Freshwater system upkeep, keeping a clean tank & avoiding algae

danp212

Wanted to share my experience and ask for some feedback in trying to manage some light algae signs in the freshwater system of my 2 month old 2017 T@B Max S. 

I bought my T@B at the end of September, used but in like-new condition. Meticulously maintained, pretty much could have passed for brand new. I towed it home and there it sat in the driveway for about a month before we were finally able to take her out on our first trip.

When I first picked up the T@B, the freshwater tank read 20% full, in order for the previous owner to show me how the systems all worked. Unfortunately I am not sure how long that 20% water was in the tank (the previous owner made it sound like he was draining the fresh tank between uses, but I can't be 100% certain of this). He did pull out the water filter in the bathroom in order to show me how to remove it, and it was totally clean in that moment.

So, after the T@B sat for a month in our driveway, I drained the fresh tank out and noticed there was a bit of dark tiny algae cells floating around in the water. Nothing horrible, but easily noticeable up close. They looked like very thin strands. So I flushed the entire fresh tank, refilled, and still saw some bits of algae in the water. Keep in mind this was very minor algae, I could only see them when I filled up a glass with the water and analyzed it really up close. 

I then completely drained the water system, including alde (from flipping the drain switch under the seat cushion), and went ahead and sanitized everything with the recommended 1/4 cup bleach method. I only let the solution sit for about 2 hours before draining and started to flush the system, since I had to leave soon and was also a bit skeptical at first about leaving bleach in the water system for too long. Bleach just kinda scares me overall. 

So at that point after draining and fully flushing out the water system a couple times, I still found evidence of tiny algae particles in the water, but it was much less than before. They were also very light colored this time, grey-ish and almost clear looking (probably from the bleach).  After another couple flushes the algae was barely noticeable and we went ahead with our dry camping trip (which was awesome!!!). When we returned I immediately drained the freshwater tank once again, as well as the alde, and opened up both the shower & faucet to make sure I drained as much water as possible. That was about 3 weeks ago.

I just today went and added about 2 more gallons to the fresh tank and drained it in order to examine the water status, and the same small grey-ish algae particles are still present. So, this weekend I am going to do a much more thorough sanitizing job and let the bleach solution sit for at least 4 hours, if not more. Hopefully this clears out any further traces of the algae I believe I am seeing, and following proper draining procedures will keep any more from forming. 

I'm going to assume the particles I found in the water were from the 20% water staying in the fresh tank for an extended period of time (and likely cycling through warm days and cold nights during that time). When really thinking hard about the situation, it seems that it could have been possible the algae was in the water tank and had not yet reached the filter point (if the pump was only run for a minute when showing me how everything worked the day I picked it up). 

So a big question I have is, if I am following standard procedure by draining the system after each camping use, why would I not want to drain the alde as well? At least a couple gallons of water come out of the alde drain and I would assume if water stays in there for any extended period of time undisturbed that algae would develop in there as well. I do remember reading the manual saying something about doing it once a month, but I remember reading some people posting on here that they do not drain their alde nearly as often. 

 

pthomas745

Here are some threads about sanitizing the fresh water tank.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=4m8VWpucLOLTjwTZsbjQDA&q=santitize+fresh+water+site:http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/&oq=santitize+fresh+water+site:http://tab-rv.vanillaforums.com/&gs_l=psy-ab.3...4723.8238.0.9510.15.13.0.0.0.0.126.1144.4j7.11.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..4.0.0....0.GtNwKOSqNuI

Sharon_is_SAM

Danp212, the Alde manual recommends draining the tank monthly to restore the air cushion and whenever there is a risk of freezing or "when the RV is not in use."  If someone is a full- timer and using their fresh water tank and Alde continuously, they are probably at less risk of developing tank cooties, especially filling with chlorinated city water.  I think you should drain the Alde and plumbing system whenever the TaB is out of use for a period of time.  In addition to sanitizing with bleach water, I would consider taking the TaB for a ride and slosh around the water in the tank to maybe help eliminate the algae.  Sorry for your struggles and I hope you don't plan on consuming water from that tank - use it only for showers and cleaning/flushing!  Curious where you live and how hot it was while the TaB was sitting.