By Russ and Tiña De Maris
For folks who live up in the Pacific Northwest, the curse of “hard water” probably never enters your vocabulary. It never did for us—until we started spending time in the Desert Southwest. We quickly learned how much trouble a few “mineral deposits” in the water supply can create. Deposits in pipes, fittings chewed up, a whole host of plumbing nightmares.
There is a way that can help you counteract the negative aspects of hard water. Some swear by “the vinegar treatment.” Once a year, so say the resident experts, pump a solution of white vinegar and water into the RV water system, allow it to stand overnight and dissolve hard water deposits. The dilution rate is usually set at 1:1 white vinegar to water.
Phase 1: Clean out mineral deposits from water system
Want to try it? First, turn off your “city water” supply and the power or gas to your water heater. Drain your hot water tank, and close the drain fitting. Next, if there’s water in your fresh water holding tank, drain it out. Now turn on the RV water pump. Open all your water-flowing fixtures and run them until air spurts out. Turn off the fixtures and water pump, and you’re ready for Phase 2.
Phase 2: White vinegar solution in tank
You’ll need plenty of white vinegar. We recommend dumping about 4 gallons of the stuff into your fresh water tank, along with an equal amount of fresh water. If you can, drive your rig “around the block” to swish the solution around in the fresh water tank. Of course, you took the time to close the fresh tank drain valve before pouring in the vinegar!
Phase 3: Clean out mineral deposits
Back home, turn on the water pump. Open your valves, one at a time, and let the water flow until you smell that good ol’ strong vinegar odor. Close the valve, and repeat with all the fixtures in your rig. You’ll also be doing the “hot” side, too, so your hot water tank will fill with this same solution. Again, allow the solution to “sit” for several hours—overnight or even longer if you can.
Phase 4: Use a flush wand
To make things work even better, use a water heater “flush wand” that pokes up into the water tank through the drain valve. Whoosh it out good to remove as much scale as you can, then close the drain. Do this trick before you turn on the water pump to fill up the system with the vinegar and water solution.
Some have commented that vinegar may chew up the anode rod. Combining acetic acid with magnesium (the principal component of an anode rod) does produce magnesium acetate, and it makes for an interesting science experiment. However, a rather strong acetic acid (35 percent) is required. By the time you dilute the already low-acid (5 to 8 percent) vinegar with water, our thinking is, sitting around in that weak solution for 24 hours or so isn’t going to chew up your anode rod. If you’re worried, pull out the anode rod and put in a plug. You may find that it’s high time to replace the anode rod anyway!
After your “stand time” clock has run its course, drain your fresh water holding tank and hot water tank. Refill the fresh tank with fresh water, and thoroughly run all fixtures until the odor and any color is gone. You may need to do this several times to get all the hard water minerals out of the system.
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RVT1231
I was a bit surprised you left out what I would argue is the best solution to addressing hard water fouling in a water system. Put a softener in front of it. Along with eliminating water hardness, it makes for a more uniform water supply between sites, which among other things has eliminated stomach/digestive problems with our two golden retreivers.
The 100% way to eliminate hard water issues is to buy a water softener.
Since the article is how to clean out mineral deposits, it’s aimed at people without a softener ahead of the RV. I would like to add another use for the vinegar rinse. Many wells have a benign bacteria that unfortunately releases sulfur dioxide (rotten egg) when ‘cooked’ in the water heater. The only good way to be rid of the smell is a vinegar bath as described.
A word of caution- vinegar will kill many plants to the root, including grass. Don’t drain any of your treated water onto your yard. I speak from experience. And it took 2 years to recover that area.
We’ve been using an On The Go Water Softener a number of years, with NO HARD WATER STAINS! We don’t even need to wipe down the shower and we use the shower all the time.
We camp around 150 nights a year, and only once or twice a year with water, so we rely on our fresh tank.
After a 106-degree stay (in late September!) in a Las Vegas RV park using city water, I spent hours when I got home removing scale from my water system. Now I use a scale filter inline with (after) my sediment-mineral-bacteria filter. So far, so good!
Water filters will not remove dissolved magnesium and calcium from water no matter what they may claim. Furthermore, magnets don’t work for this either. You must use either a water softener and/or a reverse osmosis (RO) system. RO systems are not practical in RVs due to their excessive water usage and space requirements. Water softeners for RVs are portable and affordable. You can read about them elsewhere. For the RV types, you would usually recharge them with ordinary table salt.
If you have a pass through compartment, they are usually 27″ or more high. Many home improvement stores have a mini house softener that will sit right in. (also room to pour in regular softener salt, may need to leave the top off) I come in run through a whole house water filter, put water hose fittings on softener and go from filter to softener and then to city water inlet. Works just like home.