Gas station air/water station water safe?

[Jwpup]

I live in Southern California and all of the gas stations have air/water stations . The gas station attendant said the water should be potable because it’s just straight from the city water, but I think the black retractable water hose is suspect. I think it’s meant to fill up radiator water and not intended as drinking water. Does anyone know if it’s safe to put in your RV and use as drinking water? Does it taste terrible? Does it take any longer to fill? The spout is smaller than that of a hose bib.

[ksg5000]

PastorCharlie wrote:
Its not the public water but the folks who misuse the facilities and cause harm to those who use after them. Never drink downstream of the pigs wallowing upstream.

So the only water you take is from home? That's not very practical. In SoCal use your own hose and take a bit of bleach to wash off the bib and your going to be a safe as your home.

[PastorCharlie]

Its not the public water but the folks who misuse the facilities and cause harm to those who use after them. Never drink downstream of the pigs wallowing upstream.

[ksg5000]

PastorCharlie wrote:
Some years back on one of our trips to southern CA there was a dump station along the highway provided by the state and there was a hose close by to fill water tanks and while waiting in line a RVer ahead of us to finish dumping his tanks he then stuck the water hose in the end of the sewer hose and rinsed it out.

Drink from an unsecured public water source at your own risk. Who knows what some pig upstream has done in the water source.

Makes sense -- but in southern Calif it's a rare exception to find a water source that isn't connected to the same secured water supply as the local community. Use your own hose and you s/b OK. Typical gas station water supply isn't any different than the water supply to the nearby neighborhood.

[hornet28]

WOW some of you guys are unbelievable. Easy to see you didn't grow up in the generation that drank well water from a hose or took a drink from a creek.

[Jwpup]

Hahaha thanks, all I thought it sounded suspect. Glad you could confirm

[opnspaces]

Some of you people are way out there. The guy is in a city. The gas station is plumbed to the municipal water supply. The only thing questionable is the material used on the hose.

OP, yes you can fill at the gas station. Just run enough water out on the ground to flush the standing water from the hose first.

[PastorCharlie]

Some years back on one of our trips to southern CA there was a dump station along the highway provided by the state and there was a hose close by to fill water tanks and while waiting in line a RVer ahead of us to finish dumping his tanks he then stuck the water hose in the end of the sewer hose and rinsed it out.

Drink from an unsecured public water source at your own risk. Who knows what some pig upstream has done in the water source.

[pitch]

As a child, there would be a dead woodchuck, opossum or some other critter pulled out of the well a few times a year. My grandfather drank from that well for 86 years, my grandmother for more than fifty, my father and uncles for at least 18 consecutive. Myself and my siblings at least weekly. My cousins family is drinking from the well today.
If the gas station hose is not connected to a potable source, law requires that that be clearly posted.
Truth be told any hose on a gas station is never used for mechanical purposes.
Parts are washed in a parts washer and rinsed in a sink. Radiators do not take that much water, and a professional shop would use distilled.
That gas station hose is used for the same thing your home hose is used for, landscaping and washing down the parking lot.

[Tvov]

I would have no problem filling from a gas station water faucet that is "city water". But.......... as others have said, I would use my own hose.

[jthrv]

I've never drank water out of a rv tank. I drink from $1 per gallon water bottles from grocery stores - about a half a gallon a day. I have been at so many campgrounds with signs not to drink the water I don't trust any of them. At the same campground, some visits there is a don't drink sign, other times not. What about if after I leave, they discover the water is bad, it could have been bad while I was there.

Compared to the other costs of using a rv, fifty cents a day for drinking water is a luxury I can well afford.

[steveh27]

Attack a portable filter to it and you will be good.

[time2roll]

The water from the service station should be fine. Where that hose has been is another question. I would far prefer to locate a hose bib on the side of the building. Or swap your fresh water hose onto the water fitting of the service hose.

[TenOC]

And some people pay $$$$ for bottle water.

When we lived on the farm and first got running water in the house vs draw from a well and walking to the outhouse, many people said you should not drink the water from the bathroom sink faucet.

[coolmom42]

So where else would the gas station be getting water, other than a municipal water supply?

I would use the water but just run it a bit to flush out what's been standing in the hose and immediate supply line.