I have the BEST and very happy with it. Normally $110. Col P

Hey guys, thanks. It pays to visit, I learnt something, I guess I'm not to old after all.

Good choice George_n_halle, I work with two of them and would never leave home without them, um, I am home :). One is about 3 years old I now use use for slightly discoloured water then through the goody. Works a treat for me.

I use a pair of 10" cartridges - one is a simple sediment filter, followed by a carbon block.

I think the biggest mistake people make with filters is that they think they basically last forever. They don't. EVERY filter has a lifespan (example being the lifespan that BEST state, which is ~5,000L, a standard 10" carbon filter is around the same). The biggest factor impacting the lifespan of a filter is the input water quality - which is why I use a double filter housing, with a sediment filter before the carbon.

Hi all - I'm a brand new member to this site and stumbled across this series of blogs having a quick look around.

I've been involved in a lengthy similar blog over in Caravannersforum site in the last month or so (Algae in pipes)

Without erupting that discussion all again - Brian/Banjo touches on a very important point aka his wife's gardia and lots of other nasties like Crypto_. These nasty bugs are ever present in water supplies and only continuous and scientifically and rigidly controlled chlorination can keep them at bay.

Even the keenest RV owner with lots of time on their hands will have trouble keeping chlorination residuals constantly at an acceptable level (or not overdoing it and over-chlorinating yuk !)

in what amounts to basically oversized "buckets" (tanks) under the floor.

All of those filters don't kill bugs - they just take out particulate matter and clog up frequently and cost lots of $s to replace often because they're way too fine - taking out particles that you can't see with the naked eye.

The clog up is probably because the tanks and pipes need a good regular flush - probably weekly - but who could be bothered and its so hard to get everything out - always something left especially the sludge below the outlet level of the tank. !

And the gunk that is in there probably did not come from the source of water supply, but has since "grown" in there through algae and other organism growth (and death leading to sedimentation) Growth happens when the conditions are right ie no chlorine residual or not maintained residual, higher temperatures, clear light admitting pipes, water sources that are "conducive" ie basic or no treatment.


Brian is spot on - buy DRINKING water from a supermarket - Or if you take it from a tap from a RELIABLE public water supply into a CLEAR(ish) plastic container with a little tap, keep it out of the light and heat and pour it out after 2 days and fill again - the chlorine will most likely have been consumed and be gone by that time.

Cliff

I have a cheaper filter in filling side .After each fill I let about 5 litres out as back flush . On 250 litre tank .It may not clean filter ? But it makes me feel better doing it ! Lol .Also have two big 10" cartridge filters on separate tap at sink . This used for elect jag or gas as coffee etc . Or boil bottle and store in fridge with some lemon added . Shower is only filtered on filling tank . I add a little chlorine on 1/2 tank . Travel to known or good supply . Empty a fair proportion and fill with fresh water if it's been stored for while ? Never had issues . We also take 10-20 litres of bottled water as stand by .

Just a couple of hopefully helpful comments:
The BEST filters are basically a carbon activated filter with a bit of silver "hocus pocus" thrown in - they DO NOT GUARANTEE all bacteria removal( even their own sales pitch says thinks like "helps remove" bacteria)

and certainly NOT ORGANISMS like Guardia and Cryposporidium(prevalent in surface water supplies).

Only reverse osmosis filters can do this and even then I wouldn't be sure about this for the little non commercial RO units that are sold for caravans - not to mention their processing rates are so slow on output - and therefore useless if they are filling a possibly contaminated tank or lines. RO units have to be carefully maintained too.

Continuous chlorination is the only safe way (or 'rolling' boil - for 1 minute)

WA Health department has a good fact sheet on filters.

ww2.health.wa.gov.au/sitecore/content/Healthy-WA/Articles/U_Z/Water-filters-for-your-home

For people who say they have never got sick from drinking water - this is probably because there was nothing bad in the water in the first place - not because the RV filter or (not) continuous chlorination was effective.

If there's a bad bug in the water not killed by continuous (not spasmodic) chlorination you WILL get sick - but in Australia the chances of that (in the last 50 years since modern scheme water treatment and governed asset management) is very low. Australian public water supply is amongst the safest in the world ( safer than many schemes in USA or Europe !)

- unless that water is put into a temporary vessel like an RV tank where after a day or two the chlorine is gone.

If you drove an RV around a place like Bali and used the same RV filtration and occasional dash of chlorine suggested in the above and other blogs, you would be sick within a day or two - guaranteed.

Many people think that if they "sterilise" an RV tank by shock dosing with chlorine then flushing it out, then any water subsequently put into it is safe. NOT true ! if there are bad bugs in the water, the water has to have a continuous residual chlorine every minute that you might draw on it - and with sufficient contact time between the residual and the bugs. Some bugs are really hard to kill and this contact time could be a day or more. The problem isn't the condition of the tank or pipes(although a dirty tank can trigger or speed organism growth) its the water itself that has to be "zapped" - continuously - if there are bugs present.

Having spent 40 years in the water utility business I can say that there is a whole water filter industry out there selling 'millions' of units . There are a few respectable vendors who will qualify what their units will do or not do - but the vast majority will "skillfully" word their literature to make you think these filters do what you would WISH they could do. Most will improve taste but that's all.

Others will try to scare the hell out of us with false claims of dangerous chemicals in public water. Utter nonsense.

The RV manufacturers only started building in filters in the last 10 years because customers who had them at home, wanted them in their RV as well. Once one RV manufacturer installed them as standard kit - all the others had to follow. And now we have thousands of RV owners, with modern vans, who "trust" that their RV water is safe somehow. Its a bit fascinating how this falsehood evolved and came to be.

The filter industry isn't regulated, but is highly competitive and therefore fully profit motive driven - but preys on the modern psychological phenomena of water taste value judgements.

When WE buy an RV it will be regulated/certified/licensed as safe for on road towing , safe electrically, safe gas installation but we will NEVER get an RV builder saying the filtered water is SAFE to drink, much less get it certified or put it in writing with clear user instructions - because there isn't any water safety certification required outside of a public water supply system(to the boundary meter of a property) and the filters CAN'T physically make the water safe anyway - IF in the unusual case the water is truly contaminated.

Cliff

The RO filter-desalination is the best answer, with a Rvers Osmosis Filter-Desalination. And that just because the Revers Osmosis filters' membranes are so constructed that they have to have good pressure to work, but let through NOTING at all, even including bacteria, which makes the water hospital use ready quality. Especially if included the silver filter within it. If you would like to test quality of the RO water, go to Coober Pedy SA, and stay there some time. But before leaving there, do not forget to get there their excellent quality water. Coober Pedy has some 2 or 3 water wells, more than 1500 meters deep, but the only water there is salty. Only RO treatment, plus the oxygenating and ozone-treating the filtered water, without any any chemicals involved, makes it so good.

These days, the Revers Osmosis filters are about the one quarter of their previous price, so they can be bought at about 250$A online, for quite big, 100 Gallons a Day unit. I saw one with 50 Gallons a Day Capacity, for 135 $A on Ebay, and that's the price included with Postage and Sending costs. Meaning, free Postage... I don't think it would take taking Uni classes to work out it is worth to get one, and the 50 gallons a day capability, of RO treated water is not as much as you would normally use all up daily, would you? Unless swimming in the bath every day... :)

Besides this. additional advantage of the DESALINATING capacity of ALL Revers Osmosis FILTERS, is that when you stop camping at the salt water lake, or dirty, water. You do not have to worry of your drinking water supply, you got it with you. All you need is some solar or genie power to do it in sufficient quantities.

As far anti-viral and anti-bacterial security goes, it is worth to learn how to make the colloidal-silver by yourself (not too dificoult, and quite cheap) and that gives you unlimited supply of an EXCELLENT, and quite probably the best in existence antiviral and antibacterial treatment you could think off, just in your reach, at very reasonable price, plus some of your own know-how. All this also especially possible because the RO treated water is almost the same like the DISTILLED water in quality of purity, and is just perfect for making the Colloidal Silver, as well as adding to your battery, if you still have the old floated type still Just perfect solution, often at present suggested as the best solution on almost all survivalist and preppers' sites I met with.  I would advise all to look through some of those SURVIVALIST - PREPPING sites. They just excellent, and will answer many of your questions, without the unnecessary legalistic, politically correct, and bureaucratic mambo-jumbo. Surely, you can meet with some staff you my not like, but such is a life, we not always like all we meet with, do we? And especially when we are getting screwed-up by political correctness's, and the government, an big corporations' greed :) Here is great movie on these things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dht_cZK2vK8/ :)

-- Edited by Esperian on Wednesday 27th of September 2017 05:54:03 PM

Carbon block filters, which generally perform better than Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC), normally use binders to form the block - these will tend to breakdown after a year or so.  This is one of the reasons that annual replacement is recommended.

Most filters don't kill bacteria ie are bactericidal - at best some attempt to stop its growth in the filter media (bacteriostatic). An Australian company, The Thirsty Nomad, has released a bactericidal inline filter for RVs - it uses a disinfecting media made in the USA.  It is small and requires no power or chemicals.

-- Edited by Wilbur on Saturday 13th of March 2021 10:01:59 AM

-- Edited by Wilbur on Saturday 13th of March 2021 10:10:40 AM

Alfromoz wrote

 

 

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To get rid of the toxic chlorine which will poison you through the skin. We're spoilt by showering in tank water at home.

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 I guess that explains why most governments around the world put it into their water supply. To poison everyone.

 

People forget, its all about the dose.

A panadol is great for a headache. Too many will certainly kill you.

For my bike rides, I have a Sawyer filter, it does filthy water, and bacteria, but not viruses, not that we have much of that problem in OZ, save but gardia, which I have recently caught, from our town water thru the towns filtration system. MSR puts out one for viruses, but very expensive.

ants_oz wrote:

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I use a pair of 10" cartridges - one is a simple sediment filter, followed by a carbon block.

I think the biggest mistake people make with filters is that they think they basically last forever. They don't. EVERY filter has a lifespan (example being the lifespan that BEST state, which is ~5,000L, a standard 10" carbon filter is around the same). The biggest factor impacting the lifespan of a filter is the input water quality - which is why I use a double filter housing, with a sediment filter before the carbon.

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 Yep.

10"cartridges are cheap, you can buy them almost anywhere and they have high capacity. All filters will work best with chlorinated water. Keep the chlorine levels up in the tanks. It breaks down and disappears quite quickly, especially when it is warm or the water quality is poor - just when you need it. 

Where do you want the good water? Coming out of the tap, of course, so no point in filtering the water going into the tank. Filter it just before the taps after the pump.

Cheers,

Peter

These topics are always good for a few laughs. Current crop of sponsored posts on Facebook seems to be for magic units costing hundreds thar produce ionized alkaline water that tastes amazing and will cure you of any ailment known to man and beast. Their copywriters make the claims of the lithium early-adopters sound tame Not sure how Betty and I have managed to live as long as we have on the road. 8 different motorhomes and campers in 30+ countries over 15 years, plus a couple of years in China, drinking the local water out of taps and RV tanks and we are still alive. Truly blessed! Must be all the Nescafé instant coffee we drink.

Filters are good for separating the tadpoles and frogs . I prefer my water to have about 5% alcohol!!