2014 Keystone hideout

[Stardown2earth]

Hello beautiful RV community! We just started our journey with a 2014 keystone hideout a week ago and we have no idea how the water systems work. It will remain at a family members backyard with only access to electricity while we figure everything out and get ready to hit the road. If anyone knows of a good video on this camper or has any tips on how to go about emptying the tanks (we think we need to do that) and use the plumbing if possible with no water hookups it would be greatly appreciated. We stayed in it for a few days but had to leave overnight for work and we will begin to stay in it again starting tonight. We will now have the free time off work to really start doing the research on how all this works. We appreciate any tips you all can throw our way. We are so excited for this journey and cant wait to meet more people out on the road. **We would like to use the tub, sink and toilet while it remains parked with no water hook ups. Is this even possible?? Thank you so much in advance. Stardown2earth Xo?✌

 

[tx2sturgis]

Hookup a garden hose to the nearest spigot and insert the hose into the RV water tank fill opening, then turn on the water.

 

[highdesertranger]

using the water and dumping the tanks is pretty universal. fill the water tank up ad turn the water pump switch on. that's your basic water turn on. you should have had the seller walk you through everything.

you didn't check all the systems when you bought it?.

do you know anybody that could walk you through everything?

some things to look for,
if it is winterized then the water heater is bypassed and the water system is full of antifreeze. you must purge it.
if it's been sitting awhile you should probably sanitize the water system.
take a flashlight, hold the flush valve for te toilet down and look down the toilet. you can see right into the black tank to see if there is anything in there.
for the grey tank you can tap on the side of the tank to see if anything is in there.
depending how big your black tank is put a gallon or two or three in it before using it.
you should have some type of gauge that tells you the tank level for all three tanks. the accuracy of these runs the gamut between good and bad.

in closing like I said all these systems are pretty universal so you can watch any youtube video. I would watch several because some people give real bad advice. one of the better guys is Mark Polk of RV education 101.

highdesertranger

 

[highdesertranger]

no no no. do not use a garden hose use a potable water hose. they are white with a blue stripe. most Hardware and RV stores have these.

highdesertranger

 

[tx2sturgis]

Well, they asked about tub, sink, and toilet. I would never drink from those (!) so a garden hose is acceptable...in fact, I have said before that the 'fresh' tank in an RV is not for drinking from. Of course, thousands of people do...I know that.

But I dont. The water sources used to fill an RV tank are sometimes questionable, who knows whether the water was filtered to 100% sterile by the previous owners in that 5 year old RV, and what kind of hoses they used, and what might or might not have ended up in the 'fresh' water tank. Especially in the summer, the water stored in those tanks can get various forms of algae.  I wonder how many RVers get sick from it. I also wonder how many cases of the 'Quartzsite Crud' are caused by bad water quality in the RV tanks, and the owners consume that water. Yuck.

Anyway, my recommendation is always keep human (and pet) drinking water separate from lower grade water in the RV system used for showers, toilet, and sink duty. 

So....a garden hose is fine. But I wont argue that with a brand NEW RV and IF the person sanitizes the water system thoroughly and often, then a clean potable (white) water hose should be used with that RV.

And yeah, as a kid and to this day, I have consumed water running out of a green garden hose. I aint dead yet.

 

[highdesertranger]

well if I am going to haul water across 100 miles of desert it damn well better be potable. I see no reason to haul water you can't drink or cook with. highdesertranger

 

[owl]

Geez HDR, there you go making sense again. When will you learn ?

 

[B and C]

I only drink from my tank. No plastic bottled water. Water filter with a blue or white (potable water) hose depending on length needed. I carry 4 hoses, all potable water rated. A 25 ft, 15 ft, 10 ft and a 4 ft. The 4 foot one is if I need to pour my 7 gallon reserve water in the tank. If water sits for a month unused, I sterilize the tank. This is not rocket science and the tanks are made to hold potable water. I don't get the paranoia.

 

[Matlock]

  This is not rocket science and the tanks are made to hold potable water.  I don't get the paranoia.

An additional concern today is the "Quality" of the potable water to begin with. With cheaper new chemicals being offered to cities for use in water treatment plants many have realized unhealthy results as these new chemicals are leaching toxins out of old water pipes downstream of treatment plants.
I totally understand the word paranoia and I'd only offer a caution to test water you carry with you especially if drawn from a variety of sources over time. That and the older we get the less tolerant or bodies are to chemical changes in food and water.

another 2¢ worth

 

[tx2sturgis]

well if I am going to haul water across 100 miles of desert it damn well better be potable.  I see no reason to haul water you can't drink or cook with. 

I do. Water that I will use for bathing and cleaning dishes and washing the solar panels does not have to be kept at cool temps, out of the sun, in a sealed container, and reasonably sterile. That water can be kept in the RV water tank.

There is irony in that...especially when people from third world countries find out that us Americans have so much drinkable water that we even CRAP in it.

:dodgy:

 

[Cammalu]

I’m sorry to break the news to you Tex but it’s way too late. I make coffee from the water in my tank although I do put a filter on it going in.

Since you’ve had coffee with me numerous times well, um, errrrr...........

 

[rvwandering]

Here's a very detailed guide to dumping your tanks: https://www.sanidumps.com/howtoemptyyourtanks.php

 We drink the water from our fresh water tank too. We have a cheap string filter inline on our white hose. This catches any large sediment. We have another filter under the sink on the cold water line that filters our drinking water. It removes chemicals and other contaminates so our water always tastes good and is presumably safe. It's never made us sick but our water always come from a safe source such as a campground, fresh water at a dump station, or residential water when we're visiting people.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I’m sorry to break the news to you Tex but it’s way too late. I make coffee from the water in my tank although I do put a filter on it going in. 

Since you’ve had coffee with me numerous times well, um, errrrr...........

And when I realized that, I began to decline those morning coffees...(they were good tho)...and I was bringing my own beverages. BTW, hot coffee is probably not the way that any crud, algae, or bacteria would enter ones gut...

 

[B and C]

I'm almost 71 and it hasn't bothered me in any way yet. I have one of those blue inline filters that I use and I think it is a sediment trap (screen in a bowl) right before my water pump. Keep on paying extra for nothing. You do know that mose bottled water is just filtered local water.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I think some of you missed my original point:

Using a white hose or a green hose does not change your RV tank water supply from potable to non-potable and back again. There are many other procedures in addition to that, which if done properly and regularly, can result in the RV water supply being sanitized and safe to drink. But I have chosen not to drink (or cook) from that water supply. So, that leaves me free to use a green hose, or white, or even blue or black, to fill the water tank which will be used for flushing the toilet, cleaning, and occasionally, showering.

All of us are free to make these choices.

 

[B and C]

In a regular (non-potable) garden hose, bad things leach from the hose into the water. I am stating this for the new people that don't know better. There is a reason they make potable water hoses and they are not expensive. Using a garden hose on a tank will require it to be drained and sanitized again before use.

Please do not advise people to fill their tanks with a garden hose, especially if you don't know for certain that they are not drinking from the tank. I drink from my kitchen faucet and I am sure there are others that do it to.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Please do not advise people to fill their tanks with a garden hose, especially if you don't know for certain that they are not drinking from the tank.  I drink from my kitchen faucet and I am sure there are others that do it to.

They were looking at a 2014 year model RV...that is in the title. Trust me....a used 5 year old RV water tank and plumbing is WAY dirtier than the inside of a regular old garden hose...unless the previous owner was meticulous about sterilizing the tanks.

Would you advise a person buying a 5 year old RV that the water they fill into that tank will be safe to drink, not knowing any of the history of tank sanitation and maintenance? Or would it be better to advise them NOT to drink it or cook with it unless the entire water system is fully and 100% sanitized?

If the new owners know enough to go thru the trouble to clean and sanitize the tank and entire water system using all normal procedures, then I believe they will use a fresh, brand new drinking water hose...no matter what I do, or anyone else does.

My opening statement was intentionally simple in response to this question:

We would like to use the tub, sink and toilet while it remains parked with no water hook ups. Is this even possible??

We all know that this is possible. That's a given, so I was answering this with a bit of tongue-in-cheek advise....ie: run a hose to it and fill up the tanks.

If I made an error in judgement, by being a bit of a smart-ass, so be it. 


:angel:

 

[B and C]

My roadtrek was 14 years old when I bought it, not 5. No problems using the tanks and I knew none of the history. The van itself was not maintained very well. Sanitizing is sanitizing. I wasn't talking about dirt in a garden hose but the chemicals that they are made of leaching into the water. I remember as a kid drinking out of a garden hose and how bad it tasted.

I am not trying to be a wise a** either.

 

[tx2sturgis]

That is kinda my point....we have no way of knowing the history....for all you know the previous owners kept it clean. They always treated the water, and used drinking water hoses.

But....maybe they didnt. 

Yes, any garden hose can leach chemicals (especially if the water is allowed to stand in the hose)...so how do you know, for sure, that a normal garden hose was never used to fill the water tank in your rig in those years before you owned it?

It almost comes down to faith. 

Well, call me a skeptic. I assume the water in those RV tanks is not safe to drink, especially long term. As I said, it comes down to individual choice.

 

[B and C]

Yes it does and a sanitizing would take care of any leftover "stuff" in the tanks. The previous owners treated the van like a pos. It was well used and abused by the time I got it.