Fresh Water Tank Management Question

[TravisH]

Hi,

I'm staying outside of Yuma. A bit salty water as Yuma is famous for. It's fine for most things but not drinking. So I filled up FW tank with good water and will use that for Berkey till empty....then what?

What's the best way to keep the tank healthy till I can get to a good FW source?

I don't think leaving "empty" a good idea as no way to tell if empty and a dark damp environment just begging for mold!

I'm thinking just fill and dump every few weeks.....

The tank was recently disinfected with bleach as maintenance so good to go.

Thanks,

trav

[Lily&Me]

Buy some gallon jugs of water and use that for drinking, coffee, tea, etc., and conserve using tank water for flushing and dishes.

Supplementing what is in your tank with store-bought water should get you thru.

Maggie

[BigAl]

Putting the local water in your tank won’t harm it. Like Maggie said use bottled for drinking and tank for everything else, then rinse out when you relocate.

[n2916s]

I pretty much always use my onboard pump and built-in tank, filling the tank as necessary. This does a couple of things — it keeps the water fresh in the tank as it is constantly cycling in and out and, should I sprout a leak, especially at night, the pump coming on will almost certainly waken me. I simply shut the pump off before leaving the trailer so no flooding in my absence.

In your case, I would simply carry on doing what you are doing. Eventually, you will be somewhere with better quality water and by using and refilling your tank, you will eventually purge the system.

[Mollysdad]

I keep the tank at 20%.
Enough for a few showers and dish washing until I get somewhere with city water.
I see no need to drag 800# of water behind me.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

I keep the tank at 20%.
Enough for a few showers and dish washing until I get somewhere with city water.
I see no need to drag 800# of water behind me.

Unless your destination that day is several days of dry camping/boondocking.

[369goose]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Buy some gallon jugs of water and use that for drinking, coffee, tea, etc., and conserve using tank water for flushing and dishes.

Supplementing what is in your tank with store-bought water should get you thru.

Maggie

This is what we’ve done for the past 30 years. We still clean the fw tank periodically with a bit of bleach too even though we don't drink from it. Since we carry a 5gal igloo in our tow vehicle we usually buy bags of ice and keep that topped off and that way we usually have ice and drinking water all the time. Haven’t ever had an issue.

[airmaine]

This is certainly not for some who must rely on all water sources for long trips, but we don't ever use the fresh water tank for drinking, only for all other uses. A bit of salty water for washing dishes, showering, etc. does no harm. We also use 2, 5-gallon coolers + ice for drinking water--from our well before we leave home, and and filling them from good city water sources for extended trips. We also do the routine of spring and fall (& in-between, if necessary) bleaching and rinsing the entire system.

[Hermes]

We have found that the multi layer filtered water fountains in Walmarts (Primo brand) sold at 39 cents per gallon does it for us. We carry five and three gallon containers and it will last us the week. As for the fresh water tank, it's used for all other uses.

[Minno]

We use a Britta water filter for drinking water from our tank if we haven't filled it from our home water. Worked all through Alaska and western Canada last summer. Carry an extra filter in case one gets clogged...


Kay

[TravisH]

Thanks all,

I have the drinking water all figured out.

I'm wondering how to keep the tank healthy without cycling through the water.

I guess the question is

"how long can we store a full tank, 38 gallons, of water for?"

Thanks,

Trav

[TrvlngTinTin]

My 2 Cents :-)
I Have seen on multiple occasions where a restaurant, or gas station, or multiple customers providing a soda fountain dispenser. Over Filter the water and start algae to grow down stream of water filter . So I will,
keep nice chlorinated water fresh.
Change out weekly. Our ad a dash of bleach. I have added in past recommend dose of camco water fresh. And I believe to much is not good for plastic? And pump.
And use Bretta filter and dispenser.
I’m also using rv antifreeze in tank during winter and through system to keep bacteria to start growing.
Then in summer first stop full hook up for flushing.
That’s just my 2 Cents.
Happy Travels
Tin tin

[OrangeCrush]

We too do not drink the water from the fresh tank but instead use 2 Aqua Bricks with a spigot. They are 3 gallons each and fit perfect under the curb side dinette seat cabinet in the 25FB. We went to them after having some cheap plastic ones break on bouncy I70 in Colorado which was a mess.
https://saganlife.com/product/aquabr...ks-and-spigot/

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Buy some gallon jugs of water and use that for drinking, coffee, tea, etc., and conserve using tank water for flushing and dishes.

Supplementing what is in your tank with store-bought water should get you thru.

Maggie

Yep...have 8 1gal plastic jugs we fill at home with 3 stage filtered water.

Bob
🇺🇸

I will NOT compromise my Coffee making...

[Steamguy]

Originally Posted by Minno

We use a Britta water filter for drinking water from our tank if we haven't filled it from our home water. Worked all through Alaska and western Canada last summer. Carry an extra filter in case one gets clogged...Kay

^^THIS. We used this method for over 20 years in our SOBs before getting our Airstream. As long as you're filling from a municipal source, you are assured of healthy water, no matter how it tastes. That's what the Britta is for. Always made coffee and cooking water from the Britta.

Originally Posted by TravisH

...how to keep the tank healthy without cycling through the water...how long can we store a full tank, 38 gallons...

As long as you've filled from a municipal source, you can keep the water pretty much all summer. The chlorination will generally last, unless it's really hot.

But what you want to be careful about is filling from a non-municipal source. No guarantee of chlorination. We found out the hard way one year. Went camping in the spring, filled the tank with water from this really great-tasting source, not realizing that it wasn't chlorinated. Super-hot summer. Didn't go camping again until very late fall. What came out of the faucets at that time looked AND SMELLED like it came from the set of Ghostbusters.

[richard5933]

Originally Posted by Steamguy

^^THIS. We used this method for over 20 years in our SOBs before getting our Airstream. As long as you're filling from a municipal source, you are assured of healthy water, no matter how it tastes. That's what the Britta is for. Always made coffee and cooking water from the Britta.


As long as you've filled from a municipal source, you can keep the water pretty much all summer. The chlorination will generally last, unless it's really hot.

But what you want to be careful about is filling from a non-municipal source. No guarantee of chlorination. We found out the hard way one year. Went camping in the spring, filled the tank with water from this really great-tasting source, not realizing that it wasn't chlorinated. Super-hot summer. Didn't go camping again until very late fall. What came out of the faucets at that time looked AND SMELLED like it came from the set of Ghostbusters.

The chlorination in city water will not stay in the water very long - perhaps a few days to a week at best. In some circumstances it will evaporate in less than a day. The taste might still be there after that, but not the protection from the chlorine.

We have a well, and I've had water from my well in the fresh water tank for months with absolutely no problems. City water vs. well water isn't the issue. The issue is clean water vs. contaminated water.

[SnowWanderer]

Originally Posted by 369goose

This is what we’ve done for the past 30 years. We still clean the fw tank periodically with a bit of bleach too even though we don't drink from it. Since we carry a 5gal igloo in our tow vehicle we usually buy bags of ice and keep that topped off and that way we usually have ice and drinking water all the time. Haven’t ever had an issue.

Does this mean you also don't cook with the tank water, since you don't drink that water?

[369goose]

Originally Posted by SnowWanderer

Does this mean you also don't cook with the tank water, since you don't drink that water?

Correct. Not at all for consumption. Either bottled water or fresh clean ice in our 5 gal igloo to consume/cook.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by 369goose

Correct. Not at all for consumption. Either bottled water or fresh clean ice in our 5 gal igloo to consume/cook.

If a person is going to shower with water from the fresh water tank, that person may as well drink it too. Showering produces aerosols (think mist, steam, drioplets, etc.) which can very effectively carry bacteria, etc. into lungs, eyes, and mucous membranes.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by RFP

If a person is going to shower with water from the fresh water tank, that person may as well drink it too. Showering produces aerosols (think mist, steam, drioplets, etc.) which can very effectively carry bacteria, etc. into lungs, eyes, and mucous membranes.

For sure!!! If one maintains their water system properly, there is no reason not to use it for drinking. Three trailers over 40 years drinking out of the tank...no one in family with any upset biology at all. I sanitize once, maybe twice a year. Never let water remain in tank for more than a week.