A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

Gezzzz..dummy me not thinking about what I need for camping this week…I have never used my fresh water thank…the last it had water in it was last oct…when I got it from the dealer..the were showing it to me and then they drained it for me..…now no water hook up this week.... so will I need to sanitize it and what do I put in it to do that??..I will not be drinking from it as I will fill it up from my city water and I do not drink it…so can you all help me out and tell me what to do....leaving in the morning...thanks so much…donna
PS...i guess my basic question is do I need to sanitize this time if I am not drinking it?

Most of the gals here are more experienced than I, and will have lots of advice. Here is what I did. I filled the tank full. Then poured about 1/2 cup bleach into the freshwater tank ( the amount depends on how many gallons you have). Ran all the fixtures. Waited a day and drained the tank and then refilled with fresh water. There are several YouTube videos about how to do it as well. Good luck and have a great trip.

Red got it right! At least from what I learned in "tank sanitation 101" from the Sultan! Water, a bit of bleach, maybe even leave it while you drive a bit to let it slosh around your tank (Sultan's tip), run all faucets, refill. Hmmm, maybe I'll checkout the youtube videos myself. Happy travels Donna!

We do the same as Red and Carol, except we use the heavy duty granulated chlorine that is used in swimming pools. DH works for the city and brings home a couple of teaspoon of it every spring. Works great and I don't have to worry about splashing bleach on myself and ruining clothes..been there done that. I bring gallon jugs fill them at the campground for cooking and drinking because the water in the tank always tastes stale to me.

Ditto on the chlorine bleach into a tank (I only fill tank half to 3/4 full) and driving around a bit to slosh it. Run it empty through faucets next day and drain grey tank. Refill.

I do drink water from my fresh water tank, but only if I am on the road and refilling and using it constantly from sources I trust. This also depends on the taste of the water I am refilling it with. I don't drink the water if it has been sitting in the tank for days and weeks, especially in hot weather areas. If I have water hookups in parks for days and weeks, I go through the bleach sanitizing again, with maybe a little less bleach, depending.

I have a 28 gallon fresh water tank and a couple of times a year I will put 1/4 cup of bleach in it before a trip. I don't even drain it and I don't smell the chlorine. Use the water to flush the toilet on the way and fill up when I get to the campground. I don't ever drink or cook with the water from the tank. I carry a couple of gallon jugs that I fill up at home and usually have some bottled water for drinking. I put the gallon jugs in the shower in case one should leak. If I full timed I would do it differently but no more than I travel it works for me.

Martha

Yes, sanitize with bleach. 3/4 or so fool, drive for 1/2 hour or so, then dump it all. I then fill and dump a full tank or two of fresh water before filling with the fresh water I'll use.

.I use my tank for everything including drinking water, but do put the drinking water through my Brita filter first, then refrigerate. Except when in Mexico.

I, too, use a Brita water filter. I keep my tank about 1/4 full as H2O is quite heavy....In my 16 years "on the road" I never got sick using the Brita filter. I put bleach in the tank, about 1/2 C, two or three times a year to keep "green" things from growing in it.

I carry an empty 1/2 gal water bottle to get H2O from the camp ground tap, and put that into the Brita. Use the in house H2O for brushing the teeth and washing up, me and the dish.

My pets use only H2O from the Brita as well.

Should Brita be compensating us for this ad?!?!?!?!

lyn

Ok..thanks everyone ..this is what I am going to do...fill 1/2 full put in 1/2 c bleach...use it at camp for shower, dish, and flush...hope this will work for 3 days...
donna

Bethers wrote:Yes, sanitize with bleach. 3/4 or so fool...

..
Did you just call her a fool???
You probably need to be getting more sleep.
Just sayin'.
..

Bethers wrote:I use my tank for everything including drinking water, but do put the drinking water through my Brita filter first, then refrigerate. Except when in Mexico.

You don't use the Brita filter in Mexico?

And on a more serious note, does the Brita filter take out that "plastic" taste (ACK)?

..

mitch5252 wrote:

Bethers wrote:I use my tank for everything including drinking water, but do put the drinking water through my Brita filter first, then refrigerate. Except when in Mexico.

You don't use the Brita filter in Mexico?

And on a more serious note, does the Brita filter take out that "plastic" taste (ACK)?

..

Yes it does. So does overnight refrigeration.

Wow...great info...I'm saving this thread!

Cindy

Sorry, I didn't answer about Mexico. There I do buy water for drinking after my tank gets MX water in it. Put their water in my tank with bleach for everything else. The bleach kills whatever is in the water, but isn't real appetizing.

But the Brita filter takes it right out again...right, Beth?