How long to keep your drinking water .

[CYCLOPATH]

Hi, can't see this discussed, but could be important.
How long do you keep your water tank water.
I hadn't really thaught about it. I always drain when we get home, and refill before going off.
But last summer, we were in France, and it was hot. Our tank lasted 4 days, and we refilled when empty.
If I think about it now, I would never keep an opened bottle of water , in a warm place, and drink it after 4 days ......but we were fine.
Maby we should atleast have completely drained it before re filling,
Any microbiologists out there to advise, or has anyone been made I'll by dirty ta water....or am I just worrying unnecessarily

 

[snowy55]

Our tank last all summer.
We don't drink it straight from the tank but make tea and coffee with it although we do sometimes use it to brush teeth and the occasional washing up.
How do you manage to use that much water in 4 days?

 

[CYCLOPATH]

It may have been longer than 4 days,
We had the van 9 days, and filled up once I remember
But it may have been after more than 4 days, and it may not have been empty
.........but and we were still ok
I can't imagine all summer!
I have had campylobacter enteritis from cleaning teeth from a stream when camping.

 

[MattBW]

In our other camper vans we always empty after each trip and clean with a sterilising tablet before using again. That is because we use it infrequently and it ensures we know its clean. If you're filling from the home tap of course your water is slightly chlorinated (in the UK) which helps too but bacteria can still multiply in a fresh tank. A proper annual clean and flush is also a must.

If you always boil then you should be fine but if you intend to drink it or clean teeth etc I would always sterilise before each trip and empty at the end. I am sure many would say its overkill.

This has a lot of info that may be useful.

http://www.motorcaravanning.com/vehicles/water.htm
http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022808/water-matters-mo.pdf

 

[teeboy]

We drain after each trip. But while on a trip we will just keep topping it up as we go. Our longest trip has been 3.5 weeks. We use for teeth cleaning and boiling for tea/coffee and for small amounts of washing up. Still alive

I sterilize at the start of the season with tablets from the super market.

 

[Hotel California]

There are posts on freshwatertank cleaning , on drinking from the tap , filling up with "fresh" water on site.,....
Think it is all pretty much coverd before.

We never "drink" from the tap , only for boiling and washing up.
And never used any products added in the tank now for four years

 

[CYCLOPATH]

In our other camper vans we always empty after each trip and clean with a sterilising tablet before using again. That is because we use it infrequently and it ensures we know its clean. If you're filling from the home tap of course your water is slightly chlorinated (in the UK) which helps too but bacteria can still multiply in a fresh tank. A proper annual clean and flush is also a must.

If you always boil then you should be fine but if you intend to drink it or clean teeth etc I would always sterilise before each trip and empty at the end. I am sure many would say its overkill.

This has a lot of info that may be useful.

http://www.motorcaravanning.com/vehicles/water.htm
http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/1022808/water-matters-mo.pdf

Those links are pretty extensive, thanks Matt

 

[CYCLOPATH]

There are posts on freshwatertank cleaning , on drinking from the tap , filling up with "fresh" water on site.,....
Think it is all pretty much coverd before.

We never "drink" from the tap , only for boiling and washing up.
And never used any products added in the tank now for four years

Thanks Hotel, l now see posts right up to last month. It's getting the key words in the search that I seem to get wrong.
When I followed the forum daily I noticed after quite a short time that the same questions kept coming up again and again. You are very patient!

 

[ejmoore]

Ok, I have now ordered some Katadyn Micropur Forte tablets to put in the tank - don't want to spoil our Scottish touring trip with inconvenient tummy upsets.

 

[CYCLOPATH]

Hmmm, I hate the idea of buying bottled water....just seems such a con.
I think I will probably fill a few bottles to keep in the fridge when we find fresh water, and boil , cook and wash with the water in the tank

 

[GrannyJen]

Hmmm, I hate the idea of buying bottled water....just seems such a con.
I think I will probably fill a few bottles to keep in the fridge when we find fresh water, and boil , cook and wash with the water in the tank

I buy from France, it's almost as cheap there as my water rates at home.

 

[Victor]

We never drink from the water tank, it is not a fully sealed unit so is open to contamination ( just like when we used to have cold water tanks in the loft) Also the contamination starts the minute you put the water in, especially if you use something like a garden hose with is rife with bacteria. Bottled water is so cheap nowadays and tastes much better.

 

[jess]

We often use the garden hose, I have never really thought about in the past but now you come to mention it we did have a weekend last summer where we all had upset tummies and could not put our finger on why!

Hmmm bottled water from now on

 

[snowy55]

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/thread...ter-tank-with-your-garden-hose-hosegate.10187

Have alook at this thread! !

 

[Geezso]

No wonder everyone is always sick. This sterile life we all lead is causing us to be bed ridden at the slightest ailment.
Its only water, if you don't leave it standing and steralise now and again jobs a good one. The nature of a garden hose means its dirty, use a filler pipe. But begs another WG question, why not just get a beach (JOKE)

 

[CYCLOPATH]

No wonder everyone is always sick. This sterile life we all lead is causing us to be bed ridden at the slightest ailment.
Its only water, if you don't leave it standing and steralise now and again jobs a good one. The nature of a garden hose means its dirty, use a filler pipe. But begs another WG question, why not just get a beach (JOKE)

Funny you say that Geezo, but it is true. A small amount of bugs are good for you.
The epidemiologists tell us that appendicitis is caused by our sterile lifestyle, it is almost unknown in primitive people's as they come across lots of infections when young, and increased over a century ago as we cleaned up our homes.
The increased incidence of asthma and eczema is also thaught to be related to overzealous cleanliness of babies.

 

[T6 CFO]

I am of the school of a little bit of dirt does you no harm . However, where water is concerned it can very easily cause you quite serious problems if left stagnating in pipes. I and one of my sons got really ill when we used a friends cottage in France and hadn't let the taps run. Most if the time that will do it. Even if I arrive in a hotel I will let the taps or shower run for a while especially if I suspect the room has not been used for a while. Also be careful with sterilising water, putting extra tabs in to make sure can be a bad idea.
In the whole I tend to not worry to much after taking these simple precautions. In the Cali I shall probably stick to bottled water but not worry if I'm boiling it for a cuppa.


Mike

 

[MattBW]

Funny you say that Geezo, but it is true. A small amount of bugs are good for you.
The epidemiologists tell us that appendicitis is caused by our sterile lifestyle, it is almost unknown in primitive people's as they come across lots of infections when young, and increased over a century ago as we cleaned up our homes.
The increased incidence of asthma and eczema is also thaught to be related to overzealous cleanliness of babies.

Not all bacteria is bad, we get rid of bad but the good goes with it too.

It's an interesting topic. There are also studies that suggest that there is also a causal link with more babies being born by C section these days and increase in allergies because the reduced exposure to bacteria etc during birth.

My friend drank contaminated water in Iraq whilst serving that was fresh when stored but got bacteria in it and he was in and out of hospital for years as well as a few years on a 'bag'. He almost lost his career until he was well enough years later. He was young and fit too.

 

[CYCLOPATH]

I am of the school of a little bit of dirt does you no harm . However, where water is concerned it can very easily cause you quite serious problems if left stagnating in pipes. I and one of my sons got really ill when we used a friends cottage in France and hadn't let the taps run. Most if the time that will do it. Even if I arrive in a hotel I will let the taps or shower run for a while especially if I suspect the room has not been used for a while. Also be careful with sterilising water, putting extra tabs in to make sure can be a bad idea.
In the whole I tend to not worry to much after taking these simple precautions. In the Cali I shall probably stick to bottled water but not worry if I'm boiling it for a cuppa.


Mike

I do just the same In hotels Mike , and give the hose a good flush before I use it in the van. I guess it is a case of the amount of the organism.
I was a GP, and at times came across lots of infected and infectious people. I had very few myself, I think because I was only exposed for 10 mins a person, washed my hands etc, and so got just enough bug to immunise me, but not enough to make me ill

 

[Kmann]

Did anyone actually try the 3M E2 water filter?

 

[WelshGas]

It's all down to Common Sense . Unfortunately in the world today Common & Sense don't seem to be related to each other any longer.

A standalone water container as used in some vehicles " no names mentioned " is often refilled when empty rather than topped up.

 

[aileron346]

We use our van for staying in every 2-3 weeks and tend to empty and refill before each trip. We certainly drink from it too. We avoid non food grade hoses not for the bugs but to steer clear of plastics chemicals etc.
Twice a year we sterilise with Milton to try and keep Mildew away. That all seems to work for us. I also think there's a common sense approach and certainly think you can worry too much (tho very careful with meat etc).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DominicR]

Not so much about how long to keep water in the tank, but more about the quality of the water you put in it...

I've rigged up a 10-litre Ortlieb 'water sack' with a Sawyer water filter, for filling the tank when you are a bit unsure about the quality of the water - see below. It works, rather slowly (about 30 mins for a 10L fill), but very well, or at least as far as I can tell - to be honest, I've never tried it with really dodgy water supplies.

It required a 'Trinkslauch mit Adapter' to connect the two - I can dig out the part number if anyone is interested.

 

[Hotel California]

@DominicR ,
Hosegate is a diffrent topic.....

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/thread...er-tank-with-your-garden-hose-hosegate.10187/

 

[DominicR]

@DominicR ,
Hosegate is a diffrent topic.....

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/thread...er-tank-with-your-garden-hose-hosegate.10187/

It's not a garden hose - so I'm not sure why it would be more relevant to that thread!