Can we talk Water Filters again?

ksg5000 wrote:
RO waste water and taste lousy - take a pass. Your current system of sediment and carbon filters sounds like a good filter system - certainly adequate for both human and dogs.

Once your system has been sanitized, above should be all the filtering you need. I get a quality filter from the water filter store (sediment/carbon), and enjoy the convenience of using my tank water for all uses. I do use mostly city chlorinated water, and the filter removes the chlorine before coming through the lines. Works for me.

Jerry

RO waste water and taste lousy - take a pass. Your current system of sediment and carbon filters sounds like a good filter system - certainly adequate for both human and dogs.

I carry bottled water for drinking and cooking whether using the trailer or tent when camping. However, the dog would get campground water, water from the trailer onboard tank or from one or two aquatainers filled at home. They're a dog. And if in a bind there's always melted ice water from the drink cooler. I wouldn't however give them water from the food cooler once the meat started thawing.

Thank You for taking the time to express your thoughts. I've given the R/O route thoughts on other occasions but have never pulled the trigger! I have a feeling I'll be doing the bottled water route but its good to get other idea's on the subject. Thanks again!

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 have seawater grade (Village R/O) at the house. Mmmm baby does it ever go through the tank of water. The effluent gets put on the vegetable garden. Away fro home I am paying 10.5 pesos for 5 gallons for purified R/O water. A bit over ten US cents per gallon...

No, not all for the dogs! but I guess they do go through their share. I do know there is a lot of waste and that has always been one reason why I've carried bottled water. I think your right though...especially when you have no hook ups....too much waste.

The way it works - rejecting 50% of water back into sewer - I think RO is not eco-friendly. Especially when it's unnecessary.

I used portable RO pump when there was no other choice, - in wilderness sea kayaking. There was (almost) no other way to make fresh water, and it was difficult to carry more than few gallons in a kayak. Would have never considered this expense, otherwise.

I don't understand the problem with carrying purified water in RV. At ambient below 80-85, a 5-gallon jar - used for drinking and cooking only - lasts me a week. If this all is just for dogs... Have a feeling they wouldn't care less, drinking water after sediment filter.