Delete/Remove water filtration inside camper

[HangDiver]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

The advantage of mounting the filter outside for me is I filter city water plus I use it when I fill my potable water tank keeps sand and such from the well from going into the tank. I also change filter media once a year if I remember.

This^^^^ I do the same thing. If I were to do it again I'd probably do what rockfordroo did in post #4, although mine is similar. Sorry, I don't have any before pics.

[itat]

I removed my water filter because the factory installed it behind the pass through rear wall making it very inconvenient to get to in order to empty the canister and change the filter. These pictures are from my previous TT but I use the same parts with our fifth wheel.

The factory filter housing is replaced with a PVC union. (Sorry the picture turns on its side.)



I use a Camco water filter stand outside with an aftermarket filter housing.



https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Univers...1384805&sr=8-2

[HawkTX]

I think I am going with the sharkbite scenario in the picture above. Seems so easy! Has anyone had any leak issues using these? I need to run over to storage before going to Home Depot, but I'm pretty sure the pex pipe they use in these campers are 1/2 inch right?

[bubbles]

Originally Posted by itat

I removed my water filter because the factory installed it behind the pass through rear wall making it very inconvenient to get to in order to empty the canister and change the filter. These pictures are from my previous TT but I use the same parts with our fifth wheel.

The factory filter housing is replaced with a PVC union. (Sorry the picture turns on its side.)

Attachment 223202

I use a Camco water filter stand outside with an aftermarket filter housing.

Attachment 223203

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Univers...1384805&sr=8-2

In the set up you have I used this item to keep the canister off the ground. The holder is removable from the wall mounted bracket for travel.
It's a Hydro Life 5001 exterior water filter holder on Amazon. $16.60. It doesn't improve the water but does keep the filter off the ground.

[itat]

Originally Posted by bubbles

In the set up you have I used this item to keep the canister off the ground. The holder is removable from the wall mounted bracket for travel.
It's a Hydro Life 5001 exterior water filter holder on Amazon. $16.60. It doesn't improve the water but does keep the filter off the ground.

The Camco filter stand I use also keeps the canister off the ground. The stand itself is on the ground. I just need to wipe off the stand before storing it. Not a big deal (same as cleaning the chocks and Lynx Levelers) and no mod to the trailer needed. The stand works great as a place to store the filter housing in the pass-through as well.

[itat]

Originally Posted by HawkTX

I think I am going with the sharkbite scenario in the picture above. Seems so easy! Has anyone had any leak issues using these? I need to run over to storage before going to Home Depot, but I'm pretty sure the pex pipe they use in these campers are 1/2 inch right?

I haven't heard of anyone having an issue with the Sharkbite fittings leaking.

Yes, the PEX should be 1/2". Some units use 1/2" ID flexible tubing instead of PEX on one or both sides of the filter housing.

[HawkTX]

Originally Posted by itat

I haven't heard of anyone having an issue with the Sharkbite fittings leaking.

Yes, the PEX should be 1/2". Some units use 1/2" ID flexible tubing instead of PEX on one or both sides of the filter housing.

Thanks!

[bubbles]

Originally Posted by itat

The Camco filter stand I use also keeps the canister off the ground. The stand itself is on the ground. I just need to wipe off the stand before storing it. Not a big deal (same as cleaning the chocks and Lynx Levelers) and no mod to the trailer needed. The stand works great as a place to store the filter housing in the pass-through as well.

I wasn't knocking your setup I was just posting a similar. I had 2 brackets so the canister stored on the wall of one of my storage compartments. No mod needed, mount as desired.

[DaGrinch]

Before and After.
Yep, used Sharkbite fittings 3 years ago and haven't had any issues. Put the spacer in there so I didn't pull all the slack out of the PEX.
Sorry for being sideways.

[Hoglou]

two pics, one with a filter as built by the factory, one with it removed.
Use the external blue filter now, drain it and freeze btw trips.
Could only clean up the plumbing to a point, added real valves.
Dumped the chassis water drain, moved it up into the bay.

check out the water board in my pics, it is where the guage / reg went.

[Thurman]

I'd like to say this: Working in Environmental Tech for nine (9) years I did learn a few things. One is that any water left in type of filter will start to build up bad microbes within three (3) days of the filter media being left with standing water. You may drain your filters, turn them upside down to remove any water, and do your best to remove any residual water but, you cannot get it all to come out. Then we go and store our filters somewhere for the next trip. Those with "whole house" type filters just leave the element in the canister until the next trip. Running fresh water, even if it's fluoridated, through a filter at the next CG does not kill these bad microbes. I use the Camco type throw away filters myself and I do not throw this filter away after each use. I was taught that if you are using any type of water filter that you allow water to be retained within the filter element for over three (3) days then use Hydrogen Peroxide to flush the filter element to destroy those bad microbes. It works better than Clorox and is much safer. HP is what most medical office cleaning services use to clean those medical offices. Have you ever gone into a medical office setting and smelled Clorox? NO. HP can be used to rinse out your mouth and causes no harm. OH, and your toothbrushes that some of keep in our RV's-I use HP to clean the toothbrushes in my TT at each campsite. Just pour a little in a small cup, insert the tooth brush and let it soak for a few minutes. Before hooking up my Camco style in-line filter at each CG I pour about half a pint into the filter, hold my hand over the in and out connections and slosh the filter abck and forth for about a minute. Drain the residual HP out and hook it up. The small amount of HP left in the filter element will help sanitize the water lines with no smell nor taste.

[HawkTX]

Originally Posted by Thurman

I'd like to say this: Working in Environmental Tech for nine (9) years I did learn a few things. One is that any water left in type of filter will start to build up bad microbes within three (3) days of the filter media being left with standing water. You may drain your filters, turn them upside down to remove any water, and do your best to remove any residual water but, you cannot get it all to come out. Then we go and store our filters somewhere for the next trip. Those with "whole house" type filters just leave the element in the canister until the next trip. Running fresh water, even if it's fluoridated, through a filter at the next CG does not kill these bad microbes. I use the Camco type throw away filters myself and I do not throw this filter away after each use. I was taught that if you are using any type of water filter that you allow water to be retained within the filter element for over three (3) days then use Hydrogen Peroxide to flush the filter element to destroy those bad microbes. It works better than Clorox and is much safer. HP is what most medical office cleaning services use to clean those medical offices. Have you ever gone into a medical office setting and smelled Clorox? NO. HP can be used to rinse out your mouth and causes no harm. OH, and your toothbrushes that some of keep in our RV's-I use HP to clean the toothbrushes in my TT at each campsite. Just pour a little in a small cup, insert the tooth brush and let it soak for a few minutes. Before hooking up my Camco style in-line filter at each CG I pour about half a pint into the filter, hold my hand over the in and out connections and slosh the filter abck and forth for about a minute. Drain the residual HP out and hook it up. The small amount of HP left in the filter element will help sanitize the water lines with no smell nor taste.

This is great info. I read something similar in one of the reviews on those Camco filters on Amazon. The reason I plan on deleting my inside camper filter is because #1 it is a pain during winterizing (depending upon weather I winterize and unwinterize several times during the winter because the weather fluctuates here in Texas and we winter camp a lot). #2 we typically fill our fresh tank and take our water with us because we have a whole home water filtration system and we know the water is good.

[itat]

Originally Posted by bubbles

I wasn't knocking your setup I was just posting a similar. I had 2 brackets so the canister stored on the wall of one of my storage compartments. No mod needed, mount as desired.

No offense taken. Lots of options.

[itat]

HawkTX, here's a picture of the markings on the flexible water tube in my current fifth wheel. I suspect its the same as every other trailer that uses the flexible tubing.



Because this one used flexible tubing instead of PEX, I use a plastic hose barb splicer fitting and hose clamps rather than the Sharkbite fitting. The threaded fitting on my hose didn't move, so I cut the tube about 8" from the 90° threaded fitting, spun it off that side of the housing, spun the housing off the other side, spliced the tube back together, and installed the union between the threaded fittings. Easy peasy except getting to it was a tight squeeze!

[HawkTX]

Originally Posted by itat

HawkTX, here's a picture of the markings on the flexible water tube in my current fifth wheel. I suspect its the same as every other trailer that uses the flexible tubing.

Attachment 223705

Because this one used flexible tubing instead of PEX, I use a plastic hose barb splicer fitting and hose clamps rather than the Sharkbite fitting. The threaded fitting on my hose didn't move, so I cut the tube about 8" from the 90° threaded fitting, spun it off that side of the housing, spun the housing off the other side, spliced the tube back together, and installed the union between the threaded fittings. Easy peasy except getting to it was a tight squeeze!

Excellent! Thanks for the picture that helps.

[Hoglou]

Thurman, great idea with the hp. we roll so often changing filters out every trip would push 30 a year. That was one of my reasons to dumping the whole house, along with the fracture threat while on the road. I have yet to crack a drained blue boy filter by freezing, guess hp would not be any different. I know we arn't killing those little buggers, just slowing them down a bit with a freeze.

Kinda makes me think maybe we all should be soakng these used filters in 170+ water temps instead. All this after sucking on a summer time water hose from 5 to 15 years old like most, I still bet a driver on cell phone will take me out before micros get me...

[Hoglou]

Like many I have little regard for the way the RVs are throw together. The plumbing and electrical points meets their required connections. That is as gracious as I can be about those critical systems.

But I now realize that someone at the plant has taken the time to paint every pump wall black that I have seen in these in postings before installing the plumbing (noticed no paint on hardware).

go figure...

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Hoglou

Like many I have little regard for the way the RVs are throw together. The plumbing and electrical points meets their required connections. That is as gracious as I can be about those critical systems.

But I now realize that someone at the plant has taken the time to paint every pump wall black that I have seen in these in postings before installing the plumbing (noticed no paint on hardware).

go figure...

Maybe waterproof exterior paint to protect bare wood because they know you are going to spill the full filter canister eventually? Or spill when winterizing?

[WatkinsGlenCamper]

I posted this, in another thread, about 4 - 5 years go:


I don't use the tank water for drinking nor ever use a "city" water hook-up. Always boon-dock it, using bottled water (or beer or soda) for drinking. My Micro-Lite 23LB came with an inline water filter. Today, when it came time to winterize the water lines, I thought I would by-pass the filter seeing I never drink water from the RV and I didn't want to waste any antifreeze filling the filter housing. Only problem was those Pex fittings and couplings. I don't have a Pex crimping tool (about $60.00 at Home Depot) so I had to figure out how to build a by-pass using hose clamps. The solution, I found, was that the filter has 1/2" male threaded fittings with a barbed end on the "in" and "out" sides where the Pex pipes are crimped on to.

Here's what I bought:

* Two 1/2" female swivel adapters (about $5.00 at Home Depot.) Here's a link:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBite...0#.UkdntEBSAg1
* Two hose clamps ($1.50)
* One foot of RV water hose ($1.07)
* Teflon tape (I had a roll in the tool box...about $1.00)

Step 1:
* Relieved pressure from the water lines and removed the filter cartridge housing.

Step2:
* Unscrewed a male fitting from of one side of the filter with the Pex pipe still attached. The barbed fitting turned within the Pex pipe (but never leaked afterward.) On the opposite male fitting, to be on the safe side, I turned the complete filter head (minus the cartridge housing) while holding the male fitting with a crescent wrench to keep the seal of the Pex pipe and barb intact.

Step 3:
* Wrapped the threads of the 2 male fittings, I removed from the filter, with teflon tape (very cheap insurance against water leaks.) Then screwed the 1/2" female swivel adapters onto the two 1/2" male fittings and snug them hand tight.

Step 4:
* Placed two hose clamps on a small piece of RV water hose (about 5" or 6" long) then inserted each end of the hose on the barbs of the two female swivel adapters.

Step 5:
* Tighten the hose clamps.

Step 6:
* Attached the by-pass hose piece to the top of the water filter housing with two zip ties to help support that line run.

When I winterized today and pressurized the water lines, there was a small drip on one fitting. I tighten the hose clamp with a nut driver, and no more drip.

The one Pex crimp is still water tight even when the barb was turned around within the Pex pipe when removing the first male fitting from the filter. They are very strong connections and/or I was lucky. I think it was a bit of both.

They say a picture's worth a thousands words so I'm attaching a photo of my filter by-pass to better illustrate all the above:

[HawkTX]

Originally Posted by WatkinsGlenCamper

I posted this, in another thread, about 4 - 5 years go:


I don't use the tank water for drinking nor ever use a "city" water hook-up. Always boon-dock it, using bottled water (or beer or soda) for drinking. My Micro-Lite 23LB came with an inline water filter. Today, when it came time to winterize the water lines, I thought I would by-pass the filter seeing I never drink water from the RV and I didn't want to waste any antifreeze filling the filter housing. Only problem was those Pex fittings and couplings. I don't have a Pex crimping tool (about $60.00 at Home Depot) so I had to figure out how to build a by-pass using hose clamps. The solution, I found, was that the filter has 1/2" male threaded fittings with a barbed end on the "in" and "out" sides where the Pex pipes are crimped on to.

Here's what I bought:

* Two 1/2" female swivel adapters (about $5.00 at Home Depot.) Here's a link:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBite...0#.UkdntEBSAg1
* Two hose clamps ($1.50)
* One foot of RV water hose ($1.07)
* Teflon tape (I had a roll in the tool box...about $1.00)

Step 1:
* Relieved pressure from the water lines and removed the filter cartridge housing.

Step2:
* Unscrewed a male fitting from of one side of the filter with the Pex pipe still attached. The barbed fitting turned within the Pex pipe (but never leaked afterward.) On the opposite male fitting, to be on the safe side, I turned the complete filter head (minus the cartridge housing) while holding the male fitting with a crescent wrench to keep the seal of the Pex pipe and barb intact.

Step 3:
* Wrapped the threads of the 2 male fittings, I removed from the filter, with teflon tape (very cheap insurance against water leaks.) Then screwed the 1/2" female swivel adapters onto the two 1/2" male fittings and snug them hand tight.

Step 4:
* Placed two hose clamps on a small piece of RV water hose (about 5" or 6" long) then inserted each end of the hose on the barbs of the two female swivel adapters.

Step 5:
* Tighten the hose clamps.

Step 6:
* Attached the by-pass hose piece to the top of the water filter housing with two zip ties to help support that line run.

When I winterized today and pressurized the water lines, there was a small drip on one fitting. I tighten the hose clamp with a nut driver, and no more drip.

The one Pex crimp is still water tight even when the barb was turned around within the Pex pipe when removing the first male fitting from the filter. They are very strong connections and/or I was lucky. I think it was a bit of both.

They say a picture's worth a thousands words so I'm attaching a photo of my filter by-pass to better illustrate all the above:

Nice job!