Hi everyone, I am preparing for my next trip and I am wondering if I need to sanitize my water system from my brand new trailer, I don't plan to cook with or drink the water. I only plan to use it for toilet, shower and brushing my teeth. Also if I go to a camp ground with full hookup and use the city outlet water which bypass the tank does it care if it's not sanitized ? And last question after each trip do you empty your water tank including the water heater and the pipe using the low drain valve?
Thank you! I know it's a lot of question lol
You still need to sanitize the system if you are going to drink the city water, or even brush your teeth.
Contaminated water from the fresh tank that you run up to the faucet will contaminate he fixture and lines, so it won't matter that the city water is clean and safe.
Not convinced ? OK. Get an old milk jug. Keep it with you all day, collect your urine. Pour that all into the fresh tank. Turn on the water pump and run it into the sink.
Now, turn off the pump. Drain the fresh tank. Connect to city water. Are YOU gonna brush your teeth in the sink ? How long would you have to run the city water through the faucet before you would ?
If you never fill or run anything from the fresh tank EVER, then it won't matter. Me ? I'll stay paranoid and drink bottled water until I have great confidence that I can make my fresh water system safe. The only time I use the water from the tank is at the dump station to do an extra flush cycle. And we never drink or brush teeth even with city water, except after boiling it.
Karen and I just sanitized our system for the first time.
Following the directions in the owner's manual, it was trivially easy.
Assuming I sanitize my system properly, after each trip should I empty everything ? Including water heater and water line or leave water there for next trip?
[quote source="/post/3250/thread" timestamp="1409794837" author="@fasteddieb"]Karen and I just sanitized our system for the first time.
Following the directions in the owner's manual, it was trivially easy.[/quote]I'm still terrified. Snakes and spiders, too. Also, sharks.
Quote from: @paul" source="/post/3252/thread" timestamp="1409795534Assuming I sanitize my system properly, after each trip should I empty everything ? Including water heater and water line or leave water there for next trip?
You should only need to sanitize once a year. I leave the lines and water heater full and some water in the tank all season. I only empty the water heater at the end of the season when I winterize. Then in the spring I sanitize (with the water heater still bypassed) and finally fill the water heater once everything is sanitary.
[quote source="/post/3252/thread" timestamp="1409795534" author="@paul"]Assuming I sanitize my system properly, after each trip should I empty everything ? Including water heater and water line or leave water there for next trip?
[/quote][p]The way I understand it, clean water from whatever supply...eh...supplied it...anyway...it has a shelf life before it grow algae and stuff. You can leave it stand in your tanks until just before that happens, which depends on things like temperature and how much bacteria or other critters were in the water in the first place.[/p][p]
[/p][p]In other words, its terrifyingly non-specific.[/p][p]
[/p][p]I think if you did a clean turnover of the tank contents every 3 weeks or so you'd be fine. So drain what's in, fill and drain, then refill. No need to shock treat the system unless you like doing that.[/p][p]
[/p][p]I've yet to work up the courage to follow the above, but its what I've been told.[/p][p]
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[quote source="/post/3257/thread" timestamp="1409800470" author="@tinkeringtechie"][quote source="/post/3252/thread" timestamp="1409795534" author="@paul"]Assuming I sanitize my system properly, after each trip should I empty everything ? Including water heater and water line or leave water there for next trip?
[/quote]You should only need to sanitize once a year. I leave the lines and water heater full and some water in the tank all season. I only empty the water heater at the end of the season when I winterize. Then in the spring I sanitize (with the water heater still bypassed) and finally fill the water heater once everything is sanitary.[/quote]
Is there a reason for bypassing the water heater because I see in some instructions online some are bypassing it some or not? Also do you know where to bypass the water heater I crawled under my 13qbb and can't seem to find where is the bypass line
[quote source="/post/3262/thread" timestamp="1409827876" author="@paul"]Is there a reason for bypassing the water heater because I see in some instructions online some are bypassing it some or not? Also do you know where to bypass the water heater I crawled under my 13qbb and can't seem to find where is the bypass line[/quote]
You'll want to bypass if you're winterizing to save yourself from having to buy 6 extra gallons of RV antifreeze. The valves are usually inside right next to the water heater. My post wasn't totally clear though: I leave it bypassed in the first step of sanitizing so that the bypass line gets the antifreeze washed out and sanitized, but the water heater also gets sanitized. The easiest way to do this is to switch the bypass valves (so that the water heater is connected again) and then open the pressure release valve outside. Once water squirts out then it's full.
If you were to immediately connect the water heater, there's a couple sections of pipe that might still have antifreeze and the bleach solution won't flow through them either (they're like dead ends). Here's a graphic showing the valves:[attachment id="340" thumbnail="1"]
[quote source="/post/3265/thread" timestamp="1409838579" author="@tinkeringtechie"][quote source="/post/3262/thread" timestamp="1409827876" author="@paul"]Is there a reason for bypassing the water heater because I see in some instructions online some are bypassing it some or not? Also do you know where to bypass the water heater I crawled under my 13qbb and can't seem to find where is the bypass line[/quote]You'll want to bypass if you're winterizing to save yourself from having to buy 6 extra gallons of RV antifreeze. The valves are usually inside right next to the water heater. My post wasn't totally clear though: I leave it bypassed in the first step of sanitizing so that the bypass line gets the antifreeze washed out and sanitized, but the water heater also gets sanitized. The easiest way to do this is to switch the bypass valves (so that the water heater is connected again) and then open the pressure release valve outside. Once water squirts out then it's full.
If you were to immediately connect the water heater, there's a couple sections of pipe that might still have antifreeze and the bleach solution won't flow through them either (they're like dead ends). Here's a graphic showing the valves:
[/quote]Ok so I bypass the line when sanitizing when I will de-winterise for clearing the antifreeze, but right now the camper is new and there is no anti freeze in there so I don't need to bypass it to sanitizing right? Thank you for your help!
I think you would not bypass during sanitizing, but would bypass during winterization so long as you also drain the hot water tank and flush with air. Then bypass when running the anti-freeze. TT ?
[quote source="/post/3268/thread" timestamp="1409841125" author="@paul"]
[quote source="/post/3265/thread" timestamp="1409838579" author="@tinkeringtechie"]You'll want to bypass if you're winterizing to save yourself from having to buy 6 extra gallons of RV antifreeze. The valves are usually inside right next to the water heater. My post wasn't totally clear though: I leave it bypassed in the first step of sanitizing so that the bypass line gets the antifreeze washed out and sanitized, but the water heater also gets sanitized. The easiest way to do this is to switch the bypass valves (so that the water heater is connected again) and then open the pressure release valve outside. Once water squirts out then it's full.
If you were to immediately connect the water heater, there's a couple sections of pipe that might still have antifreeze and the bleach solution won't flow through them either (they're like dead ends). Here's a graphic showing the valves:
[/quote]Ok so I bypass the line when sanitizing when I will de-winterise for clearing the antifreeze, but right now the camper is new and there is no anti freeze in there so I don't need to bypass it to sanitizing right? Thank you for your help!
[/quote]You wouldn't need to if there's nothing in the lines. If you want to be really thorough you could flip the middle valve and run the hot water so a little bit of your solution goes through the middle. Just make sure to flip it back when you're done.
If you are filling your tanks from just about any source except maybe personal wells the water will be treated with sanitizing chemicals. Most of the time this means chlorine (aka bleach). It's not a bad idea to thoroughly sanitize your water system every year but for the most part if you are filling up from a reliable source there is little need to worry. Water technically has an indefinite shelf life, it will not go bad despite bottled water having a expiration date. Water that has been stored for long periods of time can get a "stale" taste to it which is easily fixed by agitating it.
The point I want to stress is that water will only become contaminated if it is exposed to a contaminant. In other words, if your tanks and lines are clean, your hose is clean, and you have a secure cap to your inlet then there is little chance for your water to become contaminated. If you are are still worried you can add 8 drops of unscented bleach per gallon of water to disinfect and still keep it safe to drink (Source: http://water.epa.gov/drink/emerprep/emergencydisinfection.cfm).
Is it possible that if you open the low point drain that it will empty the water heater? Yesterday I opened it and there was a large amount of water going out from it. Today I wanted to sanitize the system so before proceding I wanted to empty the water heater, I unscrewed the cap where the water is suppose to come out and to my surprise it was nearly empty (just really small amount of water). I checked the bypass valve and they seem to be on the "normal use" as shown on the diagram posted above.
[quote source="/post/3294/thread" timestamp="1409865522" author="@paul"]Is it possible that if you open the low point drain that it will empty the water heater? Yesterday I opened it and there was a large amount of water going out from it. Today I wanted to sanitize the system so before proceding I wanted to empty the water heater, I unscrewed the cap where the water is suppose to come out and to my surprise it was nearly empty (just really small amount of water). I checked the bypass valve and they seem to be on the "normal use" as shown on the diagram posted above. [/quote][font size="3"]Yes, the low point drains will empty the WH, especially if a hot water faucet is open in the trailer. Cold water enters the WH at the bottom; hot water leaves the WH at the top. If the low point valves are open and a hot water faucet is open, air enters the WH at the top and water drains out from the bottom. This is handy for winterizing since you can drain the WH without removing the anode. The bypass valves must be in the non-bypass position for this to happen. BE SURE to refill until water flows from a hot water faucet before you turn on the electric element.
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Do anyone know what would be the mix ratio with the new concentrated bleach? I can't seem to find regular bleach anymore.
The bleach bottle should give mixing instructions for disinfecting and sanitizing. The ratio will all depend on the concentration level so its best to follow the manufacturers instructions.