donn0128 wrote: Blowing them out will not sanitize them. You really need to properly sanitize the system before yse.
I've never drank water from the lines in the camper...there just isn't any way to be sure they're clean from trip to trip without bleaching them or something similar... shudder....
Me and my 3 girls
2013 Cougar 293SAB
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I guess those that do not use their potable water system just don't really trust themselves to do a thorough job of sanitizing the water system or what is it? Why don't you use the water system. In over 35 years of RVing I have never had an issue with water. Then again I do sanitize the system and generally carry water from home. But I am not afraid to use camp ground water either, whether it is well water or municipal water. I just have a real hard time spending all that much money on bottled water that tests have shown to be less reliable than the water from my tap.
Donn,Lorri,Max (The Rescued Lab)
Resident Know It All
donn0128 wrote: I guess those that do not use their potable water system just don't really trust themselves to do a thorough job of sanitizing the water system or what is it? Why don't you use the water system. In over 35 years of RVing I have never had an issue with water. Then again I do sanitize the system and generally carry water from home. But I am not afraid to use camp ground water either, whether it is well water or municipal water. I just have a real hard time spending all that much money on bottled water that tests have shown to be less reliable than the water from my tap.
We use it for cooking water (water that will be boiled), showers, washing, etc. just not for cold water that will be ingested. The taste of campground water not withstanding, I prefer bottled water to drink.
Far less work for me and much less chance of someone drinking a bug.
BTW...with sodium hypochlorite (bleach) you need no more than 20 minutes wet contact time for the chemicals to do their work at 3 PPM concentrations which are well below the concentrations suggested here. If you can smell the bleach, you're WAY over 3 PPM.
Good luck!
* This post was
edited 04/13/12 07:49pm by Biggziff *
I'm with Donn on this. Sanitize, flush, rinse and go for it. Maybe my body has more immunity from being around the world a time or two, but unless your taking the water from a drain pool or pasture pond, water from a spigot is water, particularly in a camppground.
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We have always sanitized per the instructions and then put in baking soda and sloshed it around a bit, empty the tank and the water heater, and then tow to the campground, fill the tank with water and drink it, put it in the drinks if we want, brush our teeth with it, etc. In 18 years we haven't yet caught a bug, but you never know. Only time we have a problem was when son borrowed the trailer, put some water in the tank, but hooked up and didn't drain the water for a while. When we got it home, there was a terrible smell and so much "stuff" in the fresh water tank it wouldn't drain. So, I just took the tank out of the trailer, filled it part way a couple of times with a bleach solution and then baking soda solution and it was as good as new. Used that tank for about six or seven years after that with no problems. Why wouldn't you use water out of the tank to drink, etc????
Yes I blow out the antifreez. But I do it right after putting it in. Since we don't see subzero temps I don't care if it get watered down just a bit. There is still some liquid left in the system, but it seems to flush out with less water.
donn0128 wrote: I guess those that do not use their potable water system just don't really trust themselves to do a thorough job of sanitizing the water system or what is it? Why don't you use the water system.
Why would you just jump to that assumption? 90% of my camping is boondocking. It only makes sense to keep the water in the tanks for washing, showering, toilet flushing. We keep four of the blue five gallon jugs with the fauctes on them for cooking / coffee making. And we drink bottled water at home anyways. So, we throw a few cases of that in. Its all about conservation. Has nothing to do with "not trusting myself to do a thorough job". I'm quite capable.
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