Sterilising water system when in storage

karpet1
karpet1 Forum Participant Posts: 23
edited April 2023 in Caravans #1

I have just found out that owing to road works I won’t be able to bring my caravan home from storage to sterilise the water system before our first trip of the season. There is a water supply where we store the caravan but not mains electricity and I am not sure whether the leisure battery would power the pump for the period required to sterilise the system. I have a solar panel which keeps the 110 amp battery at between 13 and 13.4 amps. Any advice would be welcome.

Comments

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,663 ✭✭✭
    2,500 Likes 1000 Comments
    edited April 2023 #2

    I would think you will have no problem with powering the pump during the process, assuming your battery is in good shape.

     I use Puriclean, I fill the Aquaroll and add the Puriclean, then pump it into our on board tank, the water heater,  and the  pipework to all taps,  then  refill the Aquaroll and add more Puriclean.  

    This then sits overnight before being pumped out and the whole system flushed with clean water.

    To do that in our van our pump, which is onboard, would run for  30-40 minutes in total, and use around 30 watt hours out of the 650 watt hours safely available from our 110 amp hour battery.

  • karpet1
    karpet1 Forum Participant Posts: 23
    edited April 2023 #3

    Thank you for your advice.

  • dunton10
    dunton10 Forum Participant Posts: 53
    edited April 2023 #4

    You’ll be fine. 
    I did exactly the same as @bove, albeit I left the purifying solution in the system for a few hours not overnight.

    I also have an onboard tank so that means pumping the water twice. I did mine on my drive but not hooked up and battery coped no problem.

  • karpet1
    karpet1 Forum Participant Posts: 23
    edited April 2023 #5

    Thank you dunton 10.

  • flatcoat
    flatcoat Forum Participant Posts: 1,571
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2023 #6

    Have never sterilised and still here to tell the tale. The pipe work uses drinking water (potable) spec material and the water on caravan sites comes out of a tap from the same sources as in the home. 

  • Mr Bounty
    Mr Bounty Forum Participant Posts: 17
    edited April 2023 #7

    I also use puriclean. Don’t be tempted to use a cheaper all purpose steriliser; sure it will kill the bacteria, but won’t remove algae like puriclean will. This will affect the taste of your water. Also, regular disinfectants can contain chemicals which may be cause corrosion in your water heater. 

  • Rob31
    Rob31 Forum Participant Posts: 3
    edited May 2023 #8

    If you have drained water down, then to re start the system it is better to do with mains electric. I found this out thinking my battery would be suitable, but it seemed there was an airlock and couldn’t get a smooth water flow. I was advised to use mains which works better. 

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