2023 Spirit 22M Sanitizing water lines with bleach

[Twells-WO]

Once again I need help with our unit and you folks are the best!
We are first time trying to sanitize with bleach our Spirit 22M water lines.
We have the proper ratio..bleachto water and are trying to put into the Tank Fill connection.
For some reason after we remove the filter there is a cross valve that prevents us from pouring the solution with a funnel into it.
What are we missing?

 

[Eagle5]

Hi Twells,
The tank fill is below the top of the tank, so Winnebago has a one-way valve that prevents gravity feed. What I do is I start with an empty fill hose, then hook-up to the tank fill port. Next, I pour the required amount of bleach into the other end of the hose, holding-up that end to get the bleach to travel well into the hose. Then, hook-up to your water outlet and fill-er-up!

Here is a detailed summary of how I sanitize. Winnebago recommends doing this every six months, but I am doing it every two months, as I have an ear tube in my right ear and I do not wish to get another ear infection:

1. drain the hot water tank, the fresh water tank, and the fill hose too
2. put the anode back in the hot water tank (don't bother with Teflon tape on the threads at this point)
3. add a little less than ¼ cup of bleach to the fill hose, and fill the hot water tank using city fill (open the hot water tap in the kitchen sink to let the air out)
4. close the drain valve on the fresh water tank (the above tasks can be done while the fresh water tank drains)
5. drain the fill hose again, connect to tank fill, and add a little less than ¾ cup of bleach to the fill hose
6. fill the 40 gallon fresh water tank, being sure to shut-off the supply water right away once the overflow is flowing water (not just bleach foam)
7. rinse your left-rear tires to get the bleach off of them
8. turn-on your water pump and purge the water lines; you should smell a little bleach so you know you are good to go. Do this in both hot and cold in the two sinks and shower, plus the toilet flush line.
9. wait four hours
10. drain the hot water and fresh water tanks
11. Once the hot water tank is drained, go ahead and put 3½ wraps of Teflon tape on the anode threads and seal it up
12. Connect to city fill and re-fill your hot water tank, again, with the kitchen sink hot valve open
13. purge all other hot and cold lines to get out the bleach smell
14. Once the fresh water tank has finished draining, refill it and briefly re-purge your lines using the water pump

Thanks, Eagle5

 

[Morich]

The amount of bleach is one that often gets into big discussions and concern about the amount. But when we look at the other variables in question we can often get less concerned about getting the "right' amount as there really is no practical way to say how much is enough, as long as we get the minimum ratio somewhat close to enough.
I make sure to get enough but not too much worry about going over as there are things that change the needed amount.
Weather and time are two ibg factors that let dangerous bacteria grow faster or longer, so if we are dealling with an Rv that has et in warm weather or for longer, we may need more chlorine to deal with the far larger amount of material to treat. The guys I work with just call them bugs?
But the main idea is to have enough chemicals to treat any amount of bugs and have some residual left over! But how long to let it stay and work on the bugs will also change at times, so I like to leave it set for at least overnight as some "bugs" have harder shells and the chlorine may need time to get inside the door on the bugs!
How long it sets, what temperature and where the water came from can all change the amount and time needed to do the sanitaze but the one big thing we don't want is to undershoot as we can always do a rinse if we feel we have needed a bit stronger than normal treatment mix.

But it is an estimate that we try to do it right for all things considered. One thing I tend to watch is how far South and how far out in the boonies where folks tend to not watch as close!

 

[Twells-WO]

Hi Twells,
The tank fill is below the top of the tank, so Winnebago has a one-way valve that prevents gravity feed. What I do is I start with an empty fill hose, then hook-up to the tank fill port. Next, I pour the required amount of bleach into the other end of the hose, holding-up that end to get the bleach to travel well into the hose. Then, hook-up to your water outlet and fill-er-up!

Here is a detailed summary of how I sanitize. Winnebago recommends doing this every six months, but I am doing it every two months, as I have an ear tube in my right ear and I do not wish to get another ear infection:

1. drain the hot water tank, the fresh water tank, and the fill hose too
2. put the anode back in the hot water tank (don't bother with Teflon tape on the threads at this point)
3. add a little less than ¼ cup of bleach to the fill hose, and fill the hot water tank using city fill (open the hot water tap in the kitchen sink to let the air out)
4. close the drain valve on the fresh water tank (the above tasks can be done while the fresh water tank drains)
5. drain the fill hose again, connect to tank fill, and add a little less than ¾ cup of bleach to the fill hose
6. fill the 40 gallon fresh water tank, being sure to shut-off the supply water right away once the overflow is flowing water (not just bleach foam)
7. rinse your left-rear tires to get the bleach off of them
8. turn-on your water pump and purge the water lines; you should smell a little bleach so you know you are good to go. Do this in both hot and cold in the two sinks and shower, plus the toilet flush line.
9. wait four hours
10. drain the hot water and fresh water tanks
11. Once the hot water tank is drained, go ahead and put 3½ wraps of Teflon tape on the anode threads and seal it up
12. Connect to city fill and re-fill your hot water tank, again, with the kitchen sink hot valve open
13. purge all other hot and cold lines to get out the bleach smell
14. Once the fresh water tank has finished draining, refill it and briefly re-purge your lines using the water pump

Thanks, Eagle5

Thanks again Eagle5 for your knowledge and expertise on pretty much everything Minnie Winnie or Spirit. Happy travels.