In our last installment, we talked about choosing and using the right fresh water hose for your RV. But before you hang the hose on the tap, there are a couple of helpful devices you might need.
First, there are situations where the "threads" on the water faucet are stripped, or deliberately not there--to prevent folks from hooking a hose to an otherwise good spigot. Assuming you have the right to the water, a little device known as a "water thief" can help out here.
Courtesy Camping World
The 'thief' is a rubber sleeve that snugs over a spigot, and at the other end, a brass threaded connection allows your water hose to hook up normally. If you're filling up your tank, just slip the thief on the faucet, hook up your hose, and fill away. If you'll be putting any real pressure on the hose--say hooking it directly to your "city water" inlet on the RV, you'll need to use a hose clamp to snug the rubber sleeve end onto the faucet.
A water pressure regulator can also save you lots of headaches. Typically RVers complain that the pressure they encounter in a campground or RV park is too low, but it only takes one case of over pressurization to blow a fitting in your rig to really make your blood boil. A simple RV water pressure regulator can prevent over pressure from doing real damage. Where do you put it? We've seen plenty of RVers who hook the things between the water hose and the city water inlet on the rig. But why not protect the water hose too? Hook it on the campground faucet, thence to the hose and all your bases are covered. Yes, there is a slight fall-off of water volume when you use this rig, but the peace of mind is usually figured to be worth while. Is it worth the extra money to buy the fancy "adjustable" water pressure regulators? Not from what we've heard. Some say they simply don't work as advertised.
Finally, a fitting you probably do want between the hose and the city water inlet is an entry elbow. If your water hose kinks or bends where it mates up with your water inlet, you can be sure water flow will be impaired, and a premature death of the water hose is likely. For less than $10 you can buy a metal elbow that allows the water hose to hang vertically, rather than cramped.
Tanks Clean as a Whistle
If you boondock away from city water, you'll be glad to have a clean and safe fresh water tank. Sanitizing a fresh water tank is straight forward. First, determine the capacity of your fresh water tank, and bring it to near full of fresh water. The trick is to add a 1/4 cup of household bleach for each 15 gallons of tank capacity. But to do this, you won't just dump bleach into the tank, rather get a container with a capacity of at least a quart. Bring the container near to full, and carefully add the requisite amount of bleach. Mix carefully, and funnel this diluted solution into your fresh water tank. Top off the tank with fresh water.
Now run your water pump and draw water through all fixtures until you smell the odor of chlorine. Everything should now be allowed to sit for at least three hours, and overnight if possible. Once the wait is over, drain the fresh water tank and "sweeten" it. After treating with chlorine (an alkaline), using baking soda (another alkaline) may not work as well as using the old vinegar trick.
Get yourself apple cider vinegar and, following the same physical procedures as for the bleach, add a quart of vinegar for every 15 gallons of tank capacity. Of course, you'll need to "up the size" of your dilution container. Again, you're ahead to let the cider solution sit in the system for a few hours. Drain it out, add fresh water to the tank, and run the fixtures until the smell's gone.
Now you've a clean tank, keep it clean. Don't let your fresh water tank filler sit about without a proper cap. In hot, dry climates, you'd be surprise how a trail of ants can sniff out your fresh water tank and attempt to infiltrate your RV "watering hole." It's a major headache clearing ants (or other contaminants) out of your tank--so much easier to keep them out in the first place.
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