Non Potable Mistake

[JenkinsRV]

So last weekend we were at the dump station after a quick camping trip. Wetypicallyuse a 2 gallon bucket to pour water down our toilet with a sani-tab to help clean our black tank and keep it fresh. Well we somehow lost the bucket on the way to the dump station anddidn'trealize it till after the black tank was empty.
Ididn'twant to leave the black tank empty, so I hooked up the non-potable water to the rv, and ran the toilet to put a few gallons of water in the black tank.
After my wife yelled, "This water stinks", I realized that this water was nasty and that we needed to flush the non-potable water out.

We only ran the toilet, I was thinking a good flushing of the lines would clean it out. Anything else we should do or be aware of?

 

[Stan-XRD]

I would flush the lines and drain the water tanks (holding and Hot water) several times. After flushing, fill the fresh water tank and add about 4 oz of bleach to the tank. Flush the lines and fill the H/W heater again and let it sit for a few hours and then drain and flush again a few times.

 

[seabee-XRD]

X2 Stan

 

[gossamar]

x3...better be safe and sanitize all of the lines...

 

[socoguy]

X4 It isimportanttoflushvery well manytimes. Never add non potable water to your water system it isstrictlyfor black tank flushing.
Where did you "hook" up the water? Follow Stans advice. Good Luck and Happy Trails.

 

[asquared]

I keep several empty milk jugs under my sink. I use them to put out the fire and to fill the black tank when necessary. I also keep a long orange hose for flushing the black tank. This gives me 2 avenues to put water in that tank at a dump station. Either way, if I did not have either, I would let it sit dry til I got it home and then deal with it or pull off at a local walmart and dump some water jugs in it there. Try these ideas in the future. For now, I would sanitize your system extremely well with the bleach mixture and do it multiple times as suggested. What hose did you use? If you used your fresh hose I would toss it and get a new one. You can put the bleach through the hose to help get it into the city water inlet if that is where you sent the non-potable water. I would probably let the bleach mixture sit overnight in the lines. Your best bet if you can't dump your grey tank at home is to do this at a full hook up site and bring bottled water to drink and cook w/ etc while you are there fixing this.

 

[JenkinsRV]

Thanks for all the great responses. Yeah it was a stupid mistake, at the time it was series of events and I felt rushed to get out of there anddidn'treally put 2 and 2 together until it was too late. Any who..

This is what I have done so far
Drained the water heater
Ran city water through the system for 30 minutes with all the faucets/showeropen
Drained the water heater
Filled the fresh tank with city water
Ran the fresh tank through all the faucets/showertill it was empty
Drained the water heater
Added a little over 2/3 cups of bleach into my 40 gallon fresh tank
Ensured every faucet/shower had a bleach smell and is now sitting till tomorrow. It will end up having about a 16 hour soak with bleach in the lines
Tomorrow:
Drain the water heater
Fill the fresh tank first and then run the fresh dry though all the faucets/shower
Drain the water heater
Run city water through all the faucets\shower for another 30 minutes
Drain the water heater
At that point I think it will be pretty much clean.
The really really stupid part of all this is I have black tank flush kit that at the time Ididn'tknow how to use... I do know now
Oh well, Iguaranteethis wont happen again, and the silver lining is I totally know how to sanitize the water system now!
PS: I did use my one of my fresh hoses to put that non-potable into my RV. That hose is now going to be used to black tank flushes for this point forward.

Edited by: JenkinsRV

 

[wincrasher]

that is what i do - keep a 10' water hose in the bin with my sewer hose to use for the black flush and to rinse out sewer hose. NEVER EVER connect the hose at the dump station to your fresh water fill or city water connection. Didn't you think the last guy got poop all over that hose? I even rinse my shoes off when I'm done before I get back in the truck. Yuk!


Edited by: wincrasher

 

[Stan-XRD]

I would not reuse your white water hose as a black tank flush hose. Throw it away and buy a short hose of a different color for the black tank flush. That way you won't ever get confused as to which hose is clean and which is for flushing. My flush hose is green and the potable hoses are of course all white.

 

[socoguy]

X2 Why even take a chance on a possible mix up. Shorter different color hose does the trick

 

[asquared]

X2 Why even take a chance on a possible mix up. Shorter different color hose does the trick

x3, too risky to mix them up. Our flush hose is orange.

 

[AlbertTheresa]

We have two hoses for ours - blue for water and green for sewer. They are both kept in their ownclear plastic bag which is marked.

 

[tator447]

I have two totes, one for "clean water" one for "sewer". The hoses are kept in each one. The sewer one has all the hookups and after each trip I fill the tote with water and a cup of bleach, to "disinfect everything in it. I then fill it again with fresh water and dump it. Let it all air dry and cover it for the next trip. Works well for me.

Jim

 

[socoguy]

Hi Jim. I like that idea. I have alwaysseparatedthe two but the bleach application makes good sense. Thanks good tip
Al

 

[mnsunset]

This whole topic reminded me of how several times last month while on vacation I saw rented RV's from places like cruiseamerica hooked up to the non-potable water at the dump station filling their water fresh water tanks. Not just one time,,,,,but 3 times I saw it in less than 2 weeks. I even slowed down to make sure I was correct. Makes me sick thinking of it.
I wonder if they just didn't care of didn't know?

 

[socoguy]

Sounds like ignorance. It would be stupid to do on purpose risking your own health. I point the finger at the rental companies it would be easy to provide a printed checklist..I have never rented an RV perhaps a list is provided.