Permanent Water filter install

[krekelly]

Hi all!

We’ve got a surveyor SP260 and love it!

One thing we were thinking about doing is a permanent water filter for our rig. Maybe a reverse osmosis system or something.
Has anyone had any experience with installing something like this with a slide out kitchen?

Thanks!

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by krekelly

Hi all!

We’ve got a surveyor SP260 and love it!

One thing we were thinking about doing is a permanent water filter for our rig. Maybe a reverse osmosis system or something.
Has anyone had any experience with installing something like this with a slide out kitchen?

Thanks!

You must be talking about having a filter for drinking water only, correct?

Bruce

[krekelly]

Correct. Installing an drinking water faucet in the sink is what I was thinking about.

I hate having to haul 5 gallons of water with us wherever we go.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by krekelly

Correct. Installing an drinking water faucet in the sink is what I was thinking about.

I hate having to haul 5 gallons of water with us wherever we go.

RO systems are great; keep in mind that you need to add minerals BACK to the water.

But we’ve been using a Berkey Water filter for drinking water for 2 years now and we love it. It does take a little work with filling it. But we’ll fill water jugs that we keep in the fridge so we always have cold water.

The Berkey’s benefit is lack of installation and you don’t have to add minerals to the water afterwards.

Plus, they’re running a Cyber Monday sale today.

[Rmstack]

Check on the size of the Berkey before you buy. I bought a small one and had to send it back as I did not have room on the counter of my RV to place it. They do work great if one has the space. they can make drinkable water from any water source.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Rmstack

Check on the size of the Berkey before you buy. I bought a small one and had to send it back as I did not have room on the counter of my RV to place it. They do work great if one has the space. they can make drinkable water from any water source.

Yes, they’re a bit tall but only about 9” round.

To combat the counterspace issue, I put a flip down shelf on the wall. (It flips to clear the slide out.)

[Rmstack]

Great idea if one's RV has space for a shelf like you describe.

I just take 5 - 1 gallon jugs filled with water from home, and when that supply is gone, we buy water at the store. We do not drink the campground water other than in cooking.

[Wilco]

I use a Brita Water Pitcher for drinking water and coffee. It sits on the counter.

[amblt]

Originally Posted by Wilco

I use a Brita Water Pitcher for drinking water and coffee. It sits on the counter.

Agreed. Here in Ontario we spend millions on safe water, due to a disaster some years ago when a municipal treatment plant was contaminated with e coli, causing some fatalities and many severely ill. It offends me to see the numbers of empty water bottles going into landfills.

We use the Brita at our seasonal site only to remove the chlorine smell. Otherwise the park water is very good. At home we use an RO unit for chlorine removal, as well as to get rid of any residual salt as our whole supply is softened.

Cheers

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by krekelly

Correct. Installing an drinking water faucet in the sink is what I was thinking about.

I hate having to haul 5 gallons of water with us wherever we go.

A huge factor in deciding which RO system to go with is how much waste water it produces, especially if you are considering one for your RV. Generally, the less you pay for a system, the more waste water it produces. The better systems will waste about 4 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of drinking water. Some of the cheap systems can waste as much as 15 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of drinking water—and this is when they are working properly. Often, when the system fails, there is a continuous, high-rate flow of water that just goes down the drain, and you don’t notice it until you get a high water bill, or, in the case of an RV with the gray tank valve closed, the water starts flooding your RV at your lowest gray water fixture’s drain.

I am a plumber, and I have removed more RO systems from kitchens than I have installed. All because of problems caused by the RO system—usually due to leaks at the quick-connect fittings and at the seams on the storage tanks, and several because the system failed and continued to dump excessive amounts of water into a clogged kitchen drain and overflowing the sink and flooding the kitchen, and in a few cases, the whole house while the customers were out of town.

RO systems certainly aren’t conducive to boondocking, but they can be practical, and sometimes very wasteful, if you have full hookups and you leave your gray tank valve open. You should keep a watchful eye on all of the connections and pay attention for the sound of excessive running water going down your drain.

Bruce