Boil water warning

[Smitty77_7]

Yep, for info to others that might read this thread in the future.

 

We have:

 

At the hose simple Camco filter, to knock out any big debris:)!

 

Our full house filter. All water going out of the tank, or thru the shore water manifold and into the coach house, flows thru a standard 10" filter Hydro Life C-2063 with KDF to prevent bacteria growth.

 

We added another 10" filter under the kitchen sink, for our drinking water faucet. And the filter is the ceramic Doulton D-UC filter. This is supports our cooking, drinking and coffee.

 

I will note that working Rick at the RV Filter Store, has really been a terrific experience. Our single 10" full house filter, mentioned above, will be replaced this year with a double filter. Rick has recommended two filters that increases the filtration characteristics and while at the same time, allows adequate water flow. I believe it was the F1pb in the second filter position, and the first filter would be a sediment catcher. The F1pb, adds some increase protection, like cysts, for while showering and brushing our teeth. (Sorry can't recall the sediment filter he recommended. It's written down on paper work at home in San Diego.) The new double 10" full house filter will go in after this trip.

 

For those looking for more info, and many ways of stepping up the game on water protection, search Zulu's posts in this segment of the forum. And yes, revise osmosis, ultra violet lighting, etc. - would even raise the bar that much higher on protection. For now, at least with this coach, we've decided to draw the line after the above modifications. A big step over the Camco hose bib filter we used our first four-five years with our Bounder, but for sure not as far as 'filtration and water treatment protection' can be taken:)!

 

If it was not clear, I as do many here on this board, highly recommend the RV Water Filter Store... Good people, and if you take the time with them, they can give you paths to follow budget wise, on improving your water safety.

 

On the subject of sanitizing water tanks. We that ours at the beginning of each season, and twice over the years in between - when we felt we picked up a potential bad batch of water. (Drained, and tanks and water lines treated.)

 

Water drinking safety, as with most things RV'ing, does not happen by accident:)!

 

Best to all,

Smitty

[Carolaow]

How about continuous use of water from the on-board tank and then putting a small dose of bleach in when the fresh water tank is refilled (2 or 3 ounces for 38 gallons)? Wouldn't that keep things in pretty good shape? The on-board water is for washing and flushing so it goes through all the pipes and faucets as part of normal daily use. We only drink bottled water, so we aren't ingesting the bleach. Am I missing something?

[Jim Gell]

Although I sanitized our fresh water holding tank and water lines using a prescribed chlorine bleach method at least 4 times in the last two years, I am still concerned about contamination in our fresh water tank due to lack of use while we full time. In practice, we rarely use the fresh water tank water because we typically stay at FHU campsites using their "city" water. We run all our water through a 10 " sediment and then a 10 " sediment/carbon filter system then an "On the Go" water softener. I assume the carbon filter removes most, if not all, chlorine in the city water. Varying amounts of the stored water has been used on occasion and the fresh tank has only been partially refilled a few times over the last few months. There is no way I would drink the stored water now.

 

Also, while I try to tuck them under a slide, at times our hoses, filters, and softener tank have been in the direct sun sending very warm water to our cold taps. I would think bacteria and other harmful organisms could thrive under those conditions. I wonder if we are even safe drinking the filtered city water because of that alone.

 

On top of that, once in while we run storage tank water through the internal plumbing to flush toilet and wash hands, etc. between FHU destinations. If we suspect the water in storage may not be sanitary, should we sanitize the water lines with chlorine every time we do that?

 

It sounds like some full timer's run all their water through the storage tank all the time, thus keeping that water fresh. Unless I am missing something, our rig does not seem to be plumbed in a way that we could operate it that way.

 

 

Am I over paranoid?

 

What sanitation procedures should we change?

 

One idea I gleaned from this thread was to introduce a little chlorine every time I add water to the stored fresh water tank. Good idea? We don't currently have any internal filter to remove chlorine at the tap.

 

Is there a better way, through a change in our plumbing or whatever, to use our stored water all the time to keep it fresh?

 

Any suggestions welcome!

 

Thanks.

 

Jim

[skp51443]

We originally would just turn off the city water for a few days and live off the tank until it got low then refill the tank to keep the water from getting too old.

 

We did have to pay attention to where we were getting our water though, all too often we'd get water high in algae and end up with multi-colored stuff growing in our pipes. We started keeping a better eye on the plumbing and sanitizing at the first hint of colored slime. Since we filtered out the chlorine from city water it wasn't helping to keep the tanks clean, when we got it instead of well water, so we ended up sanitizing a lot more than most folks had to.

 

I found the whole thing a PITA but I have skin issues if I get too much chlorine. If building another RV I'd set it up to where I could put filtered city water into the fresh tank and put my carbon block chlorine filter on the output of the pump. As long as I didn't get the chlorine levels too high in the tank it wouldn't make a great deal of difference in the carbon filter's lifetime. I'd still have to remove the carbon filter to sanitize the plumbing a couple of times a year though.

[Kirk W]

We only drink bottled water, so we aren't ingesting the bleach. Am I missing something?

There is a lot of personal preference involved in the use of water systems. We have always sanitized our water system at least once a year, even when in seasonal use but we also have always drunk the water from the system as well. If you drink bottled water, then do you also use bottled water to wash the dishes? What about brushing your teeth? I also prefer safe water for a shower as one never knows when he might have some sort of open wound or scrape taht could be contaminated by unsafe water. Of course, there is no perfect way so each one must just take the course that they deem best for themselves and their family.

 

As to the water tank, chlorine degrades over time so it is good to replace it by some means, in addition to sanitizing the system. After our worst algae experience I learned from my water chemist daughter-in-law that a hose in direct sun will degrade the chlorine in the water it contains very quickly and the sun will encourage algae to grow rapidly. What I eventually figured out to do to prevent this was to use the foam pipe insulation on our water hose anytime we were parked for longer periods with the fresh water hose in direct sun. I also keep some water in our tank for travel and as an emergency supply when parked for extended time, but I also drain that water out and replace it about once each month.

[Smitty77_7]

Jim - Many people on this board with more experience then I have, so hope they will correct any comments I make that may be 'not accurate':)!

 

My first comment is that bottled water is not always safe. For example, 3-4 years ago a local News Station in San Diego area went in and bought well over 12 different kinds of bottled waters. Safeway, Costco, Ralphs, Etc., Etc. They sent them into a lab for testing, and just over 30% came back with problems. I believe it was 2, had bacteria that could have caused problems for a sensitive individual. (Now, that being said, we too bought bottle water as we traveled, up until the recent install of our under kitchen counter added filter.)

 

On your Travel Supreme. I'd be surprised if the water coming out of your tanks is not routed thru your coach filter. Same with when you're on shore water, I'd suspect if you inspect the manifold setup, you might find that this water is also filtered thru your house filter before entering the coach. (I bet if you ask TS owners over on IRV2 Owner Group, they could confirm this of you. On our Country Coach, we were given diagrams of our water system (Well, actually all systems in the coach.) Perhaps you have something similar provided by TS?)

 

On low turnover of your water tank. I do the same as mentioned here already, I make a point to about once a month, to run off our tank even if in a park with full hook ups. Though the last few years, this has been done less and less, as we are frequently cycling thru our water tank as we travel.

 

You've already seen the comments about chlorine degrading pretty rapidly. So that really means you either need to sanitize the system more frequently, and or, keep the turnover more frequent.

 

On sequence of from Shore to Faucets in the coach. I'd recommend a conversation with Rick at the RV Water Filter Store. Let him know what you have, and ask him to suggest the sequence of hooking things up. For example, we go: Bib > Camco Inline Hose Filter > On the Go Water Softener > Coach Water Input Connection. Then all water entering the coach to the faucets or showers, go thru the 10" Whole House Filter with the C-2063 Hydro Life filter. The line going to the Ice Maker, has an added second charcoal 'finisher' filter for taste (This is a line that has risk of cysts, that I want to assist by my future changes referenced above.). The line going to the drinking faucet we added to our kitchen sink area, goes thru the 10" ceramic filter mentioned above, that does a pretty good job on filtering minerals and cysts.

 

But that is just us, and your coach maybe different as far as plumbing. I'd also suggest besides talking to Rick at the RV Water Filter Store. To search this forum. Zulu, and many others, have posted outstanding diagrams of their water contamination control systems... Good overall info to review, I know I learn from reviewing these.

 

Best of luck to you. Travel safe, and by the way - nice looking setup you have!!

Smitty