Water System Cleaning - Escape Trailer Owners Community
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×

Go Back   Escape Trailer Owners Community > Escape Tech > Escape Systems | Water, Waste, Charging & Propane
Click Here to Login
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 11-11-2015, 10:12 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
sclifrickson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Port Townsend, Washington
Trailer: 2010 17B “MATT”, then 2017 19 “Lilly”
Posts: 1,584
Water System Cleaning

Hi, all. In going through our new-to-us 17B, it has come to my attention that some preventive maintenance may have been overlooked by the former owners. Of most immediate concern is the fresh water system. Upon receipt of the trailer, the taps discharged suspicious green matter, algae-like in appearance. I sanitized the system with bleach per the ETI instructions - twice; whereupon the suspicious green discharge was replaced by bleached-white algae-like bits. I flushed the system a bunch and think the algae is gone, but there's a second issue: Draining the hot water heater released a surprising quantity of white, solid chunks, ranging in size from sand to a child's finger. I suspect they are calcium deposits? But am still surprised at how much came out. Not sure if they are, in fact, all out, although I filled the water heater and dumped it through the drain hole repeatedly. It's impressive how forcefully it shoots out if you pull the plug on a full tank! Like a mini firehose. The high flow flushed a lot of the ick out.

So questions: How did this happen? What else can I do to clean it? Do I need to worry about permanent damage?

I always try to take good care of my things, and they usually last a long time because of it. It's a bit frustrating to inherit problems that are most likely due to someone else's lack of proper care.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-Scott
__________________
💩-p+☕️+n
sclifrickson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2015, 10:23 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
OneOleMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Seattle, Washington
Trailer: 2015 17B Sold 5/2016
Posts: 343
I'm thinking flushing the tank with this might help.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

More experienced owners will chime in.
__________________
Pat
Life is Good
When "Escaping Reality" Sold 5/2016
2012 4Runner
OneOleMan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2015, 10:58 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
fudge_brownie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Janesville, WI, Wisconsin
Trailer: Escape 19 (sold) Escape 21 2014
Posts: 1,879
Can't speak to the green stuff but you have done just what I would have done in sanitizing. The hot water tank emits that white stuff every year during the flush. Not uncommon. Just make sure your anode rod has an adequate amount of sacrificial material left for the coming season of camping. And be sure to use Teflon tape around the threads when reinserting the rod/plug.
__________________
Paul and Janet Braun
2003 Toyota 4Runner V8 now 2012 Toyota Sequoia V8
Escape 19' 2010 now 2014 Escape 21'
fudge_brownie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2015, 11:26 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Port Angeles, Washington
Trailer: 2014 19'
Posts: 534
Did you find an anode rod like this? Or did it fall apart and leave pieces in the tank?
Attached Thumbnails
31e-a6HnJZL.jpg  
Klem is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2015, 11:38 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Surrey, British Columbia
Trailer: 2013, 17B 'Mini Pearl' and a 2010 Highlander
Posts: 400
If you compare a new anode rod with the one you took out you'll see how much of the anode became those white chunks.
no biggie, we all see the white chunks when we winterize the trailer.
I would and have done the same as you to clean a fresh water tank. And I would just repeat it after a good drive to slosh the bleach around. and then, for awhile just drink and cook with bottled water. Until it really seemed to be clean.
You might want to see if your water pump has a strainer, it has a glass window, to see if it is clean as well.
After that I only put city water into my fresh tank. I think because the city water has already been treated and there is a little something left in the water.
Our community has a well that we test every week and about every month we have to open the valves at the farthest ends of the system to flush stale water out. Or about after two or three months we get bad weekly readings.
__________________
____
John
jxoco is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2015, 11:46 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
escape artist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: St. Thomas not BVI., Ontario
Trailer: 2014 Escape 5.0TA / 2016 Ram Eco Diesel 4X4
Posts: 8,035
Quote:
Originally Posted by sclifrickson View Post
Hi, all. In going through our new-to-us 17B, it has come to my attention that some preventive maintenance may have been overlooked by the former owners. Of most immediate concern is the fresh water system. Upon receipt of the trailer, the taps discharged suspicious green matter, algae-like in appearance. I sanitized the system with bleach per the ETI instructions - twice; whereupon the suspicious green discharge was replaced by bleached-white algae-like bits. I flushed the system a bunch and think the algae is gone, but there's a second issue: Draining the hot water heater released a surprising quantity of white, solid chunks, ranging in size from sand to a child's finger. I suspect they are calcium deposits? But am still surprised at how much came out. Not sure if they are, in fact, all out, although I filled the water heater and dumped it through the drain hole repeatedly. It's impressive how forcefully it shoots out if you pull the plug on a full tank! Like a mini firehose. The high flow flushed a lot of the ick out.

So questions: How did this happen? What else can I do to clean it? Do I need to worry about permanent damage?

I always try to take good care of my things, and they usually last a long time because of it. It's a bit frustrating to inherit problems that are most likely due to someone else's lack of proper care.

Thanks in advance for any help!

-Scott
Hi:sclifrickson... The algae comes from leaving the water hose laying out in the sun while hooked up. This happens to us in Florida each year. Our well water supply at home contains no bleach so we must rely on park water systems for it.
The hard water minerals in the hot water heater do need flushing out regularly. I pull the anode rod/drain plug out slowly to let the pressure off, and then take my garden hose pistol and shoot water in thru the plug hole... then allow the water to flow out and repeat this till no more white crystals come out. It's still hard to get all the hard water deposits out even with repeated flushing. Then I replace the anode rod with a new one from my RV supply Tech. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
__________________
Quote Bugs Bunny..."Don't take life too seriously, none of us get out of it ALIVE"!!!
'16 Ram Eco D. 4X4 Laramie Longhorn CC & '14 Escape 5.0TA
St.Thomas (Not the Virgin Islands) Ontario
escape artist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-11-2015, 11:58 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
Does it really matter that there is some anode material or other minerals in the bottom of the water heater tank?
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:01 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
escape artist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: St. Thomas not BVI., Ontario
Trailer: 2014 Escape 5.0TA / 2016 Ram Eco Diesel 4X4
Posts: 8,035
Quote:
Originally Posted by gbaglo View Post
Does it really matter that there is some anode material or other minerals in the bottom of the water heater tank?
Hi: gbaglo... It's simply "Mind over matter". If you don't mind it doesn't matter!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
__________________
Quote Bugs Bunny..."Don't take life too seriously, none of us get out of it ALIVE"!!!
'16 Ram Eco D. 4X4 Laramie Longhorn CC & '14 Escape 5.0TA
St.Thomas (Not the Virgin Islands) Ontario
escape artist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:07 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
I figure some stuff comes out when I remove the anode to winterize. The rest freezes its atoms off.
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:21 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
sclifrickson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Port Townsend, Washington
Trailer: 2010 17B “MATT”, then 2017 19 “Lilly”
Posts: 1,584
Quote:
Originally Posted by Klem View Post
Did you find an anode rod like this? Or did it fall apart and leave pieces in the tank?

Yes, the current anode rod is intact, I'd estimate it's about 90% of a new one.

Much appreciation to everyone for educating me. I'm relieved to learn that the white chunks are normal! I will check the pump as well to see if it has a screen to clean or not.

Cheers,
Scott
__________________
💩-p+☕️+n
sclifrickson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:24 AM   #11
Senior Member
 
float5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Denison, Texas
Trailer: 2015 21'; 2011 19' sold; 4Runner; ph ninezero3 327-27ninefour
Posts: 5,136
Scott, doubt your sellers were using water with algae or they would have used some bleach. They probably used bleach before and didn't lately knowing they were selling. Trailer might have sat lately, too. No doubt they took deposits out of the hot water tank also. Bleaching the tank is needed periodically so you will have to do it again. At least once a year is probably common.

The anode in the photo above is new. If your anode is pencil thin, good time to replace.

Many of us take gallons of water for drinking so less worry about the water put into the tank or what is in any city water.
__________________
Cathy. Floating Cloud
"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.... "
Emerson
float5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:27 AM   #12
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
Here's my anode after 6/7 years. Original to the trailer.
Attached Thumbnails
Anode after 6 years.jpg  
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:43 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
float5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Denison, Texas
Trailer: 2015 21'; 2011 19' sold; 4Runner; ph ninezero3 327-27ninefour
Posts: 5,136
Kinda looks about due. That'll probably set you back $10.
__________________
Cathy. Floating Cloud
"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.... "
Emerson
float5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:46 AM   #14
Senior Member
 
gbaglo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Trailer: 2009 Escape 17B 2020 Toyota Highlander XLE
Posts: 17,136
Took it to the RV shop and they said it's good.
It has a long way to go.
Pic is from Camping World site. New and old.
Attached Thumbnails
Screen Shot 2015-11-11 at 10.49.51 PM.png  
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
gbaglo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 12:59 AM   #15
Senior Member
 
float5's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Denison, Texas
Trailer: 2015 21'; 2011 19' sold; 4Runner; ph ninezero3 327-27ninefour
Posts: 5,136
I'm not the kind who would wait that long (and have read "pencil thin".) They're cheap. In fact, we mistakenly bought what we think are two wrong anodes, wrong one sent to us. Just waiting for a swap meet with people with the other water heater.
__________________
Cathy. Floating Cloud
"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.... "
Emerson
float5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 06:23 AM   #16
Senior Member
 
C&G in FL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Tampa Bay Area, Florida
Trailer: 2015 Escape 5.0TA (Little Elsie) Extensively Personalized
Posts: 2,960
Quote:
Originally Posted by jxoco View Post
I only put city water into my fresh tank. I think because the city water has already been treated and there is a little something left in the water.
Our community has a well that we test every week and about every month we have to open the valves at the farthest ends of the system to flush stale water out. Or about after two or three months we get bad weekly readings.
It should be noted that public water supply systems (municipalities or privately operated systems) are regulated and typically use chlorine or chloramine in small concentrations to sanitize water. Both dissipate readily when exposed to open air (even faster when boiled), such as open space in the water tank, and even when sitting in low flowing water mains, especially dead-ended mains. Ideally, water mains are looped to prevent "stale water" problems. Even so, most municipalities periodically flush mains to retain chlorine residuals. When you see a utility worker standing beside a fire hydrant which is flowing water, that is what he/she is doing. As such, using "city water" rather than well water is not going to make a huge difference in inhibiting algal growth in the fresh water holding tank.
__________________
What a long strange trip it’s been!
C&G in FL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 06:32 AM   #17
Senior Member
 
Jim Bennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Trailer: 2017 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 15,532
Quote:
Originally Posted by gbaglo View Post
Here's my anode after 6/7 years. Original to the trailer.
You must have good water there. That anode looks to have lots of wear left. Sure it is cheap to replace, but there is really no reason to do so. I like to save where I can, so I can spend on important (to me) things.

I replaced the one in the 19 after 5 years. I think not only does it have to do with the good water, but possibly how much flows through the tank activating it.
__________________
2017 Escape 5.0 TA
2015 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5L EcoBoost
2009 Escape 19 (previous)
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
Jim Bennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 07:50 AM   #18
Senior Member
 
Iowa Dave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Benton County, Iowa
Trailer: 2013 Escape 21 Classic Number 6, pulled by 2018 Toyota Highlander
Posts: 8,234
We replaced our anode a couple years ago. When I removed it last week it looked about like the picture baglo posted. We flush the tank well in the fall and leave the anode out for the winter. In the spring, scale that had been stuck to the tank wall will be loose because it had dried out, and another flushing will get most of it. From a health standpoint it might not be that big a deal however my concern is that it could plug the aerator or pump screen. Haven't had that problem, going to keep doing what I do. Always use new Teflon tape, wrapped in the right direction.
Dave
Iowa Dave is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 07:56 AM   #19
Senior Member
 
Jim Bennett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Trailer: 2017 Escape 5.0 TA
Posts: 15,532
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa Dave View Post
. Always use new Teflon tape, wrapped in the right direction.
I wrap in the left direction, opposite to the direction the plug turns in.
__________________
2017 Escape 5.0 TA
2015 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5L EcoBoost
2009 Escape 19 (previous)
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln
Jim Bennett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2015, 08:06 AM   #20
Senior Member
 
Iowa Dave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Benton County, Iowa
Trailer: 2013 Escape 21 Classic Number 6, pulled by 2018 Toyota Highlander
Posts: 8,234
I didn't know how to say that, I just know that it should " want" to feed in, not get all wadded up and peel back. Not that left, your other left. Went to school with a boy named Roy Wright. For presentations in shop class the teacher always introduced him as. " here's the man who is never wrong, he's always right, Mr. Roy Wright"
Dave
Iowa Dave is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off




» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Escape Trailer Industries or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:22 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright 2023 Social Knowledge, LLC All Rights Reserved.