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Old 06-18-2018, 12:43 PM   #1
steamboatscott
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leave fresh water in tank during storage

Anyone leave water in their fresh tank during storage (instead of drain each time)?
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Old 06-18-2018, 01:30 PM   #2
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We do, at least half full.
But we never drink it, its for when the campground water goes out & you need to flush or wash a plate.
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Old 06-18-2018, 02:56 PM   #3
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Unlike wine, water does not get better over time. We drain ours whenever we are not camping. Easy to refill with fresh fresh-water and will flush with a lite bleach solution if it has been a couple of months since we last camped.
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Old 06-18-2018, 03:51 PM   #4
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I drain mine, but it depends on what you do with it. Drink it, drain it. Flush it, leave it.
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Old 06-18-2018, 04:30 PM   #5
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We drain. Fill before take off on the first trip, sanitize, drain, refill and GO!!
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Old 06-18-2018, 05:49 PM   #6
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I work in an Emergency Services/Safety Department in a chemical processing facility. We use portable eye washes when the normal ones are out of service. If we need to leave potable water sit in them for more than 14 days there is a bottle of preservative we put in so that it is not dangerous to flush your eyes with. Because of this I will not store water in my tank for longer than that. Could be snake oil, I don't know. But if I cant put the water in my eyes I am not going to drink it.
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Old 06-19-2018, 12:35 PM   #7
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I personally wouldn't do it for more than a few days. As already mentioned, water does not improve with time, and especially if it's non treated, or non chlorinated well water. Who knows what it will do when left to season?.

Unless you have a specific need to store water, I'd drain the tank and fill, and flush with sanitary mix, before going back out.

Good Luck,
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Old 06-19-2018, 03:15 PM   #8
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If you do decide to drain for long term storage, don't forget the hot water tank (ask me how I know )
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Old 06-19-2018, 04:48 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MattE303 View Post
If you do decide to drain for long term storage, don't forget the hot water tank (ask me how I know )
I considered whether to drain the HW in between trips. Then I thought, "I don't drink hot tap water" Hope it's good enough for dishes and showers.
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Old 06-19-2018, 10:13 PM   #10
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Quote:
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I considered whether to drain the HW in between trips. Then I thought, "I don't drink hot tap water" Hope it's good enough for dishes and showers.
After sitting for several weeks ours developed the rotten egg smell that took a while to flush out:

https://www.cleanwaterstore.com/reso...-heater-odors/

The source of the bacteria was likely our well water, and we have since added a filtration/softening system that includes a UV lamp to kill bacteria, but just to be on the safe side, I try to drain the hot water tank on the camper if it's going to sit for a while.
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Old 06-20-2018, 12:02 PM   #11
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Recently our 6 gal water heater developed the bad odor. I flushed it, then filled it with 4 gal of vinegar and 2 gal of water. Put heater on gas overnight. Flushed it out again. My wife is looking forward to not having stinky hot water next trip.
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Old 06-20-2018, 12:48 PM   #12
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I drain my water heater after every trip only, I would rather start out with fresh water every trip. Bacteria builds up pretty fast
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Old 06-24-2018, 12:48 AM   #13
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well the question was water during trailer storage.
when i had to park in a off site storage lot yes the fresh water tank was drained as best as possable.
kept some in the black and grey tanks. ( clear water that is).
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Old 06-24-2018, 04:38 AM   #14
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Drain it. For those that only keep it "flush or wash a dish" all I can say is would you wash your dishes with contaminated water then eat off of it? You may as well be drinking it as far as bacterial ingestion is concerned, same for washing your hands with it. Just my personal experience with FW holding tanks for the last 40+ years owning boats and RVs. YMMV.
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Old 06-28-2018, 08:19 AM   #15
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During the summer months when the unit will be used every few weeks, does it still make sense to leave the FW tank empty? I have a different approach to this:

Fill the FW tank, use trailer. Come home, top off the tank. Then right before leaving on the next trip, drain the old water from the tank, and refill with fresh.

Here is my thinking... when you drain the tanks, they stay wet/humid/warm/and lots of oxygen... perfect environment for bacteria growth. If you leave the tanks full, the oxygen isn't there. For me, this practice seems to work well.
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Old 06-28-2018, 08:19 AM   #16
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I do leave fresh water in my tank.

We live in Southern California, where we could be evacuated at any time due to fire. So we keep our trailer ready to go, with the fresh water tank full and the waste tanks empty.

All the water that goes into my tank goes through a filter (I use a GE whole house water filter), but I haven't added any kind of preservatives. So far (we've had this trailer for 4 1/2 years) we've had no problems with funny tastes or smells. But I suppose maybe I should consider adding preservatives of some sort (I used to do that with my first trailer, but I guess I got a little lazy).

Note: Water doesn't get worse or better with time - it's all billions of years old and it stays the same. The problem comes from stuff that might be IN the water.
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Old 06-28-2018, 04:47 PM   #17
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If our trailer is going to sit for mores than 2 weeks I drain the entirely system - hot water tank, then all the water lines and then the water filter housing.

Bacteria will grow in stale water. If you last used city water that’s been treated with chlorine it will resist bacteria growth better but not for too long. If you used well water or filtered the water to reduce chlorine I strongly advise that you empty your water system.
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Old 06-29-2018, 02:31 AM   #18
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Is it not ok to just add 1/4 cup of bleach per 50 gallons of water? No direct sunlight to degrade chlorine, should keep a long time.
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Old 07-04-2018, 03:30 AM   #19
flybouy
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Good info on water storage, however note they reference storing water in a "cool dry place". Hardly what I think of when I think of an RV's water tank. FWIW
https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf
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Old 07-04-2018, 04:49 AM   #20
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I drain after every trip. I leave faucets open and the drain caps off until next trip. It's on my checklist.
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