Smelly fresh water ..again.

[Clemson]

Never in my 30 years of owning boats and RVs I have never read such dangerous recommendations to sanitize fresh water tanks in my life. Anyone who uses pool/spa/ treatments are seriously misinformed and advising other owners to use such chemical is wrong! If you feel you need to sanitize your tank use 1 oz of bleach to 15 gallons of capacity....we have found that a product called AQUA FRESH, available at most marine parts store, is outstanding. DO NOT allow bleach or any sanitizer to enter you hot water heater.....

[cekkk]

Originally Posted by GCSuper

If you use "unscented" bleach, how do you smell it ?

Bleach has a natural smell that's distinctive. I believe the poster was referring to the varieties that are now available on the grocery shelf. You can get a various scents. I don't know them specifically but, for instance, they might have lemon scent or rose petal set. Just stuff like that that you would not want to put into your tank. You will get plenty of odor from unscented bleach

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by AFChap

I have always used 1/16 tsp Sodium Dichlor to 6 gal water in ours because I had it on hand when I needed to sanitize the first time. It is commonly used as hot tub or pool chlorinator. It is a powder so easier to store than a liquid. Very potent so doesn't take much to do the job ... and no salt residue or after-taste as with common bleach.

Paul, that's overdosing, the advised amount is 1/2 tsp per 100G to disinfect unknown drinking water, 1 tsp per 100G to sanitize(don't drink this) a drinking water system. That is for 70% chlorine/ Sodium Dichlor. More is not better, use a measuring 1/2 tsp.

[J-N-Lham]

We had the rotten egg smell in our water heater. I called Atwood who makes the heater. The rep strongly expressed "Do not use bleach in water heater" He explained the tank is aluminum and the bleach would have a reaction.
The recommendation was to use white vinegar. I took the advise and use the bypass on HWH put in I think 7 gallons of vinegar have the exact ratio written down, top it off with water and let it set. I do use bleach to sanitize my water storage tank and lines. Pretty sure he didnt have stock in a white vinegar company.
Oh I do flush the heater with water end of season and beginning so do not have to do this often, just when eggy.

[jcurtisis]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Paul, that's overdosing, the advised amount is 1/2 tsp per 100G to disinfect unknown drinking water, 1 tsp per 100G to sanitize(don't drink this) a drinking water system. That is for 70% chlorine/ Sodium Dichlor. More is not better, use a measuring 1/2 tsp.

Ray, that isn’t what is in my Winnebago operator’s manual. 1 teaspoon for ten gallons is for superchlorination for continuous sanitation; a cord water filter will remove the chlorine for drinking

[JETAV8R]

Originally Posted by Odessa

Has anyone used 'pool shock' ( calcium hypochlorite) in their fresh water tank to keep the water potable?

I flush my entire water system with a solution of one quart Clorox Regular Bleach added to my 70 gallon water tank.

I am full-time, so I tend to stay at a campground for roughly a month at a time. When I arrive, I fill my fresh tank with that solution of one quart of bleach to 70 gallons of water and it just sits in the fresh tank for the month. That way I know there are no microbes growing in the fresh tank in the summer heat while I’m stationary.

A couple of days before leaving, I drain my hot water tank, and drain all of my water lines. If you don’t have a water line drain, you can use a blow-out plug. If you don’t have compressed air for the flow-out plug, you’ll just need to let the bleach solution run through your lines a little longer.

I turn off the city water and use the water pump to draw water from the fresh tank. Fill the hot water tank and then run all of the faucets, including the washing machine.

I then let solution that sit in the lines for an hour or so while I take a walk. Turn water pump off.

I then drain the water tank again, and drain all the lines. Once drained, I then fill the hot water tank and the lines from city water and let it run until there is no chlorine smell.

In addition to this, I use a water filter system that has four filters. The first two are 5 micron sentiment filters, the third is a 1 micron sediment filter and the forth is a charcoal filter.

You would be astonished at how much sediment is in RV park water. Some parks I can get through an entire month without changing the filters. Some are so full of sediment that I need to change the sediment filters every 3 - 4 days, and the first two 5 micron are chocolate brown, while the third, 1 micron is tea shade brown.

Those little blue filters you see hanging off of most rigs are worthless. If you have one, take it apart after a month.

I have three Culligan RVF-10 RV Water Filter Systems hooked together - then with short lengths of hose to run to the faucet and one to run from the filters to the trailer water inlet.

I replaced the plastic connectors on these filters with bronze connectors assembled from the local hardware store. The charcoal filter goes in the filter housing that is installed in the trailer.

https://www.waterfilters.net/culliga...er-system.html

I buy the filters in bulk on Amazon, The sediment filters are under two bucks each. The charcoal filters are about eight bucks each on Amazon. I generally only change the charcoal filter once every two months.

Finally, if you ever need to sanitize water, the ratio published by Clorox is eight drops of bleach per gallon of water.

https://www.clorox.com/how-to/disinf...rifying-water/

[JCM]

Originally Posted by Scott 3

Do you leave your tank empty for long period of time between fill ups? If so, your tank could be growing stuff on the exposed surfaces.

It is dry so I have never had a problem but I still like to fill once a year with city (chlorinated) water - then dump it and go back to RO water.

[gibbyid]

This is from Attwood Manual on how to clean smells from tak.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/84...page=28#manual

[Slim Tim]

I had a smelly And bad tasting fresh water issue that would not go away for any period of time. I flushed and sanitized the water system (Fresh water tank, water heater and lines) multiple times. The issue would go away for a short period and then come back. The cause of the issue ended up being hot and cold water lines that were deadheaded. My RV is set up for a washer and dryer but I do not have the washer/dryer unit installed. Apparently these lines would not drain even when I blew air through the system (depending on how much time I have for winterizing I will blow out the lines or use RV Antifreeze). The water in the lines goes bad and no matter how much stuff you put in the system it will not fix the problem. I ended up uncapping the lines and flushing them out and this fixed the issue.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by gibbyid

This is from Attwood Manual on how to clean smells from tak.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/84...page=28#manual

Wow, I am glad I don't have a Attwood water heater.

For flushing they say when you drain 2 quarts are still left in the water heater; because of the placement of the drain plug. This water contains most of the harmful corrosive particles.

Then when trying to get rid of hydrogen sulfide smell they say Mix solution of 4 parts white vinegar to two parts water. (For a 10 gallon tank, use 6 gallons vinegar to 3 gallons water). With a funnel, carefully pour solution into tank.

I only add water to my water heater when bypass valve is open and the pump is on or city water line supplying pressure. ( I have Suburban Gas Heater)

I saw earlier on post where someone was saying to NOT put chlorine in the water heater?

The chlorine bleach we use is like 6% diluted to start with, and when you mix with the water it is further diluted. I don't see that causing any harm, if it does my manual is wrong. Note: Pool Chlorine or Shock is asinine and entirely different matter. I would never put pool shock in my water tank or water heater. If my water heater was that bad with hydrogen sulfides, I would just assume get a new one, because somewhere down the line it had not been maintained properly.

I think some are making this too complicated. When I wish to sanitize, I drain tanks in full and blowout the water heater and lines. Go add about a 20 oz of bleach in the water filter dispenser. (take the filter out). Fill up the fresh water tank system with water. Open bypass to fillup water heater. Turn on all faucets, sinks, shower hot and cold until I smell bleach and stop. Let it sit overnight or as long as necessary and then drain. Blow out again. Then add fresh water and I am good . I do twice a year just as general rule. If I was someplace where water was known to be bad, I guess I would do upon leaving and maybe again when I got back home.

[AFChap]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Paul, that's overdosing, the advised amount is 1/2 tsp per 100G to disinfect unknown drinking water, 1 tsp per 100G to sanitize(don't drink this) a drinking water system. That is for 70% chlorine/ Sodium Dichlor. More is not better, use a measuring 1/2 tsp.

Don't know what strength I have. I have not used it in many years as we use the fresh water tank often enough we have not had to sanitize since getting some bad water about 2007 or so. That was what I calculated in about 2003 with the Sodium Dichlor I had on hand from our hot tub. 1/16tsp per 6 G would be 1 tsp per 96 gal, about the same as our 1 tsp per 100G. I found another set of instructions in my checklists that said 1 1/2 tsp for 100G. I'll have to dig out my bottle and see what strength it is. You are definitely right that more of this stuff is not better ... it is very powerful.

[ACEnergySave]

1 t. to 1 g. water is state law to wipe tables in the restaurant. Overdosing is perfectly fine, in fact, the faster the better so NOT to leave it in the system so long that you forget to get it flushed out. Once flushed out, the only think that matters is that you did the job 100%, not 99% because 1% will become a full contaminated system in no time.

This string has danced around the scientific world for a very long time.

I have experience with this AND the bad old hose which is REALLY bad smell and taste. The material breakdown is likely unhealthy to some degree but we are RVing NOT to be mechanics or but to ENJOY and the smell and taste is high on the enjoyment quash-able list.

My 35+' motorized 14 year old hose has never leaked but has deteriorated in the sun. The section that has NOT been exposed to the sun is like new and this system is too difficult to dismantle to the point that it is replaces all the way into the coiling mechanism so I opted to splice the Good 5/8" id hose with a 50' 1/2" id hose. There is a barb to barb 1/2 x 5/8 brass connector for this application.

The end results is a smaller diameter, stronger, longer and easier to accommodate on the coil, hose that provides perfect quality water and pressure into this luxury coach. If it's good enough for a half million dollar coach, I think it should work for most anything.

I hope this helps the followers, 100%.

Regards,
Rich

[NeilV]

Originally Posted by jcurtisis

Ray, that isn’t what is in my Winnebago operator’s manual. 1 teaspoon for ten gallons is for superchlorination for continuous sanitation; a cord water filter will remove the chlorine for drinking

Yes and those Winnebago's usually have installed under the sink an EverPure water filter that removes the excess chlorine to make it safe to drink and cook with when its superchlorinated. They will also have a water heater that will handle superchlorinated water.

A word of caution to not cheap out and purchase a different water filter that is not specifically designed to handle superchlorinated water or use the bypass plug when the tank is superchlorinated.

One would also want to be careful to not replace the original water heater in their Winnebago with one that does not support superchlorination.

[Silverfox57]

Originally Posted by Odessa

Has anyone used 'pool shock' ( calcium hypochlorite) in their fresh water tank to keep the water potable?

I am a camp ground owner that has a water license for safe water. I am looking at being a full time camper when I am finished. I have done some research into this and I think the tank should be emptied every now and then. Then at least once a year a person should fill it full of water with 1/4 cup of chlorine for every 25 gallons even before you use it for the first time to kill everything in the tank. Then run every tap until you can smell it do not put this in your hot water heater use your winter bi pass to avoid water heater. Let it sit for 24 hours then empty it out this will get rid of anything in your water system and make it fresh and clean again.