American Coach: Fresh water tank cleaning

[THenman]

Hi;We have had our coach for a few years and I need to clean out the fresh water tank. I am not sure how to do that. Only input that I see is the hose. Is there a second location to pour in something or do I need something that will attach to hose?


16 Tradition


Tom

[Bobbafett]

There is a winterizing kit. With a hand pump.
You can add the bleach solution with that.
Only way I can get it into my fresh water tank. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Camco-Ha...RoCzb0QAvD_BwE

Frankly I don't do it. I fill and drain the tank regularly and don't use it for drinking. I just get gallon jugs. If I were to use it for drinking. Then maybe.

There are good videos on YouTube explaining the process. I think RV geeks us the better one out there

[cavie]

google is your friend. there is also a search engine on the top right of this page.

[THenman]

Thank you Bobbafett, I feared that might be the case.

Lot’s of help there cavie, not!


Tom

[Bigd9]

If your American Coach doesn't have a gravity fill port, then I would simply pour bleach into a water supply hose, then connect the supply hose to a city water faucet. When you turn on the water it will posh the bleach solution into the tank.

It doesn't tank a lot of bleach to do the job. According to Clorox, just 1/2 teaspoon of regular unscented bleach per every 10 gallons. So if you have a 100 gallon tank, it only takes 5 teaspoons or about a 1/4 cup (if I did the math correctly)
https://www.clorox.com/how-to/disinf...g-water-tanks/

[Bobbafett]

Originally Posted by THenman

Thank you Bobbafett, I feared that might be the case.

Lot’s of help there cavie, not!


Tom

Dont fear. Super easy 1/4 cup for ever 15 gallons.
7g gallon would be 1.5 cups. Just dilute in a bucket with a gallon of water. Pump it in. Then fill the tank. Until the you get runoff from overflow.
Run all faucets until you smell bleach. Leave in for a few hours. Drain and repeat with fresh water. Or just drain. Bleach in water will dissipate when in open air.

[OneOrbit]

Hi,

RVGeeks made a video or two on this subject.
All of their videos are very well made.

https://www.thervgeeks.com/plumbing/...-water-system/

[Cincy Steve]

We sanitize ours about every 6 months. Even if you're not drinking from the fresh tank, do you really want to bathe or cook w/funky water?

[Gary RVRoamer]

All you need to do is sanitize and flush it, ala the RVgeeks video or Bobbafetts post. If your coach doesn't have a gravity fill port, it's easiest to get a hand pump that connects to the city inlet or rig an extra 12v or 120v electric pump with a hose fitting. You need some pressure to force the city inlet check valve open, so you can't just pour it in. Open the tank fill valve so the bleach solution runs into the tank as well as the water lines.



https://www.homedepot.com/p/Camco-Ha...6003/205518939

[Stonehands]

Bobbafett is correct. On my Bounder 35B it’s a quarter cup per 15 gallons of water. I put in a cup and a half in s 5 gallon pail and used a long neck funnel in the gravity fill port and then filled rest with hose. Let it stand a few hours drain and flush till mo smell. And yes, before draining, run all taps and shower lines. Good luck.

[MEWright]

We drain ours every time we get home, rinse it and sanitize it every 6 months. 1 cup of bleach fill the tank, run the faucets drain everything. The remaining will be bleach solution that does not drain will dilute when I fill the tank again.

I only use our water off the pump for drinking when on the road and if the CG has funky water. I dont like to drink their water and the DW wont use CG water for her coffee.

We use bottles we fill at the house for those times at CGs and once unhooked from GC supply we can fill our bottles. I only use our icemaker when using our water and turn it off when it at CG's. THis is overkill but its my process.

We also have a filters on the house line in the hose, a coach whole house filter and a filter on the fridge.. Cant be too careful with water.

[Maik]

On my coach you can use the water pump to fill the fresh water tank by sucking out of a container, that has bleach water solution. It is the same way you winterize the water lines with RV antifreeze. My old AC 98 can do it your surely must be able to. We usually add bleach every year in the spring when we de winterize on our first camping trip. We also still use bottled water for brushing teeth, coffee and drinking.

[Gordon Dewald]

Drain your filling hose, pour in the amount of bleach you want, hook up the hose and start filling the tank.