Black water coming out of faucet!!!

[Southbound]

TDR Brethren-



So this is a first for me. I took my trailer to the race this past weekend and when running the kitchen faucet in my trailer I had a lot of black water coming out of the faucet. The black water did clear up for a while and then came back at random times. Note: I had no issues with the shower, or bathroom faucet ... ... . only the kitchen sink??? Also note: When I park the trailer for the winter I always drain the trailer water lines via the valves located at the lowest part of the trailer. I have never blown the lines out with air but I assumed most of the water drains???? So is it mold growing in my water lines? Should I run some chemicals through the fresh water tank? Guys I have been around trailers for years and have never experienced anything like this before. Let me know your thoughts as you guys are a wealth of information. Thanks in advance!!





Kind Regards,



Southbound

 

[hilda]

I would think mold. You mentioned draining the water out of the lowest point where the drains are, also need to drain the water out of the water heater. I purchased my Cedar Creek from the bank and it was in sad shape, I had the same issue with the black water, it was so bad I had to replace the hot water lines from the heater to the kitchen sink. Get some anti mold stuff from your RV supply dealer and dump it in your fresh water tank and run it thru the lines that are effective.

Hilda

 

[Southbound]

Thanks Hilda for your response. Yeah I forgot to mention that I always drain the water heater as well. I am really leaning to the mold in the water lines (again my first). I wasnt aware of chemicals that treated the mold but I will certainly try that. Going to Camping World tomorrow. I am sure Camping World will have it priced at $100 a bottle!!! ;-)

 

[ScottLewis]

I should think that plain old household bleach would do the job. Many brands even had instructions for purifying water. You might give it a try.



Dan

 

[georgej]

Mix 1/2 cup regular household bleach and water in a one gallon bottle. Pour into your empty water tank. Do this for each 15 gallons of tank capacity. Then fill tank completely and using the water pump run each faucet and shower until you smell the bleach solution coming out. Let stand a couple of hours and flush with fresh water a couple of times.

Use clothes you don't care about. . leaves nice white spots:-laf

 

[hammersley]

For a second I thought

this topic was about some miniturized sneeky little Mercs

 

[Skydiver]

From a water treatment plant operator 28 years experience.



Fill and flush the system with water. Drain all water. Then add 2 ounces bleach to the holding tank and fill it again with clean water. Run every faucet. Let it sit 12 hours and drain or just leave it in. To be sure you don't get diarrhea buy a swimming pool test kit make sure your chlorine level is below 3 ppm (parts per million) before drinking. A little bleach goes a long way. More is not better. Bleach will tear up your stomach if not flushed properly.

The black water could be from galvanic corrosion. In our process black water is from Manganese, a mineral.

 

[AClayton]

Skydiver is correct... . My only addition to this thread is to check and see if you have a water filter for just the kitchen sink. I may have read wrong but I thought you had indicated that the only spot was in the one kitchen faucet. I've seen water filters go bad when not changed regulary enough and filter matter will come out with the water..... and if it is a charcoal filter,there is your black water. I would certainly clean out with the water/bleach solution and fill water heater up with this also and let sit for a day or so... . then flush thoroughly afterwards. Don't forget the icemaker and be certain to throw away the ice with the solution... 1st batch or two!!

 

[HGreen]

Been there with the water filter guts coming apart and getting black water until all the carbon is gone. Check that first.

 

[steved]

Sounds like iron bio-fouling to me...common with water wells when the steel casing gets submerged...

 

[Grizzly]

Mix 1/2 cup regular household bleach and water in a one gallon bottle. Pour into your empty water tank. Do this for each 15 gallons of tank capacity. Then fill tank completely and using the water pump run each faucet and shower until you smell the bleach solution coming out. Let stand a couple of hours and flush with fresh water a couple of times.

Use clothes you don't care about. . leaves nice white spots:-laf

This procedure is stated in the owner manual on my former Lance camper. After the diluted bleach solution, the manual says to use a measure of vinegar to a full tank of fresh water. I can't remember how much vinegar. Let it stand overnight, then drain and refill with fresh water. It is recommended to do this at the beginning of every camping season.

 

[Southbound]

TDR Brethren-



Wow... ... lots of responses!! I knew I was asking the right group. ;-) So I do have a water filter of which has a charcoal filter on it. I havent changed it in about four years so that could my source!!! Funny because the black stuff coming out of the faucet looked like charcoal!!! As far as the flush process this is new to me (hate to say it) so I will make sure and perform this procedure on an annual basis. Guys I cant thankyou enough for all of your help!!!



Regards,



Southbound

 

[Yo Hoot]

Over in New Jersey they get manganese deposits. They go around every so often and turn the fire hydrants on full blast. Black water shoots out for hours to flush the lines.

 

[jelag]

I have a charcoal filter under the sink in my 5er... . its for sink water only... I could see where if the membrane that holds that filter together would break, that the charcoal dust in that filter would come out the sink... . is there any chance it could be something this simple???

 

[JCasper]

TDR Brethren-



Wow... ... lots of responses!! I knew I was asking the right group. ;-) So I do have a water filter of which has a charcoal filter on it. I havent changed it in about four years so that could my source!!! Funny because the black stuff coming out of the faucet looked like charcoal!!! As far as the flush process this is new to me (hate to say it) so I will make sure and perform this procedure on an annual basis. Guys I cant thankyou enough for all of your help!!!



Regards,



Southbound

I've never heard of flushing out the system either, but it does make sense. Next spring I will be sure to do it.

 

[HPetrat]

I treat potable water tanks in ships and provide potable water certs. for the customer (usually Navy) and Skydiver's method is very similar to what I do for ships and my own RV.



-Fill tank and drain through all faucets, shower and toilets (hot & cold).

-Refill with approximately 5 gallons of water then add about 1/2 cup of bleach and continue to fill until full - Referred to as Super Chlorination.

-Run all faucets, shower and toilet (hot & cold) until bleach is noticed at each point, shut off and let stand 12 -24 hrs.

-Run all taps again until tank is empty - check your bylaws to see if you need to neutralize the chlorinated water (usually not as its only 40-60 gallons).

-Refill tank with clean potable water and rinse out all taps a final time.



I treat my tanks usually once a year this way and I combine it with cleaning the black & grey water tanks (fill BW & GW tank 1/3 crushed ice, 1/3 cold water & 1/2 cup bleach) then tow the rig around for a couple of hours, cleans everything and sensors. Great reason to haul with the Cummins :-laf



HP

 

[Skydiver]

I let my 5ver fresh H20 tank get stale during last hunting season. Know it all me assumed that my water was perfect.



I do know that bleach or Hypo (sodium hypo chlorite) as we call it does not just sit still and relax unless it is capped off and cannot get fresh air. If you leave the cap off it will get weaker every day. Common bleach (not clorox) same thing is 3. 25 % avaliable chlorine. Our plant hypo is 12 %. We refill our 3 2k gallon tanks every 18-24 days in the summer. After sitting in the sun for 2 weeks it is down to 6% strength.



Beware running bleached or chlorinated water through a carbon filter will destroy the carbon in a few weeks. They do not get along. Bleach IS dangerous stuff used improperly. Never allow it to even get close to ammonia or petroleum products.

A little dab will kill just as many germs as 10 dabs. More is NOT better. Bleach will attack some plastic products.

 

[AClayton]

I let my 5ver fresh H20 tank get stale during last hunting season. Know it all me assumed that my water was perfect.



I do know that bleach or Hypo (sodium hypo chlorite) as we call it does not just sit still and relax unless it is capped off and cannot get fresh air. If you leave the cap off it will get weaker every day. Common bleach (not clorox) same thing is 3. 25 % avaliable chlorine. Our plant hypo is 12 %. We refill our 3 2k gallon tanks every 18-24 days in the summer. After sitting in the sun for 2 weeks it is down to 6% strength.



Beware running bleached or chlorinated water through a carbon filter will destroy the carbon in a few weeks. They do not get along. Bleach IS dangerous stuff used improperly. Never allow it to even get close to ammonia or petroleum products.

A little dab will kill just as many germs as 10 dabs. More is NOT better. Bleach will attack some plastic products.

Again... I agree with all posts. I did however,fail to mention that you need to bypass the undersink filter. Some RV's have a filter on just the kitchen sink and others just have fresh water source on the sink itself for coffee or pitchers of water and such. I say this because if the filter just feeds a source of tap water on top of the sink ,it just simply gets the valve turned off to it for winterizing and flushing. The RV had a plastic bypass cap that was shipped with it that is used to bypass this filter for purging and winterizing. You cannot winterize this filter... NEEDS to be bypassed!!These charcoal filters are so good, they will take the anti-freeze agents right out of the anti-freeze when winterizing anything beyond the filter piping. And again,always replace this filter at least annually... . it doesn't matter if you full-time or use the RV occasionally due to the fact that water becomes stagnate

from sitting for long periods.

 

[Skydiver]

I do not use charcoal or any type of house filter. Charcoal filters remove the chlorine(cl2). With no cl2 what's to keep bacteria from growing. I have heard reports of where these filters can harbor bacteria.

A few years back I worked at a water plant that had installed charcoal media in 1 of their 4 filters as a test. We had to use sulfer dioxide in our backwash water to remove the cl2 when backwashing this filter. Again the cl2 would attack the charcoal rendering it useless.



If you get me started talking about water I can't stop.

 

[AMink]

Make sure your black water tank is filled and drained well too. The chorine will stop the digestion process and your tp won't break down as well, especially with the bio tank products. Chunky chunky!