Sanitizing water system

[Fyouberg]

If my shore water system becomes contaminated with bad water, how do I go about sanitizing it? I assume it’s going to involve bleach, but how do I get it in the hose and the system itself?

[KCSA75]

You can fill your FW tank with water and add bleach. You can also fill the hose with bleach then hook to the hydrant.

[Fyouberg]

The hose sounds like the better option since it also had contaminated water running through it. I assume you just run a faucet until you can smell the chlorine bleach. How long does it need to sit in the system before you can flush it all out?

[Woodworker]

I'd buy a new hose. They're cheap. I let the bleach sit over night myself. There is a recommended amount of bleach to water but I don't recall what it is you'll need to Google it

[EA37TS]

In most cases the sanitizing procedure says to leave the solution in the system for at least 4 hours.

The solution should be 1/4 cup of bleach to one gallon of water. You will need 1 gallon of solution for every 15 gallons of tank capacity. This gives you a chlorine concentrate of 50 PPM. For extreme circumstance you can go as high as 100 PPM which is 1/2 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water per 15 gallons of tank capacity.

On my prior rig I modified the tank drain so I could attach my water hose to it. I would fill the tank with the sanitizing solution and the cap the hose and attach it it the tank drain. Open the tank drain and then let the solution sit in the hose while the whole system was sanitizing. When I get ready to de-winterize the Accolade I am going to see if I can do the same mod on this rig.

BTW, your owners manual should have the sanitizing procedures listed.

[Jagiven]

You do not mention what TT you have. If you have a gravity fill port, or a command center.

You want to fill the FW tank with the Bleach solution (1/4 cup bleach to every 15 gallons of water)

If you have a gravity fill port, you have a couple options to get the bleach into the tank. I personally do not like putting concentrated bleach into my hose. Nor do I like trying to take concentrated bleach and pour down the gravity fill port (I have split on myself).

You can use a funnel to pour it into the tank, pour it into a hose 1st. I now use my on board water pump, to pump it into the FW tank. I flip the pump to the winterizing mode. I take the outside shower head off the hose, stick the hose down my gravity fill port. Turn on the cold water valve. Go inside with my 2 quart serving pitcher with the bleach concentrate in it. Insert the winterizing hose, and turn on the pump. Once the pitcher is empty, I usually follow up with a pitcher of clear water. Turn off the pump and close the valves. Top the tank off with water from the hose.

No matter what system you use, Once the FW tank is full, use the pump to flush bleach water to each device in the system. I sniff the water until I smell the bleach, I also pump bleach water into the water heater(drain it first). When I have bleach water to all the faucets, I top off the FW tank. Let it sit at least 4 hours, I let it sit over night and flush with a LOT of fresh water the next day.

If you have a command center, draw water from your bucket/pitch just like you are winterizing the water lines, just remember to send the water to the FW tank.

I can tell you from experience if you use a strong concentration of bleach, it takes a long time to get the taste of bleach out of the system. I have done this twice, and hate it each time.

[Fyouberg]

Here’s how I see it goinG: Note, the contaminated water has come from a shore connection not the freshwater tank.
1. Drain the contaminated water from the system using the low point drains and the drain plug in the hot water heater. Flush system with fresh, good city water and drain the system again. Make sure hot water heater is turned off.
2. Pour the bleach solution into the contaminated hose and hook it to the shore water connector and city water connection.
3. Run the faucets and Check for a chlorine smell at each faucet. Hot and cold.
4. allow it to sit for four hours.
5. Drain the system and water heater and flush with clean water from the shore water connection. (I will be using a new hose for this part of the operation.)
6. Flush with vinegar as needed.
What do you think of this approach for a system that has been contaminated from a city water connection only. No fresh water tank involvement at all.

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by Fyouberg

Here’s how I see it goinG: Note, the contaminated water has come from a shore connection not the freshwater tank.
1. Drain the contaminated water from the system using the low point drains and the drain plug in the hot water heater. Flush system with fresh, good city water and drain the system again. Make sure hot water heater is turned off.
2. Pour the bleach solution into the contaminated hose and hook it to the shore water connector and city water connection.
3. Run the faucets and Check for a chlorine smell at each faucet. Hot and cold.
4. allow it to sit for four hours.
5. Drain the system and water heater and flush with clean water from the shore water connection. (I will be using a new hose for this part of the operation.)
6. Flush with vinegar as needed.
What do you think of this approach for a system that has been contaminated from a city water connection only. No fresh water tank involvement at all.

You can push on the check valve (remove the filter screen and press on the center of the inlet) on the city water connection to burp any air to fill that area with bleach water. But what I have found, it naturally fills with bleach water in my HTT, as it is a short stub of pipe.

[Iraqvet05]

I rarely use my FW tank so to sanitize the rest of the system, I mixed bleach solution in a bucket/bottle and use the anti-freeze suction line off the water pump to draw the solution into the lines...just like winterizing. You can dump the same solution on the water hose then cap the ends off and let the bleach solution kill off the contaminates.

[Fyouberg]

Thanks to you all. Once again this forum turns out to be one of the best apps on my phone. You are awesome.