Sanitizing/Cleaning Water Tank

[garroum]

Do you use store bought sanitizer/freshener or good ole fashion bleach?

[jsmith948]

Originally Posted by garroum

Do you use store bought sanitizer/freshener or good ole fashion bleach?

Bleach. 1/4 cup for each 15 gal of capacity. Dilute bleach in a bucket before pouring into the tank.

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[ctbruce]

As stated above for amounts. You can add the bleach directly to your fill hose then hook up to faucet and fill. This will dilute at the same time.

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[BigTexRex]

Originally Posted by ctbruce

As stated above for amounts. You can add the bleach directly to your fill hose then hook up to faucet and fill. This will dilute at the same time.

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This is the way I accomplish the task also.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by garroum

Do you use store bought sanitizer/freshener or good ole fashion bleach?

A. 10% bleach solution will work just remember to flush it out well with fresh clean water. Fill and empty three times will do.

[Tinner12002]

Originally Posted by ctbruce

As stated above for amounts. You can add the bleach directly to your fill hose then hook up to faucet and fill. This will dilute at the same time.

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On most of the newer RVs without the gravity fill that's probably about the only way to do it.

[LZScout]

I’ve built a water filter into my Alpines water fill system. I remove the filter and add the necessary amount of bleach to the filter container, then reattach and fill the tank. Once the tank is full, I run the pump to flush the lines.


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[Ncgrandma]

We just purchased a new Premier and looking through the owners manual, which is not model specific, it mentioned a "water vent" near the fresh water fill that you are suppose to remove a screen and add the bleach solution. I don't find one on our unit. Anybody know about this?

[Canonman]

Our "burp" vent is right next to the gravity feed freshwater inlet. Don't know why they'd recommend using the vent for bleach though.
To do the spring time sanitizing, I just mix up 1/4 cup bleach in an old 1 gallon jug filled with water and using a funnel pour the mixture into the fresh tank via the gravity feed. Then fill the tank about 1/2 way with water. I run the mixture through the lines and faucets until all the pink is gone and I can smell the bleach. Let it sit that way overnight then drain the fresh tank and refill with fresh water. Turn on the pump and open the faucets and shower and let them run 10 min. or so. Then drain the FW tank and repeat 2 more times. By then I can't smell the bleach/chlorine any more so after draining 1 more time I fill with about 15 gallons for traveling and we're ready to go...

[fourfourto]

I add few gallons h20 then pump through all faucets,(to get rid of antifreeze in lines then add 1/2 bleach(30 gallon tank) in a gallon of h20 (so I don't splash pure bleach) then fill up tank ,pump through faucets tip off with h20 let it sit for a hour then drain remainder of h20 .fill and flush faucets then good to go. I don't drink it anyway.

[gearhead]

Pretty much the same as others...a 1 gallon pitcher of the right amount of diluted bleach in the tank through the vent. Fill the tank completely to overflowing. Use the pump to run it through all lines. Let it sit at least 24 hours. Drain, refill with water, flush through the lines, drain again. Refill the tank. Go somewhere.
No, I don't drink it.

[nied]

From my Trail-Lite Manual:

0.14 OZ of standard strength bleach per gallon of water. Flush entire system including the toilet and outside shower. Wait 4 hours and then drain the fresh water tank, refill and flush all of the lines. Repeat every 4 months. This will yield a concentration of about 50 PPM. I noticed one post for 10% bleach. That is 100,000 PPM chlorine.

[JRTJH]

This is not intended to be confrontational and it is not intended to be critical of the previous post, but hey, come on guys !!!!!

I don't know of very many people who can (or will take the time to) convert 0.14 oz of standard bleach to an amount of liquid that is a recognizable and measurable form (cups, tablespoons or capfuls). I also don't know many people who "think in terms of" parts per million or parts per thousand... So those terms, for the most part are "more or less meaningless" to most people who "think in practical terms" when it comes to sanitizing their RV water tank. Honestly, I don't think it really comes down to "rocket science" when doing this annual (or for some people monthly/weekly) task.

The bottom line is having a solution "strong enough to kill "bad-a$$ little things" that are so small most of us can't see them" and to inhibit/stop growth of "black/brown/green fuzzy stuff" in our tanks...

That said, for the most part, unless you're in an area where micro-organisms live in the water or unless you're pouring "creek water or swamp water" into your tank, all you really need to do is use enough bleach diluted in your tank so that it's strong enough to be able to smell it when it comes out the faucets. Then let the system "sit overnight" to kill all those "bad-a$$ little things" and that "black/brown/green fuzzy stuff"...

Getting wrapped up in "micro measured solutions" and "PPT/PPM" measurements just needlessly increases the difficulty for most of us. Typically 1/2 cup of "washing machine bleach" (not the new soapy feeling concentrated bleach) per 15 gallons of tank capacity is all that's needed. So a cup for a 30 gallon tank, 1.5 cups for 45 gallons and 2 cups for 60 gallons.... Anything stronger isn't needed, maybe weaker would work, but geez guys, 0.14 ounces per gallon? or 10 parts per million ???? Can't we make it so "those without chemical engineering degrees" can also play in the sandbox ??? There's really no need to drag out "junior's chemistry kit that he got for Christmas" just to sanitize a water tank. Don't complicate things so much they become a major chore rather than being a "do it on the fly" kind of simple task.

[nied]

Sorry to set you off but .14 oz of bleach in my 40 gallon fresh water tank is slightly more than five and a half ounces of bleach. The Trail-Lite Manual cautions against stronger concentrations as they may damage the tank or the PEX piping.

[ctbruce]

Originally Posted by nied

From my Trail-Lite Manual:

0.14 OZ of standard strength bleach per gallon of water. Flush entire system including the toilet and outside shower. Wait 4 hours and then drain the fresh water tank, refill and flush all of the lines. Repeat every 4 months. This will yield a concentration of about 50 PPM. I noticed one post for 10% bleach. That is 100,000 PPM chlorine.

My 100 gallon tank this way would be 14 ounces. Call it 2 cups (1 pint] and I'm close enough for government work. I'd rather have too much than too little. It's really not rocket science.

Im pretty sure the 10% bleach solution referred to above is referring to 10 parts bleach to 100 parts water (a 0.1% solution) not a concentration of 10% bleach. Since the concentrated bleach available at the store is only 8.25%, you can't make a 10% concentration.

The 0.1% is less than your 0.14% and would cause less damage to your system. I think we're all good here.

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[MerlinB]

I just ran out of popcorn on this discussion.

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by nied

Sorry to set you off but .14 oz of bleach in my 40 gallon fresh water tank is slightly more than five and a half ounces of bleach. The Trail-Lite Manual cautions against stronger concentrations as they may damage the tank or the PEX piping.

Not to worry, you didn't "set me off" in the least. It's simply that sanitizing a water tank in an RV is not that "critical" that you even have to go out with a measuring cup, bucket of carefully measured water for dilution and a stop watch to make sure it's timed properly.

The old "dump and use the marking on the side of the bleach bottle" is more than adequate for measurement....

We're not talking about a critical medical solution: "sub-therapeutic at X-1 mg per kg, therapeutic at X mg per kg and nephrotoxic at X+1 mg per kg of body weight" kind of "life/death situation" we're talking about a bleach solution that's strong enough to kill micro-organisms but not so strong it "kills PEX"... The solution that Trail-Lite warns will damage the tank or the PEX is probably not achieveable with household laundry bleach in any solution, even "half and half" when mixed with water....

As I said, my response was not to criticize or ridicule... If you prefer to measure drops (gtts) per ml (milliliter) there's no reason you shouldn't do so. My point, the only point I was (am) making is that it's not that critical. In fact, as I said, most people won't take the time (and likely don't/won't calculate) 0.14 oz per gallon. Especially on a 43 gallon tank.

Simply put, pour bleach until you're close to your "guesstimate" that it comes close to half a cup per 15 gallons of tank size and you're going to be close enough.

[dcg9381]

Originally Posted by nied

The Trail-Lite Manual cautions against stronger concentrations as they may damage the tank or the PEX piping.

I'm not sure about the tank. But as a well owner, I occasionally over-chlorinate at the well head for various reasons. Standard residential structure that's full of PEX.

PEX DOES degrade under chlorine bleach use - no debate. But I think, over a decade of doing this at home, that the PEX in our RVs is likely to far outlast the RV itself, at least under most "sane" uses of bleach for sanitation....

Modern PEX may be a little more resistant... I don't worry about it - not exactly "good advice" -but I'd rather worry about the condition of my tires rather than the impact of running a 4 cups of bleach through a 100 gallon tank for a short amount of time...






"To battle the effects of chlorine, manufacturers have added antioxidants to the PEX piping. The antioxidants are provided for sacrificial purposes where the chlorine will degrade the antioxidants first. Once these antioxidants are all degraded, the PEX piping is no longer protected and the piping starts to oxidize quickly before failing. (Reid 2005) To compute the resistance of PEX piping to chlorine, the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) has designated the Standard Test Method for Evaluating the Oxidative Resistance of Crosslinked Polyethylene (PEX) Tubing and Systems to Hot Chlorinated Water (ASTM F2023). (Haenftling 2010) The standard tests for a 50 year lifetime in regards to chlorine, however the standard does not test for hot and cold conditions in the same pipe or the use of chlorine dioxide. (Clark 2005) "

[Tinner12002]

Ha, haven't ever measured the bleach yet and probably won't...lol. I have a 25ft hose I just pour some into until it starts to run out and hook it up. Now I didn't say how many feet of the hose was uphill or down hill or how high I had the end off of the ground, oh, or the size of the hose being 1/2" or 5/8"...going to just leave you all guessing as to how much I use!! LOL!

[sourdough]

Not making light of this topic but I perform this task in a somewhat different, but sort of scientific way;

Fill the tank, take the bleach bottle and pour at the gravity fill; when I have splattered enough bleach on my shirt and pants that I'm assured that they are going to look like nice, new tie dyed garments.....that's enough