Fresh Water Tank

[swbc150]

Poor design of the supporting brackets have allowed algee to grow inside my fresh water tank.  Numerous attempts to clean it out is not working, other than replacing with a new tank and installing additional support brackets, can I get this issue fixed?
No matter what, additional support brackets will need to be installed, the present setup doesn't allow a level sitting water tank.

[billmoore]

I'm curious, what about the supporting brackets caused this? Is it because you can't fully drain the tank?

As far as fixing it, filling with a strong clorine bleach solution (full enough that the bleach reaches all areas where the algae is growing), letting sit for a day, then draining and repeated flushing should kill/remove any algae.

[swbc150]

Yes, the supporting brackets are the issue.
When I leave here on Monday from Florence AZ I'll mix a stronger a mixture of bleach to the tank and let it slosh around in there for the 430 mile drive, then empty it and continue with more flushing.
But from it happening again, additional support brackets will be needed.
Very poor design of the support brackets or lack of.

[pjcd]

I would check and make sure the brackets are properly installed, the brackets on my black and grey tanks were put on incorrectly, I had to remove them and re-install.

[daplumbr]

The brackets on my fresh water tank were installed backward, so the deep side of the tank was away from the drain. Reversing them was needed to fully drain the tank. 

If if there is algae in the tank, the water put in there was not sterile. I would fully sterilize the entire water system with chlorine, not just the tank. Then, check the source water and hoses you use to fill the tank. 

[mitch]

I like to think of algae as a kind of liquid salad and we should all eat our greens. If you take that approach it makes the whole issue more of a plus.

[pjcd]

Could always make your own bio-fuel.

[pjcd]

There is a product for sale that will treat your freshwater tanks....... Thetford 36662 Fresh Water Tank Sanitizer. I used it once and it worked ok.

[canuck]

Hello,

I know exactly what you are going through!

At the end of our season last year I noticed that our fresh tank resembled a sagging diaper. Throughout the season the brackets looked fine supporting the fresh tank. But, I think with more use the sag started to develop and get worse over time. Now there is a space between the tank and the middle bracket. Draining the tank is a real PITA! The remaining water just sits in the middle of the tank, you can't drain it, or use the water pump to get rid of it. A couple of weeks in the heat and we have algae, nice.

I took pictures and explained the situation to my dealer and my dealer sent my information to Don at LL. His reply was, "that is how things are". Sorry, but his reply was completely useless. No one wanted to do anything. This was seven months after we picked up our trailer.

So, this season I will attempt to shorten the middle bracket, or swap out some brackets like others have. Either way, I will have to push the fresh tank back up to level and re-connect the bracket(s). In the meantime, I will use my Anderson levelers to raise one side of the trailer up and use the tongue jack to raise the front. Hopefully this will get the tank to completely drain through the spigot valve until I can fix the problem permanently.

All the best!




 

[swbc150]

I did the stronger Bleach mixture, tank was filled 3/4 full w/water, it sloshed around for 430 miles from Florence,AZ to Alamogordo,NM on I-10, drained and continued flushing with flesh water.(HW tank too)
The algae is gone for now but I will be redoing the supporting brackets to prevent this from recurring.
Thanks for the input to correct the issue.

[777]

My tank sags in the middle as well. I don't have an algae issue but I worry about flat loosing the tank. I've been trying to think of a way to re-engineer some different brackets to hold the bottom up to be level. I haven't come up with anything yet. If I do I'll post something.

[swbc150]

The welder who built my new coupler for my Bearcat is going to make and install two new supporting brackets under the middle of the fresh water tank. I'm thinking of redoing the two outer support brackets as well, so the tank sits a tad tilted down towards the front of the tank, this should allow all of the tank to be drained.
I'll get this done sometime in late April to May.

[mitch]

When you guys talk about draining your tanks do you mean totally empty?  My tank sits nicely (and plays well with others too) but based on the drain valve placement on the side there's no way it can drain fully.  The valve is at the bottom of the side but the valve flange and mechanism prevent the actual hole from being flush with the lowest point of the tank.  I have about a 1/2 inch of water in the tank no matter what.  The only way to change this would be to put the valve on the actual underside of the tank as near as I can tell.

[daplumbr]

On mine, the valve on the side does not allow complete emptying. On the last leg of a trip home I just open the fresh tank drain and the sloshing gets all but a tiny bit of water out. My initial problem was the asymmetrical straps were reversed so the deep end of the tank was opposite the drain. Then there was so much water away from the valve that the tank didn't drain even with sloshing. 

[swbc150]

Same problem, the drain valve does not allow all of the water to drain.