Worry in the water system

[norm.guthartz-haymarket.c]

I'm Norm, of Practical Caravan's editorial team, and I'll be popping on the site occasionally to seek input or suggest topics you may want to discuss.

We recently received the following letter from a reader regarding the purity and safety of water in caravan water systems. We'd welcome your responses on this - whether you focus on tips for resolving the problem, personal experiences or the scientifc issues involved:

"Someone recently asked a question about water quality in France - and

I wondered if anyone has actually checked the quality of the water

delivered through caravan water systems? I ask this because for

several years I used to come back from holiday feeling very 'under the

weather' and put this down to too much wine. This was until a couple

of years ago, when after two very hot holidays (when I was ill each

time) we checked the water system and noticed that the Whale pump had clear slime on both ends, with black mould under this and between the two pipes.

"We've always cleaned our system thoroughly, and use water purifying

tablets, but it struck me that our Aquaroll was heating in the hot sun,

cooling down dramatically at night, and then heating up again - ideal

medium for bacterial and algae growth. At the time we were going to

ask a biochemist friend to check the bacterial and other pathogen

counts - but didn't.

"Has anyone done such a survey? What were the results? If not, then

perhaps it would be a good thing to do in real life - ie on sites, in

various weathers, etc. "

 

[JeremyClarksson]

We always fill a plastic milk container for drinking water - avoids these problems and you get fresh cold water to drink.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Norm,

I think that if you check the caravan manufactures information, most do not recommend using the piped water for drinking.

The filter manufacturers are unlikely to claim they make un-potable water drinkable, only that they clean particulate matter and remove smells. Hopefully they all suggest that you at least boil water before drinking or suggest you use bottled or a certified source for drinking.

 

[Alan Partridge]

I do risk brushing my teeth with it but we don't drink the water from the Aquaroll unless boiled for tea or coffee. We do use Milton to sterilise though.

While away, we usually start of with a 5 litres of bottled water for drinking and just refill directly from the mains if we need to.

 

[Cockovan]

We have toured extensively in France in July and August, we have always used the aquaroll for ALL our water needs without any trouble at all. We do use large, busy sites that are in the Eurocamp or CC books. Most recently we use the inboard tank in very hot conditions or a direct supply on sites that have the facilities, but still it is the site water.

If people are worried about having water sat in the aquaroll for long periods of time in hot conditions they could always put in a smaller quantity each day, then empty and refill the next day.

 

[emmerson2]

Aren't we all different? I've been caravanning for over 40 years, and have drunk water straight from the aquaroll as long as I've had Aquarolls, and never had a problem. Oh, and I do seem to remember sterilizing mine once, but I can't remember when!

 

[Icemaker]

We have allso allways drank the water straight from the aqua roll, we too have never experianced any problems whether in england or france.

I did once get the algie problem on the pump but this was when the van had been in constant use for over a month so i put it down to just needing a clean.

We sterilise the whole system before every trip with milton or similar even though we use the van every 3 weeks.

 

[VonRyan]

Hi,

Have toured France for 28 years now and the French water is fine,but we never drink water via the Aqua Roll. We buy a 5 ltr water and drink that and then top it up from the site tap. No problems at all, but we throw away the container at the end of the holiday or use it to top up the toilet header tank.

The problem lies with the aqua roll and the vans pipe work as it does slime over even after using milton and sterilising tablets.

Rob

 

[Moderator2_5083849]

Posting by Alan & Gill.

The posting by Alan & Gill has been removed as it is entirely a problem with build and not to do with the original posting.

Their problems have been aired in other areas of the PC forum and multiple postings are not allowed.

As their dispute is now in legal hands, the forum is not the appropriate place to continue with what is happening with their complaint.

 

[RiaandJames_374303418]

We have never had a problem in France or anywhere else in Europe apart from Devon and Cornwall where someone in the family always gets an upset tummy.

If you get ill in France or anywhere alse we would be looking at the swimming pool or anywhere else you swim such as in the med or at water parks.

That said, James has taken apart the water systems on our caravans as the pipe runs hold water even after draining the system. What comes out of the pipes is not what you would want to drink!

Ria

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Sorry about that Mod, our appologies.

Allan & Gill.

 

[chrisn7]

The last 2 years in France, we stayed on the same site on the same pitch. The first time the water from the tap at the pitch delivered water that, even boiled, could not be used for hot drinks due the the chemicals. After this I fitted a Whale water filter and the second year the tap water was transformed.

Both times I used a Whale aquasource system to fill the onboard tank directly with no Aquaroll use at all. None of us suffered any illness

 

[vauxhall2]

never been to france in the van,always clean all the system with milton once a year,from then we boil all water used in drinking.the sites we use are all club sites and have the sign(DRINKING WATER)but all this water is piped through with plastic pipes,question is are these checked for quality at least once a year?as clean as i try to be,one time the pump froze up and when it defrosted the slime that came out had to be seen to be believed.i was thinking about the small ammount of water left in the aqua roll for a month or more in the shed,is this water stagnating.for the grandchild we buy bottled water.

 

[Terrijane]

I read this with great interest as at the moment I am recovering from a nasty kidney infection which we think could have been from accidentially drinking the water from aquaroll. We do use it for boiling water and in the coffee machine, that is where I noticed green floaty bits (yuk). But a few days later I became very ill we came home and I was admitted to hospital. We are not 100% positive that the water system was the cause as it a new outfit and reguarly maintained. After what I've been through I will be sure not to use the caravan water by accident again!

 

[Angela_5076436]

We always use the french water for everything. We are there for 2 periods of about 5 weeks each year.

Never had any problems and we don't have a built in waterfilter [ Abbey cardinal 312 ] We do however have a jug filter for our water as normally at home our water is soft and I find the jug filter water gives less problems with 'furring'.

We do not use an Aquaroll or any tank outside the van. We have 2 smaller containers in the van and switch the pump from one to the other as needed.

Our systems are drained down in the winter and then throughly flushed through , then sterilised and flushed through again umpteen times [ 4 or 5] before each trip.

 

[ValA.]

It was my original letter to Practical Caravan which invited these answers. Because we use our van a lot in France our water does heat up and cool down a lot. I was horrified when I saw the mould and slime on the pipes, and even more horrified when we bought a new pump a month ago and took the old one apart! This month in France we've drunk water from the campsite taps, but freshly filled our kettle each time. For cold water we've either gone directly to the tap or used bottled water and we've washed up in the campsite washblock. I'd be really interested in the technical side, just what is 'growing' in the water - and potentially what harm could it do.