Reverse Osmosis water for RV, worth it or not

[RV Norm]

I just put a system in my water bay of our Travel Supreme. My Wife only drinks bottlef water and i was done hauling in 5 gallon jugs. Most difficult part was working through the older fittings and additions used by the previous owner.

We love our system!

Our waste water is plumbed into the fresh tank. Due to the low pressure found at most parks there is enough wastewater to fill our tank after about a week and a half of use. That's a 150 gallons of wastewater. Plan to add a electric boost pump to decrease this amount.

I'll post some pics and the model I used after the rain stops.

[dexters]

Originally Posted by Trapperbob11

Full timers or anyone else have you gone to a reverse osmosis system for your water needs in your RV's? Was it worth the change? How hard was it to plumb in? How about sharing pictures of install so we can see how it fit in your wet bay. Thanks for all responses..


take care

Are you planning to drink the water?

I use bottled for drinking an park water for all else.

I also have a Brita filter as a back up.

I was recently at a park with a lot of alkaline in the water. It left white spots on glasses.

[Trapper2022]

Originally Posted by dexters

Are you planning to drink the water?

I use bottled for drinking an park water for all else.

I also have a Brita filter as a back up.

I was recently at a park with a lot of alkaline in the water. It left white spots on glasses.

Yes

We have a 5 micron filter ahead of the water softener which then goes to couch mounted filters. In order a 5/1/1 with the last being a carbon with lead removal. Water tastes fine but just trying to figure if I should go to next step. We travel FullTime and some areas have questionable water lines.

Thanks for replies and pictures.

[clyon51]

I'm installing a "whole house" RO system in my rig in a week or two. No more hard water, no more spots on the glasses, shower, car, ect.

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[TechWriter]

Originally Posted by clyon51

I'm installing a "whole house" RO system in my rig in a week or two. No more hard water, no more spots on the glasses, shower, car, ect.

I hope you're using a booster pump. Otherwise, filling a 100 gal RV water tank will take a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time.

[powerboatr]

i put in a whirlpool RO system for ALL drinking, ice maker and coffee.
filters are easily found at home depot or lowes. I believe i had had an ro about 10 years total, it moved from my fiver to the bus.
the ro system i installed behind a panel in the wet bay so the whole thing is out of sight, but easy to get to for annual filter change out
and i have a water softener, and a whole RV whole house water filter on the water inlet from campground.

makes a world of difference.

[clyon51]

Originally Posted by TechWriter

I hope you're using a booster pump. Otherwise, filling a 100 gal RV water tank will take a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time.

Yes, a 24VAC Aquatec 8800 RO pump that can handle dual membranes and it will be producing 100-150 GPD.... way more than we need.

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[powerboatr]

one thing you need to consider as well is 100 gallons of fresh squeezed water in a plastic tank will go BAD in short order, as in bacteria will grow.

your filtering out the chemicals that keep bacteria at bay in the main lines to the coach. once you run it all through the ro and fill tank..warm weather and all the little things that like to somehow get in, will... and the water can become contaminated.

you may want to look at sterilization uv light on water as its drawn from the tank for use.
its does not take much to get little critters in the water tank having a go of it.

[clyon51]

Originally Posted by powerboatr

one thing you need to consider as well is 100 gallons of fresh squeezed water in a plastic tank will go BAD in short order, as in bacteria will grow.

your filtering out the chemicals that keep bacteria at bay in the main lines to the coach. once you run it all through the ro and fill tank..warm weather and all the little things that like to somehow get in, will... and the water can become contaminated.

you may want to look at sterilization uv light on water as its drawn from the tank for use.
its does not take much to get little critters in the water tank having a go of it.

Me thinks you're a bit misinformed. After 15 years of RVing, 5 years FT without city water (chlorine) in my tank, never had a bacterial problem. An RO system not only removes minerals, but also chemicals, bacteria, cysts, ect.

Organisms need food to exist, there is no food in ro water. If I were paranoid, I would toss in a thimble of chlorine in there occasionally... like I've done over the years without RO water.

If memory serves, your average water in the US has about 500 ppm of non water molecule contaminates. RO water (with a top notch system) has no more than 10 ppm.

Any water you drink today is over 5 billion years old and H2O never goes bad. It's only what gets mixed in that could be harmful. When my system is complete, I can suck water out of the Detroit River and drink it without hesitation or reservation. 👍

[CampDaven]

With double filtering and a good softener, we are drinking and bathing with water that has a perfect natural balance of minerals and necessary nutrients that is most beneficial to us all, keeps the pipes and faucets clean, and needs no improvement.
To some of us, pure water is simply not enough!
To answer the question: Nope!
However, RO devices are a must for back packers that trek far and long. BTDT
Happy Trails

[clyon51]

Originally Posted by CampDaven

With double filtering and a good softener, we are drinking and bathing with water that has a perfect natural balance of minerals and necessary nutrients that is most beneficial to us all, keeps the pipes and faucets clean, and needs no improvement.
To some of us, pure water is simply not enough!
To answer the question: Nope!
However, RO devices are a must for back packers that trek far and long. BTDT
Happy Trails

I agree this is great for most folks. Our situation is we are both heart patients. We also spend most of our FT in Arizona. In Yuma for 6 months a year and the water is full of salt. The rest of AZ the water is super hard, which is affecting our water system and water spots on everything. A water softener uses salt which remains in the water. So, for us an RO system is a must.

[powerboatr]

i was meaning to imply saying the water is carrying the bacteria..the tanks are where bacteria can be introduced. either through vent hole on the gravity fill side or any other area. without a way to keep the tank sanitized, it will happen.
adding a bacteria killer would work.

[clyon51]

Originally Posted by powerboatr

i was meaning to imply saying the water is carrying the bacteria..the tanks are where bacteria can be introduced. either through vent hole on the gravity fill side or any other area. without a way to keep the tank sanitized, it will happen.
adding a bacteria killer would work.

Again, an RO system takes care of all the concerns you have a problem with... as long as it is setup properly. Of course in the initial setup you sanitize your holding tank/system. After that it depends on your paranoia state of mind. I'm certainly not knocking anyone's concerns, you all have to do what your comfortable with.

Originally Posted by clyon51

Me thinks you're a bit misinformed. After 15 years of RVing, 5 years FT without city water (chlorine) in my tank, never had a bacterial problem. An RO system not only removes minerals, but also chemicals, bacteria, cysts, ect.

Organisms need food to exist, there is no food in ro water. If I were paranoid, I would toss in a thimble of chlorine in there occasionally... like I've done over the years without RO water.

If memory serves, your average water in the US has about 500 ppm of non water molecule contaminates. RO water (with a top notch system) has no more than 10 ppm.

Any water you drink today is over 5 billion years old and H2O never goes bad. It's only what gets mixed in that could be harmful. When my system is complete, I can suck water out of the Detroit River and drink it without hesitation or reservation. 👍

[TechWriter]

Originally Posted by clyon51

Again, an RO system takes care of all the concerns you have a problem with... as long as it is setup properly. Of course in the initial setup you sanitize your holding tank/system. After that it depends on your paranoia state of mind. I'm certainly not knocking anyone's concerns, you all have to do what your comfortable with.

RO can filter out harmful (and not-so-harmful) minerals, chemicals, and bacteria. However, RO doesn't filter everything.

To sanitize a water system, it's either chemicals like bleach or an UV (ultraviolet) system. Both kill germs, viruses, and bacteria.