Another water system sanitizing question

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larrypowellnc

larrypowellnc

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Central NC
I always sanitize my fresh water system before my first road trip of the year.  Usually its many months between the time I winterize my system and our first road trip.  I do not use the pink stuff when I winterize the freshwater system so it's not a consideration when I sanitize the system.  This year it's only 4 months between our last trip in 2018 and our first trip in 2019.  Since this is such a short period of time time is it necessary to sanitize the fresh water system?
 
Four months is a long time for bacteria to grow. However, you can probably not sanitize and be OK. But, for the cost of a little bleach and your time flushing it out, why not sanitize?
 
IBTripping said:
Four months is a long time for bacteria to grow. However, you can probably not sanitize and be OK. But, for the cost of a little bleach and your time flushing it out, why not sanitize?
Click to expand...

:)) If you are likely to drink any water from your water system then I would sanitize.

Not worth the risk
 
I also drain, fill and drain and refill my fresh water tank every few weeks
 
Since chlorine (in the form of chlorine dioxide) is still the active biologic ingredient, I see no value in using Purogene vs plain old unscented bleach. At the end of the day, it's simply the amount of chlorine ions in the water that does the job.

If you have your heart set on avoiding chlorine compounds, try hydrogen peroxide instead.
 
As for sanitizing after just 4 months, it's purely a choice.  Even with chlorinated water in the tank, bacteria begin growing within several days.  Almost all such bacteria are harmless, but there is still an infinitesimal risk.  Periodic sanitizing resets the system and gives you a fresh start. 


If you are routinely adding/using chlorinated water from a well-maintained source, there is probably nothing extra to do because the system is in a continuous quality state . If the water has been sitting in the tank for months, at least drain and refill with fresh water from a known and adequately chlorinated source.  Re-sanitizing the entire system at that point costs almost nothing except a bit of labor, so why not? It resets the biologic growth clock. But if you don't get around to doing it, I wouldn't lose any sleep either.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Since chlorine (in the form of chlorine dioxide) is still the active biologic ingredient, I see no value in using Purogene vs plain old unscented bleach. At the end of the day, it's simply the amount of chlorine ions in the water that does the job.
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Saying chlorine is the active ingredient in Purgene is like saying table salt contains sodium, so don't use it on food.

Purogene has no free chlorine, like bleach does, so Purogene is less toxic.

Why use Purogene? It's non-toxic, fast, and helps remove biofilm that builds up on holding tank surfaces -- http://3rodorcon.com/3r/purogeneinfo.htm


Gary RV_Wizard said:
If you have your heart set on avoiding chlorine compounds, try hydrogen peroxide instead.
Click to expand...

Um, Gary, never said anything about avoiding bleach. Pretty condescending remark.

BTW, to get the same level of sanitizing as bleach or Purogene, you would need to use highly concentrated solution hydrogen peroxide which is not available over the counter.
 
I?m pretty sure Gary is not being condescending.  Sometimes when others don?t see things from your own perspective it doesn?t set well.

I see your point and might just try some.

Thanks for posting!
 
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