Water from RV

We use the tank water for everything. In a B, with the small tank, usually the water does not sit for long. But if it does, and acquires a bit of a stale taste, we usually have on hand 1-2 bottles of the cheapest bottled water there is.

Why people fear their water, in a country with the safest water in the world, I don't know.

Cleaned and sanitized, sure. But were almost always on city water and we carry little in the tank when traveling.

We don't drink the coach tank water per se as I buy bottle water to keep in the fridge and we just grab a bottle when we want it. We certainly use our tank water to make coffee and for cooking, etc., and we use the ice cubes from the freezer icemaker.

Our coach has a fairly sophisticated water filtering system and the fridge has a filter of it's own. We have something like 5 filters in the water bay and I have them changed about every 6 months. The fridge alert system lets me know when to change the filter (about once a year).

The way our coach is set-up, we only pull water from the fresh tank. Since it's 189 gallons, we don't fill up at every stop, only when needed. I haven't 'sanitized' the fresh tank yet as we are using it very regularly.

Safe travels,
MM.

Different parts of the country have widely varying mineral content in their water. If you drink water that is drastically different than what your gut is accustomed to, it can cause gut issues for a while, until you get accustomed to it. Small children and pets are most sensitive to this. It doesn't mean that the water is unsafe or unsanitary, and it can be very high quality. Just has a lot of naturally occuring minerals.

This seems to be the biggest problem when you are in an area that has much more calcium and magnesium in the water than you are used to. So if you come from the Gulf Coast, Florida, or other "soft" water areas, watch out for it.

My insides are used to hard water and I've never had an issue anywhere in the US.

SoundGuy wrote:
The water source. ;) Places we camp, water can be sourced from a nearby municipal water system, a lake, or wells in the park, and water quality can vary considerably. Ontario Parks still posts boil water advisories for some parks in the system that aren't drawing from a nearby municipal system.

This point actually should be a different thread. "Do you drink the water from where you are camping?"

We drink the water from our tanks, but do not always drink the water from where we are camping. That is a separate issue.

Just bottled water or machine bought refilling stations for us. Remember as you travel the country water quality is different and it's an easy way to get stomach issues. Who needs that when you're on the road when a $10/week investment will eliminate it.

Also, some of the older parks used black grade agricultural pipes as their source of water to the campsites. Just because your tank might be pristine, does not mean the filling station is.

beemerphile1 wrote:
Of course we drink the water from the tank.

When meeting people that are squeamish about water I always remind them that there is no "new" water. The earth still has the same water it had in the beginning. That tall cool glass of water you drink today was urine last month.

Sure there is ... it's the path that water takes to get to you that makes it "new". :W

Of course we drink the water from the tank.

When meeting people that are squeamish about water I always remind them that there is no "new" water. The earth still has the same water it had in the beginning. That tall cool glass of water you drink today was urine last month.

SCVJeff wrote:
What makes the tank any different than the 50 year old pipes coming into your house?

jfkmk wrote:
No air in the pipes.

The water source. ;) Places we camp, water can be sourced from a nearby municipal water system, a lake, or wells in the park, and water quality can vary considerably. Ontario Parks still posts boil water advisories for some parks in the system that aren't drawing from a nearby municipal system. From experience we know our dog reacts badly whenever his water bowl doesn't contain water from home that he's used to and we prefer the consistency as well so any water we ingest we bring from home in portable containers. Tank water is used for showering, washing dishes, and feeding the toilet.

Nope, don't drink directly from the camper's water system. Not because of any possible disease (I sanitize every spring when opening up the camper, really easy to do, why would anyone not do it?), but because it has a plastic flavor that has just never gotten out of the system. We camp about 4 or 5 weekends a year during the summer, so the camper many times will sit weeks at a time unused during the summer.

All we do is use a Brita slim water filter jug that fits in the frig. Simple, good tasting filtered water. We refill water bottles all the time with the filtered water. I will also bring one of those orange 5 gallon water coolers filled with ice and water if I think we might want it.

A critical ingredient of good coffee is clean clear cold water. If I don't have access to a natural mountain spring (which is essentially never), I used refrigerated filtered water. Even with "city" water - I am so used to filtered well water, that the amount of chlorine in city water is amazing. I kind of think city water does work great for camper water systems, though, because of all that chlorine - practically the same as sanitizing the system.

For people who use their camper constantly, or fulltime in it, I can see where there is no need worry about the water system as it is being used regularly.