Water system purification is fundamental

This is the second of a multi-part series about preparing for spring camping.

Our 26-foot Hideout travel trailer is still in hibernation. RV antifreeze was placed in all the risky places to prevent damage from cold weather, and the refrigerator was emptied along with the freezer.

Garnet and I then inventoried the pantry and other food storage areas and removed outdated items that may freeze or rupture.

The overall plan is to consider the trailer as a part of the entire kitchen pantry with everything to be rotated and used along with the food items in the house.

Water system

Preparing the water system is a fairly standardized procedure. All of the drains will be opened to remove the antifreeze, which is non-toxic to humans, plants or animals. The freshwater holding tank will be filled and emptied again to flush any remaining antifreeze.

A hose will be attached to the outside water connection and those lines flushed. This particular trailer has an excellent drain system for when the water stops flowing at the low-point drain, the entire system is empty.

My buddy Ron Sumner offered a suggestion in 2007 and I follow the idea each year. An ample amount of household bleach is poured into the holding tank and it will be filled again. Bleach water will be pumped throughout the water lines until a bleach smell is detected at each faucet.

The bleach can remain in the lines for an hour as Ron suggests or 12 hours as suggested by others. Then fresh water is again flushed through the entire system, until there is no bleach smell at any of the faucets or drains.

The fresh water hose, which is designed to bring potable water to the trailer, should also be cleaned with bleach. Pour in the bleach solution, connect the male and female ends and let sit for the same time as the waterlines. Then flush the hose.

This hose has two ends, but neither end is allowed to touch the ground, ever. When not hooked to the trailer and water spigot, the ends are attached to each other. The idea is to prevent the inside of the hose from becoming contaminated.

At this point it should be mentioned some people say bleach can damage the seals in the water system and hydrogen peroxide should be used instead. I will continue to use bleach as this is recommended by our owner's manual.

The water lines should now be sterilized, purified or otherwise rid of harmful bacteria and other critters. A water filter, available at most stores selling RV supplies is attached to the RV park faucet. If, for some reason I feel the water system has been compromised during the camping season, the bleach treatment will be repeated.

Some would say we use extreme measures to make sure our water supply reaching the trailer is safe.

However, we seldom use water from the holding tank or from the RV park waterline to drink or use for cooking. When we first began trailer camping, Garnet started buying gallon jugs of water for drinking and cooking.

There is little need for us to travel with our freshwater holding tank full because we usually camp at a site with full hookups. Dry camping has come into play a few times when we camp at Blue Lake or Martha Lake. We are not against such camping, we simply enjoy full-hookup camping more.

I have often been accused of going a little overboard to provide a safe water supply. Call this a quirk or idiosyncrasy in my camping personality, but this practice will continue.  

Next week: More tips to begin the RV season.