Forum Discussion

steveandjil's avatar
steveandjil
Explorer
Jul 26, 2020

Sanitizing water system

Hi all,

I don’t drink or cook from my rv water system (bring bottled water.) it’s used for bathing and washing dishes. As such I only fully sanitize every year or even 2. My question is what most of you do about your hot water heater when sanitizing. Put the chemicals in it? Bypass? Don’t run sanitizing fluid through hot water lines?

Thanks,

Steve
  • I actualy splurged and used Captain Phab Purge Tank Cleanser this year to try it.

    I used to use bleach every spring then spend the day flushing the bleach tast out .whith the Captian Phab I simply put it in and filled up the tanks. ran the water to fill the lines and hot water heater , toped up the tank and let it sit for a day (I actualy did two days) then drain and flush once. this was the first year that I had neither bleach or antifreezed flavord water on my first trip. I was a little hesident due to the 25 buck price tag, but it will do two seasons on my 5th and camper so thats realy not bad.

    Steve
  • wildtoad wrote:
    Guy’s... He was just asking about the water heater!

    How/why would someone want to isolate treating just the hot water heater?
  • cavie wrote:
    1/4 cup bleach per every 15 gals water in the tank.
    This, plus you need 4 hours contact time. Which means you leave the chlorinated water in the system for 4 hours before you drain and flush.
  • DarkSkySeeker wrote:
    wildtoad wrote:
    Guy’s... He was just asking about the water heater!

    How/why would someone want to isolate treating just the hot water heater?


    Plus, wondering how creative one may need to be to avoid sanitizing the rest of the system in the process.
  • Oh my goodness. I was asking if people AVOID treating the hot water heater.

    To be honest, sorry I asked.
  • steveandjil wrote:
    Oh my goodness. I was asking if people AVOID treating the hot water heater.

    To be honest, sorry I asked.

    Hang in there. This forum can be difficult. Try to imagine responses being offered supportively, even though some of us can be cranky.
  • I think that people read the title of the post "Sanitizing water system" and thought you meant the entire water system.
  • steveandjil wrote:
    Oh my goodness. I was asking if people AVOID treating the hot water heater.

    To be honest, sorry I asked.


    How else may we assist ? Lol

    Kidding aside, it's much more efficient to sanitize the whole system, HWH included.
  • steveandjil wrote:
    Oh my goodness. I was asking if people AVOID treating the hot water heater.

    To be honest, sorry I asked.


    During my first times with an RV, I avoided treating the HW tank. It was a matter of convenience. I was also having difficulty avoiding leaks on the drain plug. I did not notice any issues the first couple of years but the third year, I got horrid odors out of the HW system and it took a long time and many showers before the water again smelled OK. Later I read about the issues with Legionella bacteria growing in RV tanks and decided to never skimp on treating the whole system. I also got a new drain plug which made it easy to open the drain and let the chlorine soak water out.
  • I think some bypass the water heater, something about the chlorine and aluminum water tanks? They think it rots them out faster or something. I sanitize mine, i figure its only there for a short time and then flushed good. No time to eat away at the tank. This is void if you have a diffrent tank liner.