A great water pump for boondocking

Wasillaguy said:
Yep. It's sold in dropper size for the backwoods hiker crowd to sanitize their canteens. Woild cost a fortune to sanitize a whole tank.
They make tablets but still spendy compared to Clorox. They put other things like fragrances and stabilizers in bleach though.
Click to expand...
So what would be the best way to treat an RV tank with creek water, IYO?

-Don- Kingston Camp, NV
 
Wasillaguy said:
I think I'd go with these and try to keep it to only as much as I absolutely needed. It's one tablet per quart, so this 30 pack would get you 7.5 gallons.
Click to expand...
Two packages would be for :

60 quarts or 15 gallons.

Each bucket is five gallons.

I normally need four buckets per refill.

IOW, $37.98 each time I refill the fresh water tank from the creek.

Bleach should be fine, IMO, even with the fragrances and stabilizers as I will not be drinking it.

-Don- Kingston Camp, NV
 
Wasillaguy said:
That's understandable. We all have to prioritize how we spend our limited $.
Clean water isn't as fun as expensive toys.
Click to expand...
Well, that depends. But I feel it's unnecessary, at least in most cases to need to pay that much to fill a fresh water tank.

The bleach is a much more reasonable idea, IMO, and I will carry some in each of my motorhomes from now on. If I drank the water from an RV it would be different but I never have and I doubt if I ever will.

Right now I am at a grocery store parking lot, the Raley's in Tonopah, NV. I will soon have my bleach and other thigs I need.

-Don- Tonopah, NV
 
I'm kinda like DonTom. I grew up drinking well water from the MO. river sand flats. I have drank spring water from all over the USA. Don't know a hose that I haven't drank from. Kiss the wife on the mouth. Drink from the RV fresh water tank. Fill the water tank from any site that says "FRESH WATER". So far my health has remained good for the past 83 years. Don't think I'll start being paranoid about water now.

Richard
 
Professor David said:
(1/8 teaspoon per gallon.
Click to expand...

Or a little more than a half teaspoon per bucket, or around 0.1oz, per bucket/ IYO, would a full teaspoon cause some problem?

I do see warnings not to get it in eyes or even on your skin

The way I see it, it is easy and cheap enough to do what you suggest and I do not see how it can hurt.

The bleach I just bought today, two Clorox 2.4L bottles (the other I will keep in my other motorhome). This stuff says on the bottle:

"disinfecting Bleach--kills strep; e.coli; salmonella & flu virus.

"Active ingredient: Sodium Hypoclorite: 7.5%

Other Ingredients: 92.5%

(Yields 7.1% available chlorine

CONTAINS NO PHOSPHORUS"
Above is from the bottle label:
AI says:


"The full ingredients list for Clorox Disinfecting Bleach (Regular) is as follows:
  • Water
  • Sodium Hypochlorite (Active Ingredient: 7.5%)
  • Sodium Chloride (Salt)
  • Sodium Chlorate
  • Poly(Diallyldimethylammonium Chloride)
  • Sodium Hydroxide
  • Polyacrylic Acid, Sodium Bisulfite Terminated
  • Sodium Carbonate
The product yields 7.1% available chlorine. Other ingredients, such as sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate, serve to stabilize the solution and maintain performance.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.


Any comments on this "Clorox Disinfecting Bleach"?

-Don- Tonopah, NV
 
Last edited:
DonTom said:
Or a little more than a half teaspoon per bucket, or around 0.1oz, per bucket/ IYO, would a full teaspoon cause some problem?

I do see warnings not to get it in eyes or even on your skin

The way I see it, it is easy and cheap enough to do what you suggest and I do not see how it can hurt.

The bleach I just bought today, two Clorox 2.4L bottles (the other I will keep in my other motorhome). This stuff says on the bottle:

"disinfecting Bleach--kills strep; e.coli; salmonella & flu virus.

"Active ingredient: Sodium Hypoclorite: 7.5%

Other Ingredients: 92.5%

(Yields 7.1% available chlorine

CONTAINS NO PHOSPHORUS"
Above is from the bottle label:
AI says:


"The full ingredients list for Clorox Disinfecting Bleach (Regular) is as follows:
  • Water
  • Sodium Hypochlorite (Active Ingredient: 7.5%)
  • Sodium Chloride (Salt)
  • Sodium Chlorate
  • Poly(Diallyldimethylammonium Chloride)
  • Sodium Hydroxide
  • Polyacrylic Acid, Sodium Bisulfite Terminated
  • Sodium Carbonate
The product yields 7.1% available chlorine. Other ingredients, such as sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate, serve to stabilize the solution and maintain performance.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.


Any comments on this "Clorox Disinfecting Bleach"?

-Don- Tonopah, NV
Click to expand...
The stuff you bought seems good.
Use plain, regular, unscented liquid household bleach with:
5%–9% sodium hypochlorite
No additives
Make sure to use your filter first to rid bigger stuff like Girardia and then add the bleach for at least 30 mins or more.
 
Professor David said:
Make sure to use your filter first to rid bigger stuff like Girardia and then add the bleach for at least 30 mins or more.
Click to expand...
The only filter I own that is good for 20 gallons (four buckets) is the one in this RV which means the bleach is first and then the filter.

I have heard giardia is 25 microns in size, but AI says:

"Giardia cysts typically measure 8 to 14 µm in length and 7 to 10 µm in width."

That makes RV filters kinda useless if they only filter down to 20 microns.

-Don- Tonopah, NV
 
DonTom said:
The only filter I own that is good for 20 gallons (four buckets) is the one in this RV which means the bleach is first and then the filter.

I have heard giardia is 25 microns in size, but AI says:

"Giardia cysts typically measure 8 to 14 µm in length and 7 to 10 µm in width."

That makes RV filters kinda useless if they only filter down to 20 microns.

-Don- Tonopah, NV
Click to expand...
Can you use the camco filter you mentioned above to pump the creek water into the tank...and then add the bleach into the tank? The bleach will kill bacteria and virus but doesn't always kill parasites like Giadia or Cryptosporidium.

There are several reasons to filter first and then treat with bleach: 1) dirt and sediment can "shield" the bacteria/virus, 2) organic material will attached the bleach so you will need to add much more bleach, 3) Bleach will clean your RV tank (the filter will remove bleach)...plus other reasons. Using that low amount of bleach shouldn't hurt your skin but keep an eye on your skin...it may dry out your skin. Shouldn't be a problem since that concentration is lower than a typical swimming pool.
 
Professor David said:
Can you use the camco filter you mentioned above to pump the creek water into the tank...and then add the bleach into the tank?
Click to expand...
I found the perfect answer. This inline hose filter can be screwed on to my water pump and filters down to 5 microns.

The HFT pump should have more than enough power for this filter. It will be installed before the water pump.

From there, I can add the 0.625 teaspoon of Clorox into the bucket and mix it in well.

So it will be inline 5 micron filter to HFT water pump to 20 micron filter in RV.

How does that sound to you?

While it is probably overly cautious, it shouldn't hurt any thing to do this with creek water from now on.


-Don- Tonopah, NV
 
Last edited:
DonTom said:
I found the perfect answer. This inline hose filter can be screwed on to my water pump and filters down to 5 microns.

The HFT pump should have more than enough power for this filter. It will be installed before the water pump.

From there, I can add the 0.625 teaspoon of Clorox into the bucket and mix it in well.

So it will be inline 5 micron filter to HFT water pump to 20 micron filter in RV.

How does that sound to you?

While it is probably overly cautious, it shouldn't hurt any thing to do this with creek water from now on.


-Don- Tonopah, NV
Click to expand...
That sounds good. It takes more and more pressure the smaller the filter size as u probably know.
 
Professor David said:
That sounds good. It takes more and more pressure the smaller the filter size as u probably know.
Click to expand...
Yes, but the HFT pump has a lot of power and is 325 GPH. That is 65 of my five-gallon buckets per hour. But home water us usually around 500 GPH at max. from a yard faucet. But often as low as 350 GPH. So I expect it to slow down, but not by all that much. I probably will not notice any difference.

Anyway, after I have all the stuff, I will do a test and report back here how well it works and if I notice any slowdown.

-Don- Tonopah, NV
 
40 years ago I drank from streams when tent camping, I'm sure the water was a lot cleaner back then.. ( only deer and bear urine.. LOL ) now I would not contemplate such a thing. we do have one of These
for emergency use if back-packing and we run low. not cheap to buy, but a lot less than a medical bill if you ingest some of those nasty critters.. LOL
 
Primerump said:
40 years ago I drank from streams when tent camping, I'm sure the water was a lot cleaner back then.. ( only deer and bear urine.. LOL ) now I would not contemplate such a thing. we do have one of These
for emergency use if back-packing and we run low. not cheap to buy, but a lot less than a medical bill if you ingest some of those nasty critters.. LOL
Click to expand...
How come the specs do not mention how many microns if filters down to?

High price with no real info., IMO.

-Don- Tonopah, NV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

AL
Major water issue
BillyThib
BillyThib

New posts

Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom