Sanitizing without water hookup available

[stsammy]

Thoughts on my plan below?

We're about to take our trailer out for the first time this year. This will be our first time de-winterizing, as we only purchased last August.

Our challenge is that we store our trailer at an RV specific parking lot (not campground), as we live in a major urban area with no parking available. There's no water fill-up / dump station on site.

I'm thinking I could buy a couple (or just one?) 6 gallon "jerry can" style water jugs, and bring filled with me when we pickup. We arrive on-site, hook the battery back up & re-attach our shower head. Add water to the holding tank, diluted bleach, and run the pump enough to flush the taps out. Leave the remaining bleach solution in the tank for our drive to the campground - approximately 2 hour drive.

Arrive on site. Empty remaining water from tank. Fill with fresh water.

Does this sound reasonable? FWIW, I tend to bring a 4L jug for drinking water anyways, though we were using holding tank water for boiled drinks. I could bring extra if the fresh water will still taste bleachy.

Is two hours okay? Does that plan sound like I'm missing anything? What would be the minimum volume of water I'd need to properly sanitize everything?

Our trailer is a Sport 22, which (if I'm not mistaken) has a 20 gallon holding tank.

Thanks for any advice 😀

Sam

[Lumatic]

Sounds more than adequate, in fact some would say overkill. But then most people just fill the fresh water tank and go. We always use bottled water. An other option is to install a water filter at the kitchen sink.

[Rich W]

We use a GE filter before it comes into the trailer. We don't boondock so we rarely use the fresh water tank. I sanitized last year but so far not this year. I flush out my pink stuff at the first CG of the year, then dump the tanks at the dump station. If you're hooked up to city water I don't see the need to sanitize the fresh water tank but why not do it at the first CG when you get there? You've got water and a dump station.

[polarlyse]

You are on the right track but let me recommend something. Bring some water with you and put it in the tank. 5 gal or so. Put in a small but recommended amount of chlorox at the same time and run the pump to flush the plumbing with a bit of the water/chlorox mix. This will allow the mix to slosh around and fully sanitize your tank while driving to your destination where you can dump it and re-fill with fresh water at the campground. Mine drains pretty slowly so putting much more in the tank would simply take a long time to drain. We drink the water from our tank and have never had any issues but I do taste any water source before filling my tank. If it taste bad I keep a few bottles of water to make ice with and drink.

Good luck on your first outing. Have a great time.
See ya on the road sometime

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by polarlyse

You are on the right track but let me recommend something. Bring some water with you and put it in the tank. 5 gal or so. Put in a small but recommended amount of chlorox at the same time and run the pump to flush the plumbing with a bit of the water/chlorox mix. This will allow the mix to slosh around and fully sanitize your tank while driving to your destination where you can dump it and re-fill with fresh water at the campground.
. . .

Roger, isn't this pretty much what the original post below suggested?

Originally Posted by stsammy

. . .
Add water to the holding tank, diluted bleach, and run the pump enough to flush the taps out. Leave the remaining bleach solution in the tank for our drive to the campground - approximately 2 hour drive.

Arrive on site. Empty remaining water from tank. Fill with fresh water.
. . .

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by stsammy

Thoughts on my plan below?
. . .
Thanks for any advice ��

Sam

Assuming you have city water and a sewer hookup at the campground, I would suggest these further steps after arriving at the campground:

1. Empty water tank using your water pump into the grey holding tank, or drain the water tank on to the ground (if permitted at the CG) via its drain valve;

2. Use the city water to put 5 gallons of fresh water in the tank a couple of times, running the city water through all your lines, and drain the tank as per above;

3. Connect your sewer drain to the CG receiving dump, and open the grey water valve;

4. Hook up the city water to the trailer, and run fresh water through each and every line, letting the grey water go down the drain into the CG sewer dump.

The above steps will ensure that all of your lines are free of bleach.

Good luck!

[greghoro]

I take a different approach to minimize water use when de-winterizing, as I need to do it on the road. Some may say it is overkill. Note, this is for the fresh water system only.

Simplified three step process:
1. Use compressed air to blow out fresh water in the system.
2. Circulate pink antifreeze using a winterizing adapter at the water pump.
3. Use compressed air to blow out antifreeze in the system.

Step 1 minimizes the dilution of the antifreeze. Step 2 assures any latent water in the system is mixed and displaced by the antifreeze. Step 3 reduces the amount of antifreeze that needs to be flushed out. An empty (air filled) system does not freeze, so no need to retain the antifreeze.


Greg

[OTRA15]

The original poster was, however, interested in sanitizing his fresh water tank and pipes, not just in ridding them of antifreeze. BTW he did not indicate that any antifreeze had been used over the winter IMO. If antifreeze was used, then the earlier rinse-rinse-rinse suggestion applies for sure.

[HowieE]

While to original is overkill I want to remind others of an ofter forgotten point.

If you blow out the system when winterizing and then pump in antifreeze. The following spring depending on how you flush the system there will be a small amount of antifreeze left in the system. If you flush from the freshwater tank the leg of pipe leading to the city connection will have antifreeze still in it and that should be purged ASAP. If you flush using city water the leg of the pipe leading to the pump and the pump head will have antifreeze in it and should be flushed as soon as fresh water is put in the tank.

This should be done before filling the hot water heater or that antifreeze will be in the heater. While the antifreeze is safe to drink it does not taste that good and has been known to move things in some people.

[polarlyse]

Yuup. Sure does. I guess it pays to read things carefully. Sometimes a quick scan just ain't gonna make it.

[stsammy]

Thanks for all the replies! Much appreciated.

We're up in Canadaland, so we most definitely used antifreeze (the RV lot storage is outdoors with no access to electric , so it seemed pretty prudent)

We'll be at a provincial campground, and most of our public campgrounds in Ontario have a fill / dump station, but not full hookups on site.

I think the plan now stands to arrive at the CG with an empty tank & antifreeze still in the lines. We'll mostly fill the holding tank, then run water through all the faucets, etc. until the grey is full. We'll then empty at the dump station & refill our water tank. (Thanks for the reminder to run the pump clear before filling the hot water tank).

I think we may hold off sanitizing this trip. I can buy an extra jug of potable water for coffee / tea (I would normally use tank water for that), and be fine for showering & cooking purposes. I may hold off sanitizing until our trip where we're at a CG with full hook ups & live dangerously for a while.