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Topic: How to gravity fill freshwater tank and never use city water to pressurize plumb (Read 1353 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: How to gravity fill freshwater tank and never use city water to pressurize plumb

Reply #25 –
I switched from the solenoid fill my tank from the bottom to top fill it back in 2020 before I took off full time. I also changed out my pump to the shore flow 4048. It's a good move and I always run off tanks never off City water. It's great when the pressure is fairly high because it fills the tank quicker but not so great when you're hooked up to it. Yeah I know you can have a pressure regulator and I have one of those but don't use it anymore. What I did in addition to the top fill was to run a PVC line across the top of the tank to the pump side of the wet Bay. I put in three 10-in big blue knock off filters. One is sediment filter two is a kdh or carbon block type filter and the third one is a ceramic filter from England. The water gets filtered going into the tank as well as coming back out or at least that's how I designed it to do it. The ceramic filter you clean with a brush or a green scrubby. The other ones get changed as needed. But even with that I still have water issues because as the original poster mentioned you just can't ever be sure what kind of water you're putting in your tank. I recently cleaned my water system with ozone supplied by Scott and Boulder City and I'm still getting chunks out of places that that stuff dislodged. But I fear the last Phil I got some contaminated water because it now smells like rotten eggs and my dog and I have a having some diarrhea even though I don't drink from the tank. Once I move further north I'm going to get a product off of Amazon that I've used before to sanitize again but in the meantime I'm wanting to put some bleach in there and I'm guessing I have 50 gallons of water in my tank. If you're doing a 1 to 13 bleach ratio that would be 3 gallons. I've never put that kind of bleach through my system. Are my numbers correct?
I like how Barry uses the hose to flush out the s traps in the shower in the sinks as well as the toilet. It's a good idea and I wish I can do it as a single person have to make a system to accomplish that. I think a simple shut off valve connected to another short piece of hose so nothing scratches the tank or the sinks would work.
The other cause of the rotten egg smell could just be high mineral content hard water. I bought a water softener when I was staying at Scott's place I have yet to use it. Maybe the next fill I should run the water through that first. The only other choice would be a RO system and UV in my opinion. I thought about that as well but haven't done it yet.
'99 U320 40 WTFE
Build #5462,
1500 Watts Solar 600 amp Victron lithium
2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Hemi
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Retired

Re: How to gravity fill freshwater tank and never use city water to pressurize plumb

Reply #26 –
Bob, I am still on the city fill, but then use the tank.  On the city fill the water goes through a stand alone filter, then the On The Go Water Softener and then to the tank.  I also have a filter under the sink and have never had any issues with the water, knock on wood!  The On The Go is a wonderful product and glad I purchased it.  I have the double one!  I have never put that much bleach in my tank to sanitize it.  I have a small bottle like system, sold on Amazon that holds a small amount of clorox and this hooks up to the fresh water hose and as you are filling the tank, it puts the chlorine in as well.  Just enough not to flush the system out after!  Hope you get your issues with the water fixed.  So that was the issue with Chief?
Joe & Dottie Allen
Sold!  December 2023.      2000 U320; build # 5645
Our coach " Maxine"
Motorcade #  15922;  Escapee 150950; FMCA F330833; Boondockers Welcome;  Harvest Hosts;  Thousand Trails
'98 U320 from 2000-'06
USAF '62-'66

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." ―Epicurus

Re: How to gravity fill freshwater tank and never use city water to pressurize plumb

Reply #27 –
Bob,
Here is the info direct from Clorox about sanitizing and/or cleaning water tanks.  It doesn't tale much.....

If you have a tank with clear water that you simply want to make sure is safe to drink or use for human contact (hand washing, laundry, etc.), then you can follow the protocol for emergency disinfection of drinking water. In that case, the correct ratio of bleach is 1 teaspoon Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach per 7 gallons of water (or for a smaller size container, 4 drops per quart). Stir the bleach into the water and let stand 30 minutes. Properly treated water should have a slight chlorine odor—if not, repeat the dosage and let stand an additional 15 minutes.
To clean out a water tank, thoroughly flush the tank using a bleach solution made with 1/3 cup Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach per 3 gallons water (a 500ppm bleach solution). I'm not sure of the size of your tank or how much bleach solution you will need to clean the tank, but here's one example: to make approximately 9 gallons of bleach solution, then you would start with 9 gallons of water, and then add 1 cup bleach. After flushing the tank with the 500ppm bleach solution for 5 minutes, then rinse with a 10ppm bleach solution (1 teaspoon bleach per 10 gallons of water) 
"Not so  long ago we were a nation of risk takers, riding five million pounds of  thrust straight into space."  Joe Gresh
Chuck Pearson
1996 U295
2018 Can Am X3 TurboRS

Re: How to gravity fill freshwater tank and never use city water to pressurize plumb

Reply #28 –
Personally we would use KMn04 ( Potassium permanganate) to sanitize the water system as if some is not flushed out of the system your body can handle this and not Cl. If you continue to be at a spot that has egg smell water you need to check into a green filter element.

Mike
Pamela & Mike 97 U 320

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

Re: How to gravity fill freshwater tank and never use city water to pressurize plumb

Reply #29 –
As noted earlier, for 2-decades, just before every once-week fresh water fill, is to add 1-oz of un-scented laundry bleach to a 2 quart bottle to partly dilute it and pour it into our gravity fill with an add on 1.5" diameter hose that reaches up outside compartment above top of tank level. 

The 1-ounce is for a planned 50 gallon fill, increasing to 2-oz for about 100 gallon fill.  1.5" hose has a PVC screw on fitting, and hose is removed and a PVC cap closes the opening before using a garden hose to fill from city water.

I like the single person water hose with ball valve mod and cut-off hose end for clearing shower and sink traps and cleaning toilet.  Nothing like lots of water to clear out drains.

Adding an in-hose bottle to add bleach sound practical.  One could also be home-made with PVC parts. 

We did make a short portable PVC manifold with ball valves, that is used when we are a long distance from city water shutoff.  Run long hose to side of coach, connect to manifold, and then add hoses for fill, inside cleaning, etc.

We only use 1/2" white potable water hoses as they take up less space when coiled up.