Two water questions

IA

iamunique127

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
Posts
1,222
Location
Winnipeg, MB
1) does anyone know the capacity of the fresh water tank in the 2015 5.0TA?

2) should I leave water in the fresh tank when I leave the trailer sit for about a month or leave the tank empty?

I have recently sanitized the tank and run 3 or 4 tankfuls of fresh city water through it and the lines. There is quite a strong taste of bleach to the water.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.
 
iamunique127 said:
1) does anyone know the capacity of the fresh water tank in the 2015 5.0TA?

2) should I leave water in the fresh tank when I leave the trailer sit for about a month or leave the tank empty?

I have recently sanitized the tank and run 3 or 4 tankfuls of fresh city water through it and the lines. There is quite a strong taste of bleach to the water.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.
Click to expand...
According to the July 1 Escape web site from Internet Archive, you have a 28 gallon fresh tank.

If you still have a bleach smell/taste after 3-4 tank flushes you put in way too much bleach.

I bleach once every two or so years and have yet to have a problem. We do have our camper in a seasonal campsite about 7 months a year, using it 1-3 times a week, camping with it the other 5 months.

We never hook up to the campgrounds water, instead we fill our tanks with soft water using the small On The Go Water Softener and run the tanks dry once a month or so.

I do drain the tank a couple of times a year though, but I doubt that helps much. I think bleaching has more to do with where you live.

Just another opinion,

Perry
 
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I referred to the owner's manual and it said 1/4 cup of bleach for every 15 gallons of water and to mix it with a gallon of water and add it to the tank first then fill the tank, let sit for a few hours and drain.

I added only 1/4 cup total, mixed it with a gallon of water, added it to the tank and filled with fresh water. I flushed the system a couple times that day and a couple times the next day.
 
I've found that a little bit of bleach goes a long way. I use less.

Sitting a month would be borderline for me whether I drained the tank or not. Too much more than that and I would. A month or less I wouldn't.

Consider your amount of bleach to be a shock treatment and keep flushing it until you can't smell it anymore.

Ron
 
Thanks, Ron. It certainly did get shocked. Good thing I cut the amount of bleach by about half, eh?

I think I'll bring the trailer home again and flush it a few more times then leave it full til we use it again. I'll flush and fill again then.
 
iamunique127 said:
I have recently sanitized the tank and run 3 or 4 tankfuls of fresh city water through it and the lines. There is quite a strong taste of bleach to the water.
Click to expand...

I realized that I had run 3 or 4 tankfuls of water through the holding tank BUT not through the water lines to the taps.

So I brought the trailer home yesterday and while adding and draining another couple tanks of fresh water I also flushed the cold water line by running about 5 gallons of water per tankful into a tub through the galley cold water tap. Only the cold water line because that is the only one we'd draw drinking water from.

That did the trick and the chlorine taste is gone.

We use the trailer again in a couple weeks. I left the tank half full of water til then.
 
When I sanitize our fresh water tank I make sure to run all three fresh water cold lines. Both sinks and the shower hose. Usually two or three tank fulls of rinse water do the trick. The minimal amount of bleach used for a 15 or so minute soak has been satisfactory for us for 10 years of ownership. You may or may not want to sanitize the hot water tank but you do not need to put Ev antifreeze in the hot water tank. Just pull the anode and drain it periodically after releasing the pressure and making sure the water isn’t hot.
Iowa Dave
 
View attachment 69135
Iowa Dave said:
.. Just pull the anode and drain it periodically after releasing the pressure and making sure the water isn’t hot.
Iowa Dave
Click to expand...

While you have the anode rod out, give it a quick flush to get the debris out and keep it from clogging aerators and valves. I use on the of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Rinser...ocphy=9030453&hvtargid=pla-435823020441&psc=1

Something else that might be useful. We don't like leaving water in our fresh tank for very long and have gotten pretty good at estimating how much water we will use for a trip. I use one of these to measure water going into the fresh tank because the trailer may not always be level enough to use the meters. They are also available on Amazon. I added the shut off to make it easier and not waste water.
 

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I am wondering about the fresh-water tank, too.

It's been over a month since we broke down on our way out for a week-long trip:

https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f7/breakdown-24905.html#post449141

I got the Expedition fixed (turned out it was a connection to the transmission oil cooler that came loose), and the Escape parked back under the canopy in our yard. I haven't emptied the fresh-water tank, but it doesn't look like we're going out this month—maybe in September.

So is it better to leave water in the tank, or to leave it dry?

For the winter, I drain everything and blow out the lines (no more antifreeze!). But for long periods the rest of the year, I'm uncertain. Seems to me if I leave water sitting in the tank for too long, it'll grow algae. The city water is chlorinated a bit (not noticeably—Quabbin Reservoir water is reputed to be among the best in the nation), but I expect something will grow. Is it better to leave the tank empty in warm weather? Maybe I should just flush the system with a city water hose now and then. . .

Anyway, I guess I'll flush the lines today, then decide whether to leave the tank empty—or not.
 
I drain whatever is left in the fresh tank if we're not going out again for a couple of weeks. We've gotten pretty good at knowing how much water we use when boondocking and use a hose end water meter to measure how much goes into the fresh tank, that way we don't waster more than a few gallons when we drain. We left water in our fresh tank on another trailer for a little over a month and it took on a foul odor. Had to flush the tank with Camco Taste Pure.
 
Another question:

Any reason to connect city water and keep it on (pressurized) if you're not using the trailer and don't need it?

I assume not, but assumptions can sometimes be wrong.
 
MrLynn said:
Another question:

Any reason to connect city water and keep it on (pressurized) if you're not using the trailer and don't need it?

I assume not, but assumptions can sometimes be wrong.
Click to expand...

I definitely would not do that. Last thing you need is a leak to develop when you are not around. When we are not going to be around camp for any length of time, we turn off the city water or the pump when we are boondocking just to be safe.
 
I’ve installed water system for a long time.

When using chlorine think measure spoons not measuring cups. A table spoon for a 28 gallon tank is enough to treat the water. If you have dirty tank walls then maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup.

When just treating the water letting it sit for 20 minutes to a few hours is enough, if treating the tank walls then 24 hours. If treating the walls flush the tank several times.

When storing the trailer for a month with water in the tank add a table spoon before, but I do not recommend storing the trailer with water in the tank for months.

When filling the tank I run some water from the hose bib into a bucket then I add a table spoon to my hose before I connect to the hose bib and then flush the water into the shrubs before connecting to the trailer.

I know I’m paranoid. And yet I will drink from a garden hose. :laugh:
 
iamunique127 said:
1) does anyone know the capacity of the fresh water tank in the 2015 5.0TA?

2) should I leave water in the fresh tank when I leave the trailer sit for about a month or leave the tank empty?

I have recently sanitized the tank and run 3 or 4 tankfuls of fresh city water through it and the lines. There is quite a strong taste of bleach to the water.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.
Click to expand...

If you sanitize without bypassing the hot water tank, remember that's 6 gallons of water that needs to be diluted and flushed. If you didn't bypass the hot water tank you should drain it first and then flush the lines with water.
 
TTMartin said:
If you sanitize without bypassing the hot water tank, remember that's 6 gallons of water that needs to be diluted and flushed. If you didn't bypass the hot water tank you should drain it first and then flush the lines with water.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I didn't bypass the hot water tank but have drained and flushed it since.

We just returned from a 3 week, 5300km trip and the water in the tank is back to normal. It needed a bit of use to flush the chlorine taste I guess.

Thanks for all the input, everyone.
 
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