Dumb question concerning on board water tank

[waldreps]

I have a really dumb question about the on board water tank. How to I get bleach or other water treatments into the water tank? I feel stupid asking but it's just not coming to me. Also, the person I bought my camper from says they always used the city water connection and never used the on board water tank. Other than sanitizing it, is there anything else I should do for a water tank that hasn't been used in a long time?

Thanks.

[Allworth]

Mine has a tank drain just below the frame directly below the fill port (valve with a hose connection) and low point drains on the passenger's side below the pump bay(red and blue PEX with ball valves).

[Bumpyroad]

mine has two capped off pipes dropping down. hot/cold.
bumpy

[Wishbone51]

Mine has a drain right under the tank, with a valve.

[waldreps]

Thanks for all the suggestions and help. Do travel trailer style campers usually have a low point drain for draining the water tank? Underneath somewhere?

[phillyg]

Find the tank fill and use a hose and funnel for the bleach as others suggested. Put in about 20 gallons of water and go for a drive so the water\bleach sloshes all around the tank. Drain and fill your tank normally. If you can still smell the bleach do another fill and drain. While I won't drink straight water from my tank, I will use it to make coffee. Can't say I've ever been sick from the tank's water.

[pulsar]

pconroy328 wrote:

waldreps wrote:
I didn't know if it needed to be pumped in with a drill pump or something.

Nope - nothing special. Just get it into the tank, in the right proportions. Let it sit. Drain, then rinse/refill/repeat until the smell is gone.

Since it has been a long time, if ever, since the system has been sanitized, I would sanitize the entire system, not just the tank. I assumed that when I made my first post. That is why I said the drinking water filter should be removed.

At the very least one faucet - could be an outside shower, or an inside faucet - should be sanitized. Otherwise, the line from the tank through the pump and into the coach will not have been sanitized in a long time, if ever.

Tom

[K3WE]

waldreps wrote:
...I didn't know if it needed to be pumped in with a drill pump or something...

No, and yes.

If you want to sanitize every last inch of your entire water system, you would need to run some through through your "city water" inlet like other folks have described. (Though you don't necessarily need a fancy pump- priming the hose with bleach and using a water faucet to push it in works)

...and depending on your plumbing- this might likely be a totally separate job from sanitizing the tank.

Then again, you were talking about sanitizing the tank for it's first use in YEARS vs. the external supply which is no doubt used regularly.

I think most folks (me included) do not sanitize hoses nor the external water hook up...(though I won't make the bold claims that some do that it's stupid to sanitize those things).

[wbwood]

wanderingbob wrote:
Many people never use the tank ,is it because they believe that the campground water is safer , better tasting . They will buy water from an unknown source and feel it is safer than the water from their home system ?I do not quite get their fear . I never hook up to a campgrounds water unless i have to !

You haven't been sick from water yet...lol I have .... kryptosporidium. Don't know where I got it from, but just know that the doctors said that is what it was. With that said, we use the water from teh tank. We just don't drink any of the water from it or the city tap unless we filter it several times.

[Clay_L]

Bumpyroad wrote:
I used to remove the filter cartridge and pour Clorox into the housing to get into system.
bumpy

Me too.

[pconroy328]

waldreps wrote:
I didn't know if it needed to be pumped in with a drill pump or something.

Nope - nothing special. Just get it into the tank, in the right proportions. Let it sit. Drain, then rinse/refill/repeat until the smell is gone.

[waldreps]

My camper is a 1998 Dutchmen Aristocrat 24FL-D. I believe it has two water inlet connections, city water and fresh water. I wasn't sure if just using a funnel on the fresh water port would get it into the tank. I didn't know if it needed to be pumped in with a drill pump or something.

[Bumpyroad]

I used to remove the filter cartridge and pour Clorox into the housing to get into system.
bumpy

[lanerd]

I also use the hose method as it also helps to sanitize it along with the rv tank/plumbing.

Ron

[Allworth]

No question is dumb if you don't know the answer.

If in doubt; keep asking!