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Old 09-11-2018, 07:29 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by gbaglo View Post
I've never sanitized my water lines.
The municipal water supply is chlorinated as it comes out of the tap.
I do screw the male end of my water hose into the female end for storage. Keeps insects, mold and debris out of it.
You would be surprised/disappointed with what is in city water. City water, particularly if it comes from a reservoir is full of bacteria. I was in the chemical business and we constantly had to fight bacteria that came in with our city water.
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Old 09-11-2018, 07:31 PM   #22
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I have absolute confidence in Vancouver's water supply.
Sounds like you're in for an excess of water. Take care.
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Old 09-11-2018, 07:44 PM   #23
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Most municipal water supplies are treated and tested daily, unless you live in flint, Mi.......
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Old 09-11-2018, 08:51 PM   #24
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Testing water

In municipal swimming pools in Iowa the water is tested for a chlorination level every 2 hours and there are other tests also. We had 6 certified pool operators on staff and rarely had any problems. Our city water was from shallow wells and produced at two treatment plants. Those operators and chemists were extremely conscientious. There was zero tolerance for E. coli in municipal pools. That’s a lot cleaner than most homeowner pools, cleaner than every lake in the state and cleaner than our streams and rivers. There are exceptions like Flint but I think in most cases you’ll find city operations to be very safe and done with the health of the citizen being the paramount goal.
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Old 09-11-2018, 11:36 PM   #25
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How do mold spores get into the hose with the ends joined?
The mold spores are in the air in the hose. I drain my hose and leave the ends open so it can hopefully dry out. This is the one I fill my tank with before I leave home and this hose stays home. I keep another in the trailer but am rarely somewhere with a water hookup.

I fill water bottles from my tap to take for drinking. A couple larger ones go in the fridge and a gallon jug in the closet. I love the taste of our tap water and hate the taste of purchased bottled water! I sanitize once a year and use the trailer almost every month.
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Old 09-11-2018, 11:45 PM   #26
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You are probably right.


The Weizmann scientists redid the estimate and found that there were about 39 trillion bacterial cells in the body. They also estimated the number of human cells in the body, about 84% of which are red blood cells, finding there to be about 30 trillion human cells in the body.
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Old 09-12-2018, 12:03 AM   #27
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Ha, the manual really does read, “discourage harmful bacterial or viral growth.” Viruses require living host cells to replicate so no worries that they will grow in a dirty hose. They’re not even truly living organisms themselves.
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Old 09-12-2018, 06:35 AM   #28
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You all are making me nervous! We don't sanitize more than once a year, if that. I drain everything at the end of the year, including the water heater, and pump all the lines full of antifreeze. We seldom drink onboard water, however. We do bathe and brush teeth with it. We drink campground water if hooked up; otherwise we drink from a two gallon water jug we keep inside the camper, filled when we have access to good water or with bottled water. I don't know what to think about what may be trapped in the hose and charcoal filter when not in use. It would take a long time to dry all the way through without pumping air through it. I connect the ends together so we don't get dirt inside. I always flush our hose when we connect to a new water source. I guess I should be doing some sort of regular bleach routine as well, but we've been doing this for a long time with no problems.
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Old 09-12-2018, 06:56 AM   #29
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Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
Most municipal water supplies are treated and tested daily, unless you live in flint, Mi.......
While true they focus their tests on harmful bacteria only. There still is plenty of bacteria in city water. Google bacteria in city water sometime.
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Old 09-19-2018, 01:44 AM   #30
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Alternative to Bleach

Here is link on traditional RV tank sanitizing method and method using Chlorinating Concentrate (Sodium Dichlor) used in pools and hot tubs.


How to Sanitize Your RV Fresh Water System
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Old 09-19-2018, 09:33 AM   #31
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Originally Posted by Kent View Post
Here is link on traditional RV tank sanitizing method and method using Chlorinating Concentrate (Sodium Dichlor) used in pools and hot tubs.


How to Sanitize Your RV Fresh Water System
Good article Kent. I may try that.
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Old 09-19-2018, 10:57 AM   #32
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For some trips we know that we will only be using city water hookups - never the fresh water tank and pump. Anyone have any thoughts about the necessity of sanitizing the fresh tank in such cases?

As I understand it, when hooked up to city water there is a check valve that keeps the city water from going into the fresh tank and out of the pump, and the water that shows up at the plumbing fixtures (faucets, showers, toilet) is exclusively from the city supply, not the fresh tank.

I don't particularly like going through the 'add bleach and flush the system, add bleach and flush the system again' routine, especially having done it more than once outside in the rain in Seattle. I typically store the trailer between trips with essentially a virtually empty fresh tank, and am hoping that for 'city water only' trips we can forgo the bleach sanitation drill.

Proposed procedure:

1 - Pump (or drain) old water out of the fresh tank and the water heater tank

2 - Get hooked up to the trip's first city water hook-up

3 - Open all cold faucets and expel the old water remaining in the cold plumbing lines (using city water pressure, not the pump)

4 - Open all hot faucets (2 sinks and outside shower) till water heater tank is filled up with new city water and the old water is expelled from the hot water lines (using city water pressure, not the pump)

One potential problem with this would be that there would be some old diluted gungy water left in the water heater tank. Maybe only use hot water for showers and washing - not for consumption? I recall that it's a numbers game when filtering water while backpacking - there will always be bad stuff in the water, it's just a matter of keeping the numbers low enough so your body can deal with it ok.

Would it be ok to have a few gallons in the fresh tank for use while in transit, but then flush the system as described above when re-hooking up to city water at the next camping location?

Any ideas / opinions about this would be appreciated.
I would not worry about doing a full sanitization each time you use your camper(once a year is plenty)...instead I would add a capful of regular household bleach into the tank, fill the tank and run the water at each tap for a little bit to get the chlorine out to all the lines while you unpack from your last trip. This is what many municipal systems I deal with do and it should take care of anything that might otherwise have a chance to grow in your tanks and you can drink the water. If you do a full sanitization not only should you not drink that water but you also need to be careful where it goes as that much chlorine is not good for the environment either.


Regarding town or campground water in your city inlet....if things are working properly (your tank is not overfilling) city water does not mix with tank water. If you flush out the lines for a minute or so you should be all set. I personally would not drink out of a hot water tap anywhere (hot water can dissolve all sorts of weird metals etc) so I would not worry about that. If you do worry just drain the hot water before you go and let the city water refill it before you crank up the heat.
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Old 09-19-2018, 12:45 PM   #33
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No one can be harmed by frequent sanitation with proper flushing. The entire system is a culture medium. I sanitize at least once a month or before any trip if it has been in storage. The task is a burden but a lot cheaper than a stay in an ICU. The chlorine from city water (and that added to tank) eventually will evaporate. Also, the dose (concentration) for santitizing the tank is much higher than the dose in city water or simple treatment of drinking water. The kill rate of any bacterial or fungal treatment is a function of: concentration, volume, length of exposure and temperature. As soon as the treatment is ended, residual colonies of bacteria and mold re-emerge. You never eliminate 100%, at best, you get rid of 99.99%. There is always a residual colony
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Old 09-19-2018, 01:08 PM   #34
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We have had our trailer since 2016 and I wish I could say I sanitized our trailer, but I still have that on my bucket list. We usually hook up to city water and rarely use the fresh water tank. We use the RV Antifreeze method of winterizing. I grew up drinking, bathing, and brushing my teeth from a well that was four feet deep that at times I am afraid to say had dead worms in the bottom. I guess if a person can survive that, well a little bacteria can’t do too much harm. Oh, by the way we don’t drink the water using the trailer but we do brush our teeth with it. Maybe next year. I did wax the exterior though this year.
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Old 09-19-2018, 02:16 PM   #35
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No one can be harmed by frequent sanitation with proper flushing. The entire system is a culture medium. I sanitize at least once a month or before any trip if it has been in storage. The task is a burden but a lot cheaper than a stay in an ICU. The chlorine from city water (and that added to tank) eventually will evaporate. Also, the dose (concentration) for santitizing the tank is much higher than the dose in city water or simple treatment of drinking water. The kill rate of any bacterial or fungal treatment is a function of: concentration, volume, length of exposure and temperature. As soon as the treatment is ended, residual colonies of bacteria and mold re-emerge. You never eliminate 100%, at best, you get rid of 99.99%. There is always a residual colony
I assume you go away on vacation in your camper for a week or two? Do you sanitize your home water system when you return? Relax...I have 25 years as a licensed public water supply operator....you are going overboard!
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