Bumpyroad
Virginia
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pianotuna wrote:Hi,
Check ebay for uv based water systems. To keep costs down, standard filter sizes ought to be used. That causes some problems in an RV. One is space, another is winterizing, water use is high with 3 gallons wasted for each gallon treated.
methinks you are working RO into the discussion here?
and my goodness, where/who supplies your water at home to need all of that?
bumpy
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wa8yxm
Wherever I happen to park
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Joined: 07/04/2006
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Most tanks are made of plastic and may be damaged by excessive UV light.
Still UV systems DO, in fact, exist. I do not have one however.
Second there is no such thing as a "UV Water filter" The UV light only kills bacteria etc, it does not filter the water.
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business
Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
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Bumpyroad
Virginia
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wa8yxm wrote:
Second there is no such thing as a "UV Water filter" The UV light only kills bacteria etc, it does not filter the water.
a good point, corrects some possibly misconception.
bumpy
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TechWriter
Green Bay, WI USA
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Joined: 12/22/2002
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pianotuna wrote:
My "home" system sends water through a water softener, a 20 micron filter, a 5 micron filter, a carbon filter, a 2 micron filter, a reverse osmosis membrane, a deionizer, a high gauss magnet, and finally a uv treatment lamp. Where would I find room for all that in an rv?
Well, maybe not all your stuff, but it can be done -- also have a small RO system under the RV kitchen sink. A UV system gets installed this year.
To "filter" (or whatever you want to call it) water, water flows by an UV light that's housed in a metal canister. The water coming into a UV system has to be exposed to the UV light a set amount of time, so UV systems like this Sterilight are rated for flow rate. If water goes through it too fast, the UV has no effect.
2001 Newmar Mountain Aire 4095 DP
Wisconsin, USA
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TechWriter
Green Bay, WI USA
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Bumpyroad wrote:pianotuna wrote:Hi,
Check ebay for uv based water systems. To keep costs down, standard filter sizes ought to be used. That causes some problems in an RV. One is space, another is winterizing, water use is high with 3 gallons wasted for each gallon treated.
methinks you are working RO into the discussion here?
and my goodness, where/who supplies your water at home to need all of that?
bumpy
There is no "waste" water with a UV system, so you probably mean a RO (Reverse Osmosis) system waste water, right?
ROs can be plumbed so that the waste water returns to the holding tank. Zero waste.
A visit to the RV Water Filter Store will help clear up a lot of the misconceptions in this thread.
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ExRocketScientist
Laurel, MD
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Joined: 11/11/2010
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I have looked at some of their equipment. I plan on putting together a system in the near future using a series of filters and the UV light that will take care of bacteria, viruses, protazoa, and some chemicals. This will allow me to get water from local sources in the national forests and state forests where I know there is no vehicular access or mining operations upstream.
But my preference is for the output to go in my tank, not put the potentially contaminated water in my tank and purify it on the way out of the tank.
ERS
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ExRocketScientist
Laurel, MD
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Bumpyroad wrote:wa8yxm wrote:
Second there is no such thing as a "UV Water filter" The UV light only kills bacteria etc, it does not filter the water.
a good point, corrects some possibly misconception.
bumpy
More importantly, UV light kills viruses -- the only thing that is too small to filter out with ceramic filters.
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TechWriter
Green Bay, WI USA
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ExRocketScientist wrote:
But my preference is for the output to go in my tank, not put the potentially contaminated water in my tank and purify it on the way out of the tank.
Are you talking about RO waste water?
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greenrvgreen
open road
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Joined: 09/05/2007
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Ceramic filters rated at less than one micron (absolute basis), DO filter out virii, according to all information I can find. The Doulton filters offered by RVwaterFilerStore.com are as good as anything out there for filtration.
I've also been intrigued by the UVc systems out there, particularly the Sterilight. One issue with UVc treatment is that it doesn't kill all the critters, but mames most of them, scrambling their DNA so they can't reproduce (same thing happens to our skin cells when we get a tan). The problem for tank use (apart from the inverse square rule) is that with time, some of the critters can reassemble their DNA. So UVc is best done right before use.
@Rocketeer: Your goal for water is what I've been working on also. Currently (working backwards) I have a charcoal filter as my last stage before drinking, to remove excess Chlorine (more about that later). Upwards from that I have a Doulton ceramic cartridge. These two are dedicated to my drinking water faucet.
For my whole-house (including the drinking water faucet), I currently have a two-stage filter setup for filling my tank (I NEVER hook up, I always fill my tank and pump). The first stage is currently a strainer, and the second stage is ANOTHER Doulton ceramic. This means that my drinking water gets filtered TWICE with ceramic, while every drop in my TT gets filtered at least once. Moreover, water sitting in the tank gets elevated chlorine via added bleach. This bleach is filtered out by the last stage at the drinking faucet, charcoal.
Since I'm a tinfoil hat-wearin' virophobe, I consider this to be the basic setup for unknown but presumably safe water sources, for example faucets at campgrounds during the off season (no recent reports as to quality). If I was going to pump water from sources that could likely have problems (for example ANY standing lake, or creeks with trails crossing them), I would probably add an additionl step, which would be a soft-sided collapsible water tank which I would use to super-chlorinate 50 gallons of water at a time, letting it sit for a couple days, and then pump through charcoal filters into my TT water tank.
When I looked at doing this, I realized that it was easier to drive to the nearest town or gas station and get water there, which is what I recommend you do.
Good luck!
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Bumpyroad
Virginia
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TechWriter wrote:
ROs can be plumbed so that the waste water returns to the holding tank. Zero waste.
not practically for a RV IMHO. a small under the sink unit could be plumbed back into the fresh water tank.
bumpy
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