This article covers some steps we can take to
ensure our RV water system is safe to use. There
are no guarantees that any water is completely
safe for us to drink, but if we take certain
precautions we can keep our RV water system safe
to use. So where do we start? Let’s take a look.
The water system in your RV provides the water
that you drink from and the water you use to
wash dishes and take showers with. We cannot
assume that it will stay safe and fresh like the
water system in our home. Contaminated water is
extremely dangerous. We not only have to deal
with a water system that hasn’t been used for
sometime, but when we travel in the RV we hook
our water system up to a different water source
every time we stop to spend the night some
where. We hook up to city water, well water, and
eventually contaminated water. You’ve probably
heard people say don’t drink the water if you go
to Mexico. Well that can be true anywhere. We
stopped at a campground one night just to get a
few hours of sleep and I didn’t bother to use
the water filter. The water coming out of the
faucet was cloudy and had small particles
suspended in it.
Possibly the most important step you can take
is to keep the fresh water system sanitized. At
a minimum you should sanitize the system every
spring when you take the RV out of storage and
any time you notice stale water or an odor. It’s
really quite simple to do.
You can start by draining the water heater.
Go to the outside compartment where the water
heater is located. The drain plug, or
pet*censored* is located in the bottom left hand
corner. Remove the plug and open the pressure
relief valve on top of the water heater to
assist in draining. CAUTION: NEVER drain the
water heater when it’s hot or under pressure.
Next you need to locate the low point water
line drains. It may take a while to find them,
but I assure you they are there. There will be
one for the hot and one for the cold water
lines. This is the lowest point in the water
system. Open these and let the water drain out.
Now, find the drain for the fresh water
holding tank and drain all of the water from it.
At this point you can turn the water pump on for
a moment to force any remaining water out. Do
not let the pump continue to run once the water
stops draining. Close all of the drains. What we
have accomplished so far was to evacuate the
majority of water from the system.
Now take a quarter cup of house hold bleach
for every fifteen gallons of water that your
fresh water tank holds. Mix the bleach, with
water, into a one-gallon container and pour it
into the fresh water holding tank.
Fill the fresh water tank almost completely
full of water. Turn the water pump on, open all
hot and cold faucets and run the water until you
smell the bleach at each faucet. Close the
faucets. If it’s possible drive the RV or pull
the trailer so the water can move around to
assist in cleaning the entire tank. Let it sit
for at least 12 hours. Drain the entire system
again and re-fill the fresh water tank with
potable water.
Open all of the faucets and run the water
until you no longer smell any bleach. It may be
necessary to repeat this process again to
eliminate all signs of bleach from the water
system. Once this is done it is safe to use your
water system.
If you follow these simple steps you can rest
assured that the fresh water system in your RV
truly is fresh.
Happy Camping,
Mark J. Polk
Copyright 2007 by Mark J. Polk owner
rveducation101.com
