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If I Leave City Water On In My RV For A Month Without Using It Do I Need To Sanitize The Water?

by Dale Fazio
(Flat Rock, N.C.)

If the RV is parked in a campground that has chlorinated city water, and the RV has a bacteriostatic cartridge in the line, and the RV is left for a month with the water on but not in use, does the cartridge have to be replaced upon returning? Will algae/mold or whatever grow in the water lines or in the cartridge? Should the system be purified with clorox each time I return?


ANSWER: Greetings Dale thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

I will first answer your original question and then give you my opinion on what you should do when leaving your RV for more than a few days. If you are currently getting the water straight from the City Water connection at the park and not from your fresh water holding tank, then the water should be fine. All you would have to do is just run the water for a few minutes just to get the system cleared out which is no different than if you left your home for a period of time.

As far as your Bacteriostatic Cartridge you will have to determine what the manufacturer recommends as far as replacing a cartridge if it is not being used for a period of time. Bacteriostatic filters unlike standard RV water filters are suppose to be better at resisting the growth of bacteria in the filter itself, however there is a limit on these filters depending on manufacturer on how long these filters will actually effectively
eliminate bacteria growth. Since I do not know how long you have had this filter and how many gallons of water you have run through the filter, I could not even guess whether it would still be safe to use or not.

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In my personal opinion I would suggest that you disconnect the RV from city water completely if you plan to be gone more than a couple of days. It does not take that long to disconnect and connect the city water to an RV and that way you do not have to worry about anything that might happen to the city water connection or the water it provides while you are gone.

I hope this helps.

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Happy RVing

RVing Al

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