the ends of the hoses together , not in the south , that will cause all kinds of things to grow in that dark , moist, warm place !

You don't think that 15 to 25 feet of coiled hose isn't dark, moist and warn with or without the ends screwed together? Its not like leaving the ends loose is going to get you any air flow through the hose.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015
TechWriter wrote:
mosseater wrote:
I've heard hydrogen peroxide works to disinfect instantly whereas bleach takes a few minutes.

Bleach disinfects at room temperature. In order for hydrogen peroxide (3%) to be as effective, it would have be heated to 130 degrees..

and a 30 % solution of hydrogen peroxide, (NOT 3%) is used in the pharmaceutical industry for surface sterilization.
bumpy
enblethen
Nomad
Sep 01, 2015
Why buy a rig with fresh water system and not use it for all purposes?
georgelesley
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015
2gypsies wrote:
Jim Shoe wrote:
I used to go through that, but started to buy gallon jugs of distilled water for anything that goes inside of me, like coffee, cooking or soaking my teeth (in a cup). The outside of me is waterproof, so I just hook up the white hose.

We full-timed for 16 years. At 365 days x 16 years that would be 5840 days. Buying at least a gallon of water for each day....WOW!

We never worried about sanitizing. We filled the fresh water tank and used it for everything. We did use filters though. We got our water from many sources and never got sick from it.

+2. When we fulltimed we did the same with filters. Space is crowded in our B and carrying something we don't have to works for us. Clorinating the fresh water tank and using it for everything seems to keep it clean and fresh.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Sep 01, 2015
Jim Shoe wrote:
I used to go through that, but started to buy gallon jugs of distilled water for anything that goes inside of me, like coffee, cooking or soaking my teeth (in a cup). The outside of me is waterproof, so I just hook up the white hose.

We full-timed for 16 years. At 365 days x 16 years that would be 5840 days. Buying at least a gallon of water for each day....WOW!

We never worried about sanitizing. We filled the fresh water tank and used it for everything. We did use filters though. We got our water from many sources and never got sick from it.
Jim_Shoe
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015
I used to go through that, but started to buy gallon jugs of distilled water for anything that goes inside of me, like coffee, cooking or soaking my teeth (in a cup). The outside of me is waterproof, so I just hook up the white hose.