Water System Flush or Disinfect?

[gizmokayaker]

I am curious how often people actually disinfect their water system with bleach.  My camper has been sitting for the winter with antifreeze in the lines and we are going on our first trip of the year hopefully in a few short hours after work today.  I drained out the antifreeze and flushed all of the lines with fresh water.  Do I need to mess with bleaching the lines?  Will I have to do that every time after it has sat for a week or two?  I would think that if I drain the system well after each trip so the lines are mostly dry and flush the lines well before use that it would not be necessary.  So I am curious what other people are doing.

Thanks!

[tinkeringtechie]

I disinfect annually, but I'm extremely careful about avoiding contamination during the camping season (disinfecting faucets before connecting, always washing my hands before handling fresh water hoses, etc...). I also filter all of my drinking water.

I noticed in your post that you didn't mention your tank... do you use your fresh water tank? If so, that's the area I would be concerned about. Having RV antifreeze in the plumbing prevents anything from growing in there during the winter, but your tank has probably been sitting with a residual amount of water in it.

[gizmokayaker]

I have not used my fresh water tank yet but for certain before I do I will disinfect it.  Either way I am probably sticking to bottled water for drinking and cooking.  The water is more for convenience hand washing, toilet flushing, and light dish washing ect.  Thanks for the reply!

[tinkeringtechie]

If you don't use the tank and you don't drink it, then I wouldn't worry about it.

[pinstriper]

I guess this is the sort of thing that comes with experience (of which I have little), but yeah, we have no intention of dry camping, so the only reason for me to have anything in the fresh tank is to facilitate extra flushing at the dump station. So I don't terribly care about the water quality.

That said, if someone makes a mistake and runs some stale/chunky water that sat in the tank/incubator for 3 months through the sink where we wash dishes, that would contaminate that section of piping, creating a problem even when connected to city water, no ?

Also, what if we suddenly changed our minds and wanted to go to a US Forest campground where we had to dry camp ? I guess I'd drain and fill the fresh water tank 2 or 3 times before the trip, maybe run a non-bleach purifier through between the first and second flush. Would that do it ? I'd still not use it for drinking water, mind you.