Hi everybody, welcome back. Now a few videos ago,
I did a video on how to drain down your caravan.
In that video I used a bit of kit called the Floë,
and it uses air to push water out of the taps.
Now in that video I mentioned that I was going to sterilise the caravan's pipework.
And indeed I am.
I've had lots of questions about the best way and the best products to use,
about sterilising the taps and the pipes and the Aquarolls etc.
the whole water system in fact.
So I thought today, why don't I show you how we're going to
sterilise the water system ready for another clean season.
So, first of all let's go through some of the products that we use
to sterilise the system.
There is 2 trains of thought here when dealing with sterilisation.
Some people will say use Milton, because it's a sterilising fluid,
and other people will say, use Puriclean.
Now, there's a really good argument as to which one you should be using.
The argument ultimately is you should be using Puriclean.
Milton actually can be corrosive to metal surfaces.
It even says so on the back of the packet.
Milton works best when it's operating on a clean surface,
so it's ideal for sterilising baby bottles or homebrewing equipment.
The other thing it will not do is it will not remove what's known as biofilm.
If you go home and you put your finger inside a hosepipe, for instance,
you can sometimes feel it's a bit slimy.
Well that is biofilm, and this will not remove it.
Puriclean however is specifically designed to do that.
It both sterilises and it cleans.
And it's designed for water tanks as well.
So this is the product that we use,
and this is the one we've been using now for 3 years,
or since we've been caravanning.
We've not had any problems with it. Let me show you how we use it.
The very first step we need to do is we need to fill our Aquaroll.
We're gonna be sterilising the Aquaroll, the pump, the pipework, the taps,
we're gonna be sterilising our whole fresh water system.
So the first thing we need to do is fill our Aquaroll right the way up,
and then we're gonna put the Puriclean straight into the water.
Now what I tend to do here is I fill the Aquaroll up about halfway,
add the chemicals in, and then fill it right the way to the top.
What dosage you need to use? Well it's quite simple,
it's 1 teaspoon per 4.5 litres of liquid.
So for a full Aquaroll you're looking between 8 and 9 teaspoons.
Personally, we go for the 8 teaspoon dosage,
and that seems to work absolutely fine.
So once it's all mixed up, give the Aquaroll a good shake,
and leave it to rest for a couple of minutes,
for it to start dissolving and acting inside the Aquaroll.
Now the next step you need to do is obviously connect the Aquaroll up...
as if you were going to fill up the caravan water from dry.
But here's a crucial step.
If you have a filter, like a charcoal-based filter:
We have one here, we've got a Truma Ultraflow,
and that has the charcoal-based water filter:
Drop out any filters. Take them out from the system.
Because this stuff will make the filters break down.
So, with the water hooked up to the caravan, the filter dropped out,
the next step we need to do is pull water through the taps.
So make sure that the drain down tap is closed,
make sure your taps are closed, make sure your shower is closed as well,
then as per normal, just prime all the taps as if you've just arrived on site,
so that you have water flow out of the system.
If you've got a hot water tank, make sure that's nice and full as well,
but don't switch on the hot water, leave it cold.
That will be absolutely fine.
Start to then use the water through the system,
so pull some water through the taps, one by one,
so that everything is nice and wet.
And then very simply, we're gonna let the system sit.
Now the instructions on the packet here actually say soak between 1 and 12 hours.
We personally leave it for 4, and we've not had any problems with that.
What that gives us is enough time to run around and do some jobs around the outside,
for instance cleaning the caravan down, or if you have to clean the roof.
But it gives you enough time to leave everything to soak.
Now once you've let the system rest, now's the time we need to start flushing through.
So what we do is we use up the entire Aquaroll through the taps.
So I use it through the kitchen tap, the bathroom tap, and the shower.
We're pulling all the water through all the taps, just to pull out any biofilm.
So once the Aquaroll is all used up,
what we need to do is refill the Aquaroll once again.
Now we're gonna repeat this process 2 or 3 times.
It depends on how dirty the water was originally,
how long you left it, and also how long you need to leave it standing for.
Once you have pushed through 2 Aquarolls worth of water (about 80 litres),
it's now time to see how the water tastes.
So the first thing to do is just pour yourself a small glass,
have a smell, see if it smells a little bit chemically.
If it does, you probably need to put more water through the system,
so another 2 Aquarolls worth of water will be fine.
If it smells perfectly fine, have a small taste,
see if you've got any acrid taste there as well.
If that's all OK, then you're completely sterilised and you're all ready.
If not, like I said, put more water through the system.
Now another great thing about doing it this way is that
you can actually sterilise down your waste pipes as well.
Because you're pulling water through your taps,
you can push it through your waste water system as well,
and it may be a good idea to connect up
your Wastemaster or waste containers as well.
That way you can clean out the inside of those at the same time.
So once you are all clean and you're all sorted,
obviously the next thing we need to do, is to drain down the system once again,
and as I said at the beginning of this video, I showed a video on
how to drain down the water system completely.
Do that, and you'll be absolutely fine.
And then of course, not forgetting...
to replace any water softeners or water filters.
We keep one of these in the caravan at all times,
just in case we need to replace it,
but with this out the system, when you're sterilising it,
you'll have no issues at all.
So replace a brand new one of these after sterilisation,
and you're good to go for the season ahead.
So in conclusion: It's Puriclean, it's not Milton,
replace your filters,
use lots of water in doing so, and you'll have no problems at all.
Thanks for watching, guys. Take care now, bye bye.