Sanitizing and Water Volume Question

[Miklb58]

My 2022 Imagine owner's manual has me a little confused. It clearly instructs to make a solution of 1/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water for each 15 gallons of holding tank capacity, and to pour that into the fresh water tank though the gravity fill.
It makes no mention of then filling the fresh water holding tank.
Common sense tells me that those 3 gallons (for our 45 gallon fresh water holding tank) is not enough to fill all of the lines, but I'm also not sure that 3/4 cup of bleach in 45 gallons is enough to sanitize.

[Reacher]

I use swimming pool chlorine shock granules (calcium hypochlorite). This contains 50-70% free form chlorine. 1-2 teaspoons in your gravity filler hose will do the job of killing all organic bacteria and contaminants. No household chlorine bleach additives that have lingering foul smelling and tasting odors. Just be sure to flush your tank after a few hours and you are good to go.

[TucsonJim]

The instructions are correct. You are sanitizing the water lines. Three gallons of water will fill all of the lines with bleach concentrate.

Note: Make sure you do not use Clorox Splashless Bleach. It is a different chemical than standard Clorox chlorine bleach. I you read the fine print in Clorox Splashless Bleach, it will state "not for sanitizing".

Jim

[TedS]

I pour the bleach ( 1 1/4 cups in my case) into the empty hose I then use to fill the fresh water tank. I then change over to dry camp and use the pump to draw from the water tank chlorine solution to fill all the water lines. I will top up the water tank with water and be done with sanitizing. Works for me.

[Miklb58]

The instructions are correct. You are sanitizing the water lines. Three gallons of water will fill all of the lines with bleach concentrate.

Note: Make sure you do not use Clorox Splashless Bleach. It is a different chemical than standard Clorox chlorine bleach. I you read the fine print in Clorox Splashless Bleach, it will state "not for sanitizing".

Jim

Thank you, and thanks for the tip on the splashless bleach. I did not know that.
I wonder why they even refer to the holding tank capacity then.

[Country Campers]

I am with TedS. Pour the bleach into the empty hose, fill fresh tank, set to dry camping, use all fixtures until bleach is smelled, let stand for 3 hours or so, drain fresh tank, fill with fresh water, and I use city water to pre flush all of the lines. I fill and drain the fresh tank a couple times and run fixtures until no bleach is smelled. It is a little pain in the butt but is needed when you use unknown water supplies at some campgrounds.

Brian

[reubenray]

I am with TedS. Pour the bleach into the empty hose, fill fresh tank, set to dry camping, use all fixtures until bleach is smelled, let stand for 3 hours or so, drain fresh tank, fill with fresh water, and I use city water to pre flush all of the lines. I fill and drain the fresh tank a couple times and run fixtures until no bleach is smelled. It is a little pain in the butt but is needed when you use unknown water supplies at some campgrounds.

Brian

Won't the raw bleach damage something in the Nautilus or pump?

[Country Campers]

Want the raw bleach damage something in the Nautilus or pump?

I have not had any issues. The bleach goes into the garden hose that I use to fill the RV fresh tank, hook the hose to the RV and turn on until tank is full. This ensures that the bleach and water get well mixed. Then using the pump to get to all fixtures. The raw bleach is never left in any area for more than a few seconds.

Brian

[TedS]

The sodium hypochlorite is only 5% of Clorox and it doesn't stay but a short time before it's further diluted.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

I wonder why they even refer to the holding tank capacity then.

Agreed. Tank size doesn't matter unless there is some correlation of tank size and amount of plumbing line in the trailer.

[TedS]

You need to know the tank volume in order to get the sanitizing mix ratio bleach to water. Unless you don't plan on sanitizing the fresh water tank. 100 feet of 1/2 inch pes is about one gallon volume. CDC advices 1/3 cup per gallon water. So we have a range 1/4 to 1/3 cup per gallon. I suppose you could undiluted bleach, but that would be a waste.

[BobinICT]

I just sanitized our rig a week or so ago. Rather than poring bleach into a hose, I used the city water fill to bring the water in. As that was going on I put bleach in a standard size water bottle, the amount I needed for the holding tank size, filled it full the rest of the way with water and as water was going into the tank I pored the solution in the gravity fill and filled the tank to the top. After that, I used the pump to get the lines filled and smelling like bleach. Let it sit overnight, drained the tank and used the city connection to purge the lines. Filled the holding tank about 1/3 full and drained again. Go on as normal from there.

[NoPeeking]

The instructions are correct and 3 gallons of "solution" will sanitize a filled tank volume of 45 gallons with a 3 hour contact time period. Essentially, 1/4 bleach for every 15 gallons of water (capacity) will yield a 50ppm concentration of chlorine solution. So, take your (assumed) total volume in gallons to be sanitized (fill hose, storage tank, plumbing lines, HW tank, etc.) and divide by 15. Take this result and multiply by 1/4 cup of 5% household bleach. This is how many 1/4 cups of bleach you will need.

Raw bleach repeatedly contacting plumbing surfaces can cause embrittlement and failure.

Mike

[JPS350]

The instructions are correct and 3 gallons of "solution" will sanitize a filled tank volume of 45 gallons with a 3 hour contact time period. Essentially, 1/4 bleach for every 15 gallons of water (capacity) will yield a 50ppm concentration of chlorine solution. So, take your (assumed) total volume in gallons to be sanitized (fill hose, storage tank, plumbing lines, HW tank, etc.) and divide by 15. Take this result and multiply by 1/4 cup of 5% household bleach. This how many 1/4 cups of bleach you will need.

Raw bleach repeatedly contacting plumbing surfaces can cause embrittlement and failure.

Mike

Yes, this is the right answer here. I usually figure 1.5 oz bleach per 10 gal of tank capacity when I'm doing our trailer and boat. I dilute the bleach with about a gal of water, dump it in, then fill the tank with water. Pressurize the lines and run all the faucets until you smell bleach. Then let things sit for 3 or 4 hours and drain and flush fresh water through everything a couple of times.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

embrittlement

I learned a new word. So..I learned something new today...I can go back to bed.