Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 06, 2025 ...

leaving fresh water in the tank

August 05, 2025, 11:28:09 am

I camp about every month to 6 weeks and the fresh water tank is close to full. Should I drain it between or is it okay?
I don't drink it. Should I pour a bit of bleach in it in between? 

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Re: leaving fresh water in the tank

Reply #1 – August 05, 2025, 12:08:20 pm

I don't recommend leaving bleach in your tank water, it allows too many possibilities for interaction with other things, like washing down other cleaners etc. and it can damage seals and things. Even if you don't drink the water, it can still cause problems.
It is probably a good idea to disinfect your tank at least once a year with white vinegar or a commercial tank cleaner like Spring Fresh.
If you are leaving the water unused for over about 2-3 weeks, I would probably just drain it and refill before leaving.
The consequences of dirty water far outweigh any cost involved in a refill.

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Re: leaving fresh water in the tank

Reply #2 – August 06, 2025, 09:55:36 am

We live full time in our coach and run off the tank/ water pump most of the time, and travel. We have never added any thing to our fresh water tank. Usually you will get enough treated water from public utilities that would take care of any issues. With that said a tea spoon of bleach on a full tank is not going to hurt anything on a full tank.

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Re: leaving fresh water in the tank

Reply #3 – August 06, 2025, 10:46:59 am

We use our coach fairly regularly - and it is stored at the house.

I keep my water tank full all of the time... Do drain it regularly to keep it fresh and always top it off when leaving to head out or home... Add a teaspoon of bleach to the hose once during that cycle.

I like having a full tank of water in the event we have any kind of crazy weather or utility outage... A full tank of fuel, that big generator, and a tank of water can take us a long time conserving in the event of an emergency.

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Re: leaving fresh water in the tank

Reply #4 – August 06, 2025, 01:41:06 pm

We own a water well in Arizona that we sell water to the public. The state requires a water test and 12oz of bleach every month. This is for hundred's of thousand's of gallons through a 10,000 tank to give you an idea of how much bleach to use. That stuff is super toxic. Jim.

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Re: leaving fresh water in the tank

Reply #5 – August 07, 2025, 10:30:48 am

If you regularly run the water to your tank through a carbon filter, as some do, keep in mind that the carbon filter will remove chlorine from the water. In that case, you would want to bypass the filter when filling for storage or add bleach to the water.

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