Sanitizing Warning

[MtnGuy]

While sanitizing my water system today, I remembered something I read on another forum. The article said not to use splash-less Clorox in RV water systems. The splash-less Clorox contains sodium hydroxide, not just the sodium hypochlorite needed to sanitize. Sodium hydroxide is caustic soda (lye)......not a good thing to be adding to a water system.

Plus it reads on the bottle: "Not for sanitization or disinfection. To sanitize and disinfect, use Clorox regular bleach".

What got me thinking about this is that I 1st found the splash-less bottle before finding the regular bleach.

[Dp26]

Good advice. I use bleach for my hot tub for the same reason.

Use unscented bleach. Regular is usually 6%, the concentrated is 8.25%. For sanitize, strength prob not a big factor, but for hot tub, it is needed to use the proper amount.

[Alleyantique]

I read somewhere that you can sanitize just by filling your tank with unfiltered city water. There is enough chlorine to kill just about anything. Letting Unchlorinated water sit is an invitation for bacteria and fungi to grow.

[Iwritecode]

I always buy the generic off-brand bleach.

[Oakman]

That's a great heads up for those of us who sanitize our fresh water system.

[windsurfdog]

Originally Posted by Dp26

Good advice. I use bleach for my hot tub for the same reason.

Use unscented bleach. Regular is usually 6%, the concentrated is 8.25%. For sanitize, strength prob not a big factor, but for hot tub, it is needed to use the proper amount.

You use sodium hypochlorite which has a ph of around 11 to chlorinate your hot tub? Whew! Better to use Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione (dichlor) which is close to ph neutral (7.0). Have only sanitized my trailer water system once...with a dichlor solution of around 10 ppm.

Keep that dry acid handy if you continue to use Chlorox in your tub!

[mkosu04]

municipal water lines might have sediment and mineral buildup, but this is hardly the same as an RV water line.

Municipal water lines are full of municipal water (obviously) which is treated to prevent bad stuff from growing. And it is counting on a fairly constant/regular flow to always have fresh water in the line.

Compared to RVs that are regularly filled with well water, then blown out, and left to sit for months at a time. This is a very different use case, that could lead to nasty stuff growing in the water lines.

Sure, some people might be "lucky" and not get sick.
But why take the chance when its so very quick and easy to run a little bleach water through the lines in the spring???

[Herk7769]

While we don't drink the water from the holding tank normally, I certainly don't want any ugliness when brushing my teeth and cooking.

We had our fresh water tank drain clogged with algae (crud?) and sanitizing cleared it. Also if your hot water starts to smell funny, sanitizing the hot water tank is the only solution.

[Semperfi24]

Not saying one way is better than the other, or it needs to be sanitized or not. But a few thoughts crossed my mind on this. First, if you are using treated city water, not well water, do you need to sanitize? The amount of bleach you put into the tank is no more or less (in theory) than what the city water provides. My second thought is, people generally sanitize before they use the tank at the beginning of the season, and then don't do anything until the next season when they again sanitize during de-winterization. My point on that is, when is it more likely to grow something nasty? During the winter months when its 35 degrees (and full of antifreeze/or air if it was just blown out), or during the summer months when its 100+ inside your camper 14 hours a day every day (assumption that it is stored outside/in sunlight). My point is, you are sanitizing after winter, when the freezing temps will kill anything in there/prevent growth. But then you will go month after month after month of scorching summer temps, without a thought to sanitizing the tanks. If you have a strong concern about growth, wouldn't the summer be the time to sanitize? Wouldn't you sanitize before every use of the camper? I'm not trying to spark any sort of argument one way or the other, maybe there are explanations for why to sanitize and when, versus when you don't need to. If the sanitation is simply for cleaning up after the RV Antifreeze, I get that. Just a few thoughts

[Herk7769]

Sanitizing before every trip makes sense, but I still probably won't. I do a heavy chlorine wash at the start of the season and service with chlorinated city water before every trip.

If I had well water, I would probably do it every trip; but that is just me.

[5picker]

I do mine about every 90 days during camping season.
That's about the same frequency I chlorinate my well water and my home plumbing.

[GreenImp]

Will do...thanks for the advice!


This is the first I have ever heard of this particular difference in the bleaches...thanks to the OP for pointing it out. Generally speaking, I sanitize when de-winterizing but it's low priority for me...I skip it some years.

[KyDan]

Originally Posted by MtnGuy

While sanitizing my water system today, I remembered something I read on another forum. The article said not to use splash-less Clorox in RV water systems. The splash-less Clorox contains sodium hydroxide, not just the sodium hypochlorite needed to sanitize. Sodium hydroxide is caustic soda (lye)......not a good thing to be adding to a water system.

Plus it reads on the bottle: "Not for sanitization or disinfection. To sanitize and disinfect, use Clorox regular bleach".

What got me thinking about this is that I 1st found the splash-less bottle before finding the regular bleach.

I have a bottle of Clorox "regular" bleach. (I use a splash of it in my
ornamental garden fountains weekly to kill algae and skeeters.)
Today DW came home with a replacement bottle of a store house brand
bleach. Meijer Low Splash Bleach- compare to Clorox splashless bleach.

It says plainly on the bottle contains sodium hypochlorite.
That's all it says.

BUT if it's REALLY comparable to Clorox splashless I checked the
Clorox MSDS here https://cdn01-www-thecloroxcompany-c...ularbleach.pdf

The MSDS says it's got both hypochlorite and hydroxide in it.
It also says the sodium hydroxide is 1% or less.

So..... DW or I am gonna take back the store brand "splashless" and get
the "REGULAR" unscented bleach like your momma used to use!!

Thanks for the post Chap! Welcome back to FRF!!

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by KyDan

Thanks for the post Chap! Welcome back to FRF!!

Thanks, Dan. I check back here from time to time.

The reason for this thread is just to make members that choose to sanitize their water systems aware of which bleach type is probably the best to use. If members choose not to sanitize, then this thread doesn't apply to them.

There were some good points brought up here. I choose to sanitize my water system yearly before camping season, even though I am on a municipal water system. People "shock" there pools when needed, and I like to "shock" my water system once a year, or after filling it from a questionable water source. I would probably be sanitizing several times a year if I used only untreated well water. Make no mistake, I love untreated well water better than town water, and if no contaminants enter the well it should be perfectly safe to drink untreated. But untreated water sitting in a holding tank could lead to some bacterial growth introduced from the fill hoses, fill pipes, vent tubes, or other sources.

[Dwilcox]

As a plumber I look at the bio film (good organic growth) that forms on the inside layer of the tank and piping in all water systems that, when dry, will die off and decompose witch can promote bad organic growth. Bleaching at the beginning of the season will clean and flush this old growth out and allows a new fresh bio film to grow for the camping season and will help prevent bad stuff growing.
Regardless, we bring drinking water and use the tank water for flushing, cleaning and cooking. If I drink it then a little Buorbon should clean it up.😃

[Iwannacamp]

IMO there are many opportunities to introduce germs and bacteria into the water storage of your RV. To me much more so than residential water. If you "store" water at home to drink that was bottled by you then I bet it's not very old and kept in the fridge. To me it just makes sense to sanitize. It costs nothing. It could prevent sickness and it doesn't take long to do. Cheap insurance. IMO

[Cardinal5er]

Not sure where to post, but here goes. The water lines in my Cardinal 5th wheel smell terrible. Bath sink and shower both hot and cold, using well water and not using from the tank. This has been going on for four years since I bought it. Have tried bleach sanitizing with no luck. This year, I read to use potassium metabisulfite, which is used to sanitize wine bottles before bottling and claims to be easy on the pump and it's seals. I did not realize that I had left some antifreeze, propylene glycol, in the tank before adding water and the potassium metabisulfite. The product coming from the faucet was light pink and fizzy and a peculiar smell that gave me a headache and even set off the propane detector alarm. I immediately opened all the windows and turned on the exhaust fans. Any chemists with any explanations or comment?

[youroo]

Cardinal5er,you need to contact "The Center For Disease Control" they will help with your Water Issue! Youroo!!

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Cardinal5er

Not sure where to post, but here goes. The water lines in my Cardinal 5th wheel smell terrible. Bath sink and shower both hot and cold, using well water and not using from the tank. This has been going on for four years since I bought it. Have tried bleach sanitizing with no luck. This year, I read to use potassium metabisulfite, which is used to sanitize wine bottles before bottling and claims to be easy on the pump and it's seals. I did not realize that I had left some antifreeze, propylene glycol, in the tank before adding water and the potassium metabisulfite. The product coming from the faucet was light pink and fizzy and a peculiar smell that gave me a headache and even set off the propane detector alarm. I immediately opened all the windows and turned on the exhaust fans. Any chemists with any explanations or comment?

Potassium MetaBiSulfate sanitizes by releasing sulfur dioxide gas into the air and water. It is quite pungent and in high concentrations used in sanitizing can be quite painful when inhaled. It is not "poisonous" per se, but the gas is not pleasant. I usually test my sanitizing solution to see if it is still "good" by waving my hand over the open gallon jug. If I jump back; it is "good"!

It will not interact with the propylene glycol in the RV antifreeze.

You just got a good whiff of SO2.

I would drain, then flush with a baking soda solution.

Lou

[Cardinal5er]

Thanks, Lou. The mix called for 2oz. Per gallon. It was a 1lb package, so I mixed it with 8 gallons of water in the fresh water tank. I could not get the pump to presserize, so I added another 8 gal. The gas that it gave off did set off the propane detector alarm, which was scary. It is very good to know that it was not a chemical reaction due to the antifreeze mix. Good news is, the smell is gone. Thank you for your time and advice, kind sir.