# Water Filters



## 93627 (May 1, 2005)

Last year we bought our first motorhome, a Swift kontiki L. 
Being a newcomer to Motor Caravaning, one of the things that suprised me was that upon spending between £20-£60,000 on a motorhome, we would still have to by bottled water for drinking purposes even though we had 100liters stored on board. No doubt their are those who are happy to drink the water from their tank but generally it is accepted practice to drink bottled water and use the tank water for washing purposes only. 
My reason for bringing up this subject is that being in the water treatment business suppling products for domestic and industrial use, I have looked into filter systems that are targeted at the motorcaravan market. These vary from £20 Granular Activated Carbon inline filters, which offer very little in terms of particle filtration but remove a high percentage of Chlorine and specific pesticides, generally improving the taste and odour in the process, up to the high priced units £160-£200 that utilise Ceramic technology offering sub-micron filtration combined with an activated carbon media. These filters are capable producing very high quality water, probably higher than that of bottled water, from the water in your tank, (as long as the water that you filled your tank with was potable in the first place!). 
These filters have the ability to remove even Bacteria, Viruses and Cryptosporidia and Giardia cysts. Although you are unlikely to fill your tank with such organisms whilst touring Europe, so long as you fill at designated drinking water points. 
My point being is that the filters on offer are either cheap GAC filters or the very expensive Ceramic composite units that I assume like myself people can not justify the expense of or inconvenience of fitting. 
In our industry there have been a lot of developments in the field of ceramic and carbon composite filter elements that offer a comparable level of performance with these expensive units but at less than half of the cost. 
Therefore my reason for posting this topic is to gain feedback on this subject and let readers know of a more cost effective solution to this problem. If this post generates any interest I would welcome any comments and ideas that would help tailor a specific, cost effective 
product.


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## 92183 (May 1, 2005)

We are going to fit a separate 25 litre water tank with it's own pump and tap just for drinking water. This can be filled with bottled water if the tap water is suspect.
We didn't think the type of filters you replace every year would offer much protection, especially through the mixer tap.
Coping with 5 children in the van with upset tummies is not a good idea!
:argue: ukeleft: ukeright: ukeleft: ukeright: ukeleft:


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## 93627 (May 1, 2005)

jessy said:


> We are going to fit a separate 25 litre water tank with it's own pump and tap just for drinking water. This can be filled with bottled water if the tap water is suspect.
> We didn't think the type of filters you replace every year would offer much protection, especially through the mixer tap.
> Coping with 5 children in the van with upset tummies is not a good idea!
> :argue: ukeleft: ukeright: ukeleft: ukeright: ukeleft:


Hi Jessy, you raise a good point about coping with 5 children with upset tummies! we have two children a 3 year old and a 20 month old. We were out in spain during september for 3 weeks and obviously filling our tank from the mains water system our van is fitted with a Reverse Osmosis water filter and Ultra Voilet germicidal lamp. This combination will produce far safer water than bottled water. It may suprise you to Know that the European standards for factory bottled water are actually lower than for ordinary tap water.
Fitting a separate 25 liter water tank will give you the same problem, but through a different tap. If you choose to fill your 25 liter tank with bottled water you will not even have the Chlorine present in tap water to prevent bacterial growth within the tank and there is the extra space required for this installation and of course the cost of a new tank, pump,tap and the electrical installation.
Our set up cost us £130.00 for the 5 stage Reverse Osmosis filter and £99.00 for a 2 gallon per minute 12vdc UV lamp.
This system being far more effective than any of the equivalently priced products on the market.

Please dont think i am dismissing your idea , i just wish to explain the pros and cons of different systems.


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## 89122 (May 14, 2005)

Hi jmech, what are ( 5 stage Reverse Osmosis filter and £99.00 for a 2 gallon per minute 12vdc UV lamp. )and how do they work.
Eddie


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

jmech

To quote you "generally it is accepted practice to drink bottled water and use the tank water for washing purposes only." and with no wish to start an argument, has a survey been done on this and if so by whom, as you say there are some that drink from the tank with no treatment, I do, but on the first fill up I will treat the tank with "elsil" after that no other treatment, in 37 years of camping I've never had cause to use bottled water , maybe I'm just lucky.

KenS


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

We use the water direct from the main tank. Not experienced any problems but we only tour within the UK and I flush the system through every 2 weeks if the motorcaravan has not been used.
However I would be interested in jmech`s idea.


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## smifee (May 17, 2005)

hi all

let's get the insults out of the way first :!: 

jmech:- what language is that you are typing in :?: :roll: 

kens:- no ken not lucky just tight :!: :roll: 

have to admit i was with ken when we had a vw type 2 and the water was used quickly. when we had a granduca we were away in it so often the water consumption was pretty rapid as well. with the van i've got now i started using bottled water cos tank access was not so good and i couldn't get inside the tank so easily. 

in new van am just going to take jug filter and boil water if i have any doubts.


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## 93627 (May 1, 2005)

*Reverse Osmosis water filter*

Hi Eddie,

The five stage Reverse Osmosis system allows the highest level of filtration and will give you the purest water possible from a water filter.
As its name implies there are five stages to the process the first being a 5 micron sediment filter which removes any particles larger than 5 microns. the second stage is an activated Carbon filter which removes any Chlorine and other specific organic compounds and pesticides, the third stage incorporates a 1 micron sediment filter to increase the filtration level further to 1 micron at this point the water is passed through the fourth stage which is the Reverse Osmosis membrane. This membrane is where the filtration level is increased to 0.0006 micron (when compared to ceramic filters which boast of filtration down to 0.1 micron, you can see how effective Reverse osmosis filtration is in comparison).
Because of this high level of filtration the water passes over this stage very slowly and to make the system practical a small storage tank is incorporated. This tank collects the filtered water as it is being produced and will initially take approx 45 mins to fill completely although you can draw off water after 15mins. Once the tank has filled the water produced will keep up with the demand of drinking water easily.
This type of system utilises a separate tap (not a large tap as already fitted, but a small stylish faucet available in many different finishes).
When the tap is operated the water will flow from the storage tank through the fifth stage which is another activated carbon filter that will polish the water further to ensure that you are left with the best tasting water possible.
On my installation the water passes through a UVC germicidal lamp after it leaves the RO Unit. These lamps work on the principle that when micro organisms are exposed to uvc radiation they will die or at the very least will be rendered sterile and therefore unable to reproduce in your body (if they cant reproduce, they cant make you sick!)
You can argue that there is no requirement for the UVC lamp, as Reverse osmosis will remove up to 99% of micro organisms present in the water.
But i personally feel that for the extra £100 it is worth being absolutely sure!
When this system is fitted along side an Ultra violet germicidal lamp you really do have the ultimate pure water producing system available for your motorhome.
When we were in Spain we did not buy one bottle of mineral water and my 20 month daughter was drinking water from the van for 3 weeks along with the rest of us. 
In fact i would be more reluctant to let her drink from water that had been bottled at an unknown source just because it had a fancy label on a bottle, and that had probably been sat in light, warm microbe breeding conditions prior to being refrigerated before consumption.

As with any form of water filtration, water must be potable in the first place it would be foolish to think microbiologically unsafe water could be processed into drinking water.

I hope this has answered your question.


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## hymmi (May 9, 2005)

Hi everyone,

There was a good post about filters a few months ago from Motorhomer Simpson when Earl's Court show was on.

We bought aGeneral Ecology filter at show have not fitted it yet as selling van,but we will fit it to bathroom sink tap,homer came up with this brilliant idea, so as not to waste it as someone said on main kitchen tap with washing up.

I use a filter on seperate tap at home and although system in van is kept clean i would never drink it or wash food in it.

I put this in that Motorhomer Simpson post about not letting your pets drink it either we take a container of our own water from home,a dogs tummy is as sensitve to change as a childs.

Don't understand what jmech is saying in tech terms but it sounds a good idea........


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## 93627 (May 1, 2005)

KenS said:


> jmech
> 
> To quote you "generally it is accepted practice to drink bottled water and use the tank water for washing purposes only." and with no wish to start an argument, has a survey been done on this and if so by whom, as you say there are some that drink from the tank with no treatment, I do, but on the first fill up I will treat the tank with "elsil" after that no other treatment, in 37 years of camping I've never had cause to use bottled water , maybe I'm just lucky.
> 
> KenS


Hi KenS, 
No survey has been conducted on the subject of how people use their water, this quote was based on my own personal experience in talking to other motorcaravan users that i have encountered. You no doubt have far more authority and experience on this subject than me. But as i said in my first post the idea is to gain feedback from more experienced motor caravan users.


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## 88966 (May 11, 2005)

Hi,
I am interested in all these high tech. answers being a bit of a gadget man.
However, what we do is buy bottles from LIDL at 0.17 cents for 2 L. 
We keep a bottle in the frig. for diluting with the amber nectar, which I am pretty confident does a good job of sterilising!!!!! 
I believe most of Europe's water is as good as the UK's now and we drink that freely. As far as the tank is concerned it is used for anything after boiling.
BillD


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## 93397 (May 1, 2005)

Dear jmech, firstly let me thank you for an informative approach to this whole subject, as I am fairly new to the more sociable aspect of motorhomes (and forums come to that) you seem to have approached a fairly sticky subject with an open mind. i have used filtration before both with the Landy and in my earlier backpacking days. However this was hand held equipment and was much more expensive and dare I say it probably not as effective as the equipment that you advocate. I have never actually got around to fitting a water tank to Landy, i prefer to use seperate containers so could your system be adapted to filter from a water container instead of a fixed tank ?


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## Anonymous (Nov 10, 2000)

Hi jmech

My first posting on this subject was submitted out of genuine interest and I have practically no knowledge of of water filtration, if it came over as somewhat different then please accept my appologies ( another one of my many faults) however I do feel that in many cases to much emphasis is placed on water filtration, water over steralisation can leave it tasting horrible or even with no taste at all but worse of all it does not help build up the immune system of our body so nessessary in the younger generation, it's my beleif that we've gone to far the other way.

I have no details to hand, but is not the purity of the water that passes through the system you talk of, far in ecxess of that that is required of the uk waterboards? and there are millions of gallons of that consumed.

Again, not knocking it just genuinely interested.

KenS


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## 88724 (May 9, 2005)

Hi all

Not sure were to begin with this one. Virtually everyone I know that Camps uses bottled (even by themselves at home) water none will drink from the tank. BTW That amounts to a hell of a lot of campers.

Generally its because it tastes bad plasticy etc. not because of germs as such.

I have General Ecology system which can take canal water and make it clear, safe and Taste good.

Part one, Off to bed now.


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## budgerigar1 (Apr 26, 2012)

I use the bottled water from Tesco 20p a bottle 2 Litre, suits us fine, but although reading this was interesting I can't help feeling that at that price I would have to go through a hell of a lot of Drinking water to pay for any of these systems. I would like to know how long is a unopened bottle of water good for. As I think if it lasts ages then I will just stock up the garage when the price is right. 
Grant....


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## MrsW (Feb 8, 2009)

So please , what system is the NaturPure?


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

7 year old thread sounds like they are trying to sell you something

joe


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## budgerigar1 (Apr 26, 2012)

Yes Joe! I guess water does not keep as long as this thread. I looked it up online anyway and they say bottled water keeps for years if in a cool place. The shop best by date is normally about two years....

Grant


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

Grant

I am one of those who do not buy bottled water as nearly all the water we drink in the van is boiled, find other thing to drink more enjoyable.
did by some last christmas when we went away in van incase we froze up.
but never had a problem drinking it when we want or cleaning teeth

joe


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## zappy61 (May 1, 2005)

jessy said:


> We are going to fit a separate 25 litre water tank with it's own pump and tap just for drinking water. This can be filled with bottled water if the tap water is suspect.
> We didn't think the type of filters you replace every year would offer much protection, especially through the mixer tap.
> Coping with 5 children in the van with upset tummies is not a good idea!
> :argue: ukeleft: ukeright: ukeleft: ukeright: ukeleft:


Hi Jessy,

Even if you fit a separate tank this will (as all tanks are) open to the atmosphere and subject to airborne infection and so will need cleaning from time to time so why not keep the existing drinking water tank clean? Some people do prefer bottled water for drinking but bottled water has a lower standard than the World Health Organisations European Standard for Drinking water and don't forget the water in the tank is also used for food preparation and the cleaning of teeth etc, so should be kept to a infection free standard. See my article 'Cleaning Water Tanks In Motorhomes How Often'
Fitting a water filter can be an effective way of ensuring bacteria free water but it only does one tap, needs the cartridge replaced each year or so, and is expensive compared with keeping the tank clean. Most of the time filling up is done from water points that comply with the WHO standard if you travel to far flung places like Africa and beyond then this may change the economics of fitting a filter. Infections do not originate from the mains water supplied but from the build up of bacteria in the tank and system, so eliminate this and you prevent the tummy upsets that has been mentioned. See more in my articles.

Regards,

Graham


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

we have a branch off the cold water pipe to the kitchen tap - this branch feeds through a naturpure filter to its own tap (along side the kitchen tap) and I have a separate push button switch to operate the pump (when I just want filtered water) These filters are not cheap but they are considered the RR of filters.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Like CheshireGordon our naturpure is mounted beside the sink and feeds the separate tap.

Economic? Probably not, but the convenience makes it worthwhile IMO, no faffing around having to locate a bottle, simply turn the tap on....

it removes disease causing bacteria, the toxins they produce byt ultramiltration down to 0.4 micrometre size..... (micrometre is 10 to minus 6 metre i.e. 0,0000001 m.)

as far as we are concerned the biggest advantage is not the ability to use canal or pond water but it's ability to remove the plastic flavour associated with storing water in a plastic tank. Whe nwe first got oour van the dealers left it with water inside the tank, untouched for 6 months+ and the flavour was horrible - we tried cleaning it and it then tasted of chlorine for months - the naturpure has removed those unpleasant flavours.

As far as we are concerned it is a great piece of kit, if you want to find out the details of how it does that try this;

http://www.purewateronline.co.uk/General-Content/how-it-works.html

Dave


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## Kev1 (Apr 4, 2011)

Hi everyone

Glanced through this thread
We clean our onboard water tank
a couple of times a year. To remove the plasticky taste
we have a britta filter jug
any water we cook with or drink comes from the filter jug.

Any other water we reckon should be fine.

Kev


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

If you boil the water it should be safe to drink cook veg in .

our eldest was allergic to milton as a baby and the doctor said just put everything except baby in boiling water 


joe


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## bigcats30 (Aug 13, 2012)

In the UK all water comes from the same source.....and if you use a filter...what do you do about the pipes after the filter??

I can understand for overseas (but I would used bottled anyway) but in the UK its just not needed and a waste of money.

Even some bottled water isn't as safe as you think because all they do is fill from the tap....as was shown to be the case with Tesco's bottled water.

and all you older guys did without water filters etc back when you were kids and are perfectly fine.


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

does anyone remember coke spring water bottled at Sidcup a la only fools and horses

joe


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

bigcats30 said:


> In the UK all water comes from the same source.....and if you use a filter...what do you do about the pipes after the filter??
> 
> I can understand for overseas (but I would used bottled anyway) but in the UK its just not needed and a waste of money.


The source of the water that comes out of the taps locally in the UK depends on where the Water Company has sourced it from - our Devon supply for many years came from a bore hole in Mid-Devon, but post about 1990 it now comes from the River Exe and is retreated at Cowley Bridge - it has already been through the citizens of Tiverton and before them through South Molton.

There have been concerns raised that the water contains excessively high levels of female hormones (oestrogens) which are NOT removed apparently by the treatment with chlorine..... the oestrogens are excreted by the female residents further up the river who take the contraceptive pill......

The level has actually had a measurable effect on some aquatic invertebrates and would not be something I would willingly consume. 

I think in a lot of EC countries the standard of drinking water is actually slightly higher than the UK BUT in our case the filter is there primarily to remove the plastic flavour of the storage tank nothing else... (which it does superbly).....

and as regards the 30cm of pipe from the filter to the tap it is flushed through every time you turn the tap on and where are "bugs" going to come from since all have been removed by the 0.4 micrometre filter +the other components of the NaturPure filter......

I remember when Perrier was found to contain phenols - a very unpleasant component......

Fools and Horses was probably VERY accurate in it's portrayal of parts of the industry....... :roll:

Dave


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## rosalan (Aug 24, 2009)

We normally use water out of the tank, after all it is usually boiled for tea or coffee, unless the water acquires a 'taste' in which case we use 'Nature Pure' filter. They are not cheap but provide 1900 litres for around £60 which is around 3p litre.

In practice we rarely use the Nature Pure water, we use it mainly for cold drinks. I can honestly say that it has no taste at all that I can detect. The problem is that it initially costs a lot. Fortunately the previous owner of my van had it installed so that I may bask in its glory.

Alan


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## Kev1 (Apr 4, 2011)

Hey big cats who you calling old

lol


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## Suenliam (Mar 22, 2006)

I buy one bottle (large) of water a year and then fill it up at the site tap or where ever. We also have an insulated 5 ltr. water carrier for use when parked up. I enjoy drinking water but the MH on board tank water still is a bit plasticky even after 7 years. Still I do clean my teeth with the onboard supply and use it for cooking veg etc.

I have always found the drinking water supply in France to be top quality and how ever cheap bottled water is, it is cheaper to use the tap supply.

Strange how old threads reappear

Sue


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## tony50 (Oct 16, 2007)

We use a General Ecology "Nature Pure filter System" which is American we swap it from vehicle to vehicle etc. it is installed in the bathroom /showerroom for cleaning ,drinking and we fill the kettle from it we used it in France and Spain for 5 weeks this year using their water no problem , They also use this system on boats and apparently pull the water from the river to filter,I think the system costs about £200 replacement filters about £50 which we change every 2 years I think "Out&About" , Motorhome shows and General Ecology website sells them , when we are not using we remove filter and dry it out . system is easy to fit ,saves carrying bottled water about and I would not trust that the water tank was debugged even after I have cleaned it out .

Tony A


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