Cleaning out water tank?

[barryra]

I am picking up my 93 Scamp 13 tomorrow at 7 am. I am not super sure how clean the water tank is. It has the hand pump near the sink. Is there a way to clean everything out? Is it as easy as putting water with some bleach through the system? Thanks for all your help!

[Bill MacDermod]

I am picking up my 93 Scamp 13 tomorrow at 7 am. I am not super sure how clean the water tank is. It has the hand pump near the sink. Is there a way to clean everything out? Is it as easy as putting water with some bleach through the system? Thanks for all your help!

Most folks don't drink the water from the tank, I brush my teeth with it but we buy bottled water to drink. to clean it out put about 1/2 cup of bleach in there then fill the tank, open faucets till water fills the lines then let sit for a couple of hours, drain, refill with clean water, drain then you should be good to go.

[James V]

Inspect, If you hvae black mold or scum anywhere it becomes hard to handle. I suggest if you do is to fill with hot water and bleach and let set for a few days and then empty and replace till about 1/2 full. Take for a drive. Use bleach or viinegar or boze. Drain and inspect and do it again until clear. Replace the water hoses if mold or junk is inside them.

Note: when pulling out the hoses tie a pull string to the end. This will help putting in the new hose.

Check threads about drinking from the tank and filtering water.

[Perry J]

Barryra, when I get a new to me trailer I check for any debris in the water tank. If nothing is there I simply put a cup of bleach in the tank and fill it with water.
I like to let it set for a day to kill any bad stuff.
Make sure you pump you faucet until you smell the bleach.
Drain your tank and refill with fresh water , pump you faucet until you no longer smell the bleach and your ready to go. On occasion it will take more than one refill to clear the bleach taste.
I open the tank drain on the way home so water does not sit in my tank between trips.
I have never experienced any problems drinking the water from my trailer.
John

[Darnelle]

We use white vinegar instead of bleach -- same bacteria-killing properties, but much safer for you and easier on the environment. I cleaned our tank as the above threads, but used more vinegar.

We also drink from our water tank, but we only fill it with our own good well water.

[Greg A]

I just got a new tank, lines, bar faucet, and shur-flo pump. Wasn't that much, just couldn't even think about where that old tank had been.

Keep it maintained now with the bleach, and I know it's history.

[D Scott]

As Darnelle stated, vinegar is a safe alternative. The use of ammonia is also viable as it is used in the disinfecting stage of domestic drinking sources. The problem with bleach is that it is hard to rid the water of the taste. No matter what you use, you will need to have enough contact time to properly clean your tank of bacteria.

1. Drain out your tank and lines completely
2. fill your water tank with clean fresh water
3. add your disinfectant to the water
4. Starting from your closest tap or outlet, run water until you can smell the disinfectant solution. Do this for all taps/ outlets finishing on the
furthest one away from the tank.
5. top up the water tank and let it sit in the tank and lines for 24 hours.
6. run water through all taps/ outlets
7. drain tank and all lines
8. refill tank with clean fresh water
9. Flush all lines and taps/outlets
10. drain tank and lines when all is said and done until you are ready to use your trailer.

None of the ways here will guarantee that %100 of bacteria will be killed. For that you will require, boiling water and/or UV disinfection

[Carol H]

Funny this topic was covered at the Bandon meet. I learned there is such a thing as a hot water tank cleaner attachment that you can purchase at Camping World. Apparently the word is that filling up and flushing out your tank is not enough. You need this attachment to your hose that shoots water into the tank at high presure to really clean it out.

[Bryan L.]

On a related note, is there a specific tubing that is used when replacing the water lines? The stuff in the Scamp is braided and I never see braided hose at Lowes or HD. Is this available at most RV stores? I never really go to a RV specific store but I will if I have to. I need to replace our water heater and figured I'd just replace all the water lines while I'm at it.

[Greg A]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

On a related note, is there a specific tubing that is used when replacing the water lines? The stuff in the Scamp is braided and I never see braided hose at Lowes or HD. Is this available at most RV stores? I never really go to a RV specific store but I will if I have to. I need to replace our water heater and figured I'd just replace all the water lines while I'm at it.

Yes, you need a potable water tubing. I bought mine at Ace, but I know I've seen it at HD and Lowes as well. The braided is a reinforced for high pressure lines which is what I found at Ace when I redid my lines. Definitely want the reinforced lines especially if you're running an electric pump or city water.

[Matt in SV]

I saw braided 1/2 inch line at HD yesterday, in precut 10' lengths for about 12 bucks. It was rolled up and banded in boxes near the pipe and fittings. Ace has it cheaper, though, about $.89 a foot, and you can get it longer, as required. I don't like the clear stuff as much. I know they'll both probably grow algae - i'd just prefer not to see it!

Regards,

Matt

[Tom U]

Originally Posted by barryra

I am picking up my 93 Scamp 13 tomorrow at 7 am. I am not super sure how clean the water tank is. It has the hand pump near the sink. Is there a way to clean everything out? Is it as easy as putting water with some bleach through the system? Thanks for all your help!

Here is a how to: How to Sterilize RV Water Tanks | eHow.com

Just did mine today -
1/4 cup bleach for each 15 gallons of H20.
Run cold until you smell bleach.
Run hot (if you have it) until you smell bleach.
Top tank back up and let sit for minimum of 6 hour. Overnight is fine.
Drain both water tank and water heater(if you have one). The drain valve for the tank should be outside the trailer below the tank.
Refill tank and run all taps for a while.
Drain system again and refill.

They suggest doing it once a month (I don't do it that often).

[BrendaLeeFree]

This is so helpful-we've never used our tank and to our knowledge neither did the previous owners (it's a 2011 model) so I want to bleach/clean it before we use it. I'm going to try it this weekend!

[Donna D.]

I think Deck Plates is one of the great mods folks do to visually check their fresh water tanks. AND can dry it out.

[Pineapple Man]

Good point Donna ! Just finished installing ours.

Organic dairy farmers around here use Food Grade Hydrogen Pyroxide to disinfect. It's great stuff, but you have to be VERY careful, as it's highly concentrated, thus extremely corrosive.

[Bob Miller]

Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is very, very expensive when compared to common bleach and really won't do any better a job.


In some venues you can't buy that strength over-the-counter and have to have a permit. It's a primary ingredient (oxidizer) in some rocket fuels and is useful when making homemade explosives. Stick with the bleach....


I used to have to buy it from a source in Texas and there was all kinds of paperwork and permits required for the strength I was buying for cleaning cooling systems in direct-to-plate imagers.

[Dick & Joanne]

Unfortunately, with our 5.0's I think we have to put the plate in the bottom of the tank. Or cut a hole in the floor.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Dick & Joanne

Unfortunately, with our 5.0's I think we have to put the plate in the bottom of the tank. Or cut a hole in the floor.

Or just put in a bunch of vodka in the tank and drive around a bunch!

Who has the olives?

[Byron Kinnaman]

I think it's not necessary to ever dry out the tanks. In my opinion if the fresh water tank is always full there's no room for stuff to grow.
If you look at city reservoirs you'll see they never empty them unless there's been some know contaminate introduced into them.
When empty there's always the chance of collecting some moisture and growing algae. Algae needs air to grow.

[rdickens]

There was recently a similar thread on this.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=68324

Per Mark Nemeth's recommendation, I used "cleaning strength white vinegar"
to clean out any residual RV antifreeze during my recent de-winterization.

For thorough cleaning and bad taste removal, maybe the white vinegar?
For heavier duty disinfecting, perhaps a stronger bleach solution?

Ray



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