Recipe to sanitize my fresh water tank.

[SGWS-RETIRED]

Our new trailer has a 90 gallon fresh water tank. I’m only going to keep about 10 to 15 gallons in it when we travel and that’s mainly for roadside emergencies.
What is the safest formula to keep this water safe and useable?

 

[ependydad]

I personally use 1/4 cup of bleach to every 10-15 gallons of water that you're adding it to.

Note sure if you're looking for a whole article on sanitizing the water system:
https://learntorv.com/eww-stinky-water-sanitizing-the-fresh-water-system/

 

[SGWS-RETIRED]

Ependydad, that’s exactly what I was looking for, thank you.

 

[jimmarako]

I personally use 1/4 cup of bleach to every 10-15 gallons of water that you're adding it to.

Note sure if you're looking for a whole article on sanitizing the water system:
https://learntorv.com/eww-stinky-water-sanitizing-the-fresh-water-system/

Is the OP looking to sanitize his tank? It sounded like he wanted some way to keep the water fresh in the tank while traveling. Probably not dangerous but would you drink water with 1/4 bleach to 10 gallons? Would think pre and post cleanings would be enough.

Jim M.

 

[ependydad]

Is the OP looking to sanitize his tank? It sounded like he wanted some way to keep the water fresh in the tank while traveling. Probably not dangerous but would you drink water with 1/4 bleach to 10 gallons? Would think pre and post cleanings would be enough.

Jim M.

Re-reading it, you very well might be right. My take was to sanitize it to make sure it was good and then be able to safely carry water after that.

I wouldn’t want to consume bleach water in the concentration I identified. You can most definitely smell the bleach.

I don’t have any idea how much bleach you would add to existing water to keep it clean and drinkable. I’d likely just as soon as dump it if it got stale, potentially re-sanitize it, and then refill.

That said, I do know at one point that www.rvwaterfilterstore.com had something that you could dump a cap-full into the tank in order to keep the water fresh. It had no taste or odor.

 

[TitanMike]

Re-reading it, you very well might be right. My take was to sanitize it to make sure it was good and then be able to safely carry water after that.

I wouldn’t want to consume bleach water in the concentration I identified. You can most definitely smell the bleach.

I don’t have any idea how much bleach you would add to existing water to keep it clean and drinkable. I’d likely just as soon as dump it if it got stale, potentially re-sanitize it, and then refill.

That said, I do know at one point that www.rvwaterfilterstore.com had something that you could dump a cap-full into the tank in order to keep the water fresh. It had no taste or odor.

The EPA website has info on this. They recommending a couple "Drops" of bleach per quart to CLEAR water in emergencies.

There's a "motto" used by many for purifying drinking water " You need to be 21 to drink" which translated means "two drops per quart". For larger quantities a 1/4 tsp is 24.6446 drops so just do the math.

Using this I merely add 1 tsp per 12 gallons when I fill my tank (using a meter on the end of the hose. Since I left my Onboard Filter where it was installed, and use the KW-1 filter (or equivalent from S. Korea) I taste absolutely NO chlorine as it's filtered by the charcoal block.

Here's the website:

https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/emergency-disinfection-drinking-water

I even do this when I fill my tank at home even though my city water is really good, just to make sure the tank remains "sterile".

 

[NJKris]

Once the tank is sanitized with bleach, you can keep water up to 6 months according to CDC, if kept out of sunlight. I would still drain it and replenish it every few weeks if was me.

 

[5picker]

Our new trailer has a 90 gallon fresh water tank. I’m only going to keep about 10 to 15 gallons in it when we travel and that’s mainly for roadside emergencies.
What is the safest formula to keep this water safe and useable?

Once the tank is sanitized... 1 teaspoon bleach per 5 gallons.

 

[D W]

Ependydad, that’s exactly what I was looking for, thank you.

Contrary to that article, the rotten egg smell does not come from the anode rod. It is caused by the mineral content of the water from it's original source.

 

[ependydad]

The EPA website has info on this. They recommending a couple "Drops" of bleach per quart to CLEAR water in emergencies.

Thanks greatly for all of the info. I learned something new today.

 

[NJKris]

"Alexa, how many drops in a teaspoon? About 99 drops". "Thank you Alexa!" lol.


Like Brylcreem, a little dab'll do ya!