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Old 05-23-2018, 11:37 AM   #1
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WARNING: Fresh water filter doesn't filter tank water

My water filter in an Isata 3 is connected directly to the incoming city water hose connection. Therefore, it only filters city water coming into the coach. It does not filter the water coming out of the tank. In my opinion, this is the wrong location for the filter. It should be located where the common feed, tank or city water, supply the coach. If there is bacteria in the tank, it will not be filtered. So, be careful using tank water! Bad design and a health risk.
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Old 05-23-2018, 12:06 PM   #2
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I'm confused..... Doesn't the fresh water tank fill from city water inlet and thus through the filter?
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Old 05-23-2018, 02:05 PM   #3
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Yea. How do you get unfiltered water into the tank?

Edit: reread your post and i wouldn’t trust that filter for bacteria anyways. If you have bacteria in your tank a sanitize is in order. Bleach the whole system and you’ll be good.
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Old 05-23-2018, 05:37 PM   #4
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Just because you filtered the water when you filled the tank via the city water connection does not prevent the tank from growing microbes. Especially, with blends of water from several sources, or water that has been stagnant in the tank and amplify that with hot climates. The filtration should happen at the point where water is fed into the plumbing of the coach, coming from either the tank or the city water connection. Another thing is these filters are 30 micron so they do not filter many micro-organisms. Best thing is never consume the water. Use bottled water for cooking & drinking.
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Old 05-23-2018, 05:44 PM   #5
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If you have bacteria in your tank a sanitize is in order. Bleach the whole system and you’ll be good.
Sure thing, I'll monitor my bacteria meter to know when to invoke the tank & system bleaching system when on the road and then turn on the auto bleach purging option to flush clean.
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Old 05-23-2018, 06:04 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Magnatudes View Post
My water filter in an Isata 3 is connected directly to the incoming city water hose connection. Therefore, it only filters city water coming into the coach. It does not filter the water coming out of the tank. In my opinion, this is the wrong location for the filter. It should be located where the common feed, tank or city water, supply the coach. If there is bacteria in the tank, it will not be filtered. So, be careful using tank water! Bad design and a health risk.
I'm with you. The factory installed water filter should be a whole house filter (shore input/from holding tank via pump). Personally, I haven't heard of one that doesn't filter as stated till now. Holding tank input (fill) would require a separate external filter if desired.
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Old 05-23-2018, 06:11 PM   #7
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We ALWAYS use bottled water for drinking and cooking. Frequently use distilled water (despite the lack of minerals) because I don't trust filters and bottled water can contain bacteria also. The filters are stored in my hot rig (Texas heat) and despite their antibacterial properties, I don't trust them to survive the heat without growing bacteria.
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Old 05-23-2018, 06:13 PM   #8
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I have not looked at all the plumbing & locations, but I do know that in an RW, the pump is located under the bathroom vanity. So is the city water connection. I wonder if one could easily change some of this plumbing to change where the filter is in the overall circuit. Seems like the feed line to all coach plumbing would be at the Anderson valve but I wonder if that line is routed thru the vanity before it goes to the kitchen & bathroom fixtures where it could get intercepted.
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Old 05-23-2018, 06:19 PM   #9
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We ALWAYS use bottled water for drinking and cooking. Frequently use distilled water (despite the lack of minerals) because I don't trust filters and bottled water can contain bacteria also. The filters are stored in my hot rig (Texas heat) and despite their antibacterial properties, I don't trust them to survive the heat without growing bacteria.
I'm with you. We been RVing for decades & never drank or cooked with the water from the storage tank. We always added a compressor-based 12volt frig/freezer to store bottled water & of course a few brewskis.
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Old 05-23-2018, 06:21 PM   #10
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Take the filter out of the system with a length of Pex and then get a filter stand and put it outside the rig with the city water attached to the inlet and the outlet to your rig problem solved. I personally do not know anyone that has gotten sick for their RV water system or the has found anything wrong with their tanks after doing the startup sanitation, most city water is treated.
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Old 05-23-2018, 06:56 PM   #11
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I'm confused..... Doesn't the fresh water tank fill from city water inlet and thus through the filter?
My 2016 tank fills from an external fill on the back of the RV. I had "assumed" the water coming from the fresh water tank went through the filter but was wrong. It is odd that when the Anderson Valve is in "City Water" position but you pump from fresh water tank it goes through the filter on the way to the tap. I wonder if it could be going backwards thru it.

Don't know how to fix this but will keep looking into it.
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Old 05-23-2018, 07:03 PM   #12
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I have not looked at all the plumbing & locations, but I do know that in an RW, the pump is located under the bathroom vanity. So is the city water connection. I wonder if one could easily change some of this plumbing to change where the filter is in the overall circuit. Seems like the feed line to all coach plumbing would be at the Anderson valve but I wonder if that line is routed thru the vanity before it goes to the kitchen & bathroom fixtures where it could get intercepted.
In a FW the pump is under the shower and the filter is under the sink. I am going to try to figure something out or put in my own filter somewhere.
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Old 05-23-2018, 08:05 PM   #13
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most city water is treated.
Which is fine if you are getting "city" water. Many campgrounds are on wells and unless they have a restaurant on the premises it's possible that their water system has never been inspected for contamination.

As for filters that take care of bacteria, there are some available. Chances are you don't want to pay their price though. Especially those who complain of the cost of a KW-1 filter.
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Old 05-24-2018, 05:39 AM   #14
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A simple solution is to fill the FW tank with "city" water at the start of any trip.


Most cities water has plenty of left over chemicals to purify the tank .


Bottled water is only needed if you cant stand the taste of some city water.
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Old 05-24-2018, 06:03 AM   #15
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Except as noted above, filters, in general, remove particulate matter, not bacteria.

Some, notably carbon, remove certain chemicals.
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Old 05-24-2018, 06:40 AM   #16
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this is how I get filtered water into my city system or FW tank. the filter is the one that came on the rig but was inside the unit.
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Old 05-24-2018, 08:20 AM   #17
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One of the features of the whole house filter in an RV is that no external filters are needed including no external filter for filling the holding tank. It will be filtered through the whole house filter when used. At least that is the way the factory installed filter should work, mine does.
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Old 05-24-2018, 08:37 AM   #18
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One of the features of the whole house filter in an RV is that no external filters are needed including no external filter for filling the holding tank. It will be filtered through the whole house filter when used. At least that is the way the factory installed filter should work, mine does.
You are correct it does filter water on the down stream side of the pump. the problem I found and the reason for moving my filter is that the factory installed filter does not keep the sand and stuff out of your FW tank when filling at places that have well water and no hookups like state parks.
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Old 05-24-2018, 08:47 AM   #19
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One of the features of the whole house filter in an RV is that no external filters are needed including no external filter for filling the holding tank. It will be filtered through the whole house filter when used. At least that is the way the factory installed filter should work, mine does.
Not on the Isata 3. It only runs through the filter when it enters through the City Water connection. When pumped from the holding tank it does not go through the filter.
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Old 05-24-2018, 08:47 AM   #20
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This was pretty much the first thing I did was to mount in the compartment where the city water comes in is a dual filter. It's for contaminations and iron in water.
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