It’s perfectly safe to drink the water from an RV’s fresh water tank (we’ve been doing it for over 8 years) as long as you keep the tank clean. In this video, we show you how to sanitize your fresh water tank, which should be done about once every 6 months.
Clean, safe, sanitary drinking water is a breeze when you take a few basic steps to manage the fresh water system on your motorhome, travel trailer or fifth wheel. Fresh, drinkable, potable H2O doesn’t only come from bottled water, but right from your RV’s tank.
We’ll show you how to use bleach to kill any bacteria that may be present in your camper’s water system, and have all the safe drinking water you need.
For a more extensive video on this topic, where we sanitize both hot and cold sides of the fresh water system watch:

Hello…Great job. I have learned quite a bit from your videos. I have a question in regards to hard water at most or all RV camps…I have been thinking about purchasing a water softener. Do you recommend them and which one would be your favorite?
We’ve never used a water softener, but we keep talking about getting one. Our friends Nikki & Jason Wynn swear by their On The Go water softener and told us we should get one, but we just haven’t gotten around to it. They sell them in their travel store through Amazon.
when I sanitize the fresh water do I have to remove my shower filter. and my kitchen water filter. thank you for help love site keep it up.
Hi Anthony! You do indeed want to remove any filter that’s designed to reduce or remove chlorine, such as the carbon/charcoal filters leading to drinking water dispensers, ice makers, showers, etc. Leaving those in place while sanitizing will stop the bleach from reaching all the way to the faucet and use up the life of the filter for no reason.
Thanks so much for walking me through this process. So helpful!
Great video!
Thanks, Reginald! We’re glad that you enjoyed this tip!