Newish with fresh water tank question

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

oneOFwhat

Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Posts
12
Location
Orange County, NY
I've been in my 2000 Holilday Rambler full time, semi-permanent for a week or two now.  I did intro in the general intro thread.  I am gradually ironing out that steep learning curve, and am beginning to look more closely at day to day maintaining, preparations for winter or "just in case" things, and all the little nuances.  And by the way, I am very much liking the "feel" of being here in the RV.  Nice efficient use of space, cozy and cumfy for me and my cat.  :)

Now for my current question that I've tried the search function to resolve with no avail.  I hope it is in the correct thread.

I've even googled and found that the best way to sanitize/flush the fresh water holding tank is with 1/2 cup of bleach into one gallon water.  Pour into the fresh water tank, finish filling the tank, then run the faucets till i smell the bleach.  But, this seems like a flush for use.  I mean to say, for example, I'd do this just before I decide to uproot from my spot and take a boondocking trip. 

What I want to do is flush it out and fill it up not for immediate use, but for emergency use.  If I'd like to keep it full as a potable emergency source of water would I do anything different from the above?  If not, how often should I flush out the tank?
 
The typical formula is 1/4 cup of bleach for every 15 gallons of water in your tank. Once you run it to all your faucets, add another 1/4 cup of bleach and fill the tank again to the top. Don't forget to also fill you water heater tank. I usually let it sit for a few hours then dump it all.  You then can fill your tank with fresh water.

You need to leave the bleach formula in the system for a while to make sure it kills all the bacteria growing in there. One other thing you should do is drain as much water as you can from your system before you do the bleach thing. This way the bleach mixture won't be thinned out or diluted by the water already in your piping. Also drain your water heater before you start.
 
As for keeping water on hand for emergency use, no special prep is needed if the water source is chlorinated already (most city and campground water supplies are). Just fill the tank and it will be fine for several months.

If the water source is not already chlorinated, the CDC recommends adding 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of regular, unscented, liquid household bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite) for each gallon of water, mix it well, and let it stand for 30 minutes before using.
 
Try tightening the leaking fitting. If that doesn't work, disconnect the fitting. It may be just a cone shaped rubber washer needs replacing.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
131,752
Posts
1,384,330
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom