Sanitizing Fresh Water Tanks - How to with NO gravity fill?

[Baja_Man]

Newbie to Class Cs. Had TT and 5ers, but will start learning all about the exciting world of Class C traveling!

Well, I need to prepare my rig for summer use. There is no winterizing where I live, so need to do any of that.

Read through some of the threads from a search, but only found one that was directly related to my questions.

How can I sanitize my fresh water tank (40gal) without a gravity fill? I had gravity fills on the exterior of all of my TT and 5ers.

How do I get bleach into my Class C tank? It has a fresh water tank/city water fitting behind my service bay door where all water, valves, and connections reside. There is a lever that is used to switch from city to tank but only one connections for a water hose.

The owner's manual suggests using a water pump and connecting one end into bucket of solution and other end to drain line fittings. No illustrations so not really sure about which fittings.

What is the most efficient and effective way to sanitize the fresh water tank?

Thanks!

[Dakzuki]

I can load my water tank with the winterizing system. Just set the valves to the appropriate position and suck water into it using the water pump. I have loaded with water this way from portable jugs. One could suck in diluted bleach this way too if desired.

[crasster]

Add a LITTLE bleach on a full tank and drive it around. Remember, city water also contains a bit of chlorine bleach.

[downeastr]

After you give the tank(s) and lines a bleach rise, keep things safe and fresh by adding 1oz. of hydrogen peroxide for each 10 gallons you take on.
Safe to drink at this rate.

[millerwd]

I haven't disinfected mine since the first clean out. After purchasing ours used I bleached (6 tsp/30gal) the potable plumbing system and over filled the fresh water tank. I waited an hour drained and refilled.
Since then I've just added water either from our private well or a municipal water supply.
Happy trails !

[Nomadac]

I have a spare water pump I carry and connect it to the inlet to fill my fresh water tank. I put a hose on the inlet side and pump into my tank. I do this to sanitize my tank and to winterize my MH in the Fall pumping in antifreeze into the lines after blowing they out.

[mgirardo]

On our Class C, I just flip the levers to the Sanitize Tank or Sanitize lines depending on which I want to sanitize. I have a small piece of hose that I attach to the city water inlet, put the other end in a bucket/gallon bottle of water and turn the water pump on. The onboard pump pulls the water out of the bucket/gallon bottle.

This is also how we fill the tank if we don't have a city water supply and need water. A couple times we ran out of water while on the road. We stopped at Walmart or wherever and bought a few gallons of water and pulled it into the fresh water tank. The water pump moves about 1.5 gallons a minute, so it moves through gallon bottles pretty quick.

-Michael

[midnightsadie]

bleach in the hose works easy, wear rubber gloves.

[DrewE]

A few methods are possible. The first, as generally described by ol' yeller, is to pour bleach down the hose before filling the tank. I usually do this, though I tend to put the bleach down from the faucet end of the hose than the RV end of the hose...not that it makes a bit of difference really.

A second option, if you have a winterize setup that can pump antifreeze from the containers, is to mix up a big pot of water and bleach solution (with however much bleach you'll need), set the pump inlet for suction from the winterize port and open the tank fill valve, and pump the solution from the pot via the winterize hose into the water tank. It might be a reasonable idea to have water in the rest of the system to help force the solution into the tank vs. into the pipes.

Another option is to use various external hand or electric pumps to pump the solution into the city water connection. That seems like unnecessary effort and complication to me since the first and perhaps the second method are available and don't need other equipment.

[linnemj]

We have a similar setup and bought a water syphon from Amazon. I figure how much bleach is needed to sanitize my 100 gallon fresh water tank and mix the bleach with water in a bucket. The syphon end goes into the bucket and as the house runs, it takes the mixture from the bucket.

Another option is to measure the right amount of bleach and put it into your fresh water house. I would run some water into your tank first before adding bleach.

[ol__yeller]

Attach 1 end of fill hose to water source (tap), raise other end of hose and pour in bleach, then attach to fill valve and turn on water.