Okay this is probably gonna be pretty embarrassing.

We finally hooked up the water supply hose to the city water, flushed the winterizing antifreeze from our freshwater system and more or less figured out what the various plumbing valves control. Everything seems to work mostly fine. Have a minor leak at the toilet flush level water supply valve. It's leaking at an "o" ring around the lever activated plunger in the valve body. It looks like we probably need to replace the outer part of the valve body. Also not sure the washer timer is operating quite as it should be. So far mostly so good.

Now for the embarrassing Newb part.
The city water connection appears to be the only opening into the water system and it's pretty close to the same height as the supply line into the fresh water tank. Newb question - Just exactly how do you get a bleach water solution into the freshwater tank to sanitize it?

There has to be something we're missing, does something disconnect or is there some combination of valves that causes water to flow uphill. Tried standing on a chair with a hose, funnel and bottle of bleach/water above my head. No dice but I do now have a nice psychedelic tee shirt and shorts, smell like bleach and the cat won't come anywhere near me.






Thanks,
Newb

There is no easy way as it is set up now. You probably found the little ad on accessory that siphons antifreeze into the lines, but that won't get anything in the tank.

The way I do it is to fill the hose with bleach, carefully attach the end to the RV keeping the other end at the same height. Then kink it and plug the other end into the faucet. This forces the bleach into the tank. Let it sit and flush through a few days later. It doesn't take much bleach.

Oh yeah, wear eye protection too!!!

I drain the FW tank, then with a stub of hose with a male hose bibb, stick a funnel into the other end and pour 16 oz. of bleach into the tank, then fill it up. I try to do this before a short trip (like to get the oil changed).

Then I run water through all the lines until I smell bleach.

I let that sit for a day, then drain the FW tank and refill. Then I open all the faucets and run water through until the chlorine odor is gone, then drain and refill again.

I do this annually.

Any warnings from the chemical experts [here] and the use of chlorine [bleach] with Polybutylene Piping [gray tubing] found in many motor homes from this era?

Is it OK to use bleach in a "shock treatment" application, such as described in this post, with a copious flushing to follow?

I have not noticed any specific problems with the piping itself, however, upon inspection of a few of the gaskets or O-rings found inside the gray thumb connectors, I've observed a significant amount of deterioration, to the point of replacing a few. Cracked and crumbling to the point where one connection was leaking a little, which lead-me to inspect the joint in the first place.

Just curious if the shock treatments are safe for polybutylene components(?)

I doubt that the chlorine would cause detrioration of the pipes, valves or seals, as it's a requirement to sanitize the system with bleach before the first use.

On our 1989 25' Regal with rear bath, the water tank was located under the closet in the bathroom. The tank could be accessed by lifting the closet floor. There was an opening in the top of the tank, about 3" to 4" in diameter, covered as I recall with a plastic disk, gasket and screws. Worked great for adding liquid bleach or sanitizing tablets. Don't know if this was common practice for Barth, but it might be worth checking.

Bill Beard
Barth Owner Emeritus (three times)

My 1984 35 Royale has dual water tanks under each of the rear twins. On the top of each tank is a 3 or 4 inch opening that will screw open and I put in bleach....drive around and slosh it well and run through all the lines until I smell bleach and also through the hot water lines. Seems to clean it well.

Thanks everyone,

We apparently have a closed system on our Monarch. The only openings anywhere in the FW tank that I can see are:

1. City water supply line in
2. FW line out to the pump
3. Overflow
4. Low point drain

There could be a cap on the top but if there is, it's covered with fiber board and strapped down as part of the tank mounting system.

We were approaching it from the wrong angle by trying to get the bleach water solution directly into the tank. Corey's approach of adding it to the FW hose is the ticket. We have seventy five feet of FW hose starting at the downstairs laundry tub and running out our tuck-under garage to the RV. There's plenty of capacity in the dry hose for 14 to 16 oz of bleach and both attachment points are well up off the ground. It'll be simple and work slick.

Thanks everyone. This site and all the smart, experienced and helpful people are teriffic.

Wally

something like this could be used to pump sanitizer into the tank. It is rather pricey.
http://www.handpumps.com/guzzler400H.htm
First I was thinking of something that syphons, like they sell to infuse weed killer into a garden spray nozzle or like the gadget for draining a water bed by running water.

I do what Corey says 'cause the only way into the fw tanks is via the city water hook-up. About a quarter cup of pool chlorine will do it.
Don

I haven't used bleach in years, but when I did, I made up a short length of 6 inch plastic pipe (irrigation, I think) with garden hose fittings on each end. I connected it to the coach with a short hose, poured in the bleach, connected the supply hose and filled the tank a little bit. Then I ran the strong solution through the plumbing with the pump until bleach could be smelled at each outlet.

This was a fiver that sat in 110+ heat, and developed bad stuff growing in the pipes more than in the tank.

We have used two methods for getting chlorine into the system
1/ attach the hose to the Barth and pour the chorine into the hose, then attach hose to water supply (solution is pushed into Barth)
2/ on one of our freshwater tanks there is an extra over flow outlet which has a connection for a hose-- this can be used to funnel chlorine into the tanks (can also use this location to add chlorine via the hose method (above))

I tried the push method. That was a chore single handed. Glad not something to do often. I was looking at the water tank. IT has three drains at the bottom. You would have thought they would have put a plug towards the top to facilitate this process.

Tom Taylor
94 Breakaway