Newbie with a potable water tank?

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Sawbob

Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
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21
We picked up our new to us 2016 Heartland 2175 RB from the dealer last weekend.
During the inspection I noticed the water tank was full, and their rep said they'd have it drained by the by we had our paper work done.....they didn't.( didn't notice til we got home)
The wife and I our going on our first outing this weekend and my question is, how do I drain this tank, or should I even bother.
I can't find a drain for the tank, or would it just be one of my low point drains on the other side of the trailer?
Or should I just flush the hell out of the toilet and run water until all tanks are a third full, then dump at the campground when ready? This would distribute the weight a little better, and maybe breakup any solids the PO might have left.
We're only going about 40-45 miles.
Thanks, Bob
 
When we bought our RVs (4), one of the first things I did was sanitize their freshwater systems. I just felt it was a good idea. All of our RVs had low-point drains to drain the water for winterizing, but the drains were all in different places, so you'll have to search for yours, or read through your owners manual to see where they are. Running a small amount of bleach through the freshwater system will sanitize it pretty well.

If you have any questions on how to do that, just ask. Congratulations on your new RVand welcome aboard.

Kev
 
Article from the library here:

http://www.rvforum.net/joomla/index.php/42-fresh-water-systems/110-water-system-sanitizing
 
Okay, I can only find two low point drains, so I open the cap on the fresh water tank then opened the valves which are at the back of the trailer. Got maybe 1/2 to 1 gal. of water to come out.
The fresh water tank still shows full, and it holds 52 gals.
The bottom of the trailer is enclosed in a wrap and those are the only drains I can find.
Owners manual is useless, as it cover all their 5vrs, TH, and TT. Just says to drain....not how.
 
I just turned on the water pump and pumped it out the low point drain.
It's a used TT and the dealership doesn't carry this brand, and from just dealing with them it would take them 15 phone calls to find the right answer.Ha Ha
 
Call the manufacturer.  Have your VIN number available when you call. They can tell you everything about your rig.
 
Pumping the water out of the tank and through the low point drains is fairly common method of draining a fresh tank these days. It saves the RV builder a few dollars in parts and 15 minutes of assembly time. Sounds trivial, but every part & step is Real Money when you run assembly line production. Besides, draining a fresh tank is an infrequent task, so doesn't need  to be very elegant.
 
Are you sure the fresh water tank is really full?  It may show full on the indicator, but those are not always accurate.  I see that this is a trailer, so the underside is probably visible.  You might be able to crawl underneath with a flashlight and look at the tank.  Mine is opaque enough that I can see the water level. 
 
Yes it was full. It took about 15 to 20 minutes to empty using the pump.
Now it's full again with a baking soda solution in it, which I'll drain out tomorrow.
The underside of our trailer is enclosed, so I wasn't able to access the bottom of the tank.

Thanks, Bob
 
Sawbob said:
Now it's full again with a baking soda solution in it, which I'll drain out tomorrow.

Baking soda?  That's a new one to me. Most people use a bleach mixture.  How many boxes would be needed for a 50 gallon tank?
 
Used bleach to sanitize, then dumped the tank and lines.
Added 1/2 cup of baking soda to the 50 gal tank, then ran that into the lines just to get rid of the bleach taste and smell.
I'll let that set until tomorrow, then empty everything.
Should be good to go after that.

kbdgoat put a link in his answer to an article in the library from this forum. That's what I went with.
 

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