Disinfecting plastic tank

[Iver]

Just wondering what most of you use to clean out the fresh water tank before filling with fresh water.
    Thanks, Iver.

[tekebird]

bleach solution

[Dallas]

1/4 cup bleach per 15 gallons of water....

We clean ours about 2-4 times per year, depending on where we are. And yes we do drink the water.

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/ab_trailers/article/0,,DIY_13699_4760616,00.html

[jjrbus]

Dallas, I read the article you gave the link to.  I have read about this a bit and the amount of bleach they are using is waaaayyy too much. Being cheap and hating waste this offends me!!! Also bleach is not great for the environment or for our health, it is needed but should be used sparingly.
For superchlorinating most recommend 2 oz per 15 gal of water, not 1 cup or 8 oz. On a 150 gal system this would be the difference between 20 oz and 80 oz!! That would be on a new system, a system that has sat or a contaminated system. Not a system that is in use.  Also the chlorine needs to remain in the system for a few hours preferably overnight.
The article made no mention of treating the hose, which is a great breeding ground for bacteria. This is accomplished by draining the hose and pouring a diluted solution into the hose, hooking it back up and alowing it to set for a few hours.This is also a great way to put the solution into the holding tank!!
For regular maintenance I use  3 oz per hundred gal bleach solution.  I am open to feedback on this also wisecracks and criticism. 

[HighTechRedneck]

For regular maintenance I use a 3% Thats 3 oz per hundred gal bleach solution.  I am open to feedback on this also wisecracks and criticism. 

Ok, for everyday use that's fine, but for the record, that's not 3%.  3 ounces in 100 gallons (3 ounces bleach in 12,800 ounces water) is 0.0234375%  (2/100ths of a percent) or 234ppm.  With regular household bleach this would create 12ppm cholrine in the water.

[jackhartjr]

We put a quarter cup of bleach for each 15 gallons, drive it down the road for a few miles to 'mix the solution', then open each faucett till we smell the bleach, leave it alone for 24 hours, drain it all out, fill up, drain that through each faucett and fill up again. We do it once a year in our S&S. No problems in 3 years.
Hope that helps.

[Dallas]

Jim,

Ummm, the article, and I, recommend 1/4 cup of bleach per 15 gallons, which would be 4 oz. per 15 gallons or 40 oz. per 150 gallons.

My method is to fill the tank with the required solution, utilizing our auxiliary fill that is on the counter. This goes to a 5 gallon tank that has a ball valve to keep it separate from the main tank. Since my total water capacity is only about 72 gallons, I round up and figure 75 gallons. For that amount of water I would use 1 1/4 cup of bleach. After pouring the bleach into a half full auxiliary tank, I fill the rest of the way with fresh water with the city water connection. Once that is full, I figure the solution is strong enough to kill just about anything in that tank after about 15 minutes. Next, I open the ball valve and let the solution go into the main tank, via gravity feed. Once everything has drained from the auxiliary to the main tank, I fill the main tank with water from the city fill. After that I let it sit for anywhere from 6 hours to overnight, then hook up the fresh water hose to the main tank drain and open it out into the wild blue (or green) yonder. After staying at Timmonsville for nearly 2 years, and draining the tanks periodically in this way, the grass never died, the earth worms were as prolific as ever and the yard critters were happy. I don't think I did much if any damage to the environment.
The next issue is rinsing the rest of the bleach water out of the tank, for that, I use an extra 25' fresh water hose to the city water fill and let it run out through the tank drain with the other hose for about 15 minutes.
Once that is done, close up the tank drain, remove the freshly cleaned hose and attach the ends to themselves, and put it away for the next time.

Oh, I almost forgot, I also have 2 whole house water filters in line with the water pump, or the city water fill or the gravity fill. I allow the bleach water to go through these and after everything else is done, I change the filters, usually a standard filter and a carbon filter.

Dallas

[jjrbus]

Opps

[Lin]

Dallas,  Only one comment.  A cup is 8 ounces, so your quarter cup is 2 oz.  We generally do not drink from the tank.  At home, I use filtered tap water, but when traveling may bottle our own or buy bottle water.

[Dallas]

Dallas,  Only one comment.  A cup is 8 ounces, so your quarter cup is 2 oz.  We generally do not drink from the tank.  At home, I use filtered tap water, but when traveling may bottle our own or buy bottle water.

Doh! 

Then I have been putting twice as much as needed in! 

And I sat here and thought to myself, "self, a pint's a pound the world round" and then forgot my basic math.

[jjrbus]

a 1/4 cup is 2 oz!!! 2 oz is the recomended amount for 15 gals of water, but that is only for super chlorinating, not regular maintenance. Regular mainance only requires about 3 oz per hundred gallons.  Now b4 eye post this I'm gong 2 go back and read you post  again!