Weekend RVers - Keeping Water In Tank?

[WCRCinCA]

Hello everyone,

I haven’t made our formal introduction post yet, but I had a quick question about what to do with our water tank in between trips. We recently purchased our 2400BH and plan on taking it out roughly every other weekend. Some will be dry camping spots, some will be RV parks. So far, we have mostly been using the water for everything but drinking (we just prefer to bring gallon jugs of bottled). We have an upcoming trip in June to a remote campground with no water, nor any water source on the way to the campground from our storage lot. No biggie, but what I’m wondering is if there’s any issue with, let’s say, filling 1/4-1/3 of our water tank when we leave the RV park we’re staying at for this holiday weekend, then putting back in storage, and taking back out two weeks later so that we have just enough water for the toilet and washing hands or dishes. Do I need to worry about bacteria and algae in that amount of time if we’re not drinking it? How do you guys do it when you boondock? Thanks in advance!

[Country Campers]

I think there is plenty of water left in the lines between camping trips for most. I think you would be fine to leave water in the tank, as long as it is good water. I have done it before with no problems but I use our home water. If the water is "stinky" that you fill with then it will be "stinkier" when you use it.

Brian

[WCRCinCA]

Thanks, Brian! We’ll be careful about where we source the water if we plan on keeping it in there for a bit.

[jh.xsnrg]

If you want to leave the water in it, I would recommend an additive such as this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Completely harmless, but keeps the smell/growth away if you don't want to use bleach.

[Coheeba]

I generally don't drink the water from the RV I use it to cook, flush and shower. It still can get a funky smell, so at least once a year I put a bleach solution and clean the fresh tank. I have attached the "Geo Method" by Charles Bruni. Good read.

[D2Reid]

I leave about 1/3 of fresh water in the tank. We are usually on city water, but have some for the times when water gets shut off or frozen. About once a quarter I dump what has not been used and put fresh in. I have had no issues with bad water.

[Skirugger]

I think we have been overdoing it.......we have been bleaching our fresh water tank about once every 6 weeks. We also don’t really use it for anything other than washing dishes, showering, toilet, etc. I will rinse off my toothbrush with it and I haven’t died yet.

Question: do people drink the “city water” at rv parks? We have the blue hose-line filter, but still kind of reach for bottled water.....maybe that’s a waste? I’m fine with drinking it if everybody else does......

[JColeman]

I think we have been overdoing it.......we have been bleaching our fresh water tank about once every 6 weeks. We also don’t really use it for anything other than washing dishes, showering, toilet, etc. I will rinse off my toothbrush with it and I haven’t died yet.

Question: do people drink the “city water” at rv parks? We have the blue hose-line filter, but still kind of reach for bottled water.....maybe that’s a waste? I’m fine with drinking it if everybody else does......

You will get 50/50 answers on this one. The blue filters that you buy at RV stores or the one that comes stock in your trailer are really only designed to remove sediment so you are not getting much real value out of them. Some people build little RO setups for their rigs and other build in or make stand-alone multiple filter solutions to remove more and smaller particles and life forms. A number of folks carry Berkey filters and supposedly you could put one in a pond and drink from it.

The water at RV parks and state and national parks varies widely. We use multiple filters and my wife and I still only drink bottled water. YMMV.

I dump my fresh water tank if our next trip is more than 3-4 weeks out.

[Gimpyknee]

I'm still a rookie, so keep that in mind. However, my comments are based on trawler cruising. The freshwater tank on M/V SONATA is 300 gallons. Plain old city water, unfiltered, from the marina is used to fill. No other treatments are added. Using the water and refilling FW tanks on a regular basis is the key.

[MarkRizRV]

Not only do I drain my fresh water after each trip, I drain my hot water tank as well. The hot tank can hold the smell of bad water
Mark