Fresh water tank refill?

[Claudialunow]

Another Newbie question
I have a Rockwood 2304 DS travel trailer and when i bought it a few weeks ago they filled up my Freshwater tank but i never used it because i was always hooked up
Now i wonder if i should drain the water and replace it and if replacing should i fill the whole tank up? And should i put something in the water to prevent it to go bad?

[actadh]

Hi Clauda - it won't go bad in a few weeks. In fact, I normally leave water in the fresh water tank throughout the spring/summer/fall summer season, and we do not camp that often in the summer. It can take weeks to go through the tank.

My travel trailer sits in the side yard when we don't camp, and it is nice to have water in it as the TT can do double duty an office, TV/Music room, and overnight place for guests.

It only gets drained when we winterize it before Thanksgiving..

[Twice]

When I go out I like to have fresh water even if it's only a 5-8 gallons, we have weight issues with carrying more than that unless we are boondocking, then we fill up as close as possible and cap the overflow to prevent loss. I sanitize my tank once a year to keep things fresh.

[crunchman12001]

Drain the fresh and water heater tanks if you are not going to use the trailer for a couple weeks. The water does not take very long to get nasty.

[Jakieboy]

When adding fresh water to my tank, I always include about 1 cup of chlorine bleach. If your fresh water intake is simple gravity feed, you9 can use a small funnel to add the bleach before filling with a fresh water hose. In my case, the fresh water add feature requires hooking up a pressure fed water hose. In that case, I drain the hose partly dry first, then pour the bleach into the open end of the hose before connecting. We never use the fresh water supply for drinking, only for bathing and dishwashing.

[5picker]

It's a personal opinion on whether/how much fresh water you should carry.

We always like to have some along for the potty breaks, emergency overnight camping should you have a breakdown on the way/back from a trip, etc.

We use our unit enough that I don't ever drain it completely and simply add when the need arises. Some places we know in advance there will be no water available so we fill before leaving. Other times if we have full hook-ups we may only have a partial tank but always enough for one night.

We also use the Camco fresh water additive when adding water. I think it's nothing more than chlorine bleach but diluted and not so easy to misuse.

[Big Bill]

X2 on camco taste pure. From Walmart

[TGR]

I recommend following the owner's manual on sanitizing the fresh water system:

Sanitizing the Fresh Water System
Sanitize the system before initial use, after extended periods
of non-use, at least once a year during continuous use, and
if there is suspicion that the system has been contaminated.
To Sanitize the System:
• Prepare a chlorine solution using a gallon of water and 1/4
cup of liquid household bleach, (5% sodium hypochlorinate
solution.) Use one gallon of solution for each 15 gallons of
tank capacity.
• With an empty tank and all faucets and drains closed, pour
the solution into the fresh water tank.
• Completely fill the tank with fresh water.
• Switch on the water pump. Open all faucets one at a time
until all air is purged and the water flows freely.
• Again, add fresh water to the tank until the water level
reaches the fill spout.
• Allow the solution to stand in the tank, undisturbed, for at
least 3 (three) hours.
• Drain the system by opening all faucets and the fresh water
tank drain valve, while flushing the system with fresh water
of drinking quality.
• Continue flushing the system, allowing the water to flow for
several minutes.
• Close the tank drain valve and all faucets. Refill the system
with water of known drinking quality.

I recommend letting the solution sit overnight and then flushing the system. For me, I need to fill and drain the tank 3 times to fully flush the system and remove any chlorine taste or smell from the water.