How long do you store fresh water in tank?

[TNGW1500SE]

How long do you store CITY fresh water in the fresh water tank before you get concerned?

[rockhillmanor]

You need to not confuse the septic smell with fresh water unless you are from a very mineral rich water system (South West) the water tends to be odorless.

Yes Fresh Water may go INTO your 'FRESH water' tank smelling just fine.

Now, USING the fresh water within your coach add dirty soap from washing and showering, toothpaste, spit, grease, food stuffs etc ALL that then goes INTO your "GRAY" water HOLDING tank.

It is NOT odorless when dumped on the ground.

I have been parked next to people who drain their gray on the ground, it STINKS and STINKS bad. Don't care what the laws about it are, it is INCONSIDERATE of other campers to dump your gray tank at your site.

[jwmII]

Water left over a long period of time will get stale and develop a rather sour unpleasant smell. RV accessory stores usually sell water fresheners either in a powder form or as a liquid. Most folks will drain and sanitize their system when they have this situation.

[Executive45]

NEVER more than TWO years....Dennis

[boblinfoto]

- wrote:
I drain every thing and refill each time, clean in the spring.

I drain my tank after every trip, including the hot water tank and the low point drains. I tend to drink the water that comes out of the tap on my RV. Of course, we fill up from home/city water prior to going anywhere, so we know the water is reliable. I haven't had full hookups lately as I've only camped at Ohio state parks. Looking forward to having FHU in the near future, however.

[xctraveler]

What 2gypsies said! This coach was bought new in May 2012. Sanitized the tank then - who knew what had happened while it was on the lot. Haven't done anything but use it and refill it. We use it for all our water needs, Tiffin has set the filter "after" the tank so last step before our use is through the filter.

[rgatijnet1]

When connected to our municipal water here when we are not traveling, I always keep the fresh water tank completely full. We never know when we may need fresh water during hurricane season. If we sit the storm out or if we have to evacuate, we want to leave with a full tank. In several decades of RV travel, we have never had our water go bad to the point that it either stunk, tasted bad, or made us sick. We do have the under sink filter for any drinking or cooking water.
I would worry about an empty tank, that is NOT completely drained(how can you tell you drained every drop) that is full of air and has a better chance of breeding mold than a completely full tank of chlorinated water.

[2gypsies1]

As full-timers we used our fresh tank continuously for 16 years, including drinking and cooking from it. We never drained it and never sanitized it.

If you're part-timers, letting it set a month would be just fine. However, before heading home, use that water and let it get down low for when it's at home. When you're ready to take off again you'll be filling it for more use and that will 'freshen up' the water.

Even if you drain it all the time when you get home, you will never get the moisture out of the tank and there will still be a small amount of water in the bottom below the drain plug. So keeping the water in your tank isn't going to make any difference.

[kohai]

I remember googling this and I think I read that FEMA states 6 months.

I use chlorine that I use for my hot tub to sanitize at the start of the season/spring. We do drink our water in addition to bottled water -- there are tons of people on here that do drink the water they store.

[J-Rooster]

I've had my City water in my tanks for over a year at certain times, then refill when needed. I don't sanitize my tanks and I don't drink that water. Just for bathing purposes only.

[Busskipper]

DanTheRVMan wrote:

Busskipper wrote:

TNGW1500SE wrote:
How long do you store CITY fresh water in the fresh water tank before you get concerned?

Drain before it freezes - that's it - it's water it will not go BAD.

JMHO,

Water goes BAD

I have lived on two coldesacs and the water would start smelling when snowbirds left for the season due to low flow. Chlorine dissipates over time.

"Clean" water has microbes in it at low levels tolerable to us with no ill effect. Once Chlorine dissipates microbes can multiply.

The quicker you use it or drain it the better, but I do not know the shelf life of clean water and your plumbing system. It is a good question.

We use a pur filter to reduce Cryptosporidium levels or drink bottled water

OK - the water is still WATER - I use it to wash with and in the 50 years of doing this rv thing the only water that went bad was... None it was still water - but in respect to my wife we drink bottled water and and I put something that kill Microbes in with the Ice :S a Canadian Mix :B

I keep hoping that it might change to something more valuable - but every winter when I drain the Grass still loves it and well.... that is the end on "How long do YOU store City water"

On the couple years we wintered in the RV it actually lasted a lot longer.

You need to not confuse the septic smell with fresh water unless you are from a very mineral rich water system (South West) the water tends to be odorless.

JMHO

Busskipper

:B;):p:B

:W

[DanTheRVMan]

Busskipper wrote:

TNGW1500SE wrote:
How long do you store CITY fresh water in the fresh water tank before you get concerned?

Drain before it freezes - that's it - it's water it will not go BAD.

JMHO,

Water goes BAD

I have lived on two coldesacs and the water would start smelling when snowbirds left for the season due to low flow. Chlorine dissipates over time.

"Clean" water has microbes in it at low levels tolerable to us with no ill effect. Once Chlorine dissipates microbes can multiply.

The quicker you use it or drain it the better, but I do not know the shelf life of clean water and your plumbing system. It is a good question.

We use a pur filter to reduce Cryptosporidium levels or drink bottled water

[rk911]

TNGW1500SE wrote:
How long do you store CITY fresh water in the fresh water tank before you get concerned?

I don't concern myself with that. I fill the tank in the spring and then throughout the season. when we're parked between trips I don't drain the tank. at the end of the season I drain and winterize. in your case drain and re-fill according to whatever schedule gives you peace of mind.

[DSDP_Don]

I'm with "Jim@HiTek"....we live out west and water usage is an issue. My RV parking spot on my side yard has full hookups. I use to come home after a trip and flush my grey and black tanks thoroughly. Now I do it at the campground when we go someplace local and won't be using the toilet on the way home. Our water is pricey so we watch how we use it.

With that said, our CITY water is well treated. I've been RVing for almost 40 years and I can only think of a couple of times I've drained my tank. Usually I do it once when I buy a new coach. The water in my Dutch Star has not been drained in two and half years. It gets replaced a little at a time on each trip.

I know a lot of people have phobias about water and that's fine, you have do what makes you feel comfortable. When I'm working in the yard, I still like taking a long cool drink out of the hose when I'm thirsty.

The water supply to our coach is filtered and the water in the refer door is filtered. I drink 90% of my water from the refer door, so I'm getting double filtered. My previous coach just had a single lever faucet at the sink that had a filter built in, so I guess I'm filtering twice now versus once!

I have one of those water ionizers from Costco for spot free rinsing of the coach. I was washing the coach on a hot day and started to take a drink from the rinsing hose and after a quick drink, realized you're not suppose to drink that water.....oops....got to pay closer attention!

[rockhillmanor]

I've had my motorhome for almost 2 years and have never cleaned the fresh water tank. I only drink bottled water when on the road. Is it still a good idea to sanitize the tank?

yes, the hot water steam in a shower increases the chance of bacteria getting into your body thru your nose.

How long do you store CITY fresh water in the fresh water tank before you get concerned?

City, well or chlorinated city water. They ALL can bloom bacteria. It's being put into a 'holding tank' and in some RV location of tank is exposed to ambient outside temps. Which can accelerate bacteria bloom.

What I have done over the years as I evolved into different types of RV'ing.:

Weekend warrior - disinfected after each trip
Snowbird - once a week if using it.
Full time - I leave only a few gallons in the fresh water tank while traveling. I always fill up the fresh tank at a CG for in case of an emergency and then dump it before leaving. Disinfect once a month.

And NO I don't ever drink from the fresh water tank.