We have a '76 Overlander, and although the water coming out of the tap looks fine, I haven't been able to bring myself to drink it. I shower with it, and we wash hands with it, but we don't cook with it or drink it.
I've actually purified the fresh water tank the approved way, with bleach, and letting the solution sit in the tank for a while, and in the pipes as well. But it is, after all, a 33 year old tank, that I can't view.
I'm going to get one of those free water quality testers available from the public health unit, and send it away for e. coli testing.
Do you drink your water?
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Kevin and Leah
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We never drink it but do cook with it and make coffee. Some of the campgrounds we have been in have boil water advisories and I dont' want to take any chances. Cooking I'm o.k. with because it always boils. We drink stuff in the bottles that clog landfills .
Would like to be more environmentally friendly but health is health.
We never drink it but do cook with it and make coffee. Some of the campgrounds we have been in have boil water advisories and I dont' want to take any chances. Cooking I'm o.k. with because it always boils. We drink stuff in the bottles that clog landfills .
Would like to be more environmentally friendly but health is health.
Alex
Hi Alex,
I guess it is a different attitude about what fresh water tanks are for. Maybe because I grew up around saltwater boats where you drank out of the tank because it was what you had. I would never put water in my fresh water tank that was recommended to be boiled. I'd go home first. Not counting boats, I am on my 6th RV with a fresh water tank and haven't infected or poisoned myself yet from drinking the water.
Regards,
Ken
Thanks Ken. I'm not as particular as the wife on what I consume (it's amber colored, usually foams and I understand it has been pasturized ). Our AS is older and not sure what has been living in the tank before we picked it up (I used pool chlorine and then backing soda to clear the tanks and lines). Up here, we have whole sections of the province that have a boil water advisory in effect (we had a town that had 7 deaths because the town water was contaminated) so I try to be careful.
I always fill my fresh water tank through an in line filter unless I am at home. I have no problem whatsoever drinking it. How is e. coli going to get in there unless you put it there by filling with some pretty questionable water.
regards,
Ken
I always fill my fresh water tank through an in line filter unless I am at home. I have no problem whatsoever drinking it. How is e. coli going to get in there unless you put it there by filling with some pretty questionable water.
regards,
Ken
Ken, I think using the in line filter is a good idea and reduces chances of problems. A lot of trailers have a filter for the kitchen sink, but how many of us replace it in a timely manner? But, there's more than e-coli that can get you sick. It can be in city water, rarely, but it happens (just ask the residents of Alamosa, Colo.). Dark contained hot tanks with some water in them are good places for bacteria to breed—a few that wouldn't hurt you can over a period of weeks or months become a colony that will. I don't think it happens very often, but who wants to be sick on a vacation? Actually, the salt content is more important to me than bacterial worries, but bacteria is still a concern.
Generally, we don't drink it, but brushing teeth gets some down the gullet. Sometimes cook with it, other times don't. The same concerns and more are these: campground water, how long does the potable water tank stay clean?, and reduce salt intake. Tap water is chlorinated and chlorine (Cl) is half of table salt (sodium, Na, the other half). The Cl combines with free Na and zowie, too much salt for me. I know it doesn't sound like much salt, but I was advised to do this by a world famous scientist (and friend) and who am I to question her?
We use distilled water for drinking, ice cubes, some cooking and do the same at home. Gallon jugs of distilled water are #2 plastic and easy to recycle.
Buy gallons - not the little half liter bottles. About 10% of the landfill material as the small bottles. Virginia Beach's city water is quite good, so I quite regularly keep about 4 gallon bottles and refill them once or twice with city water. When on the road, I do use bottled for drinking, cooking and teeth brushing. Even city water tastes extra good when it's refrigerated.
Do not continually reuse plastic bottles - especially the ones you drink directly from. They do get contaminated from your own lips and everything that touches them.
Paula
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Mine is newer and I know where it's been so I don't have any problem drinking from the fresh water tank. I sterilize it twice a year and filter it before drinking. I generally only fill it from my home faucet though. I would be hesitant to fill it from a water source located too close to a dump station. I have seen some where the potable water supply is within reach of the dump...not good. Most are located far enough away so as as to avoid cross contamination.
We used to lug along bottled water but have given it up. We fill our tank at home using an inline filter. We have a Britta jug in the trailer that we then use to re-filter the water for drinking and cooking. Tastes fine and have not grown a third eye or anything as of yet.
I use bleach in the tank and lines. BUT I don't drink the stuff. I don't give it to the dog, he gets the poops quicker these days, no need in helping that probelm along. Jugs of water go in the trailer to drink, mix with the dog's food, brush my teeth, coffee, cooking. I will shower out of the tank and wash with it. I fill from home, no filter, heck my city water is clean, but when it hits the tank, game on, take no bets, go with the bottle when drinking.
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Not counting boats, I am on my 6th RV with a fresh water tank and haven't infected or poisoned myself yet from drinking the water. 
). Our AS is older and not sure what has been living in the tank before we picked it up (I used pool chlorine and then backing soda to clear the tanks and lines). Up here, we have whole sections of the province that have a boil water advisory in effect (we had a town that had 7 deaths because the town water was contaminated) so I try to be careful. 
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