Drinking water filter

[currinh]

Originally Posted by azjack

On the road I taste the water before hooking up then use the same cheap hose filter.
Jack

I consider this a necessity, tasting before hooking up. Certainly before filling the fresh water tank. I think faucet/campground water is safe (worked so far) but of questionable taste. We use an in line (small blue thing) on the trailer inlet but it does little to correct taste.

We find that when the tap water is poor tasting there are usually coin-op vending machines for water near. They run about 25 cents per gallon and the taste of this water is very good. So we keep filling one gallon bottles (usually old Arizona Tea bottles). Also keep a 7 gallon "tank" in the car for drinking. This cuts down on waste and cost.

Usually hook up with even bad water. If it's bad we then use tap water for all but drinking for which we use the gallon bottles of vending water. Have been known to fill up the fresh tank with vending water. But currently just don't fill it until we find "good" water.

May stay in Arizona next winter for a few months around Quartzsite (Benda). The water is bad there so may look for a large trailer inlet filter system to make that water "good". Haven't started this search yet so am interested in ideas. I'd consider this a "permanent" installation for staying put for a few weeks or longer. Buying vending water, some 2 gallons a day, would come to only about $15/mo so this solution would be for convenience more than saving $.

Hope this is of interest and thanks for your help.

[C&G in FL]

We also take a low tech approach, when on the road. Because we have a well, we have an RO unit for all of our drinking/cooking water. In every State and likely in every Province, any entity providing water for public consumption (municipality, campground if on well) must have a licensed operator. While there are exceptions (Flint, Michigan immediately comes to mind), public water supplies throughout North America provide a product which has been tested and treated and safe to drink. The only variable is taste. So if we go somewhere and find the water distasteful, we purchase 2or 3 gallons for drinking/coffee making our next trip to the grocery store. If the water tastes fine, we don't bother. So we do not have to transport a filter unit, change filters, take up counter space, etc.

[kstock11]

I filter all incoming water through the hose and use this Culligan filter on my faucet for water that I drink. Culligan FM-15A Faucet Mount Filter. I don't have a lot of confidence on the inline filter but feel that keeps out some of the minerals and stuff that would get into the water heater.

[ReagentGrade]

Originally Posted by currinh

May stay in Arizona next winter for a few months around Quartzsite (Benda). The water is bad there so may look for a large trailer inlet filter system to make that water "good". Haven't started this search yet so am interested in ideas. I'd consider this a "permanent" installation for staying put for a few weeks or longer. Buying vending water, some 2 gallons a day, would come to only about $15/mo so this solution would be for convenience more than saving $.

Hugh,

When I've been in Quartzsite, I've filled my tracks at the RV Pit Stop. (I think that was the name.). Their charge for filling the tanks with deep well water was reasonable and they had filtered water for 25 cents a gallon. Many people's drank water from their tanks, but I preferred the filtered water. One five gallon jug easily lasted a week.

Rich

[thoer]

Originally Posted by fudge_brownie

Do either of your in line RV filters claim to sanitize or remove bacteria? Not that it is necessary, just curious.

Paul, no, mine are just the Camco carbon filters Camco Filter

It does seem going thru both the Camco and then the PUR improves the taste more than either does individually.

If I as worried about biological contaminates and still needed to drink the water, I'd use something like these purification tablets or boil it before running it through the PUR Aquatabs

[MyronL]

A small in-line filter under the sink is looking like a good idea to me. Last rally I filled my tanks for free at the Quartzsite Burger King, from a faucet out back next to the dumper. True, I asked no one's permission, hurried up when doing it, always looking over my shoulder. Of course, we carry bottled water and only use our trailer-tank water for flushing and washing.

[Greg A]

Myron
I got a good chuckle out of picturing you clandestinely pulling up behind the BK and stealth filling your tank. I hope you didn't drink any of that Q water, because it is one of the problem areas in AZ with high levels of contamination in the municipal water supply.
We recommend RV pit stop if one fills in Q or some of the other similar services.
Lots of folks including us like to go to Dead Horse park in Cottonwood AZ and they also have problems with their water. Recommend you bring ur own if going to those areas.
Usually, the areas that struggle with the municipal water supplies here were heavy mining areas in the past or still actively mining.

[sumac.rhus]

I don't have trouble with water at the sources (am used to checking before using), but DO find water that has been in to "fresh" water tank with noxiously plastic aroma. Don't need to taste it to know it would be awful.

Anybody have any fresh water tank treatments to get rid of this...Does it ever go away with tincture of time? (Picked up my trailer the end of last Summer.)

[sumac.rhus]

Originally Posted by sumac.rhus

I don't have trouble with water at the sources (am used to checking before using), but DO find water that has been in to "fresh" water tank with noxiously plastic aroma. Don't need to taste it to know it would be awful.

Anybody have any fresh water tank treatments to get rid of this...Does it ever go away with tincture of time? (Picked up my trailer the end of last Summer.)

Has anyone tried a baking soda solution?

[gbaglo]

Try Tang.

[sumac.rhus]

THAT's a cool idea!

[Iowa Dave]

Have you sanitized with a half a cup of bleach then drain and refill a couple times each spring? The previous owner of both of our Escapes had installed an in-line filter on the fresh water line to the sink. We have not experienced negative taste. I drop my fresh water after every trip and flush the tank a couple times a summer. My water at home is free and unlimited as part of my HOA fees. It’s from a deep well checked for nitrites on a regular basis. Once a year I go out to the family farm and drink from the artesian that has flowed for over 100 years. Straightens me right out. Look up the Jumbo artesian, Belle Plaine Iowa. Part of the same system.
Iowa Dave

[sumac.rhus]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Have you sanitized with a half a cup of bleach then drain and refill a couple times each spring? The previous owner of both of our Escapes had installed an in-line filter on the fresh water line to the sink. We have not experienced negative taste. I drop my fresh water after every trip and flush the tank a couple times a summer. My water at home is free and unlimited as part of my HOA fees. It’s from a deep well checked for nitrites on a regular basis. Once a year I go out to the family farm and drink from the artesian that has flowed for over 100 years. Straightens me right out. Look up the Jumbo artesian, Belle Plaine Iowa. Part of the same system.
Iowa Dave

Thanks, but it's a tank problem, not a water source problem. Struck right out of ETI. Checked water source before first fill, and have used home well water since. Strong chemical/plastic fumes.... Very unpleasant (....and suspect unhealthy?)

[gbaglo]

Whatever you do, don't drink bottled water.
Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study | CBC News

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by sumac.rhus

I don't have trouble with water at the sources (am used to checking before using), but DO find water that has been in to "fresh" water tank with noxiously plastic aroma. Don't need to taste it to know it would be awful.

Anybody have any fresh water tank treatments to get rid of this...Does it ever go away with tincture of time? (Picked up my trailer the end of last Summer.)

We double filter all water going into our trailer with a sediment filter and then a filter from HydroViv (highly recommended - we use the same filters at home for our drinking water). This ensures that we have clean water going into the trailer.

But as the HydroViv filter removes all chlorine from the water, along with any other nastiness, I actually add a capful of bleach to each tankful of water to ensure that nothing starts growing in the tank or lines.

And then we have one more filter under the sink specifically for drinking/cooking water that then removes the chlorine from the tank water.

End result of all of this is a water system that delivers clean, tasty and trustworthy water, regardless of the source, and we don’t have to mess around with extra jugs or any of that.

The one other thing we do is a concentrated bleach sanitization of the whole system a couple of times per year.

We used this regimen while traveling around the US and Canadia full time for a year and it worked well.

[Ian and Sue]

Originally Posted by fudge_brownie

Do either of your in line RV filters claim to sanitize or remove bacteria? Not that it is necessary, just curious.

Unless you install a Reverse Osmosis system you will NOT remove bacteria with ANY ordinary filter....they do not filter small enough. For backpacking there are many filters to get out bacteria and to be safe I think you need 0.3 micron or less and viruses require even smaller... The other method is sterilization. There are many products for this from chlorine to ultraviolet light.

A common filter is for taste, odor and sediment ONLY. The brita filters do more but like any effective filter they either are large or take lots of energy to pump.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by Ian and Sue

Unless you install a Reverse Osmosis system you will NOT remove bacteria with ANY ordinary filter....they do not filter small enough.

I use a reverse osmosis system in my home due to the tap water saline problem we have. I would love to install one on my trailer but I don't think I could handle the amount of water it wastes. A reverse osmosis system wastes about 4 gallons of water per gallon made - that would fill up the grey tank pretty quick!

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

I use a reverse osmosis system in my home due to the tap water saline problem we have. I would love to install one on my trailer but I don't think I could handle the amount of water it wastes. A reverse osmosis system wastes about 4 gallons of water per gallon made - that would fill up the grey tank pretty quick!

Yep, and the efficiency of an RO system drops even further if the water is colder, if the pressure is lower (won't even operate below 40 psi) or the TDS in the water is higher. And, as the system is used, it becomes even less efficient as solids prevent more and more water from passing through the membrane, and more back pressure is created.

At home, wasting that much water may be inefficient, but it's not a technical problem. In a trailer with small tanks, it definitely is. To me a quality inline filter is the way to go. It won't do what an RO system does, but for us it works fine and the water tastes good.

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Ian and Sue

Unless you install a Reverse Osmosis system you will NOT remove bacteria with ANY ordinary filter....they do not filter small enough. For backpacking there are many filters to get out bacteria and to be safe I think you need 0.3 micron or less and viruses require even smaller... The other method is sterilization. There are many products for this from chlorine to ultraviolet light.



A common filter is for taste, odor and sediment ONLY. The brita filters do more but like any effective filter they either are large or take lots of energy to pump.

The question of microbe filtration in a non-backpacking type system intrigued me so I contacted HydroViv, whose filters we use both in our house and our RV setups to find out exactly what their filters are tested to do. I asked specifically about microbe filtration and absolute filtration size, as well as what else in general they remove. This was their response, below, and they also included half a dozen data sheets of test results for contaminants including lead, chromium, VOC’s, pesticides, etc:

“Hey Scott, thanks for reaching out! There are an infinite number of chemicals in the market, and it's not really feasible to test a system against them all. What we (and all other water filter companies) do is selectively choose chemicals to test against that are representative of much larger lists of chemicals. You can see the list of organic chemicals that our filter has been tested against in the data pack attached , as well as the major points of concern in your water quality. Our filters also remove a host of more general contaminants, such as PCBs, MTBE, mercury, cysts, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, petroleum-based chemicals, chlorine, chloramine, disinfection byproducts, PFOA, PFOS, atrazine, benzine, simazine, bisphenol A, estrone, and more.

1. Yes, our filters remove bacteria including cysts and microbes, but they are intended for use on biologically safe water.

2. Our micron size is .2. By necking the pore size to 0.2 microns, we get very efficient capture of chemicals through chemisorption and physisorption.

Thanks,
Matt”

[Ian and Sue]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

The question of microbe filtration in a non-backpacking type system intrigued me so I contacted HydroViv, whose filters we use both in our house and our RV setups to find out exactly what their filters are tested to do. I asked specifically about microbe filtration and absolute filtration size, as well as what else in general they remove. This was their response, below, and they also included half a dozen data sheets of test results for contaminants including lead, chromium, VOC’s, pesticides, etc:

“Hey Scott, thanks for reaching out! There are an infinite number of chemicals in the market, and it's not really feasible to test a system against them all. What we (and all other water filter companies) do is selectively choose chemicals to test against that are representative of much larger lists of chemicals. You can see the list of organic chemicals that our filter has been tested against in the data pack attached , as well as the major points of concern in your water quality. Our filters also remove a host of more general contaminants, such as PCBs, MTBE, mercury, cysts, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, petroleum-based chemicals, chlorine, chloramine, disinfection byproducts, PFOA, PFOS, atrazine, benzine, simazine, bisphenol A, estrone, and more.

1. Yes, our filters remove bacteria including cysts and microbes, but they are intended for use on biologically safe water.

2. Our micron size is .2. By necking the pore size to 0.2 microns, we get very efficient capture of chemicals through chemisorption and physisorption.

Thanks,
Matt”

Interesting....What is the pressure loss across the filter. Typically to gain that level of filtration requires a considerable pressure loss, not usually a problem in a residential setting but could be a problem with our little pumps in our Escapes.