Is sanitizing water tank really necessary?

[Ruth]

Originally Posted by chasfenwick

Bigdomino - Five+ years and counting. Still alive.

Off and on for 20 plus years, never sanitized tank. Also spent my childhood drinking out of a hose, stomping in mud puddles, playing on rusty playground equipment and thanks to this, I never get sick....

[billfitz61]

I've seen the posting regarding sanitizing the water tank. As I never use this feature on my trailer, I was wondering should it be necessary to sanitize the water lines. Currently just use water for washing. Never for cooking, drinking.
The Jayco manual only mentions the water tank cleaning process.
This is my first trailer, so I'm unsure as to what's really necessary.

Thanks for any feedback.

Bill

[hoppers4]

Add the recommended bleach concentration to you tank and pump it through your water lines using the trailer water pump. Run each faucet until you smell the bleach solution. Let it set for 4 hours and flush all lines thoroughly.

[The Logans]

And... always remember to take the filter element out prior to running bleach thru the system.

Can it make you sick... sure, a lot depends on how much water is in the tank, and what the outside temperature is. The less water in the tank, and the hotter the temp, the faster the bacteria grows. For most folks, it usually means a lot of trips to the bathroom, but for folks with a compromised immune system (transplant recipients, those on immuno suppressants, young children, older folks, etc.), it can be fatal.

IMHO, why take a chance?

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

full timed in a motorhome for 8 years. Never sanitized the water tank. Still here to write this reply.

If I was full timing, I probably would not worry about it, as water is flowing through the pipes everyday. But with only using the tt every few weeks in the summer and sitting all winter. No way, to many nasty things can grow, just look at our wet awnings.

[Dustdevil]

As mentioned earlier, it depends on where your water comes from. More often if it's well water, untreated with chlorine. Less often if you have city water that's chlorinated. Good idea once in a while, and it does taste like chlorine for a while afterwards, even though it's flushed. Complete flushing is good, too.