Keeping fresh water tank bacteria-free

[mfjensen]

I'm confused about how to keep the water in the fresh water tank from picking up bacteria/viruses -- such as the Legionaire's Disease that sitting water can develop.

I've seen the postings about running clorox through the system, rinsing then re-rinsings. Which sounds like a problem because where can you drain Clorox water? All the places I've stopped forbid it.

I've also had someone tell me that putting Sweet Water (?) in the tank eliminates any need for Clorox and is safe for all uses.

After 5 days of the "fresh" water being in the tank, my dogs have refused to drink it, so I don't believe that doing nothing is acceptable.

Advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you,

Marlene

[K3WE]

Attention all:

1. Bleach, Clorox, Pool Chlorine and the chlorine in the municipal water supply are all fundamentally the same thing.

2. The dose makes the poison- Drink straight out of the Clorox bottle, you're going to be one sick puppy. Drink chlorinated water out of the water faucet...do it all day, the dose is low enough.

3. Chlorine (Calcium or sodium hypochlorite) in the environment fairly rapidly breaks down into what is basically salt water (and dilute salt water at that)- so forget the idea that this is some sort of toxic, nuclear waste. "Fairly rapidly" does not mean it's ok to drink the stuff at high concentrations.

4. See number 2- the dose makes the poison- A lot of people put bleach in the tank and then dump it on the ground and see no adverse effects. Other times, you might kill a small patch of grass....A bunch of bleach is unhealthy for your septic tank (at the right dose, you kill bacteria)- then again, how much Clorox goes through washing machines- some folks do that on septic systems. You can probably let it run down the driveway and into the street and storm sewer- that's probably enough time for it to break down- but again- if too much hits the wrong school of fish where the storm drain hits the creek (extremely unlikely- but don't go dumping your fresh-tank flushing into your expensive fish tank either!)

5. Whenever you run the garden hose- you are dumping essentially the same "bleach" material out in the environment.

6. Did I say something about "the dose makes the poison"? Too much water with no beach at all is toxic at high doses too!

[Allworth]

Pure Chlorox out of the bottle might stun the grass for a while. One cup diluted with 60 gallons of water (or 45 gallons)((or 30, for that matter)) won't hurt anything, including your skin. You are just cleaning out a storage tank, not cleaning up after an Ebola outbreak.

[Tvov]

mfjensen wrote:

...
I've seen the postings about running clorox through the system, rinsing then re-rinsings. Which sounds like a problem because where can you drain Clorox water? All the places I've stopped forbid it.
...

I've never heard to seen anything about restrictions on dumping the freshwater tank of a camper, beyond the general restrictions of dumping any liquid at campsites.

How much "Clorox" are you talking about? Sanitizing a camper's water system doesn't use a whole lot of chlorine (or Clorox, or chlorine bleach) as other posts above describe diluting it. I don't consider it a whole lot different than "shocked" pool water, or some heavily chlorinated city water that I've run into.

You will be fine sanitizing your freshwater system and dumping the water on your property, or at a dumpstation if you need to.

[Bumpyroad]

DentRover wrote:
My wife and I also have concerns about maintaining the integrity of our fresh water system. We full time and only use the fresh water tank when traveling and full hook ups are not available. I put about 20 gallons in so we have it just in case. We do not use it for drinking, only for general household use.

To date we have only had untreated well water in the tank and I drain it when we park so it wouldn't 'grow' something.

Should I be concerned? Is there something I could add to the tank before I drain it to prevent undesirable things from taking up residence?

Thanks for helping out a Newby,
Mark

I'd toss in a little chlorine myself. someone can come up with the proper amount per gallon.
bumpy

[MudChucker]

I have never seen any place that had any restrictions on dumping chlorinated water...what most of us dump is much worse.

[toedtoes]

DentRover - my general rule is I fill my tank with water I would be willing to drink from the tap and don't worry about it. When I first bought my used TT and MH, I treated them with chlorine granules once. From then on I don't worry because the tank was cleaned and I have only put water I trust into it. If you are OK drinking the well water from the well, then don't worry about drinking it from the tank.

As for things growing because the water sits in a tank, do an experiment: fill a plastic container with your "source" water; cover it and let it sit in shade until it grows stuff. How long did it take?

[DentRover]

My wife and I also have concerns about maintaining the integrity of our fresh water system. We full time and only use the fresh water tank when traveling and full hook ups are not available. I put about 20 gallons in so we have it just in case. We do not use it for drinking, only for general household use.

To date we have only had untreated well water in the tank and I drain it when we park so it wouldn't 'grow' something.

Should I be concerned? Is there something I could add to the tank before I drain it to prevent undesirable things from taking up residence?

Thanks for helping out a Newby,
Mark

[2gypsies1]

On our Colorado River rafting trip of 9 days through the Grand Canyon the only water we had to drink was from the Colorado River! Of course we ran it through filters. 🙂

[Redsky]

Per the US EPA that provides recommendations for treating water, and treating water that is going to be stored in containers for use in an emergency, add 1 oz. household bleach per 200 gallons of water. For water that is going to stand for months they recommend adding 1 pint of household bleach per 1000 gallons of water.

We have a 20 gallon fresh water tank and when I am filling it for a trip I add 4 teaspoons of household bleach along with the water. This starts out a little high but gets diluted during the trip.

What most people do not know is that household bleach is already only a 5% solution and is 95% water.

I treat the fresh water as this is the easiest way to treat the water before it goes into the hot water heater's tank. It is in this tank that anaerobic bacteria can grow and create that wonderful sulfur smell when the water comes out of the faucet.

I trust the water out of my well as it gets tested. I don't trust the water at a campground, private RV park, or city water (think about Detroit or Stockton, CA when its water treatment system was privatized). It is very easy to add a few teaspoons of bleach when adding water to the tank. Giardia and similar anaerobic organisms may not prove fatal but they can definitely make a trip much less pleasant for the affected people.

Even pristine water can get contaminated and if it sits in a confined space the bacteria can grow. That is why there are so many problems on cruise ships with their numerous closed systems. And no refunds when the passengers get ill or even when they die.

[toedtoes]

I sanitized my TT when I first got it because the fresh water tank had a horrid odor to it. I used about 1/2 teaspoon of chlorinated granules used to treat swimming pools. Filled the tank about 1/3, added the granules, filled the tank to full, let it sit overnight, drained, refilled. At that point, I had thought I would do a second treatment to be safe, but the refilled water was odor-free except for a very slight chlorine scent. Had the TT 3 years and never felt the need to re-sanitize.

When I bought my class C, I did the same sanitizing. Haven't done it since. I drink the water, the dogs drink the water, the bird drinks the water - none of us have had any ill-effects.

[tpi]

pasusan wrote:
I'm with Fishinghat - I think I've "treated" my tank with chlorine only once or twice since we've had an RV (1977). We also bring drinking water from home that is filtered.

Same here. If the tank water is "old" I'll drain it and refill with heavily chlorinated municipal water. I bring separate jugs of drinking water which can be filled at campground tap if necessary.

Never had a problem.

[ksg5000]

Like many I sanitize my system once a year when I de-winterize the rig. I use bleach and let it sit in the system overnight. During camping season the chlorine/chloramine in the tap water should maintain the system. The key to keeping water system clean is to use it - if water sits around for a long time the chlorine eventually evaporates (ask anyone who owns a pool or hot tub).

[Matt_Colie]

MF,

Just one of the problems with not having any profile is that nobody can give you meaningful about so many things because many are related to geography.

Example: If you are in any populated area with a municipal water system, then they probably have a standard for "residual chlorine". That residual chlorine is usually enough to keep any independent potable water system effective clean for very long periods.

As an Ex-water processing guy, I prefer to clean my systems with H2O2. I buy the high density stuff at hot tub stores. It does take safety precautions and careful handling.

Matt

[Ron3rd]

I think the OP is over-thinking this. Proportionally, you're using so little bleach that you can safely drain it on the ground. That's what most people do.