# Water Filter Solutions



## olmnsml (May 22, 2009)

Ok... I am looking for suggestions on Water Filters and/or Water Softeners for the OB.

I have used the portable/throw-away Culligan ones and they are ok, but don't last long (about one 10-14 day trip). So I guess I am looking for something with a filter that can be replaced, but won't break the bank. Also on the portable softener side of the house, who uses them and what type? And is there a decent one under $150 on the market.


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## outback loft (Sep 22, 2008)

I was using a household inline cartridge filter on my old trailer, but I have yet to worry about it on the new trailer. I considered doing it, but realized that I don't drink that water to begin with(even with the filter I still had the "hose" taste), I don't cook with that water either, so I didn't see the point in doing it. I do carry a Brita water pitcher that I fill up from the water spigot at the campground, but then again that water is already filtered, just loaded with chlorine.


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## CrazyAboutOrchids (Aug 10, 2009)

I use the blue cartridge type on the outside water supply. My dad uses the stand up type on the water supply line where you replace the cartridge.


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## ZHB (Mar 17, 2009)

I was using the blue cartridge outside, but I realized we only use that water for washing and flushing, so I don't anymore. Generally we're either at the beach where the tap water is salty, or in the mountains on a well, so we always take bottles of water from home for drinking & cooking.


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## bama29fan (Jun 22, 2009)

ZHB said:


> I was using the blue cartridge outside, but I realized we only use that water for washing and flushing, so I don't anymore. Generally we're either at the beach where the tap water is salty, or in the mountains on a well, so we always take bottles of water from home for drinking & cooking.


we never drink their water....always bring bottled water with us.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

ZHB said:


> I was using the blue cartridge outside, but I realized we only use that water for washing and flushing, so I don't anymore. Generally we're either at the beach where the tap water is salty, or in the mountains on a well, so we always take bottles of water from home for drinking & cooking.


We never liked the taste of the water after passing through all that plastic tubing - even the water from home in our holding tank tasted funny and it made pasta and other foods taste bad, too. And like others have stated, I cannot see filtering the water I flush down the toilet or wash my hands or dishes with, so I bought an under-sink cartridge-type filter from Wally World. The filtered water is delivered through a dedicated drinking water dispenser that I bought at the hardware store. See below:









The "Omni Filter" that I purchased from Wally World









The hookup - A Tee in the cold water line running to the kitchen faucet.









The drinking water dispenser on the kitchen sink.

I bought the brass fittings at the hardware store, also. The replacement cartridges can be purchased at Wally World, too, but I bought several last year at a great price from the manufacturer's website.

Hope this gives you another idea.

Mike


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

One thing to keep in mind, depending on where you camp, is that there may be other considerations besides whether you drink the water. I've been in a few rustic places where the only water was a well. I think if you let the water in a bucket evaporate you'd end up with a iron bar sitting on an inch of sand. I had one of the wally world cheap filters inline, as always, and i had to unplug the screen filter a few times when filling the tank to get water flowing again. I really don't want that kind of stuff running through my pump and faucets, even if I'm not drinking it.

And for the record, I sanitize my tanks 2 or 3 times a year and always use that filter. While we usually bring 5 gallons of drinking and cooking water, I often use the stuff out of my tanks too.

I've had my freshwater tank out for a repair. Believe me, if you're not sanitizing that thing regularly you don't want water out of it going into your body.


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## Outbacker47 (Jun 6, 2010)

BoaterDan said:


> One thing to keep in mind, depending on where you camp, is that there may be other considerations besides whether you drink the water. I've been in a few rustic places where the only water was a well. I think if you let the water in a bucket evaporate you'd end up with a iron bar sitting on an inch of sand. I had one of the wally world cheap filters inline, as always, and i had to unplug the screen filter a few times when filling the tank to get water flowing again. I really don't want that kind of stuff running through my pump and faucets, even if I'm not drinking it.
> 
> And for the record, I sanitize my tanks 2 or 3 times a year and always use that filter. While we usually bring 5 gallons of drinking and cooking water, I often use the stuff out of my tanks too.
> 
> I've had my freshwater tank out for a repair. Believe me, if you're not sanitizing that thing regularly you don't want water out of it going into your body.


What do you use to sanitize the tank?


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## WWH (May 7, 2010)

Like BoaterDan I run all of my water through a Filter and sanitize my fresh water tank OFTEN with Clorox. I also let the Clorox mixture sit for a day before flushing the system.

We do carry water for my coffee and my wife's tea but we do not bring enough to cook with or to wash dishes with. It may be overkill but we do use the water and I feel better knowing it is clean.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

WWH said:


> We do carry water for my coffee and my wife's tea but we do not bring enough to cook with or to wash dishes with. It may be overkill but we do use the water and I feel better knowing it is clean.


Yeah, I've seen the inside of my freshwater tank














and believe me I sanitize it often now. While I had it out in my driveway, I mixed up a bleach solution of the strength I used to sanitize and let it sit in there for a couple hours. I wanted to confirm that it was actually doing any good to go through all the trouble. The short answer is yes indeed.









I use regular bleach per the instructions that came with the trailer, erring on the side of making it a little stronger. Last year Meijer or Wallyworld had the Thetford cleaner & sanitizer product on clearance so I bought several of them. I do it more often with that because it's less hassle. But I find there's nothing like the peace of mind from knowing I'm killing everything dead with bleach.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

BoaterDan said:


> We do carry water for my coffee and my wife's tea but we do not bring enough to cook with or to wash dishes with. It may be overkill but we do use the water and I feel better knowing it is clean.


Yeah, I've seen the inside of my freshwater tank














and believe me I sanitize it often now. While I had it out in my driveway, I mixed up a bleach solution of the strength I used to sanitize and let it sit in there for a couple hours. I wanted to confirm that it was actually doing any good to go through all the trouble. The short answer is yes indeed.









I use regular bleach per the instructions that came with the trailer, erring on the side of making it a little stronger. Last year Meijer or Wallyworld had the Thetford cleaner & sanitizer product on clearance so I bought several of them. I do it more often with that because it's less hassle. But I find there's nothing like the peace of mind from knowing I'm killing everything dead with bleach.
[/quote]

I sanitize my water tank several times a year also. I put about 1/3 cup bleach in the full tank of water, then I run it through all the lines and out all faucets, shut them off, and let it sit for a few hours. Then I drain the tank and the HW heater and all the lines, refill the tank with fresh water, and flush all the chlorinated water out of the lines. After I have cleared the chlorinated water, I add 1/8 cup of baking soda to a pitcher of water, pour it in the tank, then run that water through the lines to sweeten things up and remove the chlorine smell. Then drain, flush with clear again.

If the trailer is going to be sitting more than a couple weeks (especially in the really warm, humid weather), then I drain all the lines and the HW heater - and the water in the filter, removing the filter element (which can become a growing medium for bacteria in stagnant water).

The undersink filter works for me because we don't camp in really remote places (although the nearby state park has some really rusty water), so I don't get the type of sediment to which you refer. If we're camping close to home, I fill the tank here. I try to get sites with full hookups, or water and electric, if possible. But I know what you mean and if I had a situation like you describe, I'd use a filter before the water entered my trailer or tank, also. That's good advice - and I didn't think of it. That's what's great about this site - there's usually a number of people thinking of all the angles!

Mike


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Just read interesting article in Good Sam magazine about filters.

First recommendation was you definitely want a sediment filter at the very least unless you're going to be only hooking to city water connections. This does nothing for metals or chemicals - it simply removes particles too small to pass through.

Now, the article pointed out that there's a few nasties that are resistant to bleach, and will just go to cyst form and wait for better conditions. The point there was that if you're filtering out the chlorine as you fill your tank, you're inviting those things to start growing. So, their recommendation was that you actually _want_ the chlorine in the holding tank, so you should filter at the point of use (faucet).

So, bottom line their recommendation was a sediment filter on the water hookup coming in and filters at the faucet(s) you may consume out of.

And I like the idea of using a cartridge filter under the sink so you can take it out and let it dry when you're not using the trailer.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

BoaterDan said:


> Just read interesting article in Good Sam magazine about filters.
> 
> So, bottom line their recommendation was a sediment filter on the water hookup coming in and filters at the faucet(s) you may consume out of.
> 
> And I like the idea of using a cartridge filter under the sink so you can take it out and let it dry when you're not using the trailer.


I read the same article and told my wife that when I place my annual "I have spring fever and need to do something to alleviate the ache" order with Camping World (I order a couple of tubes of Dicor, large bottle of Thetfords Green Stuff, etc.) I am going to order an external sediment filter. But it needs to be one that I can use when filling my tank from a water spigot at State parks, where we seldom have water hookups.

This will make sure that I keep ugly stuff out of the tank and water lines and the water from my sink dispenser will be filtered for odor and taste!

And BTW - I rigged my outside garden hose faucet so I can use "unsoftened" water when I water the lawn, and I can switch over to "softened" water for washing the car and truck, the Outback, and for filling the water tank on the Outback. The softened water helps preven mineral buildups in the system. In our area, the water is very hard - lots of lime, iron, etc. (Our local high school name is "Limestone Community HS.")

Mike


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

BoaterDan said:


> Just read interesting article in Good Sam magazine about filters.
> 
> First recommendation was you definitely want a sediment filter at the very least unless you're going to be only hooking to city water connections. This does nothing for metals or chemicals - it simply removes particles too small to pass through.
> 
> ...


This is what we do. The last 2 trailers have had whole house er trailer filtration systems on them. I buy the best filter I can for these, it takes out chemicals, metals, bacteria, etc...
At the water spigot I use a cheap disposable filter for the sediment and to take out the big chunks. Both filters get tossed annually (meaning I use them for ~5 months).

We also use a Brita pitcher for drinking water. That way our drinking water is cold and the DW will agree not to require bottled water.









BTW, with all of these meaures in place, nothing could fix the campground water at Camp Hatteras. Had to buy bottled there.


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## CrazyAboutOrchids (Aug 10, 2009)

As I wrote before, we use a filter on the spigot - I prefer not to have their yuckies inside in my water lines.

I do the bleach thing at the beginning of every season to sanitize. When I hook up, I clean the spigot, run water through, feed about 1 tbsp or so of a product called Easy Clean that I found at a brewing supply place (The Home Brewery). I run water through the camper at all faucets till I feel a difference in the water - it feels slippery. Then I just let it set. It rinses out quickly as the 5 of us are washing hands, etc. and is quickly flushed out of the lines. I did this the entire time we had out pop up and never had an issue. I just like thinking that each time I use the camper, the interior lines and hoses are cleaned out a bit.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

CrazyAboutOrchids said:


> I just like thinking that each time I use the camper, the interior lines and hoses are cleaned out a bit.


Yeah, I was thinking about my previous post and the article... and I think I disagree with it.

If I'm hooked to something with chloring in the water, then there's most likely no sediment - i.e. that would likely mean a city water supply. For example, I don't use a filter at all if I'm just filling up at home.

If I'm filling up out of a well, then there's no chlorine to let get into the system anyway. In that case, there's most likely a lot of minerals like iron in the water that will deposit in places I don't want it inside my trailer.

So, it seems to me the only two logical choices are let the clean city water come in unfiltered (chlorine and all) or do full filtering before letting it in. (That doesn't negate the possibility of additional filtering for drinking/cooking, but I don't want those minerals inside.)

Now, I was thinking what would be nice is a convenient little sanitizer tablet you could add when filling up. I'm thinking just something mild like the chlorine in city water. Anybody know of such a thing? Is the product you mention safe to drink?


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## CrazyAboutOrchids (Aug 10, 2009)

Easy Clean is sodium percarbonate which home brewers use to clean and sanitize their equipment. Used instead of bleach it doesn't require the reptitive rinsing of bleach. It supposedly becomes hydrogen peroxide when mixed with water but I am not sure what the percentage rate would be.

Only using about a tbsp in the fresh water supply hose and then running the faucets gets it into the lines, I let it sit for a bit as we set up and then as we are using water, it gets flushed out of the lines very quickly - you can feel it when it is there and then it is gone. I do not use this in my fresh water tank - that gets sanitized with bleach a time or two during the season depending on how much we are using it - and I always plan on a meal that does not require a pan of water, like pasta, for that first meal. Long before the dinner dishes are washed up, it's out of the water lines. When on a trip, I only do this the first time out. If we go to different campgrounds, I don't repeat it; it's only that first set up each time just in case something funky has been brewing in the lines.

When I first started buying this, I spoke with the guy who runs 'The Home Brewery'; I was his first pop up customer, but we discussed my use in detail. I don't use a lot and the stuff only requires one minute of contact time to clean and sanitize. The running of water through the lines 'rinses' it out. We don't drink it, it disappears easily and quickly and I have some piece of mind. I have never felt uncomfortable using the water to cook with or brush our teeth with in all the years we've been camping.

It may or may not work, who knows. Used it in the pop-up for 6 or 7 years and never had an issue. Will continue using it with the Outback.


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