Water filter for drinking water only?

[bianchina3]

We often "dry camp" at a camp ground that has electricity but no water at the sites. We fill the water at the campground and the water is not the best. We use a ton of water bottles for anything we consume but it is expensive and a pain to manage. I think I can put a water filter on the cold water going to kitchen faucet.

Two questions:
1) Is that a good idea?
2) Any recomendations for filter?

Thanks in advance.

[rbpru]

Considering we have used well water for the last 50 years, un-softened in the kitchen sink. We rarely have issues with water.

I have never subscribe to the bottle water philosophy, though we use them hiking and on day trips because they are convenient.

In answer to the OP, filtering your water cannot hurt anything except the pocket book.

We fill the fresh tank before we leave and refill at on the road as needed.
Perhaps twice we had water we did not like and dumped it at the next campsite.

I guess we will never qualify as water snobs.

[stratcat]

most campgrounds are on well water. spent last summer at a campground that the water was so bad with sediment, junk in general that I was changing sediment filters every 30 days or less. Had the water tested and the calicum was so high the lab recommended do not ingest.Be careful of campground water it is normally not tested. shower, wash hands, dishes, but don't drink it.

[gaymeadowsman]

DutchmenSport wrote:

djgarcia wrote:
...
I believe that all RVs come with a filter system already installed under your sink. ...

Um ... sorry ... no they don't. I've never seen a TT come out of the factory with a water filter already installed. Maybe an Excel, but nothing else. They might be installed in Motor Homes, but even then, I don't recall seeing too many that actually do.

While our 2014 Avenger did not come from the factory with an inline water filter,our 2007 Forest River Surveyor indeed did. It did a very good job removing dirt, rust, and other particulates from the water. We removed the filter every time winterized in mid December and installed a new one the end of Feb. when we dewinterized.

[BobsYourUncle]

Sam Spade wrote:

Rover_Bill wrote:
Most of the filters that have been discussed/recommended are in-line water FILTERS. These units are installed or attached to your exiting water lines and filter water at about 3-5 gallons per minute. The various filters remove different sized PARTICLES and some BACTERIA from the water. This filtered water is good for washing your hands, pots and pans, showers, muddy boots, and flushing the toilet. Most of these filters are not certified to clean water to EPA drinking standards.

Maybe not but some don't miss it too far.

The ones using micro-activated charcoal remove all kinds of contaminants including heavy metals, some dissolved gasses and even some bacteria. They also remove most of the residual chlorine that you or the city adds to keep "stuff" from growing in transit.

If you are going to act like an expert, you should at least try to get some actual facts.

You get what you pay for.

Don't buy a cheapo filter and expect it to convert contaminated water to pure drinking water.

If you want a decent filter expect to pay a decent price.

Those Britta things are next to useless. They remove some things and make it taste slightly better but it stops there. Throw the Britta in the garbage where it belongs.

After doing a lot of reading and research and even attending a couple seminars, I bought a small compact unit made by Amway. Too bad they quit making the compact unit. I got one off eBay. This unit takes out all the harmful stuff even including the cryptosporidium virus.

Spend a few bucks and you can get a good filter for clean pure drinking water. There are many to choose from.

[allen8106]

djgarcia wrote:

bianchina3 wrote:
We often "dry camp" at a camp ground that has electricity but no water at the sites. We fill the water at the campground and the water is not the best. We use a ton of water bottles for anything we consume but it is expensive and a pain to manage. I think I can put a water filter on the cold water going to kitchen faucet.

Two questions:
1) Is that a good idea?
2) Any recomendations for filter?

Thanks in advance.

I believe that all RVs come with a filter system already installed under your sink. Maybe it is just time to replace your filters. If you do not have a filter system, contact the manufacture of RV and they should be able to tell you what filter system to install.

Completely not true.

[Sam_Spade]

Rover_Bill wrote:
Most of the filters that have been discussed/recommended are in-line water FILTERS. These units are installed or attached to your exiting water lines and filter water at about 3-5 gallons per minute. The various filters remove different sized PARTICLES and some BACTERIA from the water. This filtered water is good for washing your hands, pots and pans, showers, muddy boots, and flushing the toilet. Most of these filters are not certified to clean water to EPA drinking standards.

Maybe not but some don't miss it too far.

The ones using micro-activated charcoal remove all kinds of contaminants including heavy metals, some dissolved gasses and even some bacteria. They also remove most of the residual chlorine that you or the city adds to keep "stuff" from growing in transit.

If you are going to act like an expert, you should at least try to get some actual facts.

[Rover_Bill]

Most of the filters that have been discussed/recommended are in-line water FILTERS. These units are installed or attached to your exiting water lines and filter water at about 3-5 gallons per minute. The various filters remove different sized PARTICLES and some BACTERIA from the water. This filtered water is good for washing your hands, pots and pans, showers, muddy boots, and flushing the toilet. Most of these filters are not certified to clean water to EPA drinking standards.

The OP wanted suggestions for “drinking water only” as a replacement for bottled water. Most bottled water is PURIFIED water from a protected water source(check the label). They purify the water via distillation or a reverse osmosis process. Since it’s not practical to have a distillery setup in your TT (would be fun, though), microfiltration is the best option, but it is slow – 1-2 gallons per HOUR.

My DW and I have been using a Black Berkey Purification system for our drinking water for over 5 yrs. using the same washable filters. The Berkey system exceeds EPA (and military) standards for water purification and is used worldwide by UNICEF, Peace Corps, and Red Cross organizations in third world countries. And if disaster strikes, we could reuse the water in our grey tanks for drinking – it that good.

Yes the system is on the expensive side but it does PURIFY the water for drinking instead of just filtering out some sediment so it looks and smells clean. In the long run, however, it is cheaper than buying bottled water!

You can Google “berkey water” for a lot more info. Here are a few very helpful links:

http://berkeywaterkb.com/black-berkey-purification-elements-test-results/
http://www.berkeywater.com/outdoors-disaster-planning/
http://www.berkeywater.com/

[monica4patience]

We have used the filters that attach to the faucet at home and went through lots of faucets. Finally just using Brita pitchers at home.

Current trailer has limited counter space and Britta filter took up too much room. We installed a line filter at the hose. The water smelled and tasted weird. So we installed a filter under the kitchen sink. Installer said that people who put in the drinking water spigot regretted it due to extremely slow flow. Ours is hooked up to cold water tap.

Thinking maybe I should flush out the water hose?

[hohenwald48]

One thing to remember. Don't fill the tank in Flint.

[Naio]

Shadow Catcher wrote:
myredracer is correct. We use two or three filters for all the water going into the water tank. I cam pull water from a stream or lake and make it potable. the first filter is Dalton ceramic or in the case of severe turbidity a simple string filter. A carbon block and if really suspect I use a General Ecology that is nuclear biological and chemical.

Daaaang...

[samhain7]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
As long as the water is wet I will pretty much drink it so those Blue Charcoal In-Line filters that go on water hose work for me

X2

[Shadow_Catcher]

myredracer is correct. We use two or three filters for all the water going into the water tank. I cam pull water from a stream or lake and make it potable. the first filter is Dalton ceramic or in the case of severe turbidity a simple string filter. A carbon block and if really suspect I use a General Ecology that is nuclear biological and chemical.

[CavemanCharlie]

I'm just a weekend camper. I just buy some bottles and several gallon jugs of fresh water and then refill them at home before every trip.

I usually get a whole season out of the same bottles.

[myredracer]

First question is what is it in water that you *think* is a concern? Just sediment? Microorganisms? Bacteria? Viruses? VOCs? Heavy metals? Taste and odor? There are different filters for different things and there is no inexpensive single catchall filter. The thing about RV-ing is that if you travel around much, you won't know what the water quality is like. Even treated water from municipal systems can contain contaminants. Some could care less about the water they drink tho.

Filters can be NSF certified or not and without it, they can claim anything on it's performance. Some filters have ratings for total gallons for lifespan before they plug up and some filters will be rated for flow rate (GPM). Low cost filters will have no certification of any kind of ratings and are plenty of them around. One concern for filters for RVing is that they can be exposed to warm temps. if left in the sun or in a concealed spot inside and the temps get warm enough to promote bacterial growth so you may want to remove the filters when not in use and put them in a fridge. When looking at micron ratings, you want one that is rated "absolute".

Carbon filters are for improving the taste and odor from chlorine. With a small enough rating, also act as sediment filter. KDF or sometimes silver in a filter does not prevent bacteria from getting through, it is there to prevent growth on the outer portion of a filter. Bacteria will thrive on some sediment filters if you pick the wrong one.

Sediment-only filters are the easiest to set up and the least expensive and are typically rated down to around 5 microns and greater. To filter out microorganisms and bacteria, you will need a filter rated 1 micron or better. There is what's called an ultrafilter (UF) that is rated down to 0.2 microns and will remove some viruses.

Doulton makes some excellent ceramic filters like the Sterasyl Some tech. info from Doulton is here. Doulton has some good info. for RV filtration here. Crystal Quest makes a UF cartridge, info. here. There is more Crystal Quest info. but can't find it at the moment.

There are lot of point of use (POU) filter under-counter assemblies on the market with various levels of filtration. Watts has the Premier UF-3 3-stage under-counter filter setup with a final UF filter in the 3rd photo. The last photo is a common exterior inline filter that many RV-ers use and this one is rated 100 microns which is very coarse, can plug up quickly from silt and will let microorganisms, bacteria and lots of other undesirable "stuff" get through. It's not NSF certified and has no other specs. Some inline filters are better but you need to look at the specs. No specs, no buy.

The first photo is what was on our city water inlet screen after an early season camping trip (supplied from a municipal system). It's a biomass and is there because the CG failed to flush their water system at the start of the season. Yummy looking stuff. Looking into water quality after that resulted in me building a setup using 10" filter housings with 2 stage sediment filtration (63 & 5 microns), a 1 micron Doulton Sterasyl cartridge and a Crystal Quest UF 0.2 micron cartridge. The last filter supplies a separate drinking water spout on the counter. This produces water that is as good or better than bulk water at vending machines in a store.