Water filter broke

[maggiek]

I've never heard of or seen this before. With the arrival of spring, finally, I was poking around in the tt to see how it survived the winter. All was fine. All the compartments were as they were left in the fall and the interior was nice and critter free. All seemed as it should be until I opened the compartment which houses the water pump, water filter etc. The water filter canister was laying on the floor of the compartment!!!! There was some pink antifreeze about, not enough to be too concerned with but..... Upon a closer look, the clear plastic canister that usually contains the filter had broken off right at the threads. I unscrewed the bit with the threads from the top of the filter housing and took a closer look. The canister had broken right at the base of the threads. Nice clean break. Will be heading to the dealer tomorrow to discuss the issue as they had winterized the unit last fall. I'd like to know if anyone has had this happen to them or ever heard of it happening. We use basically the same filter design in our house and I'd be real upset if it happened there.

[Spikedog]

I had the same thing happen last winter. I bought the Freelander already winterized, and in the spring found the water filter had busted out the bottom in a nice clean break. Got a new one on EBay and chalked the whole thing up to experience, since the dealer was the guilty party. If you bypass the filter or do something similar like valving out the water heater, it's easy to leave water in the filter housing. You don't want to fill it with the pink antifreeze anyway - it'll ruin carbon filters. Just winterize it by draining it at some point in the procedure.

[maggiek]

As I mentioned in the original post, I was going to visit the dealer about the broken filter. These folks have always gone the extra mile for us as well for all their customers. So I wasn't surprised that they replaced the filter container, "under warranty". Just the kind of dealer they are. After reading about some horror stories on this and other forums I feel lucky. Anyway, the responsibility for this is really mine and now, after the understanding that comes from some discussion and research, I realize I should have known better and taken proper care of my equipment by checking on it over the winter, especially during the really cold times. Lesson relearned, even if you pay to have work done, it is still up to you to check that it is done right and pay attention to the environment.
'nuf said, at least til the next time, because like most of us, I've got one of those really good short memories!!!!

[thatguy]

Those filters are garbage. Mine spun itself off on my first trip out and flooded the camper. 6" piece of pex and threw the thing in the trash.

[maggiek]

Some are saying the filters are "junk", some are disappointed with the product while others have had no problems at all. Until this winter, we were part of the latter bunch. Now I know this winter was a bit chillier in our region but not the bone chilling cold of the "real north". The coldest we experienced was in the neighbourhood of -25C. That was about par with other years and we had no problems. Trailer was serviced by the same dealer, parked in the same spot for the winter and I'm assuming the winterizing was done with same pink antifreeze. So what happened? No really good answer has been forwarded so next year we will incorporate a different winterizing procedure which will include the use of a filter cartridge container blanking plate to eliminate any fluids getting in the filter container. Another thought, what is the freezing point of the pink antifreeze? If it isn't good to -40C why is it sold up here?
Anyway, winterizing is six months away, it's now fun time!!!!!

[dmtex]

My filter housing broke in the same manner as described in this thread. My camper was flooded briefly. I posted a product review within the forum titled: Water Pur.

I completely removed the filter system and connected the inlet and outlet hoses with a 6" PVC nipple.

[BigJohnD]

Best thing you can do, get rid of it. Take it out, run pex or whatever yours has for plumbing in place of it. Run an external filter set up. Problem solved. You can get way better filter housings and filters by going to any big box store. I've seen plenty of cool external set ups, some including nice adjustable regulators.

[Red Wolf]

Originally Posted by BigJohnD

Best thing you can do, get rid of it. Take it out, run pex or whatever yours has for plumbing in place of it. Run an external filter set up. Problem solved.

I finally located mine in the new 8280WS. It's in the basement, behind a wall, beyond the furnace, past the external shower. It's literally three feet into the wall. What a ridiculous place to locate a supposedly user serviceable component.



The best way I can think to get to it is to remove the external shower housing, and reach in and get it. At least I can get my hands on it that way. I think.

[jobren4]

Had same problem on my sierra 345 ret.Dealer said I was second one this spring.

[AquaMan]

When winterizing, remove filter, put a plastic water bottle in the canister and screw it back on, run the pink stuff through, then empty the filter and remove bottle. The bottle saves antifreeze. You can even leave the canister off if you wish. If nothing is in the canister, there is nothing to freeze.