How To Sanitize Your RVs Water System

It is important to have clean and safe water in your RV. In order to maintain this clean water, you will need to sanitize your fresh water RV system. Ongoing care is extremely important. You have to maintain your RV just like you would your home or your vehicle. The process isn???t extremely difficult. This is a job that you can do on your own with some time and care. If your RV has been sitting in storage, or you haven???t sanitized the water system in some time or ever, let???s talk about how to complete this process.

When Should You Sanitize?

There are some signs that will present themselves if you need to sanitize your water system. Let???s take a look:

• A foul odor coming from the water lines may be present.
• If your RV has not been used in the past month, this is enough time for bacteria to form.
• If you were notified of a boil water advisory after filling your tank, there is a need to sanitize.
• Algae is a sign there is bacteria present.
• As part of your yearly RV maintenance you can flush your water tank out. This is just as important as things like oil changes, air filter changes, etc.

How to Sanitize

The general method of sanitizing will include filling up your water system with a mixture of bleach and water. This solution will need to be fully run through your water system. A clean flush will then be administered. Here???s a closer look at the steps involved:

It will take approximately five to ten hours to complete the cleanse. Keep this in mind before you begin.

Remove all of the water filters that are part of the system before you begin. If you don???t, the filters will need to be replaced.

Drain all of the water from the hot water tank, fresh water tank and water lines.

Close all of the drain valves once emptied.

Chlorine can be used as the disinfectant for this process. It is included in bleach. A solution should be prepared at 5 percent bleach and 95 percent water.

Bleach mixture should be added to the water tank. Don???t pour straight bleach into the system and expect it to mix itself. This will only damage your system drastically.

Set your hot water tank bypass setting to normal use. This will allow the water to go through the tank.

Your fresh tank should be topped off with water.

Run your cleaning mixture through all of the lines in your vehicle.

You should let the mixture sit for about four hours. If you have the ability to leave it overnight, this is even better.

Drain and rinse the tank a number of times. Once will still leave a residue behind.

If you would like to ensure that the lines are free of bleach, you can use ?? cup of baking soda with one gallon of water to flush your fresh tank out.

The hot water tank and water lines of your RV can breed bacteria very quickly. This is especially true if your RV is not in use and there is water sitting stagnant in the lines. You can remove this bacteria and other problems. Take the time to sanitize your water system so you can trust that you and your family will be safe on your next adventure. If you notice any remaining scent of bleach, you will want to flush the system out again until you are confident that nothing remains in the water lines.