Hi Al, sorry about your last return "trip" but glad you are looking at using the van again.

Your tanks, yes you can clean them and you can use chlorine granules (dissolved first) or an easier way is bleach. Dosage I am not sure but someone else here may be able to advise that if you let us know roughly the tank size. When (if) you do it that I would fill the tank/s adding the bleach midway, leave overnight then drain about a quarter of it out (not on the grass) and take it for a little drive to agitate the mixture then drain the lot out and flush the tank/s at least three times to remove any residue then fill them up again.

Be careful draining the bleach out as it is not environmentally friendly and wear protective eye protection etc.

There may be other better products to use and again someone else may better answer your question. Maybe even ask the local chemist as they should be up to speed on how to go about it safely.

Take care Al.

Personally I use Milton Fluid. Can get in most pharmacies.

It's used among other things to sterilise babies bottles and teats.

Safe for use with babies and is very good to clean water tanks with.

Same system, I use the whole bottle in my water tank and fill to around the two thirds level Drive around for a bit and empty out.  Put maybe twenty litres in and drain. Then refill as normal.

It should not smell or taste after that process.

If it's safe for babies I reckon it's OK  for an adult.

HI was advised years ago to drain tanks dry ..close taps ..

     never had any trouble with smell .. only used  cleaning

      stuff  when we first got the van

                                               suenray

I don't think bleach is a good idea guys, not for drinking water, hey! Maybe in some towns water supply used under strict controls. Even so, Yuk! Gurgle. gulp!

Tanks should be emptied after a trip and refilled before the next one, we use that Bio Magic stuff that sanitises the tank, but you must read the directions to ensure you don't use too much, available from most camping places I think, also we use a BEST filter, (Bacteria Eliminating Silver Technology) silver kills the bugs, see this web site, www.bes****erfilters.com.au/store/

The Australian Caravan Club has access to many useful resources like this one, and after sanitising the tanks with either colloidal silver and hydrogen peroxide, or the Bio Magic stuff, using one of these filters every time you feed water into the van should ensure safe water in the tanks.

Contact Colin on that web site, he will be happy to advise you, and anyway, we always carry bottled drinking water, the van tanks are only used for tea and coffee, on the road, and washing up if not connected to a town water supply. Never been sick in 13 years. (apart from one night of rumolitis, but that was my son in laws fault in Katherine. Rah Rah Bundy!)

Hope that helps folks, believe me, as a kid I was an expert on tummy wogs and I know what I am talking about.

PS, almost forgot, make sure the hoses in your vans water system are all food safe, ie opaque, some vans, (ours) used clear plastic hoses to run the water system, a sure breeding ground for bacteria and algae and all kinds of nasty stuff, so first of all check your hoses, they turn black with gunk if clear plastic, not good!

Be cool, stay warm, and stay fit,
Bevan
ACC member.

http://www.bes****erfilters.com.au/store/ 

http://www.bes****erfilters.com.au/store/

 you have to replace the **** with ****

and paste to browser. Boy never come across that before!!!! it has to be "bes****erfilters" I try again. Not very good at this IT stuff...HELP, I give up..

Aussie Paul. 

-- Edited by aussie_paul on Wednesday 11th of June 2014 10:43:02 PM

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-- Edited by aussie_paul on Wednesday 11th of June 2014 10:58:05 PM

Have a close look at the 4 letters that were replaced by asterisks - see what they spell - the system has determined them as a 'rude' word and has automatically converted them to avoid showing the 'rude' word in the text. This happens in heaps of Forums all over the world, it is part of the underlying  Forum programming, and only the Forum owner/administrator can over-ride the 'automatic correction'.

To see it correctly, you have to copy the link to your browser address line, then BEFORE pressing Enter, change the 4 characters to what they should read, then the correct website should come up !

Regards, Brian