Fresh Water Tank cleaning
How we keep our water drinkable
We drink from the tap/fresh water tank and take the following precautions
- Regular sanitization of the fresh water tank
- 3 stage filter from Blu Tech
How to Sanitize
I use bleach to periodically flush the fresh water tanks. I usually flush before every trip as the process is quick and easy.
I Fill the fresh tank roughly 10% full then add diluted bleach based on equation below to the tank. Then I fill the tank fully.
I turn the water heater off.
When the fresh tank is full, I run all the faucets in the trailer until I can smell bleach. I run both hot and cold faucets allowing the bleach diluted water to flow through all valves.
Flushing the tanks and faucets
I then set a timer for 6 hours, after time has passed I open the tank drain allowing all water to drain. Once drained I fill the fresh water tank and flush all faucets (hot and cold).
Drain
I usually will drain the tank one more time and flush all faucets after a second drain cycle.
My full process
Determine bleach needed
Change into work shoes, shorts, shirt (things I don’t care about bleach coming in contact with)
Mix bleach with water (sanitizing solution)
Fill tank and add sanitizing solution
Flush lines and valves when tank is full
Let sanitize for 6 hours
Flush and fill twice clearing all bleach from system
Equation
The equation I use to establish a sanitizing solution with bleach (Pure bleach, no perfumes, no paste, plain(real) bleach) is Gallons * .13. $$ \text{ 1 Gallon} \approx 3.78541\ \text{liters} % Gallon $$
$$ \text{39 Gallons} \times 0.13 = \approx 5.07 \text{ Oz Bleach} $$
In metric the equation can be referenced as Liter to Milliliters of Bleach
$$ \text{ml} \approx 1\cdot(Gallons \cdot 3.78541) $$ $$ \text{39 Gallons} \times 3.78541 = 147.63 \text{ Liters} \approx 148 \text {ml} \text{ Bleach} $$
Notes
We never let water sit in the fresh water tank. When I return from a trip, I always drain all water from the unit. Depending upon travel schedule I will sanitize when ending a trip and when starting a trip. If we are only home for a few weeks I can skip double sanitizing. My main thought is I dont want to provide an enviroment for bad things to grow or take hold in the fresh water tank.
We have meet people that have differing opinions on drinking from the fresh water tanks. I respect your choices on how you want to consume water, drinking from our tank suits us well and we have never had a problem with contaminants or bad tasting/smelly water. Which I feel is due to the process of flushing and filtering.
Water filtration is expensive, often water filtration decreases the water pressure in the RV. When we experience low pressure we use the water pump to supplement the water pressure. Warning low water pressure will prevent on-demand water heater from working properly.
Other things we have tried.
We used a Berkey for a while. We stopped bringing the Berkey with us, it simply used to much counter space.
We sometimes will use 2.5 Gallon jugs of filtered water, however they also utilize much counter space.
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