Can we talk Water Filters again?
OK, let me start out with the point that I've always been a bottled water type person when it comes to the RV, both for my consumption and the dogs. At times I'd use campground water for the dogs afte...
Forum Discussion
I've got an RO system in the S&B and have also been considering an RV installation. A leak once developed in one of my 2 gallon drinking water containers and created some minor damage which justifies another look at an RO system. Some of my thoughts to date follow -
I would probably mount the RO system in a wooden box and store the box either under the sink or in the basement. During colder weather I would take the box inside. The remaining RO plumbing left behind would be drained and not used in colder weather. I have thought of a few places where I can use the "boxed" RO system in the S&B and keep the filters wet.
During operation the RO filter is being flushed with the filtered water. After flushing, that filtered water is often sent down the drain. My system would route that normally discarded water to the fresh water tank. Although the discarded water is not RO quality, it is filtered and therefore better then the campground water, so the water pump will be on to deliver water from the fresh water tank for general use in the RV.
A pressure tank would be used to store the RO water and the water would be delivered to a dedicated faucet, probably located at the kitchen sink. An air gap faucet would not be needed due to the absence of any sewer drain in the RO system, thus there would be little noise during operation.
So in summary - campground water would be the supply. The filtered "waste" water would be stored in the fresh water tank and the RO drinking water would be stored in a pressure tank.
The system would run for an extended period of time, depending on the size of the RO system. It takes roughly 4-5 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of RO water. I use about 20 gallons of fresh water per day so if I can produce 4-5 gallons of RO water per day I should be able to also produce 20 gallons of filtered fresh water daily for showers and kitchen cleanup. I currently re-use the bath water in my grey water flush system to flush the commode.
If I didn't have access to water on site, I could truck in water to fill the fresh water system, then cycle water continuously through the RO system, but the noise of the cycling water pump would probably drive me crazy. In that case I might put to use a food grade 55 gallon drum I assembled with an RV demand pump mounted to it, connecting the drum directly to the shore connector.
Hope this helps ...
I would probably mount the RO system in a wooden box and store the box either under the sink or in the basement. During colder weather I would take the box inside. The remaining RO plumbing left behind would be drained and not used in colder weather. I have thought of a few places where I can use the "boxed" RO system in the S&B and keep the filters wet.
During operation the RO filter is being flushed with the filtered water. After flushing, that filtered water is often sent down the drain. My system would route that normally discarded water to the fresh water tank. Although the discarded water is not RO quality, it is filtered and therefore better then the campground water, so the water pump will be on to deliver water from the fresh water tank for general use in the RV.
A pressure tank would be used to store the RO water and the water would be delivered to a dedicated faucet, probably located at the kitchen sink. An air gap faucet would not be needed due to the absence of any sewer drain in the RO system, thus there would be little noise during operation.
So in summary - campground water would be the supply. The filtered "waste" water would be stored in the fresh water tank and the RO drinking water would be stored in a pressure tank.
The system would run for an extended period of time, depending on the size of the RO system. It takes roughly 4-5 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of RO water. I use about 20 gallons of fresh water per day so if I can produce 4-5 gallons of RO water per day I should be able to also produce 20 gallons of filtered fresh water daily for showers and kitchen cleanup. I currently re-use the bath water in my grey water flush system to flush the commode.
If I didn't have access to water on site, I could truck in water to fill the fresh water system, then cycle water continuously through the RO system, but the noise of the cycling water pump would probably drive me crazy. In that case I might put to use a food grade 55 gallon drum I assembled with an RV demand pump mounted to it, connecting the drum directly to the shore connector.
Hope this helps ...
