Water filters, Don't need no stinkin' filters.

[Larry Geese]

2005 Windsor. Decide to change the water filters for the first time since I have owned this coach. How can this be? I removed the canisters for the two filers, 5 micron, and one charcoal...NO FILTERS AT ALL!!. I added installed new filters as required.
Now, do some people think filters are not required??? just a waste of money. Or, could be just one filter at the hose bib will do, so remove the two filters in the cargo bay???

[Mike Canter]

Larry, a lot depends on the water supply at the campground. Some of them can taste pretty bad and have a lot of choline and a lot of sulphur. I use two charcoal filters. One can never tell what else is in that water. Your body adjusts to the bacteria in the water where you live. if you move around the USA there can be different bacteria in the water and your body is not used to it and that can give you what we used to get if we traveled to Mexico or Europe. I would recommend since you already have the filter installed then use them. So in the winter time you have the MH in a place where it doesn't freeze??? Usually you have to drain the filter bowls and put a bypass on it if you use anti-freeze.

I would love to also rig up a water softner. I hate hard water.

[Pusherpilot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Geese 2005 Windsor. Decide to change the water filters for the first time since I have owned this coach. How can this be? I removed the canisters for the two filers, 5 micron, and one charcoal...NO FILTERS AT ALL!!. I added installed new filters as required. Now, do some people think filters are not required??? just a waste of money. Or, could be just one filter at the hose bib will do, so remove the two filters in the cargo bay???

Larry,
We had the same experience with ours!! When we bought the coach (brand new) I specificly asked if the filters were installed, after being assured they were I gave it no more thought. After the first year I decided to change them using the spares that the dealer thoughtfully left for me. That's when I discovered they hadn't been installed in the first place! Very angry was I!!! I have an AquaHot and was warned about not using unfiltered water and allowing it to clog up. The dealer simply didn't install them as they had said they did. Could it be you bought yours from Tom Raper too?
Ron

[Larry Geese]

Mr.Pusherpilot. Dang!! seems the same might have happened to me. In the water cargo bay were two charcoal filters and one 5 micron. Do you think deal is someone drained the filters for cold weather and never installed filters back into the system.
Like Mr. Mike says, filters are needed due to all the unknown water sources.

[AFChap]

We use a 1 micron sediment filter on the shore water line, and a charcoal filter under the galley sink that filters drinking & ice maker water only. We do not want to filter out chlorine from shore water that goes into the fresh water tank.

[Jimmy F]

It's a good idea to have at least a sediment filter on your hose in a campground, or when you fill the tank. When I first bought my unit I had an awful time with sand in the lines. The previous owner must have been at a campground that was on a well that was sucking up sand with the water. Also when I changed the filter below the fridge for the ice machine... it had an expiry date of 1997 so it had been there some 10 years yikes!

Jimmy F

[EngineerMike]

Filters should be changed IMO every 3 months for a single filter, or if in pairs (a good practice) you can use an inexpensive depth media (i.e. not a stupid pleated paper filter impostor) sediment filter cartridge in the primary. The secondary can then be changed every 6 moths or so when protected by a good quality primary. I always clean the filter bowl and lid each time & dry w/clean paper towel or rag to remove anything that has started growing. This is even more important where it is warm.

Reason for changing due to age: most water contains enough biologically active stuff to form what water guys call "biofilm." That's the greasy feeling film on your water apparatus inside where water sets. Biofilm can become interesting over time, and can be food for anaerobic or other bacteria. I frequently notice no odor from my water supply, but sometimes get an orange iron-oxide look to the filter media, and sulfur smell. This comes from the accumulated stuff trapped in the filter depth. If that migrates past the sediment filter, which it will given time, the secondary will become corrupted. Then its on to the tank & plumbing. Frequent changes of the inexpensive primary solves most bio-accumulation problems before they push downstream.

I like a minimum 5 micron rating for my primary sediment filter (usually I have a 1 micron installed), and 5 micron for the carbon-block secondary filter. I have a whole house RO system so I fill my tank w/great, clean water, and the carbon-block filter is needed to remove chlorine before going thru the large RO membrane. But I've decided to bypass the RO once a year and sanitize the whole tank & plumbing system regardless due to potential accumulation of biofilm, and just in case anything slipped by the filters and then the RO membrane.
When we cross the border into Mexico, I toss the 5 or 1 micron sediment, and install a 0.5 micron sediment cartridge. Bacteria & viruses are 0.5 to 1 micron in some cases and I feel for the price the tighter filtration is a good buy while we are in the land of known suspect water. With the RO I don't have any issues w/hard or corrosive water in the coach, although if you have perpetually hard incoming water (I move around so that's not my situation) for months at a time, a water softener ahead of the expensive RO membranes is an economy as the hardness will ruin the membrane faster than w/soft or neutral water.
If not doing RO I would probably do like AFChap, and put the carbon-block filter after the tank to leave the chlorine in to keep the tank clean. Under no circumstances would I buy "granulated activated charcoal" cartridges (GAC). They leach carbon into the plumbing as the granules chafe against each other. The "block" of a carbon-block is a reconstituted pipe, and water is forced thru the wall of the pipe; no granules rubbing and eroding into my plumbing. Usually carbon-block cartridges are a bit more than GAC, but frequently the difference is small or non-existent. Also, if you are using water at a high rate (like filling the tank full blast), water will accelerate around and in between the granules rather than be forced thru the carbon matrix. Carbon-block is better filtration, better QC for micron rating and won't leach charcoal dust.

I've seen RV's (and stick homes) with massive filter canisters (the fat Big Blue or the long 20") under the theory that a giant filter is good for longer between changes or that it somehow filters better. I've also seen clear filter canisters setting out in the hot sun (great for letting in light to help stuff grow!). Filter canisters of the standard opaque 2.5x10" size make a good compromise for an RV; large enough to handle a problem if one comes down the pipe but not so large they take up stupid amounts of room. The larger filter cartridges have exactly the same problems w/time as small ones for accumulating stuff that grows. I've had paired 2.5x10 cartridge filters mounted in the coaches since mid 05. Twice I let the time go by and changed the sediment pre-filter late and got the rotten egg smell and orange growth. Both times the secondary had just barely started to get polluted. 3 months cycle on the sediment seems to preclude the growth taking on a life of its own. That's a total of 6 cartridges per year for me, 4 sediment and 2 carbon block for a cost of about $50. Good insurance IMO.

I see folks

[azloafer]

We don't filter out sediment, We have not had a problem with that. I follow the advice of a fellow that was in the pool business for thirty years. Just before I connect the hose to the hose bib I put a teaspoon of fast dissolving spa chlorine in the hose and then connect it. I fill the tank and then disconnect the hose and put it away. We use the water from the tank until it is almost empty which will take several extended weekend trips. Then repeat the process. This way the water in the tank is used and doesn't sit there for months. While some will not agree with this method...it works for us. Joe

[JFC]

Our '07 Scepter doesn't have a filter canister but a spin on filter. The filters cost between $30 and $50 each depending on where you buy them. I've had them clog in a month to the point there is alomost no pressure in the coach. I don't see a way to bypass the filters, so I had to keep a few on hand. I finally purchased a filter housing and replacement filters at Lowe's that I use between the CG faucet and the water hose. Lots cheaper to replace a 2 for $7 Lowe's filter than the $30 coach filter.

[Bill Adams]

I can assure you that you need at least a sediment filter unless the only place you ever put water in your coach is at home. For us, that is not an option as we full-time. We were on the OR coast a number of years back and stopped at a campground which did not list big rig sites just to see if they had anything we could use as an overnight stop. It turns out they had just completed about a dozen big rig pull through sites and we would be the very first to park there. It was a great place and we were so glad to be able to stay we booked several nights. We hooked up, filled, dumped and went to the beach for an evening campfire. Good times had by all.
Later when we returned to our coach a couple of other new campers came by to ask if we had gotten any sand in our water. Well, it turns out we were TRULY the first to ever camp there and they had never properly flushed the lines. We had clear filter canisters and there was over 1" of sand in the bottom. What a life saver that was as I suspect I would have had problems with my pumps and faucet screens for years after that had the bottom of my fresh water tank been filled with sand.

[Zbugsii]

I would not connect up to any water supply without a filter system. It amazes me how much junk is really there. I replaced my coach filter system with two large (jumbo) canisters, one with a particulate filter and the other with a carbon filter. I replace them regularly, but in some campgrounds (the really bad ones) I replace monthly. And then there are the very hard water campgrounds and I bring out the water softener.

And to cap it all off, since we like and drink a lot of water, I have installed a reverse asmosis system under the kitchen sink for supplying a spigot and it feeds my icemaker. One of the very best things ever.