On 7/12/2018 at 1:04 PM, Barbaraok said:

No it is not the same as bleach.  

and yes, I am a chemist.

1

What do you think of using Sodium Dichlor granules in place of chlorine bleach for RV water system sanitizing?

In community water treatment. First choice is Chlorine Gas. Second choice is Calcium HypoChlorite. In emergency we used Sodium Hypochlorite. When I retired these were the only chemicals approved for use in potable water. Why use a very hazardous chemical when a gallon of Clorox is so inexpensive and readily available?

Sodium Dichlor is dichloroisocyanuric acid.   It is designed to slowly release chlorine in swimming pools where sunshine causes regular hypochlorite to break down to fast to maintain effective free chlorine.  NOT designed for potable water use.   And no, I would not use it in our rig.

Barb

  On 7/13/2018 at 12:24 AM, Barbaraok said:

Sodium Dichlor is dichloroisocyanuric acid.   It is designed to slowly release chlorine in swimming pools where sunshine causes regular hypochlorite to break down to fast to maintain effective free chlorine.  NOT designed for potable water use.   And no, I would not use it in our rig.

Barb

 

Barb, here is where I got my information and the idea of using Sodium Dichlor: http://rvbasics.com/techtips/sanitizing-your-rv-fresh-water-system.html

Art Knapp had the same information on his website, of course it and he are gone now.

here: https://goneoutdoors.com/rv-fresh-water-holding-tanks-4686452.html

and this paper backed by the WHO: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/agns/pdf/jecfa/cta/61/NaDCC.pdf

Edited July 14, 2018 by Ray,IN

Ray

I'm a chemist and wouldn't use it for our motorhome.  I see no need to add additional chloride to our daily intake.  And while the claim is that the triazine ring breaks down without any problem in the mouth/stomach, my biochemist husband calls that claim suspect at best because there are so many factors in each of us as to the pH of both mouth and stomach depending upon the different medications and disease processes we may have.   Others may disagree.     

It is so easy to just get a small bottle of bleach when needed and use and then make sure to always dump and refill regularly from municipal water systems.

I am also a chemist and agree with Barbara.  There is no reason to use pool chemicals to sanitize an RV fresh water tank.  Pool chemicals are designed to maintain sanitizing power and to avoid rapid degradation due to sunlight.  That is not necessary for a RV tank.  Nor would I want to add those chemicals which have not been tested for that use.  In addition if the chemicals are in sufficient concentration, you are definitely going to need to drain and refill the fresh water tank after use. 

Use of household bleach has been tested, the dose and effectiveness are well known.  Bleach is inexpensive and readily available.

  On 7/14/2018 at 11:45 AM, Barbaraok said:

I'm a chemist and wouldn't use it for our motorhome.

  On 7/14/2018 at 11:54 AM, JimK said:

I am also a chemist and agree with Barbara.

I an not a chemist, but I have done a lot of research on RV sanitation issues. I have been using the process linked to on our website for more than 30 years with good results. The only time that we have ever had any issue with this was the summer in KS as a park host where we were connected to well water (tested but not chlorinated) and our white water hose was in the sun all day, every day. That one time we did develop an algae problem in our supply hose and a little inside of the RV water system. The result was that I did another sanitizing to kill the algae, flushed the system thoroughly after letting the chlorine bleach treated water sit for 2 hours, and by covering the white hose with foam pipe insulation the problem never returned. 

Very informative/useful thread.  I'm not a chemist but I once slept in a Holliday Inn Express. 

  On 7/14/2018 at 8:42 PM, jc2 said:

 I once slept in a Holliday Inn Express. 

Oh , you pour soul . Glad you're made it through to be able to tell us about it . LOL

  On 7/14/2018 at 7:42 PM, Kirk Wood said:

 

The only time that we have ever had any issue with this was the summer in KS as a park host where we were connected to well water (tested but not chlorinated) and our white water hose was in the sun all day, every day. That one time we did develop an algae problem in our supply hose and a little inside of the RV water system. The result was that I did another sanitizing to kill the algae, flushed the system thoroughly after letting the chlorine bleach treated water sit for 2 hours, and by covering the white hose with foam pipe insulation the problem never returned. 

How did you determine that you had algae in your RV water system?