Community Forums

davidnrose · 04-30-2007, 03:31 AM

I have a 2001 Dutch Star (new to me), I want to sanitize my fresh water system. The owners manual is OK but I want to make sure I do this right. My questions are, how much bleach solution do I need for a 115 gallon tank? Do I fill the tank with water in addition to the sanitizing solution or is the solution all I should pump into the tank? The manual says to flush the tank after 4 hours, does this mean fill the tank and then drain it? I understand I should make sure the solution flows to all the faucets. Any tips on this procedure would be greatly appreciated. I've never done this before, I'ts our first motorhome, Thanks!

davidnrose · 04-30-2007, 03:31 AM

I have a 2001 Dutch Star (new to me), I want to sanitize my fresh water system. The owners manual is OK but I want to make sure I do this right. My questions are, how much bleach solution do I need for a 115 gallon tank? Do I fill the tank with water in addition to the sanitizing solution or is the solution all I should pump into the tank? The manual says to flush the tank after 4 hours, does this mean fill the tank and then drain it? I understand I should make sure the solution flows to all the faucets. Any tips on this procedure would be greatly appreciated. I've never done this before, I'ts our first motorhome, Thanks!

justlou · 04-30-2007, 04:00 AM

The RVIA recommends 1 1/2 oz. bleach to 10 gals. water. 115 gals. water would require 17.25 ozs. bleach. This is only if you completely fill the fresh water tank. Since the MH is new to you, I would sanitize both the tank and system. The required contact time is 4 hours to assure a complete kill of all bacteria. If you only partially fill the tank, the bleach will only sanitize the portion of the tank that is covered by the bleach solution. If you only want to sanitize the pipes, prepare the bleach solution using the 1 1/2-10 ratio in a clean container and use the winterizing hose and water pump to fill the pipes. Let stand for 4 hours and drain. Once drained flush with clean water and follow up with a baking soda solution if you want to reduce the bleach smell. Also, if you have a water filter, remove the cartridge before sanitizing

GaryKD · 04-30-2007, 04:03 AM

Hi David,
Once you are comfortable with your water system, consider purchasing TastePure Drinking Water Freshener made by CAMCO. The instructions on how to use it are clear and printed on the side of the bottle. The bottom line is all one does is add 2 cap fulls of TastePure to the fresh water tank for every 20 gallons. Then fill the tank. That's it. There is nothing else to do. Google "tastepure drinking water freshener" to find places to purchase the product.

"007" · 04-30-2007, 08:18 AM

davidnrose welcome to the Newmar forum and irv2.

Congrats on your new to you DSDP

Lots of good avice here for you enjoy your MH many safe miles and do post often.

When your in need of some KARMA just let me know.

davidnrose · 04-30-2007, 09:06 AM

Thanks everyone for the help with sanitizing my water tank. I guess I just needed a little karma, everything went well. This forum is really great!

"007" · 04-30-2007, 09:13 AM

Now your all set.

Ray,IN · 05-01-2007, 11:20 AM

For those who prefer not to mess with bleach there are two alternatives. Thetford water tank sanitizer and Sodium Dichlor found at the bottom of the page.

"007" · 05-01-2007, 11:31 AM

Thanks for the links Ray,

will come in handy for some locations on the forums.

RVDude · 05-01-2007, 02:23 PM

Rather than play the guessing game as to how much chlorine is in my system or how fresh it is, I test it. Head to an aquarium store and buy chlorine test strips for a couple bucks. These measure chlorine concentrations in parts per million (ppm).

For system disinfecting it seems desirable to achieve a 4.0ppm to 5.0ppm level for a contact time of several hours. Remember, too much chlorine can damage plumbing.

For those that dose their drinking water (or fill from unknown sources), it seems drinking chlorine levels in the 0.2ppm to 0.5ppm are typical (for tap water) though this varies greatly throughout the country. Conduct you own trials to make sure.

The test strips tell me exactly what is in my tank - no guessing on this important topic.