Cleaning water tank?

[pete42]

On the travel trailers that I have owned we always used 1/4 cup unsented bleach to 5 gallons of water drove around then emptied the tank and rinsed
the tank until water was clear and no smell.

I have also filled the tank almost full in order to get each nook and cranny clean 1 cup in a 35 gallon tank and of course a good bumpy drive.
I ran the water thru the water lines to clean them out as well.

to remove the smell of old tanks I've used dissolved bakeing soda again rinse after using

[IndyTom]

OK, the homebrewing reference jogged my memory. George Talley, who invented Starsan, the most popular sanitizer in use today, started his career working for Clorex, and during an interview on Basic Brewing Radio gave the recipe for a no rinse sanitizer you make yourself. To 5 gal of water, add one ounce of bleach, and then add one ounce of white vinegar. This creates a solution of 20ppm free chlorine. Fill your storage tank with this solution, give it a good shake, (may need to go for a ride for that), then drain. Once everything is wet with this solution, sanitization only takes 2 minutes. If there is something in the tank that needs to be cleaned out, I would suggest using washing soda, can usually find it on the detergent aisle in the supermarket. The that would require thorough rinsing prior to sanitizing. Unscented Oxyclean is also a good thing to use to clean an enclosed tank, but also requires thorough rinsing.

Tom

[mallymal]

A little bleach will work just fine. But be sure to rinse.

And if you forget the rinsing bit, you'll have beautiful white teeth!

[DragonFire]

ah...Oxyclean! that's what's being used by home brewers around here..my bottles go in the good old iodofor bath, though.

I have a tank in my Grasshopper that I need to flush...I bought some tablets at CW and will try that..then flush and see what I've got. If I can get a good flush through going I may run something else through..then flush like crazy again.

The beach will corrode metal, and will weaken plastic, so be careful. But I bet you all knew that anyway. I'll probably use it on mine just to get it sparkling clean and sanitized, since I don't know 'where it's been'...and I'll just keep up on it after that.

I'm so happy this is the only tank we have to deal with! Teardrops are so awesome..I'm so happy I saw the wisdom to cross over to the smarter side!!

[Shadow Catcher]

Chlorine + acid = chlorine gas
So use a VERY dilute solution!

I have been using Camco 40206 RV TastePURE Drinking Water Freshener Which I just looked up (MSDS Sheet) and is Surprise 12 Sodium Hypoclorite or bleach. The moral of this story, Find out what the #&*% is in a product before you waste money on it.

[IndyTom]

Chlorine + acid = chlorine gas
So use a VERY dilute solution!

That is very true. But it only calls for 1 oz in 5 gal. That is a dilution factor of 640 to 1, and bleach is already a 5% solution. It gives an active chlorine concentration of 20 ppm. That is pretty darn dilute. You just have to make sure that you add both to the 5 gal, and not to each other. And just out of habit from being a chemist for 30 years, I would add the bleach to the water first, give it a mix, and then add the vinegar. After mixing and sloshing and letting stand for 2 min. the tank is sanitized. Just drain and fill with potable water. No rinsing necessary.

Tom