# How do you clean your fresh water tank?



## ctfortner (Nov 16, 2007)

I was curious what you thought the best way to clean the fresh water tank and how often do you clean it? Our camper is used, and we have never used it, so I havent cleaned it out either.

Is there any worry of mold/mildew getting in the system lines and clogging the screens if I dont clean it?


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## antigua (Dec 17, 2007)

Add a cup of bleach into the the fresh water tank thru the fill hole, run the taps for a while to flush out everything. Let the water sit in there for about an hour then Drain the fresh water tank out. Refill the tank with fresh water and flush out the bleach water in your taps. Repeat the refill and flush out step a couple of more times and you're ready to go. I've done this once when I first picked up the new Hybrid. I'm guessing once a year I should clean mine out. Once in the spring just before we go camping again. Hope this helps


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## campingforfun (Jan 5, 2008)

Actually if you have never cleaned the tank, you should do that before using it. It should be done on a regular basis but particularly in your case if it is a second hand camper.

I've read that you can use either bleach or vinegar but in both instances, the dealers' websites recommended that the bleach or vinegar NOT be poured directly into the tank.

They said that you should make up a solution of bleach and water or vinegar and water to make the cleaner diluted.


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## antigua (Dec 17, 2007)

Yes you're right campingforfum. I was going from memory and thought I had it right. Come to think of it, I read bleach or vinegar in the manual but I think I had to use vinegar because we didn`t have any bleach in the house. I do remember that it said nothing about mixing them with water to dilute the solution. Good tips. The problem I had was getting anything to go in the hole. It kept spilling out the side of the trailer. What I did was I pour some water in the hole with the hose, stopped the water drained the hose a bit, pour the cup of vinegar in to the hose and put the hose back in the hole and turn the water back on It worked great.
We have a softwater tank in the house and does a good job cleaning out the hard water in the house and is nice to have when be go camping to when we don't hook up to the city water.


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## bill0830 (Nov 16, 2007)

I fill mine up when I un-winterize the camper. I hook up to the camper and move it back and forth a few times. I'll let it sit for a day or so and then open the drain. I like to keep a few gallons in it so there is water to flush the toilet with the DC pump. When we take the grand kids they always need to "go potty" and they usually need to go NOW and there isn't usually time to "wait" until the next rest stop or fuel stop. We have only had to use our fresh water tank a few times and usually at a Army Corp of Engineer park. They usually have water but not necessarily at each site.


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## Willy (Jan 11, 2008)

bill0830 said:


> I fill mine up when I un-winterize the camper. I hook up to the camper and move it back and forth a few times. I'll let it sit for a day or so and then open the drain. I like to keep a few gallons in it so there is water to flush the toilet with the DC pump.


This is about the same thing we do as well. It has worked well for us, we dont have any toxic smells in our rv.


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## grace (Nov 16, 2007)

We had a camper bus that had a water tank in it. My Dad kept that clean too. The vinegar is what I use for my coffee maker. I have it in my directions for care and cleaning. I use 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar solution to the coffee pot. I run it through, and then put it in the sink. Then do 2 clean water cycles in it. It does great cleaning. We had a port-o-potty in our bus.


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