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Old 02-11-2021, 06:31 PM   #1
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Do you drink the water?

Hey Hi!

Got our next trip next month and I am thinking of flushing the tanks and filling up with fresh water. We are going to Utah and hiking some of the slot canyons in the San Rafael Swell. That area has some of the best slots.

I really want water out there and the temps are 60°/30° so it should be okay. Not sure about when I get home.

1.When do you guys (non-gender specific) flush and fill? What are the triggers? Temperatures? Need? Convenience? Partner? Cleanliness?

2. Once you do, do you drink the water in the system?

Thanks.
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Old 02-11-2021, 07:01 PM   #2
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I haven’t sanitized my fresh water tank for 4 years. Typically, the plumbing in my trailer is used for toilet flushing. However, when connected to city water, I will flush the lines with it and let it sit overnight as the chlorine in treated water will sanitize the pipes. I might then use it for brushing teeth. But ALL my drinking water, ice-making, and coffee making water comes out of plastic bottles, typically those labeled Nestle. So no, I do not drink trailer water. To me, water from different locations tastes different and I prefer consistent taste. If boondocking and use of the fresh water tank is necessitated, water is used ONLY for toilet flushing and showering (with mouth closed).
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Old 02-11-2021, 07:28 PM   #3
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I’m the opposite. I sanitize once a year after dewinterizing and then all my water comes from my tanks as I travel.
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Old 02-11-2021, 08:06 PM   #4
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I sanitize my tanks when I feel the need. I will drink the water from the faucet when connected to city water and if I have recently sanitized. (see step #1). This is pretty infrequent because I am not often on city water, and if so, am reluctant to drink it unless I sanitized that day. Since my need for drinking water seems to be from areas with terrible tasting water (ie. Florida and N. Wisconsin) the water usually goes through a Brita water pitcher. Coffee made from water at the two mentioned locations is awful, a Brita is essential. I realize the Brita only changes the taste, not the safety.

Most of my drinking water comes from three gallon foldable bags that I fill on a daily basis before putting into a Brita. The source of this water is a campground spigot. So, even though I sanitize, I do not really trust my water lines.

Coming up in March I have nine days in Florida connected to a city water supply. For convenience I will bleach the water lines and tank before connecting and use the city water as drinking water. After running through the Brita.
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Old 02-12-2021, 05:47 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by fudge_brownie View Post
I sanitize my tanks when I feel the need. I will drink the water from the faucet when connected to city water and if I have recently sanitized. (see step #1). This is pretty infrequent because I am not often on city water, and if so, am reluctant to drink it unless I sanitized that day. Since my need for drinking water seems to be from areas with terrible tasting water (ie. Florida and N. Wisconsin) the water usually goes through a Brita water pitcher. Coffee made from water at the two mentioned locations is awful, a Brita is essential. I realize the Brita only changes the taste, not the safety.

Most of my drinking water comes from three gallon foldable bags that I fill on a daily basis before putting into a Brita. The source of this water is a campground spigot. So, even though I sanitize, I do not really trust my water lines.

Coming up in March I have nine days in Florida connected to a city water supply. For convenience I will bleach the water lines and tank before connecting and use the city water as drinking water. After running through the Brita.
You are stating a generalization about the entire State of Florida that is misleading if not false. Florida is a geographically large state. If one were to draw a line across Florida from Weeki Wachee to Cape Canaveral, the water source is typically ground water from the Floridan Aquifer, and the quality of taste is generally superb. Zephyrhills brand bottled water sold in many States is municipal water from the City of Zephyrhills which the bottling company runs through a charcoal filter to remove chlorine. Raw unchlorinated water at the city’s water plant tastes exactly the same as the bottled, dechlorinated product. South of this line shallow wells are occasionally used but hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) is commonly encountered. And there is a big reliance on surface water (lakes and rivers). There, the quality of taste is less than superb, with some locations far worse than others.

As far as trusting water lines in the trailer when using chlorinated city water than the fresh water tank as a source, a couple minutes of flushing will make them as clean and as sanitized as the water mains delivering water to your house. Frankly, if you had seen some of the stuff found in water mains that I saw when working with water utilities, you might throw the Brita away and drink only distilled water.
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Old 02-12-2021, 07:06 AM   #6
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I sanitize once a year, and maybe a second time if exposed to some bad water.

Any trips I take from home I fill our water tank and use it for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

Only if I need to fill the tank away from home am I a bit more cautious. Lots of provincial campgrounds in Alberta and BC at least have very good water and I will drink it if it tastes fine. If the water is good sanitary wise but not so good to taste we will use it for everything but drinking.

I do like to take along a 23L water jug filled at home on most trips to set up at the picnic table to give me good supply there if away from the trailer at all. On longer trips I bring two of these jugs and use the also to top off the trailer water when boondocking by filling at a safe place in a place nearby, usually a water filtration setup.

At home I just drink tap water. It tastes great and is pretty much near free. It actually tastes better than many of those silly bottles you can buy. Coffee and water are my normal days liquid input, with the odd tea at night. Of course this changes when cocktail hour should arrive.
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Old 02-12-2021, 07:08 AM   #7
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I trust my Sanitised tank for drinking water. I'm just careful to how and where I'm filling it. If i'm not sure, is gonna be only for toilet and cooking water.
If I go out for a long time with only home water (tank full), i'll put some pool chlorine( about 1 g) in the water especially when I go fishing for 2 week. I dont ming the chlorine task as is evaporate overnight when water sir in a pot in the fridge.
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Old 02-12-2021, 08:04 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by UncleTim View Post
Hey Hi!

Got our next trip next month and I am thinking of flushing the tanks and filling up with fresh water. We are going to Utah and hiking some of the slot canyons in the San Rafael Swell. That area has some of the best slots.

I really want water out there and the temps are 60°/30° so it should be okay. Not sure about when I get home.

1.When do you guys (non-gender specific) flush and fill? What are the triggers? Temperatures? Need? Convenience? Partner? Cleanliness?

2. Once you do, do you drink the water in the system?

Thanks.
Hi: UncleTim... NO!!! I do occasionally drink the "Kool Aid"!!!
Our water at home is from our well and mechanically filtered/softened. We start with it but after being hooked to various CG water systems, and filling our tank, their treated water does the sanitizing for us. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
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Old 02-12-2021, 09:47 AM   #9
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Very informative description on the taste of water in Florida. I do stand corrected and apologize for not being specific that it is really the southern one-third of Florida that suffers from skunky water. Zephyrhills water is sold everywhere in the state and its location in central Florida supports your tasty water demarcation line.

I enjoy your expertise and will take your recommendation on a city water flush as adequate for sanitizing. Keep up your informative posts.

Quote:
Originally Posted by C&G in FL View Post
You are stating a generalization about the entire State of Florida that is misleading if not false. Florida is a geographically large state. If one were to draw a line across Florida from Weeki Wachee to Cape Canaveral, the water source is typically ground water from the Floridan Aquifer, and the quality of taste is generally superb. Zephyrhills brand bottled water sold in many States is municipal water from the City of Zephyrhills which the bottling company runs through a charcoal filter to remove chlorine. Raw unchlorinated water at the city’s water plant tastes exactly the same as the bottled, dechlorinated product. South of this line shallow wells are occasionally used but hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) is commonly encountered. And there is a big reliance on surface water (lakes and rivers). There, the quality of taste is less than superb, with some locations far worse than others.

As far as trusting water lines in the trailer when using chlorinated city water than the fresh water tank as a source, a couple minutes of flushing will make them as clean and as sanitized as the water mains delivering water to your house. Frankly, if you had seen some of the stuff found in water mains that I saw when working with water utilities, you might throw the Brita away and drink only distilled water.
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Old 02-12-2021, 12:15 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Jim Bennett View Post
I sanitize once a year, and maybe a second time if exposed to some bad water.

Any trips I take from home I fill our water tank and use it for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

Only if I need to fill the tank away from home am I a bit more cautious. Lots of provincial campgrounds in Alberta and BC at least have very good water and I will drink it if it tastes fine. If the water is good sanitary wise but not so good to taste we will use it for everything but drinking.

I do like to take along a 23L water jug filled at home on most trips to set up at the picnic table to give me good supply there if away from the trailer at all.
This is how I am leaning. In Boulder we have what they call 'First Use' water, meaning we are the first to use it. A few days previous to hitting the water filtration plant, high above town, it was snow.

I suspect Jim has a somewhat similar condition in Calgary. So our water at home is beautiful with no smell and great taste. I guess I will flush everything out well and fill her up! At home.

I too have a 5 gallon container (Home Depot) with a small battery operated pump on top. This worked great thru the Winter, but takes up a lot of space inside the kitchen. I look forward to running water again.
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Old 02-12-2021, 01:53 PM   #11
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Hmmm, I have drained and sanitized my fresh water tank many times over the course of 2 camping seasons. I nearly always boondock so have never hooked up to "city" water. That said, I carry at least 10 gallons of water in containers for drinking water and coffee water, the same ones I use for river trips. Water from these containers goes into smaller bottles and into the fridge, so we always have cold water to drink on hand. I've actually never drunk out of the fresh water tank.

So why, one would ask, do I go to the trouble of sanitizing it?? First, because it's really easy, and it's become a normal part of the clean-up routine when returning from a long camping trip. Second, although I'm not a major germaphobe or anything like that, I don't like the idea of bathing myself or washing dishes in water that's not clean. And third, I also sanitize my gray tank. I've seen what can grow in a gray tank, some sort of gray horrible filamentous stuff that smells really bad. I don't want to risk that happening in the fresh water tank too!! So they both get sanitized.
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Old 02-13-2021, 05:58 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by fudge_brownie View Post
Very informative description on the taste of water in Florida. I do stand corrected and apologize for not being specific that it is really the southern one-third of Florida that suffers from skunky water. Zephyrhills water is sold everywhere in the state and its location in central Florida supports your tasty water demarcation line.

I enjoy your expertise and will take your recommendation on a city water flush as adequate for sanitizing. Keep up your informative posts.
Paul,

I would still use bleach to sanitize the fresh water tank before use if drinking it is part of the agenda. Sanitizing the internal pipes by letting water from “city” hookups sit in the lines for a while and then flushing them a bit is OK. I do drink it at times, but as previously stated, I prefer consistent taste which with water varies from location to location, so I typically buy Nestle Pure Life (Walmart and other locations) at least for brewing coffee. And no apology is necessary. I just didn’t want anyone who has never traveled to Florida to get the impression that the water in the entire state is, shall I say, less than desirable! I fully agree that you statement is applicable in some parts of Florida.
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Old 02-13-2021, 07:52 AM   #13
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Carl,
That does make sense to sanitize the fresh water tank if planning to use that water for drinking. To clarify and take the idea of safe drinking water a bit further. Is it necessary to sanitize if one is always connected to city water? Oh! perhaps there still should be an annual bleaching process. And a thorough cleaning of the hose and hose connection. But if on city water the fresh water tank is untouched, correct? So my assumption would be in this case the tap water in the trailer would be safe for drinking after letting it run for a few minutes.
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Old 02-13-2021, 08:56 AM   #14
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No "Sanity clause"

Hi: All... You could use a 175L jug of cheap Vodka in the fresh water tank. Trouble is it's 60% water to start with. If you're staying put for a few days, a couple of olives or onions would complete the "Cocktail". Alf
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Old 02-13-2021, 11:37 AM   #15
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Hi: All... You could use a 175L jug of cheap Vodka in the fresh water tank. Trouble is it's 60% water to start with. If you're staying put for a few days, a couple of olives or onions would complete the "Cocktail". Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Do you put mixer in the fresh water tank too or just drink it straight?
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Old 02-13-2021, 02:13 PM   #16
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Do you put mixer in the fresh water tank too or just drink it straight?
Beer would be self-pressurizing so you wouldn't have to run the pump. Think of all that saved battery power.
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Old 02-13-2021, 10:52 PM   #17
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So far we have always used the water in the tanks for all our needs. We sanitize and then when we fill up with city water or use campground water, we ask to make sure its potable and then use an inline filter screwed on at the spigot. For our morning coffees or tea we use water directly out of the tap; we actually drink mostly water (if we're not having a beer or wine) through the day and this we enjoy cold so we keep it in a Brita which also acts as a secondary filtration, never had an issue.

One thing I have to say for those with new trailers is that we had to run about 5 or 6 tanks of fresh water through our first season with the trailer before that awful plasticy taste (I assume from the new fresh water tanks and lines) was gone, since then our water from the tanks tastes great!
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Old 02-14-2021, 05:31 AM   #18
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Most of the time we camp without services and many times there is no water within 5 miles of our campsite. We went from at least 45 gallons of fresh water with our Cougar, Bigfoot, and Lance campers to only 28 gallons with our 5.0. Since minimally we use about two gallons a day drinking, cooking, washing dishes, and the toilet, on a seven day stay we only have 14 gallons left if we want to use the shower. We carry about 10 gallons of drinking water if no services and are now accustomed to never using drinking water out of our tap. For us, it has nothing to do with safe drinking water out of our fresh water tank, but more to do with conserving water at the campsite. The longest we have camped at one site is eleven days and we still had fresh water in the tank.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 02-14-2021, 05:44 AM   #19
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Carl,
That does make sense to sanitize the fresh water tank if planning to use that water for drinking. To clarify and take the idea of safe drinking water a bit further. Is it necessary to sanitize if one is always connected to city water? Oh! perhaps there still should be an annual bleaching process. And a thorough cleaning of the hose and hose connection. But if on city water the fresh water tank is untouched, correct? So my assumption would be in this case the tap water in the trailer would be safe for drinking after letting it run for a few minutes.
Keep in mind that if the check valve in the 12v pump fails, city water fan back up into the fresh water tank and cause it to overflow (onto the ground). Not that it will introduce any “bad stuff” into your plumbing as long as you do not turn on the 12v pump.
But yes, if I am going to be connected to city water (I usually am), flushing the lines with chlorinated city water (I let them fill and set for an hour or so before flushing) has never resulted in Montezuma’s revenge for us over our entire RVing career. I usually flush for about a minute using the outdoor shower so that it doesn’t add to the gray water tank, and then 10 or so seconds at the kitchen and bathroom faucets.
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Old 02-14-2021, 08:13 AM   #20
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Do you put mixer in the fresh water tank too or just drink it straight?
Hi: UncleTim... I don't like to mix things up... just give it to me straight!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie
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