Drinking from the freshwater tank--or city water for that matter.

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OnSabbatical

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Is there any problem with drinking from the freshwater tank? One RV place I was at said not to, I forget exactly why, but they also said they generally didn't drink from city water either. My wife is concerned about drinking from it because water in in may have been standing too long, since we mostly use city water.

How long is too long to let water stand in the fresh tank, if it's ever okay to drink?
 
I drain my tank after every trip, and refill it with "fresh" water before, I drink it, make coffee with it, and cook with it.

Now on the other hand if I didn't drain it and kept it full and just topped it off after every trip I would not drink it.

 
You will probably received both pro and con answers and all are very legitimate.  In my case, having a rather sensitive digestive system and only one kidney, I preferred to drink the same brand of bottled water when we were traveling mainly for its consistency.  Just one case of Montezuma's Revenge made me very cautious.
 
We've been drinking from our RV water tanks for many years without any issues. We do filter the water going in, and again at the kitchen faucet, mostly if the water is heavily chlorinated. Our feeling has always been that we'd just as soon drink from the big plastic bottle in our RV that we already own, rather than pay for the little plastic bottles at the store that contain water from some of the same or similar sources. We use our onboard water enough to turn it over about weekly, but if we do hit a long stretch without using it, we drain and refill the tank as needed.
 
I am with Margi. I only drink bottled water. I drink the lemon/orange/grape flavored water that is sold at Walmart. Delicious and it doesn't upset my stomach. I have gotten quite ill from tap water.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nestle-Pure-Life-Splash-Lemon-Water-16.9-fl-oz-6-count/19276141
 
Bottled for me....but it's a taste thing.  I don't drink the tap water at home either.  If you sanitize your RV's water system correctly, you can drink from the tank with no issues.  Use a drinking water specific hose to fill it, and when you have it hooked to city water.

All that said, we drank from the garden hose when we were kids.  Still breathing 40 + years later.  I don't ever recall getting sick from it.
 
I drink from my tap water at home and in the RV. My wife doesn't drink from the RV nor from the city water at home. I drain and refill my tank after every trip so I have adequate water in case of an emergency such as a hurricane approaching or a water main break. Just lost water pressure Sunday morning and had to take my shower in the RV. The RV is parked right beside my home so it is always ready.
 
We've used our RV to live in last summer when the house A/C quit and it was 105 degrees in the house.  Nice to have a spare house when things go wrong! 
 
We use for drinking water in the rv, just like at home, a 4 gallon water cooling unit that we refill with purified water; the water from the rv  tank is used for all other purposes.
 
We use our onboard water supply at need, without reservation. And we always keep some water onboard, in case of need (planned or not). If the water source was safe to drink to begin with, we have no compunction about using it weeks or even a few months later. I do, however, like to refresh the tank every 6-8 weeks if we have not been using it. It tastes better, for one thing. My wife drinks a lot of water and mostly uses bottled because of the consistent taste. She only buys certain brands because of taste differences. But she still uses tap water when convenient, and for cooking, coffee, etc. unless it is really strange tasting (e.g. sulfurous or highly alkaline)

One of the reasons for the dichotomy on this subject is that our digestive systems are highly adaptable. If you regularly drink from different water sources, or water that may be less than 100% pure, your body deals with both the chemical differences and any microbes it may contain. If you don't, your body loses that ability over time and becomes susceptible to differences in the water. Mexicans don't get Montezuma's Revenge - they drink their water every day. For the visiting gringos, the results are often different!
 
Hey my DW is Mexican born and raised and she and her family never drank the water! They drink and cook with (delivered) 5 gallon bottles of filtered water. Her mom still lives in the house DW grew up in--and still gets water delivered. Tap water is used for showers and even brushing teeth. But that is about it.



Mike
 
I am with Gary. I use and drink my water from the tap or tank daily.  I do filter for taste and Minerals.  I have the screw on hose bib  charcoal filter on the hose, the on board canister filter in the water bay, a separate in line filter for the refer/ice maker, and the DW uses a "Zero Water" pitcher that filters out the minerals and microbes.  If it isn't safe to drink after that, I just switch to beer.
 
There is so much variability in water quality that we buy bottled water for drinking 100% of the time.  Even with the filtration system there are volatile compounds that go with through.  Xylene, Toluene, Benzene..... 

Having lived near the IBM/Fairchild water treatment zone we just aren't that trusting of tap water.
 
We (my family) is extremely sensitive to city water so I'm always packing well water from home. I drink, bath and cook with the on-board water. If I'm in a RV park I typically carry two 5 gallon water containers with drinking water from home. So when hooked to city water we will bath with the city water but will not cook or drink it. A case of diarrhea or stomach cramps from chlorine and/or fluoride levels will ruin a RV trip fast. 
 
In more than 40 years of RVing we've never gotten sick from using our fresh water tank.  We ARE careful about the sources we use to fill it, however, AND we have a good filtering system - down to the .5 micron level to eliminate cysts and other bugs like cryptosporidium.  We followed the same rules in Mexico by filling at municipal water plants or other "good" sources and only using campground water for showering and such (never put it in the tank).  I usually have some 2-gallon purified-by-reverse-osmosis water jugs on hand because my beverage of choice is water and I'm picky about taste.  I tend to drink our tank water in the northern USA but change to the R.O. water as we go further south because the taste declines as we move south.  But I still use the filtered tank water for cooking and brushing my teeth.  We sanitize the tank on a regular basis, such as before leaving on a trip and filling it with fresh water.  The point is, you should have a decent filtering system so you don't need to worry about getting sick.  With proper care, you should be able to use your fresh water.  I hate spending money on bottled water when it's not necessary!

ArdraF
 
We flush and refill our van tanks prior to each trip (usually several weeks or more apart).  If your home water is safe enough to drink out of a clean glass it is probably also safe to drink out of a clean tank.  Your city water contains residual chlorination to assure that it stays clean for several days after it leaves the city distribution system.

Nothing magic about bottled water but the price per gallon.  And of course it normally does not have chlorine or fluoride in it I suppose.  City water systems are regulated by the EPA and the FDA regulates (w similar standards as EPA) bottled water that goes over state lines.

 
I drain my tank after each trip.  I fill the tank using a filter before leaving on a trip and then use a Brita pitcher for drinking and cooking (double filtering can't hurt).  Never had a problem and no empty plastic bottles to dispose of (there is enough plastic in land fills and I refuse to add to it).
 
What Gary and Ardra said. I drain about every two months and refill from the park supply while also using it for everything. Tara will occasionally buy bottled water to replace the four bottles of cold water we rotate in the fridge,  but we refill them wih park or tank water.

Ernie

PS We stop at home for about a week once a year and haven't turned the wster on for the last two years.

Ernie
 
I have a filter when I am on city water and filling the tank and have been drinking from it for 5 years with no issues...since I am full time it gets emptied regularly and refilled so no stagnant water - never there long enough.

Jim
 
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