sanitizing water tank

[Robert-W]

I am reading the information in my handbook on sanitizing the fresh water tank. The terminology "one gallon water and K cup of chlorine bleach and 4Vz gallons of chlorine solution for my particular unit.( 3807 2004) have me confused. Does this mean one gallon of water to 1 cup of bleach and 4 gallons of this solution for my unit.

["007"]

When I do mine every spring after flushing out the RV anti I take my water hose empty and pure bleach down the hose attached to inlet than turn on water which will flow through filter less filter housing and into fresh water tank.
Will than run pump to all sinks and washer connections, showers and through water heater.
Will let set over night than flush with fresh water and everything smells fresh and clean.
Will than place new water filters whole house and combo for kitchen sink and ice maker.
You can try this also. From Quick Tips.
If you over do it may have bleached tasting for whole camping season.

[Rmellen]

I also have an '04 Dutch star 3810. Mine takes 14oz of household bleach, put that in a 5 gallon bucket and fill the bucket with water, put the clear hose thats in your water bay it the bucket and use the water pump in the coach to puimp that solution into the tank, then fill the tank. Follow the rest of the directions. Works great.

[Parkerrs]

Rmellen has the mixture about right, I use 12oz. in 5 gallons for mine. I don't have the manual in front of me but there is an equation for how many onces of bleach for the gallon capacity of your holding tank, mine is 100 gal..

I don't run it through the water heater, I drain the heater after each trip by pulling the anode rod. I use the water heater by-pass when sanitizeing (had a bad experience years ago). Put the solution in your tank and then fill the tank completely. Use your water pump while fill hose is disconnected to run the solution from your full tank to all spigots both hot and cold. This will ensure all lines are filled with the bleach water solution. According to my owners manual let this sit for a minimum of 4 hours, longer will not hurt but no less than 4 hours.

After this (I also let mine sit overnight) Drain the tank completely. Re-fill the tank with fresh water and flush all lines until chlorine smell is gone. I then drain the tank again to flush it, open water heater by-pass and fill to desired level for trip. You should remove all water filter elements when doing this or replace immediatlly after flushing the system or they will hold concentrations of chlorine.

DO NOT overdose with chlorine!!!!! This is a case where if a little is good alot is better will come back to bite you in the rear. That is the bad situation I spoke of. It is almost impossible to flush the hot water heater out completely without pulling the rod to drain and doing it several times. Years ago (1998) with my fifth wheel I found out the hard way. I loaned it to my parents for 2 months for a trip. They didn't know to drain the tanks upon return, the fresh water system had the most fowl odor when I got ready for the next trip. It would run you out of the unit when you opened a spigot. So I figured if a little is good well THEN. I poured 3 gallons of bleach into a 50 gal. fresh water tank and topped it off, also filled the hot water heater. This was while already at the first stop on our trip. After half a day I drained every thing and flushed it out. Wonderful, no more odor and clean water. However the hot water heater had retained alot of the solution. After all of this on a hot day at Myrtle beach I wanted a shower. Needless to say a HOT shower. The water wreaked of chlorine but I figured I would just take a long shower and use all of the hot water to flush it out. BAD MOVE! I contracted what I later found out was CHLORINE POISONING! Chlorine in too high of a dose will sink into your pores and poison you. I later was trained in all of this when I started installing underground water mains in my former construction business.(We use a chlorine mixture to sanitize new 6" mains). This little situation will have you glued to your toilet and heaving in a can at the same time for 24-48 hours. I don't wish it on my worst enemy, so please don't overdose with chlorine, use it in the correct amounts.

Tommy