Is my water safe?

[ProCharger]

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

First if you home is less than 20 years old the water lines are the same stuff the lines in the camper aer made of, as is the water tank.

I am less than 15 years old and still 100% copper. It was only a few years ago one builder I do work for finally went to pex.

[Chris Pastuzyn]

Agree With VR51 BEER!

[jdkbrooks]

I drink the water during the day and then clean my system out at Happy Hour...WHOOOO HOOO!

[Rightseat]

Originally Posted by Chris Pastuzyn

You may want to sanitize your lines on your own, Run a in line filter for your city hook up, as for drinking it ? Considering we drank from a garden hose as kids and are still alive.

In Bolivia I had to drink water from a Tapir wallow and I survived that. An RV tank should be just fine.

[Scubanut]

Originally Posted by BriaBeck

We drink from our fresh water tank.



I sterilize it at the same time I de-winterize, and then throughout the season, when I fill the tank I also add some of this, which I think is mostly just diluted chlorine bleach. But, it seems to work as our FW tank water tastes just as good as it does straight from the tap.



Speaking of drinking from a hose... I use our garden hose, through the camco blue filter, to fill our FW tank. Just let the water run through the hose for a bit until all the stale water is pushed out, then hook up the filter, and go. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger

The exact way I maintain and use my water system. Been doing this for 10 years without incidents yet

[pcsdpo]

Bottled water producers don't have to meet any water standards. There's an article about it in Consumer Reports (see below).

The water from your home (city) tap has standards it has to meet and is tested regularly (at least in our State). A lot of the "local" bottled water providers use the city water and then purify it from there (mine uses RO - Reverse Osmosis process).

We have a cabin that gets its water from the lake. I tried to have it tested once and they refused to test it because it was surface water source. Well water they will test. I too used to drink water from mountain lakes and streams, but around here they are liable to have the giardia parasite and/or bacteria from cattle which are pastured in the mountains during the summer. The hikers that survived this long now use portable filters for their drinking water.

Our local mining company has created a process to clean the effluent from their mining and ore concentrating processes. When they're done with it, it will meet drinking water standards. It also meets the state surface water standards which are higher than the EPA standards to protect our prized trout population in the stream that they provide with additional flow. Up here in the high desert, "Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over".

https://www.consumerreports.org/bott...d-water-habit/

[jwfrede]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

There are a lot of people that are convinced the water in an RV Fresh Water tank is not suitable for drinking.

On the other hand people have been drinking from these tanks since the first RV was built with a tank.

The key is to first sanitize with bleach. Instructions are all over the internet including on this forum.

Second, fill the tank with clean water from a potable water source. Might first draw a sample of the water in a clear drinking glass and look at it. If it's crystal clear and no "mud" in it, fill the tank. An inline filter might be a good idea too.

Once clean water is in a clean and sanitized tank the only issue remaining might be taste. If there is an onboard filter just make sure to use a quality filter that includes carbon block or granules that filter taste components out.


For me, I fill my tank at home and when I need to refill I follow the above steps. I also add some Clorox when I fill. According to Clorox instructions use plain, regular strength Clorox and add 1/2 tsp for roughly 5 gallons.

I left the factory filter in place and it filters any remaining Chlorine taste after it's sat in the tank killing any "microbes".

Bottled water is nice for convenience but it only became a "necessity" for many people when the large bottling companies started their ad campaigns telling us it was safer than city water.

BTW, if tank water was unsafe to drink, heaven forbid anyone should risk brushing their teeth with it or even showering.

I agree with all of this and have some numbers for the sanitizing part. You want to have about 200 ppm of Clorox in the water to sanitize. A 5% Clorox jug has 50000 ppm, so dilute 250 to 1. So that's about 1 oz per 2 gal. So if you get the 8% Clorox its about 400 to 1 or about 1 oz per 3 gal.

I have chlorine addition for my home water and a filter. For the RV I just bypass the filter. I have a $15 inline garden hose water meter from amazon to meter in my water into the RV. Usually I like to fill for full sanitization, so at home I could skip the meter and fill to overflowing.

On the road if I have to sanitize I would mix all the desired chlorine in a bucket with a couple gal of water and hand fill into the trailer. I would meter in 20 gal via a normal water hookup rather than try to pour it in. (I have a 20 gal fresh water tank.) So that means I would put 10 oz of 5% Chlorox in the two gal I hand fill. So thats 22 gal in and that is enough to send to all the faucets and overflow showing its full.

You should also let it sit for a few minutes. Internet numbers vary from minutes to an hour or more. After maybe half to more of filling I turn on the pump and send water out every faucet(yes, at half full its 400ppm to the faucets, this isn't rocket science). Then complete the fill. I do something else for an hour and then drain and purge with lots of fresh water. I've owned my trailer since new and know I have no history of bad water. For a used trailer I would probably go the route of adding just a little chlorine as detailed in the previous note.

[eye95]

Both sources of water (bottle and tap) are tested and have to meet safety standards. The difference in standards is based on which law and which agency controls. The EPA is responsible for tap water standards. The FDA is responsible for bottled water standards.

If you buy purified water, both agencies have authority! Purified water is generally from a municipal source and is tested to EPA standards, and then it is purified and tested to FDA standards.

Not every drop of water from either source is tested. Testing, as with all products of which I am aware, is done by sampling.

We bring gallon jugs of purified water with us for drinking. We drink purified water at home.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by ProCharger

I am less than 15 years old and still 100% copper. It was only a few years ago one builder I do work for finally went to pex.

Copper is still king in higher-end single-family homes in my area. CPVC (FlowGuard Gold®) is next in line for almost all track homes and condos, but PEX is beginning to catch-up to the CPVC. Over the years we have learned the good and bad of all of these materials. The first time I ever installed PEX was around 1994 in a new retirement community where all of the houses were built on slabs and most of the water pipe was beneath the slabs. By 1994 we all had worked out that copper wasn’t ideal for sub-slab work due to its tendency to develop pin holes for no known (and still unknown) reason, so PEX became the go-to material for this type of installation. Before 1994 hardly any plumbers around me knew anything about PEX — it was difficult to source and the tools required to install it were like unicorns.

The way it stands now, in my opinion, the order of the ideal, readily-available material to use for water lines in new residential construction is:

1/ PEX
2/ Copper (Type “L”)
3/ CPVC (FlowGuard Gold®)

CPVC (FlowGuard Gold®) has proven itself to be just about as bad as polybutylene (Qest®) after only a few years from the time it is installed — especially on the hot side of a system. It won’t just blow apart without being disturbed like polybutylene does, but the pipe becomes very fragile and brittle, and it can snap or shatter with the slightest amount of movement — it’s bad stuff.

Copper will eventually develop pin holes — especially Type “M”, which is the most commonly used grade of copper used above ground in residential construction. Type “L” copper will also develop pin holes, but not as quickly as Type “M” due to its thicker wall.

PEX just seems to be perfect so far. There are no known deficiencies that I have come across other than those created by poor installation. It is inexpensive, easy to install and it has been around long enough to say it has passed the test of time. This is the ideal material for potable water systems in homes and RVs. Copper has its place, but in my opinion, CPVC should be banned, and homes that are piped with it should be re-piped with PEX before its inevitable failure causes huge losses.

Bruce

[Nogrey]

Originally Posted by Hclarkx

I flush the fresh water system with 1/4 cup of clorox in about 10 gallons after each RV storage period of two months or more. The biggest headache is purging the chlorinated water from the water heater. Incoming water mixes down the chlorine but only slowly so until we take several showers, the hot water has too much chlorine in it for our taste. I've taken to pulling out the anode rod to drain the water heater after the flush. This way I get a look at it and don't forget to replace it when it's 75% depleted.

I also try to remember to put some chlorine in the fresh tank at our last stop on the way home for some really good tank sterilization. But, I usually forget to do so.

I appreciate a good, honest answer. Hclarkx;2375751, you remind me of me. I always do my best to remember stuff, but don't always. The object of camping is to have fun, but someone has to make sure that the fun is safe. Thanks for such a good answer and sound advice, along with your good old honesty about just being human!

[Nogrey]

So many sound answers in this thread, I don't have anything more prudent to add. My family has been RV'ing since 1964. Trailers have sure come a long way since then. We used to camp on beaches in Mexico, probably 10 times/year growing up as a kid. We drank lots of soda pop, water from the tank and even water from the local sources where we could find them. I attribute my solid immune system to exposure to lots of nasty bugs that I survived as a child. I was responsible for filling the water tank before a trip from the time I was 10. I always used that good old garden hose that had been laying in the Arizona sun for years, out in the yard. Water always tasted like it too. Now, at 62, I use a certified BPA free sanitary RV hose to fill the tank with an inline filter attached. We take plenty of beverages with us and don't drink from the RV tank. I sanitize it every year after bringing it out of winter and before every trip. I would not be afraid to drink it but honestly have not ever. I even give the dog bottled water. That might sound like I'm afraid to drink it, but I'm not really. I've just gotten picky over the years about the taste. Do what others have suggested regarding sanitization and filtering and you'll be fine. Have fun too. Great post, thank you.

[wharfrat48]

Been camping/hiking all my life and have owned an RV for the past 20yrs or so. I don't think I have ever sanitized our water system and have not had any ill effects. If you ever have taken a swim in a lake or river you have undoubtedly come in contact with billions of bacteria that have entered your mouth/eyes/nose/etc. If you feel better sanitizing your tanks, you should, if not, then don't. If you have special circumstances (immunocompromised or such), then it is probably a good idea whether you drink it or not. And yes, I actually am a biochemist.

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by VR51

So let’s just drink beer and enjoy the ride!!!
Cheers.

Now that's a suggestion I can fully support!

[8.1pwr]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Not just garden hoses. Those of us who served in the military have often had to drink water from even stranger sources than a garden hose. I used to add some Kool Aid powder to my canteen to make that water taste better.

I often wondered about the quality of the water the Army had in the water buffalos when we had to fill our canteens.

[jwfrede]

Originally Posted by 8.1pwr

I often wondered about the quality of the water the Army had in the water buffalos when we had to fill our canteens.

I'd bet money they added chlorine, cheap and easy.

[dacheedah]

Originally Posted by U.S.ArmyVeteran

Oh yeah, Nothing better than water from an old "lister bag"

As a young soldier in the desert and we were handed a canvas covered bag and instructed to to fill it from a water buffalo and wet the outside of the bag. We were told this would cool the water. I had my doubts since these were hung off each side of our jeep.

Learned it actually works, not ice cold cool but much cooler than the air. Some valuable lessons to be learned from old soldiers.

[formerFR]

I'm always interested in the 'why' certain people seem to think that somehow an RV's water tank is not 'safe'... as though something is growing in there, or there is a chemical it is made of that is hazardous, or other nonsense. No RV manufacturer is going to provide a DRINKING water holding tank that is not designed and built JUST FOR THAT PURPOSE.

Drink it, it's o.k.

and if it's been 'sanitized', even better, if that makes you really 'feel' better, though it probably did NOTHING different to your tank!(or your water!)

It's interesting, because the same folks have water at their home, and it comes from a 'tank'. Either that tank is at their well, or in their basement, or if on city or county water, in those HUGE Tanks on the roadside! Tanks are perfect for holding water, WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK!
Even those who 'only' use bottled la te da' water for 'drinking' are simply fooling themselves. Where do you think that water was stored before it was 'pumped' into the bottle???

[eye95]

There is another thread where someone got some serious gunk out of his FW tank, so I am not at all curious why some would be concerned about the safety of the water in their tank.

[formerFR]

so, yes, if an rv sits for years and years with water in the tank...that's a possibility. We're not talking about that, we're talking about a BRAND NEW RV.

[NavyLCDR]

Take apart the plumbing in your house that is over 10 years old and look in there....just sayin'