Clean/Flush of fresh water tank?

EWizard

Does anyone have any good tips about how to clean the drinking water tank?
Do you do it with the tank inside the RV or do you remove it and clean it inside?

Nomad

You don't remove it. You fill it with a mixture of bleach/water, let it sit or even drive around and let it slosh. Then either drain it or turn on the pump and let it run through the faucets. Fill the tank with fresh and drain/pump that out. Keep doing that until you get good clean water with no hint of bleach.
At least that's how I did it :-)

jkjenn

PXLated said:

You don't remove it. You fill it with a mixture of bleach/water, let it sit or even drive around and let it slosh. Then either drain it or turn on the pump and let it run through the faucets. Fill the tank with fresh and drain/pump that out. Keep doing that until you get good clean water with no hint of bleach.
At least that's how I did it :-)

What he said.
You can buy expensive treatment products, but bleach is as good as you get. Just get the right solution mixture of water/bleach for your tank size.

Ratkity

Speaking as a microbiologist, 10% solution of bleach is the rule of thumb to kill all microbes. So that means for every gallon of bleach, you'll need 9 gallons of water. This works well for an 11 gallon tank, allowing for air space to slosh around into corners. Make sure to run the pump so the solution goes through all the faucets (bath and kitchen).

After driving around or waiting 20-30 minutes, run the tank as dry as you can, flush with clean water as PXL said. You can connect to the city connection to make sure all faucet lines are extra flushed (including hot water) if it makes you feel better. Watch what you are wearing and where you are draining the bleach solution. It'll splash everywhere and it'll temporarily kill the grass (or weeds) where you are parked. There's no reason to collect what you drain to prevent it from going into the ground, especially if you are going to flush the tank at least 3 more times with fresh water. 

Do not store your T@B with a 10% bleach solution sitting in your water lines. It will degrade the plastics over time.

Mercator

EWizard said:

Does anyone have any good tips about how to clean the drinking water tank?
Do you do it with the tank inside the RV or do you remove it and clean it inside?

What version of T@B do you have.  I believe that some of the older ones have a removable tank that is much smaller than the newer tanks.

EWizard

I have a 2005 with a pretty small tank (5 gallons I think) in the bottom of the cabinet to the left of the sink. 

Ratkity

Good catch Mer. Then you can remove the 5 gallon tank clean it, fill with 10% bleach, run that through the water lines - let sit for 20-30 min, and then flush everything with clean, fresh water. The mix to make a 10% bleach solution for 5 gallons is a half gallon (2 quarts) of bleach and 4.5 gallons (18 quarts) of water. 

MarkAl

The 10 % solution (1 gal/10 gal tank)  referenced by @Ratkity is thought to be more than needed in the trailers. Refer to this newer thread: Iodophor for sanitizing fresh water lines? (vanillacommunity.com) for a more commonly used concentration with home laundry bleach (5.25%). I like this thread as it gives an amount per gallon you expect to put into the tank as the tank size changes per model.

pthomas745

I have looked over all the Ratkity posts, and found them to be a clear eyed analysis of sanitizing.  I hope she sees this, since I think we are misinterpreting what she wrote or it is a simple typo. 

This thread, with Dr. Ratkity's comment, definitely mentions the "1/4 cup of bleach for an 11 gallon tank".

Why would you chlorinate water that's already chlorinated if you fill up your tank at home? If you are referring to sterilizing (as opposed to just cleaning) your fresh water tank, there are a lot of threads here. For the 11 gal tank, it's a quarter cup bleach to 11 gal. Rinse very well and drain (about 5x with fresh water). A drill pump is helpful. That said, there's no need to sterilize your water tank on a continual basis. Just draining it and letting it air out is sanitation enough between uses. If there is water at the low points or water in the lines, just a flush with household water or park water is enough.

The comment and the thread at the link.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/83800/#Comment_83800