As an RVer, you can come across many different water sources in your travels. Most campgrounds and RV parks take care to ensure their water supply is free of contaminants by pre-filtering the water before it arrives at your RV. Often though, the water doesn’t taste very good either because it was improperly filtered or not filtered at all. Or maybe the chlorine levels are so high to prevent bacterial growth that you think you’re drinking pool water. There are several drinking water filter solutions you can easily modify your RV with to get the best tasting water possible. So here is the low-down on various types of filtration systems available.
1. The simple carbon water filter
This is the most common type of filter used to improve water taste and filter out contaminants such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia. These nasty microscopic parasites can wreak havoc on your intestinal tract. The carbon filter is pretty good at trapping these little critters but still allows minerals to pass through, providing good taste without the worry.
Filter housings range from an inline type that simply fits to a standard garden hose, to a permanent mount system that tees in to your RV’s plumbing system. These types flow pretty well and can be used to filter your RVs entire water system.
2. Ceramic water filter
Ceramic water filters are made from Diatomaceous Earth, a fossil substance made up of tiny silicon shells. This medium provides excellent filtration and is commonly packaged as a cartridge designed to replace many types of carbon filter inserts. Some ceramic filters incorporate nano-silver impregnated into a porous ceramic outer shell that can trap bacteria down to as low as 0.22 of a micron in particle size. How small is that? Really small.
This filter type will stop pretty much all bacterias, with the silver neutralizing any bacterial buildup on the intake side of the filter. The downside to this filter type is that flow rates are very low so they cannot be used to fiter your entire RV water system. They work best for counter top and sink-mount filter systems.
3. Reverse osmosis systems
Some higher end motorhomes have as an option a reverse osmosis (RO) water filtration system. RO works simply by forcing water under high pressure through a semi-permeable membrane. However, a high pressure water pump is required to accomplish this. Most RVs are not equipped with these types of pumps and therefore it may be prohibitively expensive to fit one of these systems to your RV. RO basically creates distilled water, water that is pretty much absent of everything but, well, water.
Distilled water, while pure and bacteria-free, is not good to drink over the long term since large amounts can lead to electrolyte imbalance within your body. Minerals are needed to maintain this balance and unless you supplement with minerals whether by tablet or by non-RO water, it may possibly lead to problems down the road. RO is however great for your RVs water system as it ensures there are no contaminants that can find a home in your plumbing. It’s also nice for washing clothes and for cooking as well.
There are other types of water filtration systems but they are not very practical for RV use. These include:
- Water ionizers
- Magnetic descalers
- Ultraviolet radiation systems
- Atmospheric water generators
Now that you know everything there is to know about RV water filtration systems, head on over to ModMyRV.com to see an easy way to mod your RV with a drinking water filter.
http://www.modmyrv.com/2009/02/14/rv-drinking-water-filter
This article covers a sink-top installation along with pictures to help you on your journey to great tasting water in your RV. And let us know if you have done this mod or have an alternative to water filtration for your RV by commenting below.
Happy modding!