Sanitizing Tanks in a 25FB Flying Cloud

[djhurley]

Recently found out that the city water we connected to was fouled with some organism that made the water unsafe to drink. How do I flush/sanitize my fresh water tank and water lines

[mayco]

Several good videos on YouTube. Google.

[OTRA15]

Search above in the blue box for “Water tank bleach” and some posts should cover this. From memory, maybe about a gallon of bleach per 20 gallons of water, or a 5% solution? There are standards for shocking the system vs. a lower % maintenance approach. Sorry limited Internet access right now.

Pump tank water/bleach into all lines and let sit for a couple of hours, then rinse rinse rinse with abundant quantities of clean filtered city water and an open grey sewer line.

Good luck,

Peter

[thewarden]

First thing, make sure your fresh water tank and water heater tank are empy. Then, make sure all your water valves and drains are closed. The correct formula to sanitize your fresh water system is 1/4 cup of household bleach for every 15 gallons of fresh water. So, a little more than 1/2 a cup is sufficient for your 39 gal tank. Add the required amount of bleach to the tank and then fill with fresh, clean water. Then run all of your taps, both hot and cold, until you smell bleach. Don't forget the toilet and outside shower, if you have one. Same goes for your low point drains, just enough to smell bleach. Then let it sit overnight, 24 hours is optimal. Then drain the fresh water tank and hot water tank, refill with fresh water and flush all your lines with fresh water. You can flush a second time with a second tank of fresh water, but it really isnt necessary. Any residual bleach water left in the system after the first flush will not be harmfull.

[Francesca21]

Bleach is a contact killer of all organisms, viruses, etc. Check the net, but 2 hours is minimum and the mixture is in PPM is X parts household bleach to X water. Fill all lines and let sit for contact time. 24 hours is way too long. If your water is hard (more than 7 grains) then more time is needed.

[FilmGuy]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Search above in the blue box for “Water tank bleach” and some posts should cover this. From memory, maybe about a gallon of bleach per 20 gallons of water, or a 5% solution? There are standards for shocking the system vs. a lower % maintenance approach. Sorry limited Internet access right now.

Pump tank water/bleach into all lines and let sit for a couple of hours, then rinse rinse rinse with abundant quantities of clean filtered city water and an open grey sewer line.

Good luck,

Peter

That’s a LOT of bleach. You use a ratio of about 1/750 to shock a well. That’s about 2 cups for 75 gallons of water. So unless you have someing really scary, a cup should do your whole system very nicely.

In the 2000 Safari manual (the one that I have) there are directions for sanitizing the system. If it’s not in yours, you can download that manual from the Airstream website.

[Bob662]

the warden has the correct formula, except let it stand for 4 hours (of course, there's nothing wrong with letting it stand longer).

Best strategy is to mix 1/4 cup of bleach in a gallon of water, then pour it into fresh water tank. Repeat until you have enough for 39 gallon tank. Then fill with fresh water. Turn on pump and run it thru every faucet, shower, etc. Let stand for at least 4 hours.

I use a variant on the above standard sanitizing instructions. I add the slightly diluted Clorox to the fresh water tank. Fill to the top and let stand for at least four hours. Then turn on water pump and flush through every faucet, water heater, etc.. Let stand another four hours. Flush entire system with fresh water. This approach insures the fresh water tank is sanitized all the way to its top and none has been used to fill the lines, water heater, taps, etc. until the fresh water tank is fully sanitized.

Be sure water heater is not in bypass.

Flush as per above...