Filling up water with garden hose

[crazygrandad]

Is it OK to fill up the water tank with the garden hose? My neighbour just stopped me and said ' you dont want to be doing that, there is loads of bacteria in the hose'

 

[NessL]

Is it OK to fill up the water tank with the garden hose? My neighbour just stopped me and said ' you dont want to be doing that, there is loads of bacteria in the hose'

Yes

 

[andyinluton]

That is one of those questions that is banned on here.
Last time it was asked it created about 30 pages of arguments.
From memory the answers ranged between you’ll be dead within a week if you do, to I’ve been doing it for fifty years and I’m ok.

 

[Boomer]

You can buy some micropur tablets to disinfect the tank. But we fill up with the hose and mainly use for kettles, pans for pasta, brushing teeth. We have a big bottle we fill up from the tap and keep in the fridge and use for drinking but that's mainly because it's chilled.

 

[Adamvanman]

Our friends did this once and they were ICU for three weeks due to the affects, they were also gassed in their van in Spain while parking up for the night. They dont seem to have much luck

 

[flying banana]

Of course you can. People need to stop being so pathetic. Just run the water a bit first. I'm also still alive after 50 years of drinking from hose pipes. Must admit though most of my hydration is not from the hose

 

[jts46]

Of course you can. People need to stop being so pathetic. Just run the water a bit first. I'm also still alive after 50 years of drinking from hose pipes. Must admit though most of my hydration is not from the hose

Agree it’s the pc world we live in

 

[flying banana]

Agree it’s the pc world we live in

Apparently if the hose pipe is blue it's OK. But if its a green one with kinks in it,your dead .food grade or something. If you worry about this stuff you need to drink more

 

[jts46]

Apparently if the hose pipe is blue it's OK. But if its a green one with kinks in it,your dead .food grade or something. If you worry about this stuff you need to drink more

Been using hosepipe for 50yrs camping

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

We have a blue one in the van that we use when filling up at campsites etc, but use our regular garden hose when filling at home.

Did have an upset stomach once but I suspect that was the Prawn Vindaloo

 

[Curryzz]

Of course you can. People need to stop being so pathetic. Just run the water a bit first. I'm also still alive after 50 years of drinking from hose pipes. Must admit though most of my hydration is not from the hose

Personally I think it tastes better from the garden hose haha

 

[ArunAlec]

Personally I think it tastes better from the garden hose haha

That’ll be the slugs.

 

[Nick.C]

Is it OK to fill up the water tank with the garden hose? My neighbour just stopped me and said ' you dont want to be doing that, there is loads of bacteria in the hose'

There is a Q&A on Thames that confirms you can fill up the tank.

 

[Velma's Dad]

It's okay the bacteria in the hosepipe will fight to the death with the bacteria in the stagnant water already at the bottom of your Cali water tank.

Or, if you're a complete wuss you could just pop in a Milton's tablet once you've filled it up.

 

[dspuk]

Is it OK to fill up the water tank with the garden hose? My neighbour just stopped me and said ' you dont want to be doing that, there is loads of bacteria in the hose'

Not wanting to get into the “it will kill you” vs “it puts hairs on your chest” debate we did this the other week and while we are still alive the water tasted like gack. After the trip we have disinfected the tank and will just fill the water via our blue hose now.

 

[Alan]

I’ve always used the garden hose pipe on the start of a trip
never had an issue
to be fair the wife gets to have the first glass of water the night before the trip!

Alan

 

[ThomasHJ]

If it is YOUR garden hose, no problem. If it's a garden hose at a camp site well... we usually don't because sometimes people use that same hose to clean their portapotti's and the like, and stick the hose in the dirty thing.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

13 years with garden hose, no problems. Same Cali 13 years.
Only time had bad tasting water is after I haven’t rinsed out 4 times after using the tank cleaner which I do every 2 years.
I empty the tank at the end of each summer.

 

[Wildcamper]

We use our garden hose to fill our tank. Always run the hose for a few mins to flush it out. Never had a problem but never drink from the onboard water tank, always fill water bottles directly from the tap but on sites always wash the tap outlet before using it. Would never use an on site hose for drinking water or onboard water. An upset stomach away in the van is something I do not wish to experience!

 

[willwander]

Hosepipe ban on at the moment.
What will the neighbours say.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Would a bit of bacteria in a 30 litre tank harm you? It usually takes me 30 seconds to a minute before I get the hose to the tank filler. Surely that would clear most bad stuff.

I’m sure Welshgas’ points about our drinking water being good quality is enormously relevant.

 

[GrannyJen]

I started off my camper van life being incredibly fussy. An illness 10 years earlier had left me incredibly sensitive to changes in water quality and even hardness.

With my second Cali I resolved to try again in not lugging around a few tons of bottled water. It worked. The sensitivity had abated enough that I could tolerate changes.

From being hyper sensitive I now fill up with my garden hose and I have never had a problem. The only precaution I take is, as others have mentioned, allow the water to run for a little while first.

 

[Karlos]

If your worried buy a food grade hose for about £20 or just continue with the garden hose which are less of a problem if not kept in direct sunlight.

 

[chockswahay]

Yup, as already stated, if you use a hose then simply run the water for a short while to flush out any water that may have laid stationary in the hose. We have filled our water tanks on boats and campervans from public hoses….. the advice has always been to run them for a while first…. Also if using a public hose do not immerse the end in your tank as there are likely to be contaminants on the outside. As is happens we don’t use a hose directly but use a 10 litre watering can or container which we fill with a hose most of the time anyway

 

[Mr T]

As is happens we don’t use a hose directly but use a 10 litre watering can or container which we fill with a hose most of the time anyway

I hope you use a blue food grade watering can.