question about winterizing and sanitizing the water system

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question about winterizing and sanitizing the water system

Postby Lunchbox7985 » Fri Sep 27, 2013 6:28 pm

so as im building the plumbing into my chuck wagon, Im wondering should I take this into account. basically there are going to be two 7 gallon portable water tanks, as seen in the sporting good department, one for fresh, one for gray. im building some kind of box on the tounge to hold them, and the inside of them will be sealed (if I tighten the air vent) but the tounge box, I probably wont bother trying to make as weatherproof as the rest of the trailer. I figure im going to make the top part of the cover somewhat sealed, so that at least water and sunlight wont get to them, but I plan on leaving the bottom open, so that once I open the top to fill/empty them any water runoff wont get trapped in the box and get all nasty, plus I can hose the cobwebs off of them.

the tanks will be easily removed for filling/emptying as opposed to having any kind of fancy valves to do so. the gray tank will just have a tube sealed against the lid, and the fresh the same, but with a tube going down to the bottom. this runs to a shurflo pump with a strainer in between, then an adapter down to a 1/4 hose, and a short run to the drinking water faucet. the drain has no trap, and will be simply a couple right angles to get it to where it needs to go, with an overall downward slope, and the top of the gray tank being lower than the sink.

after all that description here is a pic I have of what I have so far.

Image

I know its not much, but I haven't had time to work on it, that was just hooking it up to give the pump a dry run (though the term "dry" run isn't really appropriate here is it, lol) but that thicker braided line is what will run to the fresh tank, to a solid pipe that runs down into the tank, and the smaller tube is what will run between the pump and the faucet. the pump will probably go on the back wall right below the drain pipe, but I haven't set that in stone yet.

so my question about winterizing, since this pump can safely run dry, so I just simply run it with no water to empty it? is that even good enough, or do I have to run some antifreeze through it. I still may or may not put an accumulator tank in there, would that change anything?

if there is still a little water in the tank and lines, but not enough that if it freezes it will burst anything (and can I get an idea of how much that is) will a little water cause mold to grow over the off season?

my question about sanitizing, do I just mix some bleach in the tank, and run it through the pump, then swish the tank around a bit and then rinse it? how well do I have to "rinse" the pipes, like how much should I run fresh water through it before its safe to use.

I imagine if I even need to sanitize the gray tank (like to prevent smells or mold, I would rinse it, bust being the gray tank its probably not as important.
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Re: question about winterizing and sanitizing the water syst

Postby Lunchbox7985 » Fri Sep 27, 2013 6:30 pm

and if you havnet seen my build journal, this trailer is only 48" wide 40" long, so the sink there is only going to be about 3-4 feet from the tanks
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Re: question about winterizing and sanitizing the water syst

Postby Shadow Catcher » Fri Sep 27, 2013 6:55 pm

I first blow out the system with compressed air I then run in some RV antifreeze. Any water left in the system can cause problems so why take a chance!
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