Fresh water tank - do you drink water from it?

[deltabravo]

This thread How do you get rid of smell from water in fresh-water tank led to me wonder how many people drink water from the fresh water tank in their RV.

I used to, but I stopped drinking out of the tank in about 2007 or so.

I had a Desert Fox Toy Hauler from 2003-2009. I dumped the fresh tank after every trip. I sanitized it periodically.

I have an Arctic Fox 811 truck camper now, which I bought in late 2009. I dump the tank after each trip in it too, except this past July when I forgot. (water stunk bad when I used the camper this past weekend)

I drank water out of the fresh water tank of the DF. I had a PUR water filter on the kitchen sink faucet as another level of protection.

On one trip with the DF, I woke up in the morning, and within an hour or so I felt horrible. I had no energy at all, and I felt better if I stayed horizontal. When I walked around, I was light headed and my equilibrium was out of kilter.

I spent most of the morning and part of the early afternoon chilling out in a friends zero gravity reclining lounge chair.

I suspected the water was what caused me to get sick. Maybe it wasn't, but that was my first suspicion, and I haven't drank water out of the fresh water tank since that trip, which I think was 2007

Now I carry bottled water. I wash and refill some of the bottles at home.

Do you drink water out of your fresh water tank?

[Old-Biscuit]

Bob B wrote:
I won't even drink my tap water at home without RO filtering it first.:(
(There is a large group of petroleum storage tanks that are leeching into the ground water.....they SAY it's not enough to be a problem....but my tap water smells like petroleum and I won't drink it.)

I pack jugs with RO filtered water or get water from the bulk filtered at Walmart....The Walmart water is also RO filtered water....tastes pretty good to me.

I understand your concerns with the ground water possibly being contaminated but you might want to rethink using RO water for drinking.
*RO water, in general, does not hydrate the body well.
*A residue from the plastic membrane seems to find its way into the water, and then into the body.
*Reverse osmosis water is severely mineral deficient and has an acidic pH.
*Can cause leeching of minerals from the body
*Possible kidney failure


RO units are great for making 'pure water' (we used them to make water for our high pressure boilers) because it strips the water completely.

The body needs to be hydrated and have minerals replenished.

[Bumpyroad]

The only time I would be skeptical about drinking from the on board water tank would be in a rental. no telling what previous renters did.
but the one previous post reminds me of tales from certain foreign countries, you don't drink the water but use the ice cubes and eat lettuce, etc., rinsed with it. :s
bumpy

[DWeikert]

Mine is only 20 gallons so I save it for washing. I do sanitize the water with a little bleach before each trip so it's not that I don't think it's safe. I just prefer to carry bottled for drinking and try to make the on board fresh water supply last as long as possible.

[azrving]

Reddog1 wrote:
I haven't tried it Cal. I do not like Ice Coffee, and like my beer cold. I do like a snort of whisky in my hot coffee on occasion, but do not like hot beer.

Unlike bottled water, with beer you know is is filtered. The beer I drink says filtered three times.

I mentioned this in another thread, but will mention it here. The hose/tubing from your outside filler to the tank, and the vent hose are by far the most likely to grow bad stuff. I also believe filtering only gets the frogs, and not necessarily the bad stuff that might make you ill. For that, you need purified water.

I will continue to drink the water from my water tank. I will look in the inspection hole for frogs and stuff. I will sanitize on occasion.

This is a good point and something I wondered about the other day. I used a spray bottle of strong bleach solution and sprayed it in both the vent and the fill. I think I'll rig up a long wire with a bleach soaked swab to clean both of those hoses.

[mockturtle]

Yes. I do filter my drinking water but I only use my tank and never hook up to water. So there's a good turnover of fresh water.

[Reddog1]

I haven't tried it Cal. I do not like Ice Coffee, and like my beer cold. I do like a snort of whisky in my hot coffee on occasion, but do not like hot beer.

Unlike bottled water, with beer you know is is filtered. The beer I drink says filtered three times.

I mentioned this in another thread, but will mention it here. The hose/tubing from your outside filler to the tank, and the vent hose are by far the most likely to grow bad stuff. I also believe filtering only gets the frogs, and not necessarily the bad stuff that might make you ill. For that, you need purified water.

I will continue to drink the water from my water tank. I will look in the inspection hole for frogs and stuff. I will sanitize on occasion.

[Bob__B]

I won't even drink my tap water at home without RO filtering it first.:(
(There is a large group of petroleum storage tanks that are leeching into the ground water.....they SAY it's not enough to be a problem....but my tap water smells like petroleum and I won't drink it.)

I pack jugs with RO filtered water or get water from the bulk filtered at Walmart....The Walmart water is also RO filtered water....tastes pretty good to me.

[dahkota]

we have an 85 gallon tank. we go through a tank of water a week. It really isn't in there long enough to 'go bad' but we add bleach now and then. tastes fine and never made us sick. If it tastes funny, we know before it hits the tank - we taste any water before we put it in.

[cyntdon2010]

We only drink bottle water, but we do use it to make ice for drinks.

our tanks are clean and germ free.

[cewillis]

Yes -- a little bleach when I first fill it if the camper has been sitting at home for a long while. Perfectly good.

I do not think coffee made with beer would be very good.

You mean you've never tried it, Wayne?

[dakonthemountai]

Interesting replies. I'm surprised actually and expected more to say "heck no!" I have in the past but with my last camper I couldn't get the smell or taste of the plastic out of the water no matter what I did. In my new one I have yet to sanitize or try it so the jury is still out. I don't know for sure how the previous owner maintained the tank. I will drink it if there are no funny smells/tastes in it when I'm done though. I do carry bottled water also though out of habit.

Dak

[mi_drew]

We drink from ours, it is the water we are used to. A local well driller said I may add one capful of bleach from time to time. No problems yet.

[John___Angela]

Yes

[joeshmoe]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
YES
The fresh water tank is nothing more than a very large plastic water bottle

Yep. Treat it with the appropriate purification if you want and you're good. In fact, city water SHOULD last without any treatment, stored in an appropriate, sealed container, in a cool place for good 10-12 months. At worst, it might taste a little funny. Treated water in a sealed container will last for many years. People tend to get overly excited about storing water. If what comes out of the pipe is considered safe to drink, it will stay that way for a while unless the container is contaminated.

In deltas case, I tend to think that unless the water was already tainted, it was probably something else.

[azrving]

Yes, we drink some water from the tank but we also refill gallon jugs at the water station in places like Walmart. It's like anything else in your house or refrigerator. It's all a matter of how you maintain it. You cant walk away and come back months later and expect it to be ok. I would imagine there are a lot of issues with RV water tanks because they are like a generator and not worried about until you need to use it.

I regularly bleach and rinse our system just as we do our water bottles that we use every day.

As others have said, it's just a big plastic water bottle. If BPA is a concern then you wont want bottled either. We do have Stainless water bottles too.

I'm not worried about using a plastic gallon jug or the tank but I dont like the thought of the jug of water sitting a long time or sitting in the sun or heat.