Keeping a hose clean

[Achilles Heel]

I've been lurking here for a while, but have a question for the combined brains and experience on this forum.

We fill our fresh water tank with a hose, connected to a Blackfinch inlet socket in the side of the van. We carry a foodsafe, clear blue hose for the purpose. The van is new, there is an inline filter in the system, so we're happy to drink the water in the tank.

This is the end of our second season with this van. At the beginning of this year, we found that the hose must have been put away wet, as it had black mould spots in it, so we bought a new one. This year, we'd like to be more sensible.

How do we ensure that the hose remains clean, dry, and mould free over the winter while we're not using the van? If we get mould in it, what's the best way to get rid of the mould? Water purification tablet or some such?

What do other folk do?




What do other folk do?

 

[Antique]

I soak in a sink full of weak bleach for a few hours ensuring no air gaps inside the hose.

All the best
Antique

 

[hja]

Nothing! Our blue hose rolls up on a cassette and there it stays! Our extension hose, mainly for filling the tank at home, is not food grade. It is one of those contracting snakes. I did notice last time we filled the box it lives in was a bit damp so on a nice sunny day I might have it out and leave it to dry.
There is no reason why you can’t put puriclean through your hose. It does need to stay there for a bit and then be thoroughly rinsed.
We drink from our tank as well.

 

[dawsey]

We don’t drink the water in the tank unless it’s boiled, in tea etc. We drink bottled water.

To keep a hose clean always empty it properly, let it syphon out every time it is used. In winter when not used, once empty, store in a dry place.

 

[scotjimland]

Drain hose, then hold both ends up and pour in thin bleach (non perfumed ) in one end. fill up with water, leave over night .. then drain and flush.. to keep it clean ensure it drains as you coil up..
I use a food grade clear hose so you can see when it's empty and if there is any mould.

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[Spriddler]

I've been using a garden hose for 11 years which is kept in an under-seat locker and l and never given it a thought. Never had any ill effects but I do put Puriclean in the empty tank at the beginning of the season, go for a drive and then run all taps and the shower for a couple of minutes.

 

[TDub49]

Not something I had thought about until I read your post - those of us with old fashioned hoses we can't see through have probably been filling our tanks quite happily through hoses that have some mould on them. We normally use something like PuraClean for the tank water and that seems to have kept us healthy up to now. I guess if it is an issue you could mix up a bucketful of tank purifier and syphon it through the hose before you store it, thus ensuring that whatever water is left in the hose when you put it away has been treated?

 

[Diabalo]

To keep mine clean I have a female hose connector each end, put a couple of sterilising tabs in fill and up with water till the water is level both ends, I then join the 2 ends together with a hose coupler to make it sealed and leave it to do it's stuff. Now and then I rotate the coil.

 

[BusyBuilder]

Never once given this a thought. If you use a hose, how do you dry it ? And why would you bother ? We drink our water in tea coffee and after 6 years we are still alive and kicking.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Mine is a clear braided type hose, I empty it but can't dry it of course, it looks OK inside. Had it about 5 years

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[Lenny HB]

Our garden hose we use for filling was looking a bit black on the inside so cleaned it with bleach this year, first time in 15 years.

Not much point of a filter going into the tank that will get rid of the clorine. Have my filter inline with the kitchen tap.

 

[tonyidle]

There will be mould somewhere in the plumbing no matter what you do. Not worth worrying about IMO.

 

[ontheroadagain]

What do other folk do?

We use a non translucent hose so we cant see the mould.

 

[funflair]

I run the pipe through after connecting to the tap, only after a "pipe full" has run through do I put it in the tank, other than that though I just use a blue lay flat that I can't see inside and I keep it in the dark anyway.

 

[John-Laika]

Our garden hose we use for filling was looking a bit black on the inside so cleaned it with bleach this year, first time in 15 years.

Not much point of a filter going into the tank that will get rid of the clorine. Have my filter inline with the kitchen tap.

Don't want to hijack the op thread but I was looking to get at the same in line filter but their website asked if it a 12mm a 15 size pipe is that OD or ID Lenny HB

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[bladerunner]

As per Dewsey - we don't drink water from tank. We have a 10l "bottled" water that has seen sterling service over the years. Gets refilled as we refill the main tank.
I'm also an addict of San Pellegrino fizzy water for meals.

 

[Ridgeway]

The only criteria for a hose for me is that it has to have a hole at each end and preferably not leak. After that I’m really not fused. Water goes in the tank, gets used etc etc.

We poison ourselves with nicotine, caffeine, sugar and alcohol but worry about what type of hose we use and how clean a tank is

There’s so so many variables about this topic that ruling out the last 5m of water delivery isn’t what it’s all about. I would switch to bottled water if it really concerned me, fortunately it doesn’t.

 

[pappajohn]

I used a green garden hose, if it had mold I couldn't see it.
It's not surprising so many folks have delicate stomachs if everything has to be sterile.
As kids we drank from rivers and ponds, even horse troughs and I'm still here.

 

[Rockpool]

We just use the garden hose to fill up at home and a blue grade food hose on our travels and we always clean our tank with Puriclean at the beginning of the year and boil the water for our teas and coffees.
However, this year before heading off to France in March we installed a Micro Hiflo 10 Flostream filter, so it was filtering all the water from the tank into the MH.
So last week decided to drain the system down and check the filter, even with cleaning the tank at the start of the year and with over 6 months use you could see the impurities in the filter bowl. So for us it was we’ll worth us installing a filter.

​

 

[Southend]

Like others I try to rinse a hose length of water through before filling the tank. We add Aquasol with every fill and clean both tanks with Purisol every six months. Probably a bit ott, but Mrs Southend likes to be careful. The hose isn't cleaned or dried and we have never had any problems.

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[Barclaybasher]

Can't believe how 'precious' folk are....must be a nightmare dealing with serious issues.......

 

[two]

Keep clear hoses out of the light. The black stuff needs daylight to grow.
I used to have a clear hose that became very black inside, but I'm not aware of any effect it had on me.

 

[Oldrat]

We use Puriclean regularly to keep our water systems clean.

We also don’t drink from our large (underslung) tank, rather than using a filter we prefer the freshness of a 15 litre carry on container that sits under the sink and lasts 3-4 days tea/drink etc.

It’s also easily replenished from easily found drinking water taps.

An additional tap (between the sink and hob) is fed by a submersible pump in the wide neck container.

The idea was originally suggested by Greg Virgoe.

 

[Just smiffy]

If anyone saw the inside of the water pipes and the underground reservoirs that the water is in before you fill with a hose you wouldn’t even wash your hands in it… it’s not worth worrying about and it’ll keep your immune system going….

 

[Just smiffy]

We use Puriclean regularly to keep our water systems clean.

We also don’t drink from our large (underslung) tank, rather than using a filter we prefer the freshness of a 15 litre carry on container that sits under the sink and lasts 3-4 days tea/drink etc.

It’s also easily replenished from easily found drinking water taps.

An additional tap (between the sink and hob) is fed by a submersible pump in the wide neck container.

The idea was originally suggested by Greg Virgoe.



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What’s the difference between the tank in your van and the tank under your cupboard..?

They do the same thing don’t they..

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[Oldrat]

The one under the sink gets taken out after a trip and get emptied, the internals completely cleaned and dried out until its next use.

Personal preference but I’d rather not drink from an 90L underslung black plastic tank which even with the best will in the world can’t be kept as clean even with filters which don't always work well enough for me.

I prefer the 15 Litre fresh water container

We refill it with fresh every 3-4 days approximately but its empty by 5 days.

 

[Orion]

Don’t have any issues with MoHo stored water taken from any potable water source in the U.K. or EU. Will wash and brush our teeth with it, boil it for tea/coffee, and cook with it. Strangely we drink bottled water, (although chilled in the fridge so maybe that’s the reason), despite making ice cubes from the tap for the G&Ts!

 

[Lenny HB]

Don't want to hijack the op thread but I was looking to get at the same in line filter but their website asked if it a 12mm a 15 size pipe is that OD or ID Lenny HB

Hoses are always speed on internal dia.

 

[cyberyacht]

My blue hose is opaque so what the eye doesn't see.... It's stored in the moho garage in the dark in a bag with various connectors. Puriclean the water tank once a year and that's it.

 

[GMLS]

We use our van regularly all year and can't be bothered with the constant cleaning of the tank so;

1) Use either 1 or 2, 5 litre water containers for drinking water.
2) Fill the tank (to varying degrees depending on the type of trip) with a hose on a reel prior to departure and use that for washing up/showers etc
3) We might bring the reel with us for refilling or washing down MTB 's etc or use a 10 litre watering can to top up and just clean the tank once a year.

Has worked well for 15 years or so