Fresh water tanks - bleach as maintenance? Hydrogen peroxide?

[daveola]

I fill my tank from a clean (city) water source, but I'm worried about something eventually growing in the tanks..

I know that some people add a small amount of bleach to the tanks without draining them, what is a safe amount?  I read some gov't "safe water" recommendations that talk about adding 1/8 t for every gallon of water, though city water already contains some chlorine.

Also, some people have mentioned hydrogen peroxide - is that the hydrogen peroxide in the strength I can buy at the pharmacy, and how much should I use?

My tanks don't have any smell or any issues, I just want to keep it that way.

[boogiethecat]

15-20 parts per million h202 is quite enough to keep your tank sterile.  The stuff decomposes on it's own though. I'd use either H202 or bleach to "clean" a tank but personally after it's "cleaned" I wouldn't put either in a tank that I'd drink or take showers from.  City water usually has more than enough...

[gumpy]

If you're using municipal water supply and filling on a regular basis (at least every 2-3 months) you shouldn't have to worry about anything growing. Drain the tanks 
and refill with municipal water when you're ready to go.  You'll probably have more potential for mineral and iron buildup in there than anything growing.

[white-eagle]

the advice you already have is good, but since we've been living in our bus for a year, we've found a couple things to beware of.  well water for one.  we filled the tank, but since we were staying at parks with water, we weren't always using it up.  on occasion, i added a cup of regular bleach, then flush the tank after a bit, then refill with water and a tablespoon of bleach.  like was already said, city water will last awhile, but not every campground has city water.

one time, we got some well water with some sort of smell just in the hot water tank.  i was about ready to either buy a new tank or get a new rod, which meant pulling the tank to install it.  instead, we ran some regular drug store peroxide into the hot water tank, let it stay for  a few hours, then flushed.  bacteria gone along with their smell.  i forget the name of the bacteria, and they're harmless, but rotten eggs smell for sure.  sure was glad for the peroxide treatment and not having to tear anything apart.

[Charles in SC]

I use a product I get from Wal Mart called Taste Pure. It has worked well for me for 15 years and 3 rvs. The only time I have ever had a problem is when I filled up away from home from a city water supply and did not have any Taste pure to add. Was it the water or the Taste pure? My home supply is a 150 foot deep well. I have kept water from this well for 3 years without having it go bad in a bottle. The city water must have a lot of wiggle-tales in it for them to need to treat it all with chlorine. The Taste pure is a type of chlorine I think. All of this may not have any meaning but as I see it city water can be very foul and well water can be very pure, contrary to popular belief.
Just my .02

[gus]

Rotten egg smell will be in any tank that sits for extended periods that contains lime in the water, usually home wells. Hot water just makes it worse.

I had this same problem in my old home water heater which had a pretty good coating of lime from my well water over 26 years (Yes, it actually lasted that long!). It always smelled bad after we were away for a few weeks. The new heater has a trace of this but not much.

Sulfur in fresh water is also bad to smell.

[akroyaleagle]

Here's how I do it.

Freshening water tank

To get started the fresh water tank should be empty. With the hose hooked to the fresh water fill, use a measuring cup and pour 1 cup of household bleach per fifty gallons of water into the end of the hose.
Then, hook that end of the hose up to the water source and fill the tank.
Let this sit for 12-24 hours.
Drain the tank.
This is a relatively small amount of chlorine but could leave a slight smell/taste in your water system. To eliminate this: hook your hose to your fresh water fill. Mix a slurry (pourable liquid) of water and baking soda, 1 cup per fifty gallons of water and pour into the hose then hook the hose up to the water source and fill the tank. Let sit for 12-24 hours and drain.
You are then ready to fill your holding tanks with fresh water.

[PP]

Too much chlorine in your water will cause gas and bloating because it interferes with the good bacteria and enzymes in your tummy. Sulfur is generally what causes well water to stink, and while mostly harmless, I don't recommend using for showering for obvious reasons. We have stayed in many campgrounds that supply untreated well water. Most state health dept.s require the water be tested for safety at least monthly, but safety doesn't cover minerals and such. Most lab tests are only looking for ecoli contamination and this is usually the only test required by state health departments. Unless the property that has the well is being sold, and that's an entirely different can of worms.
Akroyaleagle gave a very good method for freshening a tank that might have become contaminated. We have used this method for years with great results. Good luck, Will

[Sean]

Once again I see there is a great deal of confusion about sulfur smell in the hot water.  We have discussed this here before^*, and I wrote up the root cause and the solution:
http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=8839.msg91564#msg91564

Note that in that post I also discussed how to "shock" the fresh water system; we do this every six months or so even though we live aboard every day.  On a rig that is used only occasionally, I recommend shock treating the water system before every trip.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

* As always, most basic questions have been asked and answered here before.  You can often find the answers by using the advanced search feature; that's the one located between the "help" and "profile" buttons in the menu bar.  It is much more sophisticated than the simple search box located above it on the right side of the screen.

[daveola]

This is all good advice, but mostly is about how to deal with bad water sources and how to fully clean the tanks.

What I'm looking for is general maintenance besides (or perhaps even instead of) a fully tank cleaning/draining/etc..

Perhaps something like Taste Pure as Charles mentioned.  Although gumpy says I probably don't need to treat it if the water source I'm using is good (which it generally should be).

Am I just being paranoid about wanting to treat the tanks to avoid even the beginning of a problem?  Should I just fill with the clean water and assume that'll be fine for some time?

[Van]

Good rule of thumb so far as consuming, is to boil what you consume, your tummy will thank you later.

[philiptompkjns]

Good rule of thumb so far as consuming, is to boil what you consume, your tummy will thank you later.

viva la mexico?

[Merlin-PV]

google purogene, might be what you are looking for

[bobofthenorth]

We've only ever treated the fresh tank with bleach once and we regretted it for weeks afterward because it took a long time to get it completely out of the system.  (OK - maybe I used too much bleach)  Anyway, I'm with the "use good water and don't worry about it" crowd.  But once again I'll put in a word for having separate drinking and fresh water systems.  We have a 20 gallon drinking water tank as well as 100 gallons of fresh.  That lets us be really particular about what goes into the drinking tank.  If I've got good water in the main tank I can run it across into the drinking tank or I can fill it from a hydrant or I can self load it using my main pressure pump.  That gives us a lot of flexibility and means that we don't have to be so worried about what is in the main tank because it is going to be boiled or used for washing anyway.  I suppose in theory something could grow inside the tank if you were using unchlorinated water but we use chlorinated water pretty well all the time.

[white-eagle]

Bob, you're not being truthfull.  i know you purify most water glasses with Scotch.  and a fair quantity at that.

me, i believe that a reasonable amount of dirt helps ward off disease.  my wife drinks the bottled stuff, but i get the ice and water from our tank, filtered twice on the way to the glass.  and yes, i sometimes use Bob's method of purification also.