Fresh water hose

[Dusty_R]

I grew up on a farm, where we had live stock, and used common water hoses from local hardware stores.
We often drank from those hoses, with no problem.
We have had a mh for many years, and used the white hoses recommend for drinking water.
The last couple of years these white hoses have been causing a bad taste when using for city water hook ups. Not at any one location, but every time we use the city water hook up.
Filling the fresh water tank has not been a problem.
Has anyone found a hose that does NOT leave a taste? Even after a few years of use.

Thanks,
Dusty

[MEXICOWANDERER]

This is what I do with my white hoses.

Find someplace to run the hose downhill and cap the end.

Mix gallon of water with 2 tablespoons of PLAIN laundry bleach.

Funnel water and fill hose. Leave sit for an hour

Flush hose out

Re cap end.

Mix two tablespoons of vanilla. Genuine. Artificial does not work.

Fill the hose and leave sit overnight.

The vanilla does not leave a vanilla taste. It just absorbs other tastes, odors and smells. I haven't a clue as to why. This even works in a green hose.

The treatment lasts many months.

BUT!

Having the sun broil the hose raises Cain with the longevity of the treatment. I shade my hose as much as I can.

[johntank]

We all sanitize fresh water tank and lines of the RV yearly, why not our hoses too I have.

I sanitized my hoses about 2 years ago and it made a difference in taste of the water.


I used about 3/4 cup bleach to around 4 gals. water (yes strong mix) in a 5 gal. bucket, to get the water to fill the hose completely is to lower hose into bucket starting at one end and keeping hose level in bottom of bucket until all of the hose is in. How long is your call, but mine was around an hour, my hoses were around 5 years old at the time.

[myredracer]

down home wrote:
I've noticed a lot, most of the white hoses, now, do not have the little sticker saying approved for drinking water use.
Two of the ones we have are blue and lined with stainless fittings. Thy had a little or two of them stickers in this case silver colored around the hoses near the ends saying approved for fresh water drinking use or something.
We bought another one at a CW but it had aluminum ends resembling stainless, not lined, and showing "reinforcement" that the hose felt like wax. It is sitting in the basement to be used for something else or thrown away.

Beware of what CW sells - they don't care if things aren't listed/approved by a safety org. like NSF, ANSI, UL, CSA, etc.

[down_home]

I've noticed a lot, most of the white hoses, now, do not have the little sticker saying approved for drinking water use.
Two of the ones we have are blue and lined with stainless fittings. Thy had a little or two of them stickers in this case silver colored around the hoses near the ends saying approved for fresh water drinking use or something.
We bought another one at a CW but it had aluminum ends resembling stainless, not lined, and showing "reinforcement" that the hose felt like wax. It is sitting in the basement to be used for something else or thrown away.

[rockhillmanor]

2oldman wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
Ya, we all drank out of the garden hose one time or another when we played outside.

Unless you like your water boiling hot, you didn't start drinking out of it immediately after turning on the faucet. You let the water get cold first, thereby removing the stank.

Ya, I kinda learned that one real fast my first trip to Florida.

You should have seen the faces on my friends when I first went to Florida! I picked up their hose to wash my hands off and darn near burned my fingers clean off! Not to mention taking a drink of water from their kitchen sink and being shocked how warm the cold water was.:R

I'm from up North where the water comes out of the ground at 65 degrees year round.

[Dennis12]

I used my white water hose to siphon out my black tank one time and to this day it still leaves a crappy taste in my mouth.

[2oldman]

rockhillmanor wrote:
Ya, we all drank out of the garden hose one time or another when we played outside.

Unless you like your water boiling hot, you didn't start drinking out of it immediately after turning on the faucet. You let the water get cold first, thereby removing the stank.

[rockhillmanor]

It really is not about the 'taste'.

Garden hoses have lead and chemicals in them. Have for years.

Ya, we all drank out of the garden hose one time or another when we played outside.

BUT we were not drinking out of it all day and night for days at a time as in an RV. If you have kids on board the RV the lead issue is real BIG issue because it affects there brains just like lead paint does.

The so-called white safe hose for RV's has been found to have traces of lead in it also. Much of it coming from the fittings. So it can state 'lead free', but that just means the hose not the fittings. The RV white hose has been shown to have lead in it from the fittings.

Here is but one of hundreds of information sites about lead in garden hoses.

http://saferchemicals.org/newsroom/new-study-rates-best-and-worst-garden-hoses/

One thing I will pass on from experience is if you are RV'ing in the south. Green 'mold', not algae, but real green 'mold' builds up inside the hose over time. When it lays outside on the ground in the hot southern heat.

One of the best ways to prevent build up of the chems and mold is to NOT store the water hose without completely draining it each time before you store it. And do NOT connect the two ends together.

Once I found that green mold inside mine, I started putting a 1/4 cup of bleach down the hose and then some water before storing and bought a new hose every other month.

RV'ing in Florida does have it's challenges. 😞

[myredracer]

Some people are apparently sensitive to taste due to the material a hose is made from and some aren't.

If you are having an issue with taste, it's not going to be the from the PEX water piping or tank which are made from food grade polyethylene, but could be from the hose used to fill the holding tank.

Not sure exactly what a taste-free hose is made from but still has vinyl in them. Hoses that aren't rated for potable water may have nasty chemicals and metals in them like phthalates, BPA, antimony, lead and flame retardants. Only RV hose I will use is NSF certified for potable water but doesn't need to be "taste-free" for us.

[ScottG]

None of my white hoses has ever caused a taste.

[2oldman]

Let the water run for a few seconds to remove the water that's been sitting in the sun in the hose. Filling the tank works because the water is constantly moving.

[troubledwaters]

I use my water tank exclusively and just re-fill it when I need to. Flush the hose, fill the tank, and done; repeat as needed, no bad taste.

[myredracer]

Valterra and make a "taste free" potable water hose. There's a number of potable water hoses available that have an inert plastic that won't impart a bad taste to the water and that also meet NSF & ANSI requirements. I believe the taste free ones all have a blue tracer line along them to identify them. Have also seen them sold as commercial food grade hoses.

Note: The taste free hoses tend to be stiffer and need to be coiled with a larger radius. We have one that has a permanent kink in one spot because I tried to coil it like our old standard hose. Can't get rid of the stupid kink now. Annoying!

[Old-Biscuit]

For the RV I replace the potable water hoses every 3 yrs.

They ALL seem to get funky.......and I grew up drinking out of rubber yard hoses, swimming/swallowing pond water, playing in the run off from irrigation etc.

We fill fresh water tank and use it for everything.

But even with an in-line charcoal filter the hoses leave I slight taint.

Tires/water hoses.....replace routinely :B