I like to have some water in the fresh water tank when I am leaving for a trip, enough to flush the toilet if I need, or to wash my hands in the sink, etc. But where I can park my travel trailer leaves it about 125 feet from the nearest spigot on my home. I have a white hose for drinking water that I use at campgrounds, but to put water in the fresh water tank I have been using my regular long garden hose to cover that long distance. Am I really taking a health risk by doing this, or is it really worth me buying 125 feet of drinking water hose to have in my garage just for when I want to add water to the tank?
Am I really taking a risk using a garden hose to fill my fresh water tank?
- Thread starter vito55
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Greg Barker
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That's what I do. But I only drink bottled water when rving. I don't trust water from anywhere. Do you have a filter before the faucet in your rig?
Rene T
Site Team
I am nearly 3/4 of a century old. As a kid, we use to drink out of that hose all the time. I still do when I'm watering flowers around the house and I need a drink to cool off. I use it all the time to either fill my tank or when I pressurize the rig before heading to FL in the fall. If I was you, I would just run some water through it to make sure there aren't any bugs in there and then go for it. Save your money and do exactly what you've been doing. It hasn't killed you yet and has it made you sick yet?
I am not to be held liable if you do drink from it and get sick though.
I am not to be held liable if you do drink from it and get sick though.
vinceherman
Well-known member
Let the water run to flush out the water that has been in the hose for a month. That is the water that has picked up more of the chemicals from the plastic/rubber of the hose.
Then hook it up and fill your tank.
Having said that, I, like many others on this forum and this thread, use bottled water for drinking and cooking, and tank water for everything else.
Then hook it up and fill your tank.
Having said that, I, like many others on this forum and this thread, use bottled water for drinking and cooking, and tank water for everything else.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
These days few hoses have the carcinogens and other nasty chemicals that used to be rampant in vinyl hoses (especially the cheap ones). I would not be concerned at all about the chemical aspect, at least as an occasional use thing. I would still have a "potable water' rated hose for day-to-day use.
Whether your garden hose has any more microbes than your potable hose is an entirely different question. Most of us tend to think the garden hose, lying about on the ground, is inherently "dirty", but whether there is any material difference vs the potable hose you keep tucked away in the RV is debatable. Fact and perception don't have a lot of overlap when it comes to sanitary reality.
Whether your garden hose has any more microbes than your potable hose is an entirely different question. Most of us tend to think the garden hose, lying about on the ground, is inherently "dirty", but whether there is any material difference vs the potable hose you keep tucked away in the RV is debatable. Fact and perception don't have a lot of overlap when it comes to sanitary reality.
JDOnTheGo
Well-known member
I use garden hose when beyond the length of my 25' white hose. I let it run for a few minutes first - just like I do with my white hose. I filter everything going into my fresh tank and I use it for everything - including drinking, coffee, ice cubes, and brushing my teeth. I'm a sick "dude" so probably why it does not affect me. Sometimes I think we've gotten a bit crazy.... different subject - sorry.
Molaker
Well-known member
I'm with the less hysterical crowd in that I fill my tank at home with my garden hose. I do let it run for a bit to flush out the stale (and hot) water in it that may have absorbed some (eek!) bad stuff. We also drink bottled water much of the time on a trip. We seldom connect to "city" water and just use off our tank, refilling from "city" water through the gravity fill port as necessary. But, we are travelers and not campers, so we seldom stay at a campsite more than 1 or 2 nights.
Gizmo
Well-known member
Before I bought a dedicated drinking "correct" 50' hose to use for home fill and as an extra for those times when the 25' was not sufficient, I also used our standard garden hose (filtered). Take the precautions mentioned above and filter it.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
I have filters both before and after the faucet in the RV
Growing up, as I did, on a farm one of my jobs was working the loft when we made hay. This means I'm up in the rafters of the barn (Strange place for someone with acrophobia) and stacking 80 pound bales of hay and/or throwing them up OVER MY HEAD to my partner who is stacking them.. Temps way over 100 Degrees. No air circulation to mention.. And once the wagon is empty we come on down and find the garden hose. Let it run till it's good and cool and drink a couple of gallons eacy cause we SWEAT up in that loft.. That was my job for many many many summers.. Never had a problem with the hose chemicals.
But the key thing here is we let it run till cold first We made sure any water SITTING in the hose was well purged before we drank..
And then Mother pulled in with anothe rload of hay and it was back to the loft while Brother got to stay on the wagon, Out in the breeze, and sent the bales up the elevator.
Growing up, as I did, on a farm one of my jobs was working the loft when we made hay. This means I'm up in the rafters of the barn (Strange place for someone with acrophobia) and stacking 80 pound bales of hay and/or throwing them up OVER MY HEAD to my partner who is stacking them.. Temps way over 100 Degrees. No air circulation to mention.. And once the wagon is empty we come on down and find the garden hose. Let it run till it's good and cool and drink a couple of gallons eacy cause we SWEAT up in that loft.. That was my job for many many many summers.. Never had a problem with the hose chemicals.
But the key thing here is we let it run till cold first We made sure any water SITTING in the hose was well purged before we drank..
And then Mother pulled in with anothe rload of hay and it was back to the loft while Brother got to stay on the wagon, Out in the breeze, and sent the bales up the elevator.
Thanks for the advice and comments. I have a filter that I set up when using city water at a campground, but I hadn't thought to use it when filling the fresh water tank. I think I will do so the next fill up. Because my wife is a water connosieur, we only use bottled water anyway for drinking or coffee anyway, so I guess even if there is less than 100% purity in the hose water I should be OK.
SargeW
Site Team
vito55 said:
Mine too. but instead of bottles to buy and carry, we use a water purifying pitcher from a company named "Zero Water". It works similar to a Brita pitcher, just way more efficient. She fills the pitcher from the water from the sink, and puts it in the refer to cool. The water coming out of the pitcher has removed all dissolved solids commonly found in hard water sources.
Hoses are cheap, in the grand scheme of things. If it bothers you enough to post, why not spend the few bucks it takes to be sure?
That being said, I fill on occasion from a plain old hose, but then we only drink bottled water in the RV and picky about the ones we will drink.
That being said, I fill on occasion from a plain old hose, but then we only drink bottled water in the RV and picky about the ones we will drink.
I don't see a problem unless it is hooked to the inlet immediately after being used to back flush the tanks and rinse the slinky. ;D Seriously IMHO it is much ado about nothing. Like many of you I drank a lot of water from a garden hose without ill effects. I did buy a white hose (after driving over the end of the old one) to keep DW happy though.
BigSkyTrailerGuy
Well-known member
Come on, our bodies are designed to ingest a few microbes; it keeps our immune system up and running.
That said, I'd avoid a hose that's been laying on the grass near some dog squeeze! And I'd certainly run from any hose near an RV dump hole!
That said, I'd avoid a hose that's been laying on the grass near some dog squeeze! And I'd certainly run from any hose near an RV dump hole!
1PlasticMan1
Well-known member
As another 3/4 of a century + hose drinker, I agree with all your comments. Every now and then, I will hold the white hose up about five feet and put bleach in it. With an 80 gallon tank, we can barely taste it. Especially compared to Philadelphia chlorenated water. We also use bottled water most of the time, but with the automatic ice maker, we are still using our on board or city water. Can't get around that. I also have a filter when using campground water before the hose. Will not use water next to dump stations even if there is a sign saying it is potable. Have seen too many people connect their black tank hose to the drinkable water spigot.
sadixon49
Well-known member
Remember, everything in life has risks. It is far, Far, FAR, more dangerous to get in your RV and motor off down the highway, than it will ever be, to drink water from a garden hose.
grashley
Well-known member
sadixon49 said:
Very well stated!
Prior member
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I grew up drinking out of a green garden hose.
I am now 80 years old. In perfect health and on no medications.
Need I say more ?
Jack L
I am now 80 years old. In perfect health and on no medications.
Need I say more ?
Jack L
RLSharp
Well-known member
JackL said:
I also grew up drinking out of a green garden hose.
I am a few weeks shy of 81 years old. I have peripheral neuropathy, heart problems (A-fib, PVC's, PAC's) and metastatic prostate cancer which has spread to nine locations in my bones.
Need I say more?
I guess antidotal stories do not count for much.
R
