Water filter system

joeshmoe wrote:
They stow nicely through the knee wall door, in the truck bed, along with boots, clothing, trash, dirty magazines, empty booze containers and many other illegal items that are necessary to a good time on the road.

After driving few hours on dusty back-roads that gives a whole new meaning to "Dirty Magazines" :B

I found this over in the General RVing section;

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28328890/srt/pa/pging/1/page/1

Before our RO system at home sprung a leak at 3AM one morning and flooded the entire front half of the house, it worked okay for a few glasses of water, but when you need more than the 1 gal bladder will hold, you'd be waiting a very long time for the next fill up. And keeping more than a gal. in the fridge at time takes up space, not to mention the pain of constantly pulling the container out, refilling and replacing. Ended up buying a good ol' 5 gal. hot/cold water dispenser. 5 gals. of bottled, piping hot or chilled water. No flooding required.

As far as camper water, those crystal geyser dispensers are pretty much everywhere. I always keep the most recently purchased bottles and use them as refillers. $.25 a gal or I think a $1 for 5 gals. Pretty cheap. They stow nicely through the knee wall door, in the truck bed, along with boots, clothing, trash, dirty magazines, empty booze containers and many other illegal items that are necessary to a good time on the road.

I agree. Who knows who last used that hose bibb. It might have been me. You don't want to be the next victim...I mean user.

I appreciate all the replies. After careful study and research, a RO system is not practical. Other under counter systems don't do enough, leak, can't work with an RV water pump or have other issues I find unacceptable. So, it's bottled water for us when we RV and don't fill the Fresh Water tank except when we know and are sure of the water source, such as at home. Most public fills are not safe 100% of the time as there is just no way to know what the last guy did to the hose bib prior to me using it. I don't want to risk contaminating my fresh water tank.

I realize I'm a bit paranoid on this, but believe me, a case of giardiasis is nothing to sneeze at. We had it once from a local restaurant and it put my wife in the hospital due to dehydration. The health department came out to our house and tested everything; swab samples from the counters to the eggs in the fridge. I kept telling them it was the restaurant and eventually that was their conclusion. Took a month to get back on my feet and 6 months before I was 'normal' again.

Maybe I'll just stick to drinking beer.

OP Over the past 10 years I have spent a lot of time investigating water systems for my TC. I first started with the expensive top end Dupont filter, the biological filter $60, used nano tube technology but found out later it was not rated for non safe drinking water, what's the point of that? It also used two charcoal filters at $30 each. These need to be changed twice a year, so it would cost 240 a year to operate.

Fortunately second attempt I found the Rainfresh drinking water system 2, model: USCS2. Cost: $150 Can. It uses two filters, the Biological filter is a Ceramic silver impregnated .3UM filter that at max. needs to be changed once a year and costs $35 (I've gone 3 years with no ill effects). This filter can be used on rivers and lakes and untreated water. Cost a year to operate max. $50.

The second filter is a large charcoal filter good for 6 months and costs $8. It works much better than the Dupont filter for removing taste from the water.

Side note FYI you don't want to use a charcoal filter on water you are putting into your storage tank as the charcoal filter will remove the city chlorine and this will allow nasties to grow in your storage tank. Use the charcoal filter just before you need the water.

Here is a link to Rainfresh it is Canadian company, I have not seen any of their systems sold in stores in the US (I haven't looked very hard), it is by far the most popular system here in Canada. http://rainfresh.ca/drinking_water_system_2.php

Reading the reviews, seems the seller will swap out the single tank for two smaller ones.

Also, would be nice to have an access port to my fresh water tank and install a UV light right in the tank for killing bacteria.

The system you show has a pressure tank that is about 11" in diam
not sure it would fit in wheel well
I have a 5 stage at home with a light to kill bacteria , it takes hours to make 2 gallons of water and uses about 3-4 gallons in the process , drain line runs during that time
I m going to put it in my 5th wheel when I go full time , use it mostly on city water , I`m curious to see how it will work with a dc pump , if the pump will cycle a lot
In the TC I reuse crystal springs jugs and fill them from the home system , put 4 jugs in the sink laying down , 2 in each bowl
Keep 6 more in a milk crate in the side box on the flat bed

Charcoal filters are the way to go. Forget spending all that extra money for the three filter systems and the maintenance that goes with them. That can get expensive and are a waste of space. We're so spoiled now, worried about what we drink and eat. I carry bottled water for drinking and such (for better mileage, my water tank is not full while traveling) when we hit the road. Even though I still drink water from the tap on my bus, the grand kids wont. You can spend a lot with hard water treatments and I'm not so sure about the city water causing all that much damage. It takes a lot of time of the continual use to cause all that fright. I even save and rinse out the used bottles and refill them from home and put that in our refer and there is no difference in the taste and any after effects.

If your concern is with bacteria this is the route. Very quick. I've used one all over Alaska and BC. It does nothing for taste, you need a charcoal filter for that. If you are worried about chemicals that is a whole other issue. http://www.steripen.com/

bka0721 wrote:
, it was just very hard water. So I have since used a Brita Water Filter pitcher for when I need drinking water or for cooking. It works really well and the filter cartridges have always been readily available to purchase.

Yah, Me thinks that Brita is the way to go. While I had my Tear Drop, I had the 5-gal with manual pump, worked great and only $2 at the market to fill up.

In a TC, it would be too big. I even got a 2.5gal? for the TD and nice for quick a quick "Sleep N Go"s but still a little bulky for a TC.

Brita, while not going to catch Giardia and since the tanks will be filled with typically hose/city/camp site (for me) water, the Brita is just for the taste. Not using it to try to purify anything.

After reading this thread, I learned of a lot of options, I think I'll end up with the Single canister under the sink and a Brita. Fill the Brita from the sink water.

It's just for drinking and coffee anyway, not trying to do laundry heheh with purified water etc...

thanks..