Getting Doranya ready for summer travel

At the beginning of April when Alex recorded this video, the weather was nice and we were ready to hit the road. Then another “Stay at home” order came into effect for Ontario, with provincial borders closed for the first time. Now spending our time gardening, we are hoping this lockdown will be the last one and we’ll be able to have some summer fun travelling, at least around Ontario. Hope the next video of Doranya to be from the road.

Fresh water Sanitization Process

The sanitization process will be similar for different makes and models of camper van, but the specifics will vary based on the design and equipment of the RV. For example, there are three floorplans for the Coachmen Beyond​, and each of those models may be equipped with either the Li3 lithium battery system, or with AGM batteries, as is ours. Our 22C model’s fresh water tank is inside the van, below the couch. The water tank for the 22C Li3 model is under the van, so the plumbing is slightly different. But the general process for sanitazing the system remains the same.

1. Prepare
   1. Add ½ cup bleach to measuring cup and fill with water
   2. Connect empty potable water hose to city water supply
   3. Bypass Truma water heater
2. Fill Fresh water tank with water + bleach
   1. Pour bleach solution into free end of potable water hose and let it drain downstream
   2. Keeping the bleach solution at a hose low point so it doesn’t pour back out, connect the hose to the van’s fresh tank fill (use the pressure regulator to avoid over-pressurizing the van’s plumbing).
   3. Turn on water supply and fill the fresh water tank until it is just overflowing (or monitor it and shut off the water before it overflows).
3. Distribute sanitization liquid through the system
   1. Turn on the water pump
   2. In the kitchen, turn on cold water faucet for a few seconds to allow bleach solution to fill the supply pipe (close faucet when you smell the bleach)
   3. Repeat the previous step for the hot water supply (it will still run water when the Truma is bypassed), the cold and hot water in the bathroom, the toilet and the outside spray port.
   4. Turn off water pump
   5. Drive around for a while to make sure the entire fresh tank is coated with bleach solution
   6. Let it sit for several hours (overnight is good)
4. Flush and drain
   1. Open fresh tank drain
   2. Connect potable hose to the city water connection
   3. Make sure water pump is off
   4. While fresh tank is draining, run city water through the kitchen and bathroom fixtures to flush out the bleach solution
   5. Close the fresh tank drain valve
5. Refill fresh water tank
   1. Refill the fresh tank ½ full.
6. Flush and drain
   1. Drive around for a while to make sure the entire fresh tank is coated with fresh water
   2. Turn on water pump
   3. For several minutes, flush system through the kitchen and bathroom fixtures
7. Repeat steps 5 & 6 until there’s no bleach smell in the water
   1. e. repeat at least once, but more if necessary
8. Clean up
   1. Fill tank to the level needed for travel
   2. Reset Truma bypass to use mode and run water through the hot water tank.
9. Happy camping!