hard water

Good products - good info, even if you buy elsewhere.....

The RV Water Filter Store

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If you use a fair amount of water and need it often, and have reasonably hard water, then the larger systems are what you want. Those other posters have mentioned.

If you occasionally need a water softener, or not real hard water or not very often, then look at the "waterstick" It's a smaller very easy to recharge system. That's what we use. But it has about 1/3 the capacity of the larger systems.

watersticks.com.

I use the 10,000 unit and regerate every week here in east Texas. Works fine. Our water is so hard you have to chip off a chunk to drink.

I have the FloPur Mark 8000.
Cost is $220 and includes shipping if bought from the site above. Regeneration is done with a box of common table salt.
It is similar to others like the "On-The-Go" water softener which is the one Camping World sells I believe.

Both are 8000 grain units which means they will last longer than those with smaller numbers without requiring regeneration. The 10,000 grain units will last even longer before needing regeneration. Some folks use "Water Sticks" but the biggest one of those I have seen is only 1500 grains.

In AZ where we spent most of the winter the water hardness is about 50 grains per gallon. That means that an 8000 grain unit will soften about 160 gallons before needing to be regenerated. Since we use about 13 gallons of water per day we had to regenerate every 12 days or so.

crosscountry wrote:
So I'm looking for a water softener which supposedly removes the ability of the minerals to stick to everything...not that it removes the minerals, if that were possible a filter would do it.

Hard water contains calcium carbonate which is not very soluble in water. That's why it forms scale in your water system. You could, in theory, add a chemical like phosphate or citric acid that binds to and solubilizes the calcium. That's how most laundry detergents deal with hard water. No one uses that method for a water supply because both chemicals
promote the growth of microorganisms.

crosscountry wrote:
I see they sell electronic hard water treatment that state they will over time get rid of existing lime build-up sounds interesting. Any one try that method?

This is a ripoff - there is no "magic" way to soften water.

The only practical way to soften water is to remove the calcium using an ion exchange resin that replaces calcium with sodium - that is how home water softeners work. I have seen ads for inline water softeners for RV's that use that principle. They can be much smaller than a home water softener because they don't have to deal with the large volumes of water used in a home. Eventually these will be exhausted and need to be replaced or recharged the same way home water softeners are.

Filters do not get the lime or minerals out. I use a 10 charcoal block, a 5 micron and then a 1 micron filter.....after that it goes through a "black light" . then into the water storage tank.

So I'm looking for a water softener which supposedly removes the ability of the minerals to stick to everything...not that it removes the minerals, if that were possible a filter would do it.

The result of hard water is leaky faucets, valves that do not close completely and ruined nozzles in taps not to mention the build up in the pipes themselves.

I see they sell electronic hard water treatment that state they will over time get rid of existing lime build-up sounds interesting. Any one try that method?

Not all water filters do the same things. Water softeners do remove calcium, activated charcoal filters remove chlorine and some bad tastes, and plain filters remove particulates. None of them remove bacteria or viruses. Check the labels.

The Camco filter mentioned does not soften water - it has a very coarse (100 micron) filter and activated charcoal only. The video suggests that it provides "safe" water. Water from that filter is "safe" only if it gets water from a safe source.

We also bought a Flow Pure system a few years ago.

The MO is to filter & fill our own tank then draw from that. We go about 6 days between fillups. Tens of thousands of gallons pumped trouble free by the onboard pump.

When traveling it is one less thing to hookup. Same with sewer. Usually 4-5 days between dumps. Another chore that does not have to be done everytime we arrive at a CG. No need for FHUs.

thanks all, good information and where to get it.

Yep..........

Bought one when we hit the road back in 2007

They ALL do the same thing..........so buy whichever Brand is on sale.


WORKS!