Cleaning fresh water tank

[bport]

I noticed in another thread some discussion about sanitizing the fresh water tank. I have never done this, although I have not had any bad taste or odor in the water. Am I overlooking an important maintenance task? :huh: How and how often?

 

[Henry Boyd]

I use about an once of straight bleach in the tank about evey fill up. I got the formula from the FEMA website for making suspect water potable.

I also drain the anti freeze from the tank in the fall when my winterizing is done so that it dosent sit in the tank all winter.

The is a whole recipe for restoring a water tank with bleach and flushing in the CSR archive.

Henry

 

[Quint4]

In the Spring I run the pink stuff out of all spigots. Fill freashwater tank and run them all dry again. Then I add about a half cup or so of bleach to freshwater tank and top off with water. Open each spigot individually until you smell the bleach in the water from the spogot, then close it. Let sit for 30 minutes. Now open all spigots and drain system again. Refill tank and drain again. Now refill and you are good. I make a point of using the freshwater frequently during the season so the tank gets "turned over" every week or so.

 

[C-SIDE]

Besides bleach, you can use vodka too. Sounds a bit odd, but it works and it doesn't give your water a bleachy taste

 

[Glen S]

I leave the tank dry for winter (put the discharge line directly into the pink to winterize). In spring I start with a pretty strong water / bleach mix and pump it through the lines till I smell bleach at each tap and let it sit for an hour in the lines. Then hook the line back up to the tank and fill with water. I add a cup of bleach and a tablespoon of vanilla extract (the baking stuff). It takes away the chlorine smell. I use this mix every other water tank fill up.