RV water filters are they the same as a house filter

[Camping4fun]

We ended up having a RV store in our town that had them in stock but I had to go get a loan to buy it $18.95 for one filter, I guess that the cost of RVing.

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Pairajays

Why don't you put in a whole house RO system?

Jim E

A whole house RO system is expensive and still requires sediment prefiltration.They also use a lot more water for backflushing.

[bluepill]

In 6 weeks of use I've been happy with the Camco KDF/Charcoal external filter. Cheap at Wal-Mart.

[Pairajays]

Originally Posted by LadyFitz...

A whole house RO system is expensive and still requires sediment prefiltration.They also use a lot more water for backflushing.

They are a little more expensive but the sediment prefilter is part of the RO system. I have a five stage system. They do not use a "lot" more water. My system discharges one gallon of water for one gallon of RO water. You are probably thinking of old technology where it takes five or so gallons for one gallon of RO water.

Jim E

[Mike Canter]

I have a question on the whole house RO system. How do you fill the fresh water tank with a whole house RO system? Can you still run the MH directly from the campground faucet and through the RO system? Can you get enough flow and pressure to run all the faucets and shower throgh a whole house RO system?

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Pairajays

They are a little more expensive but the sediment prefilter is part of the RO system. I have a five stage system. They do not use a "lot" more water. My system discharges one gallon of water for one gallon of RO water. You are probably thinking of old technology where it takes five or so gallons for one gallon of RO water.

Jim E

One gallon of water discharged for every gallon used isn't a lot?

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

I have a question on the whole house RO system. How do you fill the fresh water tank with a whole house RO system? Can you still run the MH directly from the campground faucet and through the RO system? Can you get enough flow and pressure to run all the faucets and shower throgh a whole house RO system?

RO systems are rated by the gallons of water they can deliver over a certain period of time. You would have to install a syustem that had a flow rate large enough to handle your demand.

If you are hooked to a campground faucet, I would see no need to run water through the tank; just feed the campground water through the RO filter then use the output as thought you are on a city water connection. For dry camping, you can plumb your system in a way that will direct output from the RO filter into the tank (this is you have your filter installed permanently in your rig). You would then disconnect from the water source and pump from tank.

Since I will not be dry camping, I'm essentially will be converting the trailer I will buy to a park model (I would get a park model but they are too big for me to haul around without a really huge truck; the tow vehicle will also be my grocery getter). I'll lose the tanks and pump, replace the poop and drop toilet with a real flusher, replumb all the drain lines, install a tankless water heater in place of the 10 gl heater, and put in whole house water filtration and a water softener.

[Pairajays]

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

I have a question on the whole house RO system. How do you fill the fresh water tank with a whole house RO system? Can you still run the MH directly from the campground faucet and through the RO system? Can you get enough flow and pressure to run all the faucets and shower throgh a whole house RO system?

Ok, plumb the RO output to the fresh water tank. My coach, '97 beaver Marquis, has an electric fill valve. Plumb the RO line down stream of that valve. I can still use campground water by connecting water source directly to the regular coach water connection. It does not go through the RO system.

The RO water goes to the holding tank then using the coach water pump to supply water to all the faucets. As you can surmise, the coach pump does not have the capacity to supply all the faucets at once. It works the same as though you are dry camping.

A simpler system is one with a one or two gallon pressurized holding tank plumbed to the ice maker and drinking water faucet. Exactly as installed in stick homes. A small whole house RO system for a MH or trailer has to use the holding tank because of the hugh pressure drop across the RO membrane. Commercial RO systems have humongous membranes and very high pressure pumps.

Jim E

[Pairajays]

Originally Posted by LadyFitz...

One gallon of water discharged for every gallon used isn't a lot?

"A lot" is relative. Compared to systems that have no high pressure supplemental water pumps, a one to one ratio is pretty small.

Jim E

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Pairajays

"A lot" is relative. Compared to systems that have no high pressure supplemental water pumps, a one to one ratio is pretty small.

Jim E

Ion exchange water softeners waste considerably less water.

[Pairajays]

Originally Posted by LadyFitz...

Ion exchange water softeners waste considerably less water.

I don't know anything about "Ion Exchange" water softeners unless you are talking about a regular water softener that uses ion exchange. They don't waste any water except during the recharge cycle. A "water softener" is far from equal to a RO system. No matter what filters you use in conjunction with a softener, you will never achieve the purity compared to a RO system.

Jim E

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Pairajays

I don't know anything about "Ion Exchange" water softeners unless you are talking about a regular water softener that uses ion exchange. They don't waste any water except during the recharge cycle. A "water softener" is far from equal to a RO system. No matter what filters you use in conjunction with a softener, you will never achieve the purity compared to a RO system.

Jim E

That's the kind I was talking about. Granted, RO is superior but, IMHO, the gains do not warrant the extra expense involved with an RO over an ion exchange unit. The mechanical and carbon prefiltration will take care of sediments and the carbon will take care of bad taste and oders. The only further benefit to be gained for me is the elimination of calcium deposits and improved washing capabilities and ion exchange can handle that quite well. I do not have any problems with high blood sodium (it usually runs low) so the increase of sodium in the water from an ion exchange unit is not an issue for me.

[Pairajays]

Originally Posted by LadyFitz...

That's the kind I was talking about. Granted, RO is superior but, IMHO, the gains do not warrant the extra expense involved with an RO over an ion exchange unit.

That's the key. It boils down to personal opinion. Are TPMS worth the cost? Some say yes, others say no. How about diesel or gas? I've heard that slides in a MH cost about $25K each. That means a Coach with four slides would add around $100k. Is it worth it? Think what you can do with $100K. Is a $2M Prevost worth that much when you can buy a new Winnebago for $150K?

Just babbling.

Jim E

[LadyFitz...]

Originally Posted by Pairajays

That's the key. It boils down to personal opinion. Are TPMS worth the cost? Some say yes, others say no. How about diesel or gas? I've heard that slides in a MH cost about $25K each. That means a Coach with four slides would add around $100k. Is it worth it? Think what you can do with $100K. Is a $2M Prevost worth that much when you can buy a new Winnebago for $150K?

Just babbling.

Jim E

But you babble so well!

All seriousness aside, you are right that different people have different needs.