Sanitizing your RV's Freshwater System

Why is Sanitizing Your RV Water System Necessary

Insuring clean, safe drinking water in your recreation vehicle is important to your health and requires sanitizing your fresh water system. Proper care and maintenance is a must.

If your RV has been sitting in storage, or has not been used for awhile, the fresh water storage tank, hot water tank and water lines are a great place for bacteria or algae to grow and you don't want that to happen. In order to remove these problems from your RV, you should sanitize your water system.

When Should you Sanitize Your RV Water System

• If you notice stale odors or sulfur smell when using your water from the fresh water system after water was left in the system for quite some time.  
• Has your RV been sitting for a month or more and the RV water system has not been used 
• Have you filled your water tank then been informed that there is a boil water advisory 
• Do you have a problem with algae or slime in your tank 
• You must remember that filters will remove contaminates such as sand and rust and will improve taste and odor but a filter is not a purifier and will not kill bacteria and other microorganisms. It is time to sanitize the entire water system.

How do you Sanitize Your RV Water System

The most common method people use for sanitizing their RV's fresh water system involves filling the fresh water system with a solution of household bleach and running the solution through the entire RV water system.  

You can use the same procedure with much more complete results by using Purogene.   Purogene is a solution of 2% chlorine dioxide, and it is much superior to bleach in that it not only kills bacteria, algae, cysts and viruses, but it also removes biofilms that attach to your tank and the inside of your plumbing.   Where chlorine simply oxidizes over the residue from the bacteria, Purogene removes it.

In either case, after the tank is full of solution, turn on the hot water tap in the bath or shower first.   This will fill the hot water tank and the line to the tap.   Then turn on the cold water tap and run until water comes out.   Repeat this for every tap in the RV, including outside taps.   Then let Purogene stand for at least one hour or bleach for 4 hours. Drain the system and refill the tank with fresh water.   If you use bleach, you may have flush the system several times to remove the bleach taste and smell.  

1. Read through these sanitize RV water system steps before you begin!
2. Remove the water filters while sanitizing the water system. If so, you should change the filters after you have finished sanitizing the RV system.
3. If you have a hot water heater,  you should drain the tank before sanitizing
4. Drain all of the water out of the water system, this includes hot water tank, fresh water tank, and the water lines and then close all of the drains valves. You do not want to start this process with water that is questionable or of unknown quality in your RV water system.
5. Determine the size of your RV water system, the fresh water tank plus the hot water tank and 2 to 3 gallons for water lines depending on the size of your recreation vehicle.
6. If using bleach, prepare a 1/2 cup of bleach per 30 gallons of water using chlorine bleach (non-scented and non-gel)  
7. If using Purogene, use 3 oz for every 10 gallons of water 
8. US Public Health Service approves disinfection with 50 ppm residual chlorine.