Water Supply - Filter vs Reverse Osmosis?

[d2reid]

[USER="2234"]
This all reminds me of a campground we really like in Michigan called Holly State Park Recreation Area. One year they discovered the water was contaminated with high levels of e coli. So they shut down the dumping station and bleached the water supply. I will not get anywhere near that water.

Jim

LOL, it's fun to see things that we learn about that give us cause to pause, like e. coli in the water. Water systems are tested frequently, contamination happens, I am not buying lots of bottled water and I am not buying Starbucks coffee. I think both are over marketed.

[Guest]

d2reid Agree Dallas,

We use use our own water for the RV for now. Filling with a dual tank softener can be used without any chance of breakthrough. We also drink freshly ground organic coffee with half and half which to us, cannot be beat by any coffee shop. Especially Starbucks.

Once we begin snowbirding, I'll make up a filter from a whole house unit with a carbon filter and accept what we are connected to. I do send cases of bottled Fiji water to my elderly mom since their city water, loaded with chlorine tastes like gasoline to us. And she likes the flower on the bottle.

Being a survivor of cancer of my heart, I have been to hell and back. I have no idea what did this to me, but try to avoid chemicals these days. I'm not obsessed with this but do the best I can. I do not carry my cell phone in my shirt pocket anymore as well.

Jim

[d2reid]

[USER="2234"] And she likes the flower on the bottle.
Jim

If my momma wanted water bottles with flowers on it I would buy all I could. It's got nothing to do with the water.

I remember a while back that there was this big thing about not eating eggs, they caused high cholesterol and it was implied that they would lead to an early demise. Now they are saying eggs are ok. It wasn't the science that was bad, it was fear mongering. I like to joke about my favorite government study about air quality. At the end of the study it was concluded that ultimately, every single person who breathed air died.

I am pretty agitated these days about entities inciting fear to encourage us to spend our money on something.
I know, one more step closer to becoming a curmudgeon.

[ThePowells]

If my momma wanted water bottles with flowers on it I would buy all I could. It's got nothing to do with the water.

I remember a while back that there was this big thing about not eating eggs, they caused high cholesterol and it was implied that they would lead to an early demise. Now they are saying eggs are ok. It wasn't the science that was bad, it was fear mongering. I like to joke about my favorite government study about air quality. At the end of the study it was concluded that ultimately, every single person who breathed air died.

I am pretty agitated these days about entities inciting fear to encourage us to spend our money on something.
I know, one more step closer to becoming a curmudgeon.

I've always heard that a common complaint of the RO system it that it will raise the levels of a purer form di-hydrogen oxide in the system? PS: I'm already a curmudgeon..

[Guest]

d2reid Dallas,

You're entitled to eat and drink whatever you want. We will continue to use our RO for coffee each morning to filter low levels of salt from our water. That's a fact since its been thoroughly tested. Its interesting how a life of having my hands covered in grease and oil when I was young, and not being so concerned with clean, bleach free water can change your thoughts when a life altering event hits you. You reflect back and wonder, what did it, where all you can do is take preventative measures, keep the faith and move on. Having been on strong chemo for 36 days has a way of changing your thoughts on what your ingesting where I'm not fearful. Just educated.

The flower on the bottle? It has everything to do with the water.

https://www.fijiwater.com/pages/faq#water-regulations

Jim

[d2reid]

[USER="2234"]Having been on strong chemo for 36 days has a way of changing your thoughts on what your ingesting where I'm not fearful. Just educated.
Jim

I am sorry you are going through chemo, it's a hard time. I am glad that you are educated, it makes for better decisions.

Like you, not being to concerned with clean, was a way of life. I believe toxicity has a lot to do with concentration, parts per millions. But I admit to being not being well educated, so I shall continue in bliss.

[d2reid]

I've always heard that a common complaint of the RO system it that it will raise the levels of a purer form di-hydrogen oxide in the system? PS: I'm already a curmudgeon..

When I was a wee lad in Sunday school the preacher asked the congregation to vote on the whether or not "Premarital Heterosexual Interdigitation" should be condoned. Most said no. The days sermon was about jumping to conclusions without knowing the meaning of what was discussed. He then asked the congregation if it was ok for unwed couples to hold hands, this was ok with the congregation. Then he explained that they were the same thing.

It was a memorable lesson for me about jumping to conclusions, people and how they react, and the need to truly understand what you are talking about before you put your foot in your mouth. Ok, the last lesson didn't take so good.

Had to look it up; according to google di-hydrogen oxide is water, and here I was thinking H2O was water, who would have guessed? Ok, someone more educated than I.....

[Guest]

I am sorry you are going through chemo, it's a hard time. I am glad that you are educated, it makes for better decisions.

Like you, not being to concerned with clean, was a way of life. I believe toxicity has a lot to do with concentration, parts per millions. But I admit to being not being well educated, so I shall continue in bliss.

Dallas,

I'm done with Chemo for 4 years now and I probably should not have brought it up. This time of the year is hard for me since my four year adversary of actually being in remission is near and I'm to be retested next week. One more year to go and I will statistically be in the main distribution and they will cut me loose. Part of my success in all this was being told in 16 more years this will come back as leukemia based on their data. At the time I told them, hell I'll be 81, so it could be worse. I'm fighting those odds and while not obsessed, I'm trying my best to watch what I'm taking in. Agree toxicity is a factor and it can be cumulative. Perhaps a better word choice would have been enlightened for my particular situation.
Now from my son-in-law that is in the water business? I will hold back on what he says about campground water systems, where we are in discussions on making up a portable RO system that can process from the tap or a 6gal jug.

Jim

[d2reid]

Now from my son-in-law that is in the water business? I will hold back on what he says about campground water systems, where we are in discussions on making up a portable RO system that can process from the tap or a 6gal jug.
Jim

LOL, I am sure your son as a water management professional will have great disdain for campground water systems, and state park cistern system in particular. There are very valid reasons for this, they aren't the ultimate. I believe RO is the ultimate water purification treatment. Some bacteria can slip through, but additional filters will mitigate that. That's why I installed an RO system. I have already explained why I don't think I need an RO system. Me and the cows are just fine. But, lifes choices and desires, real health issues etc. Once you determine an RO system is for you I will share my experiences.

It was a lot easier to install than I thought. I basically installed an under sink model to service my RV. We do not have great water needs. The holding tank was an issue, but I found a space below that it would fit nicely and be within reach of all the water connections. The filters themselves I put under the sink, I had to extend the hoses between the two. My installation instructions said to drill a hole though the drain pipe and insert the "sluff" tube. That was easy. I didn't realize at the time how much water was "sluffed" off. Later I considered moving the sluff tube to just dump under the RV, but then I found out how much water that actually was. I think it may create a concern at RV parks; water leak? no RO sluff. It's just tap water so not a hazard, but some folks might ask.

As long as you are on sewer connection it's not a factor, dump lots of water down there. I unfortunately dumped my sluff into my kitchen grey water, I was wondering why it filled up in just a couple of day. Blew away my boondocking plan. I was dumping frequently.

Water pressure is an issue. Optimally you will need 45psi to make the system work efficiently. Get below that the whole water system appears sluggish, ok, just a trickle in the shower. Not unlivable, just something to be aware of and plan for.

Do I appear to riding the fence here; just for clarification, I love RO systems, but for our travels in the RV my research says that it is unnecessary for us. Each of us must investigate, make a decision, and then live with that decision.

I hope I have not been to disjointed in my explanations and I have given you some food for thought.

Please share your successes with your RO system.

[ThePowells]

d2reid and the others,
Forgive the ignorance but why can the "byproduct" of the RO not simply be directed to the ground to be absorbed? It seems that only problem would be someone seeing it and not understanding and think it to be gray water, but having some kind of small basin in line may help if you have to explain it.

[Guest]

d2reid and the others,
Forgive the ignorance but why can the "byproduct" of the RO not simply be directed to the ground to be absorbed? It seems that only problem would be someone seeing it and not understanding and think it to be gray water, but having some kind of small basin in line may help if you have to explain it.

Jerry,

Good question. And Dallas has made some good comments as well. A system with minimal waste water and with both a high pressure input pump as well as a down stream pump powered by the brine output (permeate pump) can achieve about a 1:1 ratio of waste to filtered water. Some claim to be better but this is about all I would expect. There are zero waste systems which will pump the waste water back into the water tank or in the hot water line. I believe anyone looking into these systems would not want the zero waste option due to how it functions.
We boondock a great deal or are at sites with electric only where this may change if we ever get to snowbird. So our needs are low volume RO just for consumption.
If we were connected to a sewer, the plan would be to route the discharge to the gray tank. If boondocking, I would discharge it to the ground or in a 6 gallon jug that could be poured out.
So to have a good quality filter system with a low waste RO could work to keep folks in high quality water no matter where they are sourcing it from.
This may not be for everyone.

Jim

[JBill9694]

d2reid and the others,
Forgive the ignorance but why can the "byproduct" of the RO not simply be directed to the ground to be absorbed? It seems that only problem would be someone seeing it and not understanding and think it to be gray water, but having some kind of small basin in line may help if you have to explain it.

I know that this will not hold true every where, but we have stayed at a park in Gig Harbor WA that had a zero tolerance for any water leakage. This was due to a county regulation about runoff into sensitive salmon water. Other locations there may be experiencing water shortages due to drought or other causes that would make discharging water onto the ground unacceptable.

I think a separate container, if dry camping, may be a viable solution if discharging onto the ground is not acceptable. If there is a sewer connection, maybe feeding into the drain line down stream of the tanks shutoff valves?

[d2reid]

[USER="2234"]Forgive the ignorance but why can the "byproduct" of the RO not simply be directed to the ground to be absorbed?

Ignorance and bias. Not your ignorance, others... Byproduct is just tap water, pretty much the same that comes out of the sprinkler system. No harm to anyone. And yet, I have seen people that think it's ok to open their gray water valves as they leave the campground and let it drain while they are on the road. I watched a gent take a black water caddy down to the river and dump it in. As mentioned above some RV parks are really sensitive about it. I watched some ladies with their new 5th wheel do the Chevy Chase RV vacation skit for real.

Perceptions and reality. Water draining out from under an RV is considered something potentially bad. Trust me, if you dump RO sluff onto the ground you will get a knock on the door. Mostly neighbors worrying that you have a water leak you don't know about, but maybe a campground commando worrying about world contamination.

There are no right answers, only decision to be made. Each decision takes us down a different path. Choose wisely.