How Long Can I Store Fresh Water In Tank?

[aztex]

Hi,

I sanitized and filled 38 gallon tank with fresh filtered water 3 months ago. I'm at an RV park near Yuma with salty water that is not good for drinking so have not dumped or used the water yet. I'm heading to a place with better water in a few weeks and will empty tank before I go and refill with good water.

That said a water main broke here and the water is off for a while and got me to thinking about how long it can be safe. I wont drink or cook but maybe brush teeth, dishes, shower etc.

So far doesn't look or smell bad in any way.

Also I figure it's better to have a full tank than an empty one for extended periods since you can never get 100% dry and easier to flush out any thing with full tank.

Obviously if the water here was better I'd have emptied and filled up but....

Thanks!

[agesilaus]

I was in Environmental  Engineering before I retired. Water  unless it get contaminated by an eternal source it should be OK. If it was good when it went into a clean tank,.  Water has been storied in metal cans in the 1950's Fallout shelters and is still potable unless then can got rusty.

Chlorine is added to municipal water sources to deal with possible influx into the piping systems fom leaks Water from water wells is drunk straight from the pump, untreated, and can be tens of thousands years old. Once it has been tested when the well is installed and passed.

Still just to be extra safe it does not hurt to go thru an annual dump, fill and superChlorination once a year.

A bigger concern is the unknown quality of the parks drinking water. I can assure you that the quality of the Departments Of Environmental Health vary greatly from state to state. Did Elko ever deal with that arsenic problem? Theoretically the USEPA supervises them but we saw ONE USEPA visit/inspection in my 32 years working as an Environmental Chemist. They spent maybe 2 hours onsite.

So unless you notice strange odors, tastes or appearance I would not worry.

Edited December 28, 2023 by agesilaus

[Kirk W]

Because an RV water system is not air tight, it is possible algae or similar biological to get into the water and contaminate it but I would not be concerned after only 3 months unless there is some reason to suspect a problem, such as odors or discoloration. If the water you put into the tank was chlorinated and not run through a charcoal filter(which removes the chlorine), I would be very surprised to see any problem in less than 6 months or even a year. I usually cycle the water in my tank more than twice a year, but have gone longer with no problems at all. 

[Ray,IN]

agesailus addressed water quality very well.  To simplify this for the general public, the CDC published this: https://www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/chlorineresidual.pdf

Chlorine dissipates from exposure to air and light, so if you add 1 tsp standard chorine/household bleach per gallon of water in your tank it will keep it safe for drinking for at least a month. You can buy a swimming pool test kit to test for residual chlorine in your onboard tank, but IMO that is overkill.

Personally I normally keep my 100G water tank full year; sometimes it sits for 3-4 months and when I've tested it the chlorine residual is still around .2ppm. I do something different though, I use Sodium Dichlor instead of household bleach, which is a different subject.

[Payroll Person]

I check ours once a month. No different, for me, than checking the hot tub and swim spa. We do not drink from the rv tank, which makes it easier. 

[lappir]

16 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Because an RV water system is not air tight, it is possible algae or similar biological to get into the water and contaminate it but I would not be concerned after only 3 months unless there is some reason to suspect a problem, such as odors or discoloration. If the water you put into the tank was chlorinated and not run through a charcoal filter(which removes the chlorine), I would be very surprised to see any problem in less than 6 months or even a year. I usually cycle the water in my tank more than twice a year, but have gone longer with no problems at all. 

For algae to grow you would need light. Most water storage in RV's are not in areas that get sunlight and often times the tanks are opaque. The hoses used to fill your tanks often do have Algae inside them and I try to fill them with a Bleach solution a few times during the summer months. It takes just a little bit in the hose, but you do need for it to sit for a bit and then remember to flush it before hooking it up to your fresh water tank. 

I still don't drink the water from my fresh water holding tank. I will brush my teeth and cook with it, but my coffee is made from water from known drinking water sources. I currently use the HteaO that's just down the street from me. I saw a 5 gallon container in the store last February that has a dispenser at the bottom and a large opening on the top. I have 2 3 gallon water cooler containers that I invert on the top of the 5 gallon one. It's much easier to cart a couple 3 gallon ones than 5 gallon. 

Rod

[jbh]

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[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, lappir said:

For algae to grow you would need light.

Actually, what does not need light is called bacterium but most of us lump the two together. And I have had an algae problem in the water line to the ice maker of our RV refrigerator, so the amount of light needed is quite small for some varieties. 

5 hours ago, lappir said:

I still don't drink the water from my fresh water holding tank.

We have drank water from the RV potable water tanks for all of the RVs that we have owned, since our first one more than 40 years ago and for all 12 years of fulltime. I sanitize once a year and with the exception of one summer of campground hosting in a Kansas park and on well water, have not had any algae problems and once we had a bacterium issue in the water heater that causes an odor, especially in the shower. 

[aztex]

Thanks everyone!

Crazy how this isn't topic #1 when RV'ing. Nothing is really more important!

[bruce t]

I grew up on a farm with rain water tanks without lids. You didn't want to know what was in those tanks but we survived!! 

It's the bugs in the system that gives us our immunities. As time has passed we are becoming more and more sanitised. As a results we haven't the "bugs" in our systems to toughen us up.

 

[lappir]

9 hours ago, bruce t said:

I grew up on a farm with rain water tanks without lids. You didn't want to know what was in those tanks but we survived!! 

It's the bugs in the system that gives us our immunities. As time has passed we are becoming more and more sanitised. As a results we haven't the "bugs" in our systems to toughen us up.

 

Bruce, the water was a lot more clean back in those days. I too grew up on a farm and knew about Cisterns and collecting rain water. The old hand pump in the front yard of our home had the best tasting water, but it's long since been filled back in. 

I agree the natural substances did toughen us up a bit back in the day, but now there animals are all concentrated in small areas and there is no dilution of their waste products and now there are other additives to their diets that have been contaminated with genetical modifications. Who knows what's in the water these days, unless you have a chemistry lab. 

In addition to the Elko issue, remember the Detroit drinking water problem several years ago? How about California and the movie about all the sick families from the power company. 

Rain used to fall on the ground and slowly erode the waste materials deposited by "Animals". I would be filtered through lots of soil full if microorganisms and it would work it's way down over a LONG TIME to the aquifer's and then move back up through the soil and come out as "Fresh Water Springs". Have you ever tasted a fresh water Spring?  That still happens in some places, but lots of the ground is now covered by things like concrete, asphalt, buildings, that don't allow for the slow flow of the water back into the ground. What do we do? Build collection areas for the water with all of its waste to settle in a small area and maybe filter out a bit, but most of it is routed to the natural water ways and shifted more quickly to the oceans. Some blame "Global Warming" on the cause for the rise in ocean levels, but that's not the only reason in my mind. 

Have you ever driven through an area that produces agriculture especially during the early spring or late fall when there are machines with these huge rolls of black pipe being placed in the ground?  It's called drainage tile and to me one of the worst things for the environment. Farmers put the tile in the fields to move water away from areas so they can plant more seed and yes it works very well, but where does that water go? To the nearest waterway much more quickly  than nature intended and it moves away from that area with more quickly, not having the opportunity to filter through the ground at all.

Water is precious and we all need to take care of it or one day our children's children's grand children may have to walk the earth in a Dune suit drinking their own filtered waste and hoping to find a clear water source. 

Rod

[bruce t]

Lappir I agree. I'm a farm boy and we irrigated the heck out of the dirt. Times have changed for sure.

My point is that paying for bottled water isn't good for your bank account or gut. Not dismissing common sense but I think folks do need to toughen up a bit. Too many folks trying to live in a non existing sanitised bubble.

Sorry I got away from the OP. In all our years on the the road and storing our motor homes for many months at a time we never drained our tanks. Just turned everything off. 

Caveat - we forgot to drain the lines one winter. Now ask me how much it cost to replace all the water lines in a Country Coach Intrigue!

 

[Kirk W]

15 hours ago, bruce t said:

Now ask me how much it cost to replace all the water lines in a Country Coach Intrigue!

It would be far more today!

[Ann-Marie]

I grew up on a farm in Australia.  Water came from large tanks that collected water off the roof.

We grew up understanding that you made sure the mosquito wrigglers were alive and vigorous in your glass of water.  If they were not active the water was no good.  I can't imagine kids now days drinking water with live wrigglers in it :).

That was over 80 years ago.

[Ray,IN]

I went on a hunting/fishing trip in the Beartooth mountains of WY. The Guide told us to only drink from our canteens, never drink from the mountains streams as it had a bacteria in it that caused severe intestinal problems.

Meanwhile back at my small ranch i always drank from the stream/creek that ran through the bottom land without any ill  effects. I just remembered to drink upstream of where the cow plops were.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Ray,IN

[lappir]

9 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

upstream of where the cow plops were.

Unless the stream originates on your property and is enclosed, how do you know if you  are upstream from where the animal excrement may be? Cows, pigs, deer, antelope, elk, dog, coyote, wolf, bison, horses, almost anything except maybe felines. They usually bury their stuff. 

I'd only drink from a source that came directly from the ground and was flowing at a good rate, except in an emergency that is. I'd planned to look up Natural Spring Water locations yesterday, but will do so today to see if  there is a map function that pinpoints some of them. 

Rod

Found some, but also a lot of recommendations to not drink from them. A person I follow on YouTube stopped to fill water bottles in Utah or Idaho at a roadside "Spring" which coincided with this forum topic. I remember in the 1980s and my first trip to California I saw people with water bottles (5 gallon dispenser type) along the road to "Halfmoon Bay". On the way back I stopped to inquire. People said it was the best drinking water in the area. Don't think I tried, wasn't a fan of water back then and for sure didn't carry a water bottle with me everywhere I go like I do now. 

This for me has gotten off the OP's question and I am sorry. 

I fill my tank when I arrive at a location I'm planning to stay at for a while. I usually turn on the pump and empty most of the tank when I'm planning to leave in a few days. I have plenty of CCC, but believe it or not I do notice when I have a partially full 100 gallon Fresh tank and really notice if I haven't dumped the waste tanks.

rl

[Kirk W]

10 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

Meanwhile back at my small ranch i always drank from the stream/creek that ran through the bottom land without any ill  effects. I just remembered to drink upstream of where the cow plops were.

Do you still do that today? If so, keep your teeth clinched to strain out the bigger things from your neighbor's livestock.

[aztex]

Since we're still rolling here...

 

How about the opposite issue of an "empty" tank? No way to get it 100% dry and IME grunge likes damp more than wet; more exposure to air.

As bad as a full tank can get I like my odds of sanitizing 100% better than a dried out gradoaster encrusted tank

This is why i always tend on having a full tank instead of empty or even half empty for too long.

Am I right?

[Kirk W]

8 hours ago, aztex said:

This is why i always tend on having a full tank instead of empty or even half empty for too long.

Am I right?

Interesting view. I have always stored ours empty and sanitize annually. I have never had a problem from that but can see your point. 

[bruce t]

Full or empty to travel? Unless you know how well your water tank is baffled then I wouldn't recommend travelling with a half full, or half empty, tank. Fifty gallons of water sloshing around can't be good.

 

[lappir]

On 12/31/2023 at 10:53 AM, aztex said:

Since we're still rolling here...

 

How about the opposite issue of an "empty" tank? No way to get it 100% dry and IME grunge likes damp more than wet; more exposure to air.

As bad as a full tank can get I like my odds of sanitizing 100% better than a dried out gradoaster encrusted tank

This is why i always tend on having a full tank instead of empty or even half empty for too long.

Am I right?

Good point, guess it will depend on the climate where you are staying and the relative humidity in the ambient air. I'd never empty the tank completely and store it in Florida. Most likely if I had to store for any length of time I'd make a fairly strong bleach batch, run it through all the pipes and let it sit. I'd make sure to flush the drain pipes with a good dose of fresh clean water though. 

15 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Interesting view. I have always stored ours empty and sanitize annually. I have never had a problem from that but can see your point. 

In the winter in the upper Midwest, everyone will store their rigs empty. My Aunt and Uncle stop in North Florida to flush and fill on their way South in the early New Year and then would stop to "Winterize" in the early Spring since there would still be some really cold weather in Iowa before Summer came in full force. Of course they would have to flush and fill up there for the "State Fair" and Winterize again before the cold weather hit. They have bought a Park Model in Florida now so I'm selling my RV Antifreeze stock. 

 

Rod

[sandsys]

On 12/31/2023 at 10:53 AM, aztex said:

Since we're still rolling here...

 

How about the opposite issue of an "empty" tank? No way to get it 100% dry and IME grunge likes damp more than wet; more exposure to air.

As bad as a full tank can get I like my odds of sanitizing 100% better than a dried out gradoaster encrusted tank

This is why i always tend on having a full tank instead of empty or even half empty for too long.

Am I right?

Our city water has enough minerals in it to leave a residue where it dries. That does not tend to dissolve when wet again. I can't take a Magic Eraser to the inside of a tank. So keeping a tank wet and moving is better with our water. That's why I rarely hooked up to outside water, even when it was available, except to refill the tank when I had used about half its water. I did hook up to water for daily use one time when a neighbor complained about the sound of my water pump but that's it. I made it. point to not camp so close to a neighbor after that.

Linda Sand

[Vladimir]

On 12/30/2023 at 9:33 PM, Ray,IN said:

I went on a hunting/fishing trip in the Beartooth mountains of WY. The Guide told us to only drink from our canteens, never drink from the mountains streams as it had a bacteria in it that caused severe intestinal problems.

Early in my career as a dirt forester I drank the water, unfiltered, in Idaho and California forests for almost a decade or more and never got sick.

Just before I retired I did talk to lots of Forest Service Wilderness Rangers and other employees that worked in the woods full time.  About half filtered there water and half drank straight out of streams.  I was surprised that half did not filter, since everybody that got a water borne illness was quite adamant about not going through that again!!

Just before I retired there were studies that suggested water borne illnesses were the result of poor human sanitation by the individual.  It means YOU were making YOURSELF sick by poor sanitation practices.

A water borne illness is a lottery that you do not want to win. 

On 12/31/2023 at 8:53 AM, aztex said:

Since we're still rolling here...

How about the opposite issue of an "empty" tank? No way to get it 100% dry and IME grunge likes damp more than wet; more exposure to air.

As bad as a full tank can get I like my odds of sanitizing 100% better than a dried out gradoaster encrusted tank

This is why i always tend on having a full tank instead of empty or even half empty for too long.

Am I right?

Maybe. 

I use my RV in the spring, fall and winter months.  It pretty much is never used in the summer.  It doesn't take long before I end up with issues.  Really in the summer, I cannot go more than a month before the water tank is contaminated.

The other issue, is that I do use untreated stream and lake water to fill my tank on occasion.   I think if your totally running chlorinated city water through your tank you might have better success keeping your tanks "clean".

I have previously posted about a Forest Service engineer that tracked his water borne illness to his RV tanks.  He concluded that it is virtually impossible to keep the tanks clean.  That doesn't mean that everybody gets sick, it just means the tests show contaminated water.

When I was working, I was surprised at how often our water systems failed a clean water test.  At any given moment maybe 1% failed the initial test.  The Forest Service testing showed that the prime source of contamination were the threads on the faucets.  That is why there are NO THREADS on Forest Service faucets in campgrounds.  Two bad tests in a row, meant a cleaning of the water system.

It would be interesting at a Escapees Escapade to have water testing done on the water systems. 

Once you do get a water borne illness you are much, much more sensitive to bad water.  

I use my water tanks for showering and washing dishes.  The drinking water comes from 1 gallon water containers some of which I do refill from a tap.  I even give my dog, treated water just because it is easier.

I will drink water from a forested watershed stream before drinking it from my water tanks.

On 12/31/2023 at 7:19 AM, lappir said:

Unless the stream originates on your property and is enclosed, how do you know if you  are upstream from where the animal excrement may be? Cows, pigs, deer, antelope, elk, dog, coyote, wolf, bison, horses, almost anything except maybe felines. They usually bury their stuff.

I don't think most people actually are aware how much animal "poop" there is out in the woods. 

I have a mountain cabin on a meadow ringed by a trail for about four miles.  It is great hiking for humans and animals.  The amount of animal "poop" is amazing.  It is everywhere!!! 

I remember in school, where we did a statistical survey on the amount of deer poop in a measured area in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Amazing numbers.

It is a good that animals do not use toilet paper, because the hills would look like winter all summer long!!!

My dogs tend to find it first.  If your a dog, there is nothing finer then elk "poop".  They will sniff, but not eat cougar, coyote, wolf, or in most cases deer.  Elk on the other hand has been a special treat for every dog I have owned!!!

When I was working I did have a couple of complaints about horse poop on trails and water quality.  Horse poop is barely digested so is pretty clean when it comes to pathogens.  Must be the reason most my dogs just roll in it, rather than eat it.

It would be interesting to have someone do water quality tests at an Escapade.  Just because your not getting sick, doesn't mean that your tank is not contaminated.  And for folks for health issues, you don't want to get a water borne sickness.

The ONE worry that I do have is that I wear contact lenses. 

And I REALLY try to keep things clean when inserting them.  I have used "baby wipes", but my daughter informed me that they do NOT have "cleansing" to them.  It is difficult to keep things "clean" while backpacking or RV'ing with limited water supplies.

Anybody have tips on coping for this issue??  I do tend to switch and use dailies on fires and camping most of the time.

Edited January 1 by Vladimir

[Ray,IN]

On 12/31/2023 at 11:20 AM, Kirk W said:

Do you still do that today? If so, keep your teeth clinched to strain out the bigger things from your neighbor's livestock.

Nope not since an adjoining property owner upstream sold off lots and made a housing subdivision. Since I sold the cattle and horses only wildlife drink from the stream.  That bottom abounds with deer, turkey, and raccoons today.  BTW,  the creek originates from a spring on that neighbors property.

You've peaked my curiosity, I'll test the stream water when it warms up some, to see what is actually in that water now.

 

[bruce t]

Just an observation - Over the many years of travel in the USA and watching way too many home shows on the TV we noted the many many lakes in the USA that were built out with cabins, holiday homes and fulltime homes right on the shoreline. Many had boat houses and driveways, all a source for poo lution. Now here in Australia you wont find a building within sight of any water storage facility. New dams could be paid for with subdivisions as happens in the USA. But no we Australians say it would potentially pollute the water. So my question is - Why the worry about drinking out of a stream in the forest when city water often comes from a lake surrounded by human activity? Yes I know about treatment plants but!!! And why the worry when cities like London and Paris actually drink what was once human waste. 

Now I've opened a can of worms!