Sanitizing with city water

[dieselclacker]

Originally Posted by CapnMorgan

Good grief, didn't know these things were rolling primary vectors of contagion. I'm suprised we don't have to register with the CDC.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by CapnMorgan

Good grief, didn't know these things were rolling primary vectors of contagion. I'm suprised we don't have to register with the CDC.

What...you telling me I didn't have to do that? Man, wish I knew that BEFORE I did that.

[AFChap]

Spray bottle with high concentration of bleach to water...

Those who use this on hydrants before you hook up, how often do you replace your bleach water?? ...chlorine disapates fairly quickly and I noticed a bottle I prepared didn't stay "charged" very long.

Before full timing I sanitized our tank/system when bringing the rig out of long-term storage ...de-winterize and sanitize. I use sodium di-chlor crystals (think hot tub) rather than bleach. The crystals are easier/safer to carry, and the taste is washed out easier as there is less salts than in bleach. We started full timing in June 2005., and the system was last sanitized in March 2005. We regurly add water to the tank, and use the water in the rig just as we do in a stick house ...drink it, wash with it, etc. We DO always have a 1micron sediment filter between the hydrant and the tank (changed quarterly under normal conditions), and a charcoal filter under the galley sink that filters drinking and ice maker water.

[TonyDi]

I put a funnel in my hose (white one) and pour in the appropiate amount of bleach. Hold the hose up so bleach doesn't spill back on you and attach it to your water spigot. turn on the water valve and TADA!! This process sanitizes the hose as well as the tank.

[Wolfpack Fan]

I sanitize our fresh water tank at the beggining of our camping season. Maybe mid season, depending how much we camp. I do not use bleach though. The dwell time for bleach to kill bacteria is to long, depending on how concentrated your solution is. You also need to rinse your tank after using bleach. The rinse is an added step I can avoid by using a quat based sanitizer. Quat (Quantenary Ammonium) is commonly used in restaurants and food processing facilities in the manual dish washing sinks and is rinse free, as long as the concentration level doesn't exceed 200 ppm quat. When you go out to eat, in some restaurants, it's the last solution that made contact with your utensils and plates before you put them in your mouth or ate off of them. It's very safe.

There are folks that will use the fresh water hose bib to rinse their sewage slinky. Those folks are either inconsiderate idiots that don't care, or they just don't know and understand the problem they can potentially create for someone else by doing this. I keep a bottle of quat sanitizer available and spray the hose connection liberally before attaching my own hose. Bleach works on this also, but bleach looses it's effectiveness in about 24 hours. It also eats the seals on the pump nozzle of a spray bottle. We also use a water filter if we're hooking up to campground water. It doesn't purify the water, but it will remove sediment, many impurities and improve flavor. Quat sanitizer can be purchased from a restaurant supply store fairly inexpensively. I sell chemicals for a living so I have plenty of samples that I need to periodically test out.

And to think, when I was a kid I used to drink well water straight out of that old green hose next to mom and dads house. I loved the iron taste of it and never had any problems with it, aside from maybe a rusty bladder.

[Pricejh]

For the good of the order, I'd like to point out that when we are sanatizing our systems that we need to be using a real "bleach" such as javix or original Chlorox bleach verses Chlorox 2 "Whitners" or the whitner with smell 'um stuff.

Chlorox and Javix both contain Sodium Hypochlorite at between 3 and 7%. Chlorox 2 uses Hydrogen peroxide at about 2 to 7%. Hydrogen peroxide at the dilution levels we are talking about would be too weak to sanatize our water systems. We need the free chlorene released by the sodium hypochlorite to kill off the bugs.

Besides, you don't want your drinking water to smell and taste like some fruity flower, do you?

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by AFChap

Those who use this on hydrants before you hook up, how often do you replace your bleach water?? ...chlorine disapates fairly quickly and I noticed a bottle I prepared didn't stay "charged" very long.

I carry these instead...