How To Sanitize an RV Water System

we've been drinking the water from our RVs freshwater tank for over a decade without a problem it's perfectly safe to do as long as you sanitize your freshwater system periodically if you saw our first video on this topic we only sanitized the cold water lines that's because the primary purpose is to make the water safe to drink since a lot of people asked about sanitizing the hot side of the system as well we're going to do both the hot and cold sides today if at all possible the absolute ideal time to do this is on a day when you're planning to take a long drive preferably down some pretty twisty roads this will agitate the water in the tank helping to clean it as you drive since we'll be doing some tank flushing as part of the process your trip should ideally take you from one full hookup RV park to another one neither of which have drought or water use restrictions it's particularly important to end your drive at an RV park with water hookups since you'll be arriving with a tank full of bleachy water the only supplies we'll need for this job are some bleach a one gallon pitcher and an old measuring cup start with your fresh tank no more than about half-full leaving room to fill the tank after adding the bleach if you have an icemaker be sure to turn it off before starting the process if you have a drinking water dispenser at your kitchen sink it likely has a carbon filter underneath the counter which we'll want to bypass to avoid running bleach through it bypassing the water filter is easy simply close the two valves that lead into and out of the filter then open the valve on the bypass line that parallels the filter this allows water to flow up to the water dispenser without going through the filter we also don't want bleach entering the water heater tank since it isn't necessary and having to flush it out would just add extra work most RVs are equipped with a water heater bypass which allows you to take the heater offline for tasks such as running winter antifreeze through the water lines or sanitizing your fresh water system bypassing the water heater is exactly the same as bypassing the drinking water filter will close off the two valves leading into and out of the heater and open the valve on the bypass line this allows water to flow freely past the water heater without entering it your water heater bypass probably has a diagram to make it clear which way the valves should be turned for bypassing or for normal operation the easiest way to add bleach into the system is with a winterizing kit which can also be used to add antifreeze in the winter or vinegar when you're flushing the water heater start by filling your pitcher about 3/4 full of water then carefully adding 1/4 cup of bleach for every 15 gallons of tank capacity we have a 105 gallon freshwater tank so we'll be using 1 and 3/4 cups of bleach now make sure that you're disconnected from the water hookup or at least that it's turned off and turn your fresh water tank fill to the on position now flip both valves on your winterizing kit which will open the plastic intake tube place the end of the tube into the pitcher and turn on your RVs water pump this will draw the bleach solution into the RV pumping it into the only available void the freshwater tank be careful when handling bleach you may want to wear eye protection and gloves when the pitcher is empty turn off the water pump after drawing in all of the bleach solution rinse out the winterizing tube by drawing in another pitcher full of clean fresh water now you can switch the two valves on the winterizing kit back to the normal position as we won't be needing it again if your RV isn't equipped with a winterizing kit you may have a water fill that allows you to pour the bleach solution to directly into the tank using a funnel since our tank fill valve is already in the on position all we have to do is turn on the faucet at the hose connection to fill the freshwater tank all the way to the top of course the way we'll know the tank is full is when water starts coming out of the overflow tube on the bottom of the RV as soon as that happens switch the tank fill valve to the off position and turn off the faucet at the water connection now that we have the proper concentration of bleach water in the tank let's turn on the water pump and run it up through all the faucets to sanitize them to run the cold water until you smell bleach then run the hot water until you smell bleach there to run water up through every faucet in the RV until you can smell bleach from both the hot and cold water at each location this includes all of the sinks the shower any outdoor faucets and the water dispenser at the kitchen sink again make sure that the RV is disconnected from any external water source and the water pump is on this will make sure that you're drawing the bleached water from the freshwater tank and not accidentally running water from the RV parks hookup now it's time for that long twisty Drive if possible we like to keep the bleach in the system for about four to eight hours and part of that time should be driving this will agitate the water really well and slosh it up against the top of the tank hopefully it goes without saying that you shouldn't drive this fast now that we've arrived at our destination and we're fully hooked up with electric water and sewer connections we can drain the tank and flush out the water lines you should find a low point drain near the freshwater tank open the valve and allow the water to fully drain out of the tank this will probably take a few hours there's only a very small amount of bleach in a very large volume of water so it shouldn't be a problem letting it simply run onto the ground however if you're fully hooked up with a sewer connection and you're in a spot where it's more appropriate to pump the water into the sewer system you can simply turn off the water at the spigot turn on your water pump and turn on one of your faucets pumping 100 or more gallons of water through your water pump will not harm it just be sure to turn it off as soon as the water runs out to avoid running it dry once your freshwater tank is empty set your tank fill valve to the on position and turn on the water spigot and completely refill the tank once the tank is full turn the water and the tank fill valve off and your water pump on and run hot and cold water from the tank through every faucet in the RV until you can't smell bleach anymore it's possible that you might need to drain and fill the tank one more time if the water still smells like bleach don't forget to switch your water heater bypass valves back to their normal settings for everyday use and do the same thing with the drinking water filter bypass under your kitchen counter to avoid wasting water don't sanitize your tank more often than necessary we're actually very water conscious using a small fraction of what a normal household would use a hundred gallons of water can easily last us 10 days or more but twice a year we need to use some extra water to keep our onboard supply safe to drink

Channel: RVgeeks

Views: 806,185

Rating: 4.7976656 out of 5

Keywords: travel, camp, camping, coach, rig, trailer, 5th, wheel, recreational, vehicle, service, tips, road, driving, sanitize, fresh, water, tank, system, Recreational Vehicle (Industry), How-to (Media Genre)

Id: jEepug8N-aE

Length: 8min 26sec (506 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 06 2013