How To Sanitize an RV Water System

Updated! We show you how to thoroughly sanitize both hot and cold sides of your RV's fresh water system.

Don't have a winterizing kit? No problem! Here's the trick we use:
https://youtu.be/lEBscJ-qb98

Want to sanitize the cold water side only? Here's how:
https://youtu.be/kOlPwmwlaMo

Click here to find Slunky sewer hose support: http://tinyurl.com/khullxj

We've been drinking the water from our RV's fresh water tank for over a decade without a problem. It's perfectly safe to do, as long as you sanitize your fresh water system periodically. We do ours about twice a year (keep in mind that we're full-timers... those who store their RV all winter should be fine sanitizing once a year, in the spring).

Clean, safe, sanitary drinking water is a breeze when you take a few basic steps to manage the fresh water system on your motorhome, travel trailer of fifth wheel. Fresh, drinkable, potable H2O doesn't only come from bottled water, but right from your RV's tank, saving money and plastic in the process.

We'll show you how to use bleach to kill any bacteria that may be present in your camper's water system, and have all the safe drinking water you need.

If you saw the first video we made on this topic over two years ago, we only sanitized the cold water lines. That's because the primary purpose of sanitizing is to make the water safe to drink. Since a lot of people asked about sanitizing the hot side of the system as well, we're going to do both hot and cold sides today.

You can see the original video here: http://youtu.be/kOlPwmwlaMo

If at all possible, the deal time to do this is on a day when you're planning to take a long drive, preferably down some pretty twisty roads. This will agitate the water in the tank, helping to clean it as you drive, and make sure the top of the tank gets splashed too.

Since we'll be doing some tank flushing as part of the process, your trip should ideally take you from one full hook-up RV park to another one, neither of which should have drought or water use restrictions.

It's particularly important to end your drive at an RV park with water hook-ups, since you'll be arriving with a tank full of bleachy water.

The only supplies we'll need for this job are some bleach, a 1-gallon pitcher and an old measuring cup.

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The intro music is my own piano performance of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag from 1899.

Full-Time RVers since April 11, 2003, we share DIY (do it yourself) RV maintenance, repair, travel, upgrade and operational tips & tricks.

While we're not RV technicians, we're very mechanically inclined and have learned a lot about RV systems over the years. We've handled most of our own minor service, maintenance and upgrade work on both of our RVs.

We meet lots of newer RVers who are eager to learn some basics about using, maintaining and caring for their rigs. After more than a decade on the road, we're happy to share what we've learned (some of it the hard way). ;-) We hope our experience can help other RVers go DIY, saving time & money while experiencing the satisfaction of a job well done.

We are not professional RV technicians and do not pretend to be experts on any particular topic. We mostly know about maintaining our own motorhome, so be sure to confirm that all methods and materials used are compatible with your equipment. Every RV is different, so your systems may not be the same as ours. Regardless of what we recommend, consult a professional if you're unsure about working on your RV. We encourage you to do your own research. Any task you perform or product you purchase based on any information we provide is strictly at your own risk.

Comments welcome! Thanks for watching! Don't forget to subscribe!

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Closed Caption:

yeah
we've been drinking the water from our
RVs freshwater tank for over a decade
without a problem
it's perfectly safe to do as long as you
sanitize your fresh water system
periodically if you saw our first video
on this topic
we only sanitize the cold water lines
that's because the primary purpose is to
make the water safe to drink since a lot
of people asked about sanitizing the hot
side of the system as well we're going
to do both the hot and cold sides today
if at all possible
the absolute ideal time to do this is on
a day when you're planning to take a
long drive
preferably down some pretty twisty roads
this will agitate the water in the tank
helping to clean it as you drive since
we'll be doing some tank flushing as
part of the process your trip should
ideally take you from one full hookup RV
park to another one
neither of which have drought or water
use restrictions
it's particularly important to end your
drive an RV park with water hookups
since you'll be arriving with a tank
full of bleach e water
the only supplies we'll need for this
job are some bleach a one-gallon pitcher
and an old measuring cup
start with your fresh tank no more than
about half full
leaving room to fill the tank after
adding the bleach
if you have an ice maker be sure to turn
it off before starting the process
if you have a drinking water dispenser
at your kitchen sink it likely has a
carbon filter underneath the counter
which will want to bypass to avoid
running bleach through it
bypassing the water filter is easy
simply close the two valves that lead
into and out of the filter then open the
valve on the bypass line that parallels
the filter
this allows water to flow up to the
water dispenser without going through
the filter
we also don't want bleach entering the
water heater tank
since it isn't necessary and having to
flush it out would just add extra work
most RVs are equipped with a water
heater bypass which allows you to take
the heater offline for tasks such as
running winter antifreeze through the
water lines or sanitizing your fresh
water system by passing the water heater
is exactly the same as bypassing the
drinking water filter will close off the
two valves leading into and out of the
heater and open the valve on the bypass
line
this allows water to flow freely past
the water heater without entering it
your water heater bypass probably has a
diagram to make it clear which way the
valve should be turned for bypassing or
for normal operation the easiest way to
add bleach into the system is with a
winterizing kit which can also be used
to add antifreeze in the winter or
vinegar
when you're flushing the water heater
start by filling your picture about
three-quarters full of water then
carefully adding one quarter cup of
bleach for every 15 gallons of tank
capacity we have a 105 gallon freshwater
tank so we'll be using one and
three-quarter cups of bleach
now make sure that you're disconnected
from the water hookup or at least that
it's turned off and turn your fresh
water tank filled to the on position now
flip both valves on your winterizing kit
which will open the plastic intake tube
place the end of the tube into the
picture and turn on your RVs water pump
this will draw the bleach solution into
the RV pumping it into the only
available avoid the freshwater tank
be careful when handling bleach you may
want to wear eye protection and gloves
when the pitcher is empty
turn off the water pump
after drawing in all of the bleach
solution
rinse out the winterizing tube by
drawing in another pitcher full of clean
fresh water
now you can switch the two valves on the
winterizing kit back to the normal
position as we won't be needing it again
if your RV isn't equipped with the
winterizing kit
you may have a water fill that allows
you to pour the bleach solution directly
into the tank using a funnel
since our tank fill valve is already in
the on position
all we have to do is turn on the faucet
at the hose connection to fill the
freshwater tank all the way to the top
of course the way we'll know the tank is
full is when water starts coming out of
the overflow tube on the bottom of the
RV
as soon as that happens switch the tank
fill valve to the off position and turn
off the faucet at the water connection
now that we have the proper
concentration of bleach water in the
tank
let's turn on the water pump and run it
up through all the faucets to sanitize
them to run the cold water until you
smell bleach then run the hot water
until you smell bleach their to run
water up through every faucet in the RV
until you can smell bleach from both the
hot and cold water at each location
this includes all of the sinks the
shower
any outdoor faucets and the water
dispenser at the kitchen sink again make
sure that the RV is disconnected from
any external water source and the water
pump is on this will make sure that
you're drawing the bleached water from
the freshwater tank and not accidentally
running water from the RV parks hook up
now it's time for that long twisty drive
if possible we like to keep the bleach
in the system for about four to eight
hours and part of that time should be
driving this will agitate the water
really well and slosh it up against the
top of the tank
hopefully it goes without saying that
you shouldn't Drive this fast
now that we've arrived at our
destination and were fully hooked up
with electric water and sewer
connections we can drain the tank and
flush out the water lines you should
find a low point drain near the
freshwater tank open the valve and allow
the water to fully drain out of the tank
this will probably take a few hours
there's only a very small amount of
bleach in a very large volume of water
so it shouldn't be a problem letting it
simply run onto the ground
however if you're fully hooked up with a
sewer connection and you're in a spot
where it's more appropriate to pump the
water into the sewer system you can
simply turn off the water at the spigot
turn on your water pump and turn on one
of your faucets pumping 100 or more
gallons of water through your water pump
will not harm it
just be sure to turn it off as soon as
the water runs out to avoid running it
dry
once your fresh water tank is empty set
your tank fill valve to the on position
and turn on the water spigot and
completely refill the tank once the tank
is full turn the water and the tank fill
valve off and your water pump on and run
hot and cold water from the tank through
every faucet in the RV until you can't
smell bleach anymore
it's possible that you might need to
drain and fill the tank one more time if
the water still smells like bleach
don't forget to switch your water heater
bypass valves back to their normal
settings for everyday use and do the
same thing with the drinking water
filter bypass under your kitchen counter
to avoid wasting water
don't sanitize your tank more often than
necessary
we're actually very water conscious
using a small fraction of what a normal
household would use a hundred gallons of
water can easily last us 10 days or more
but twice a year we need to use some
extra water to keep our onboard supply
safe to drink