Water Supply - Filter vs Reverse Osmosis?

[TheNescios]

Since purchasing our Grand Design we've used a decent quality in-line water filter, pressure regulator, and a dedicated water supply hose with good results.
Water main broke at one of the parks, the filter caught all the debris & sediment, and after the line cleared up I flushed our system to avoid any issues.

On our recent trip I've noticed a number of people with what I've figured out is a portable reverse osmosis system.

Most of the places we've stopped have been on municipal water systems so wondering what the benefit of reverse osmosis vs good quality filter or series of filters would be?
What have others figured out on this?
Chris

[ckreef]

RO water

"When it is consumed, it also leaches minerals from the body. This means that the minerals being consumed in food and vitamins are being urinated away. Hence, whatever the claims could be from the RO suppliers, drinking water treated using RO technology is definitely hazardous to health.”

It's a debated subject.

I just have a nice three stage filter, micron, carbon, and heavy metal.

[Cate&Rob]

TheNescios
Hi Chris,

Reverse Osmosis systems use a lot of water with some using up to 20 gal to produce 1 gal of usable water. (Better ones are 4 gal used to produce 1) This might not be a problem on a FHU site if you are not paying for the water, but would become a significant factor if you were using tank water and dumping "waste" water to a grey tank. Just something to consider . . .

I will be interested in where you go with this idea, since we have been considering RO for our long term winter site in Florida which does not have the best quality water.

Rob

[Guest]

RO water

"When it is consumed, it also leaches minerals from the body. This means that the minerals being consumed in food and vitamins are being urinated away. Hence, whatever the claims could be from the RO suppliers, drinking water treated using RO technology is definitely hazardous to health.”

It's a debated subject.

I just have a nice three stage filter, micron, carbon, and heavy metal.

I've not heard of RO water having an affinity to minerals from the human body. But RO will filter a lot of bad stuff such as arsenic, cyanide, chlorine and other bad chemicals that otherwise would not be filtered from water treatment plants or typical RV and house filters. RO has a membrane that must be flushed with plenty of water on occasion so it will use a great deal of water to re-generate the system. We use RO water for our coffee at home but for the Imagine, I have been wanting to make up an aluminum stand with a whole house unit with a carbon filter.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Whole...H35F/100471274

https://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoPure-...PW4C/301062771

https://www.iwapublishing.com/news/r...drinking-water

Jim

[TheNescios]

The part about minerals being removed from the water was on a website for a supplier of RO systems along with an additional cartridge that can be added to put the minerals back in - which brings up several more thoughts on removing natural minerals we need then artificially reintroducing them? Though, from here and websites I've been doing research on, seems the consensus is we should be getting the nutrients and minerals from what we eat.
Didn't know about the systems using more water, but that's another item for the con side. Pros are they seem to be very good at removing a bunch of different things from the water.
Definitely going to continue to research the RO systems to see if they're the right fit for us once I understand the pros & cons better.

At this point I'm thinking the best option is a good quality 3-stage filter system either mounted in the angled wall behind the Nautilus or attached to something free standing that's placed right below where the water enters the RV. Access to the filters + minimal risk if something leaked are pros for the free standing unit below where the water enters, cold weather that occasionally is low enough we purchased a water supply hose with a built in heat tape is a pro for having it in the basement - but if it was portable guess it could always be moved to the basement and placed in a plastic tub of some sort during cold weather?
(water issues on several homes over the years from poor construction or lack of maintenance by previous owners that had me doing extensive bathroom remodels has me very cautious about water leaks)

Guess I'm going back to researching a good quality multi-filter system with filters that are readily available - suggestions welcome!
Like something that's readily available from Home Depot like Jim posted - the more readily available the filters are the better.

Seems like living in an RV is very much like owning a motorcycle - the cost of the motorcycle was about 1/2 of what you actually spent once you had riding gear, helmets, accessories, and modifications!
Chris

[howson]

Seems like living in an RV is very much like owning a motorcycle - the cost of the motorcycle was about 1/2 of what you actually spent once you had riding gear, helmets, accessories, and modifications!

Absolutely! Price a new Arai XD4 helmet...

For the water...consider a Berkey. We use ours both in the house and in the camper. Stores nicely under the sink while traveling.

[Guest]

Based on some reading and speaking with my son-in-law that works with water purification systems, there are a many myths about drinking RO water. Since most mineral intake into the body comes from food, this makes RO attractive since it will remove harmful chemicals and contaminants. It may be the best combination to use RO and take a daily vitamin for folks concerned about vitamin intake.

http://wcponline.com/2019/07/15/reve...and-the-facts/

Jim

[Teamjd]

I'm new to Rving, but not water filtering.
I have a well that is so high in minerals that you could bend the water with a magnet.
I have a water softener and RO system.

Nobody wants to drink bad water, and there is no way to know if the campgrounds water is any good without having it tested.
You need some sort of filter. I plan to put the RO system in my RV when it comes in.
You can't get the flow from a reverse osmosis filter for everyday use, but it is good water to drink and protect your appliances.
You get most of your minerals from food and a good multivitamin, so drink away.
I haven't read one recent study about mineral loss that wasn't related to a site selling something to correct it.
If your interested, my setup is a small RO system. I tap off the third stage filter for everything you're concerned about for everyday use;
there's plenty of flow.
After that it goes to a small counter tap for RO water for the coffee pot and steam iron (yeah, we still use one).
They say you can add the minerals back into RO water with Himalayan or similar unprocessed salt.
We use it for cooking, but don't add it to the RO water. We get enough minerals from all the other junk we eat and drink.

[boyscout]

I've not heard of RO water having an affinity to minerals from the human body.

TheNescios I deep-dove into coffee years ago and eventually got an $8,000 espresso machine to worry about. I thought that the RO system we already had would give me the best-possible water to run through it. However the coffee didn't taste so great.

As I sought expert advice about it I learned that, as ckreef has said, RO water has an affinity for minerals and will draw them from its surroundings, be they blood and body tissues or espresso machine boilers or (likely) parts of the plumbing system in a trailer.

I considered systems that would put minerals back IN to the water after it came out of the RO system (which some high-end coffee shops do) but in the end I just used the not-great city water for the coffee and the coffee tasted way better. Iron, chlorine and all!

I sold the espresso machine five years and two houses ago and haven't had an RO system in either of the houses since. Our water isn't great where we live now, so we use Brita filter jugs for drinking and coffee water.

We have a couple in the trailer too; they work well. Sometimes when I'm showering at campgrounds it smells like I'm showering in a 5% bleach solution. No trace of it in our Brita-filtered drinking water.

[Guest]

If someone can pass on a medical research paper (no filter sales sites) that claims RO water has an affinity for minerals in the human body, please post it.

Otherwise RO water will strip minerals from copper (and lead) pipes as well as, it will pull calcium deposits from a coffee pot and other appliances that have built up these accumulations of minerals. This is why the RO system must be ran through drinking water grade plastics.

Jim

[TheNescios]

Howard - I had to give up riding.....
I'm, for good or bad, one of those people that enjoys speed a bit too much - but mainly in corners?
My last bike was an HD Ultra Classic that had been bored, cams, race tuner, the works - buddy & I would go out to a local mountain and run 70+ on the 35 mph corners. Before that were 1500cc & 1200cc Goldwings, (the 1500 was a nice performing bike) before those, some really fun bikes like a Kawasaki KZ900 bored out to 1100cc with big Mikuni carbs and several other really nice mods and even a Suzuki GS1100 Turbo for a short time. Reflexes weren't as good as the memories so it was time to stop - the chicken part of my brain isn't very well developed. I'm also the guy who put a 70 hp outboard on a 14' aluminum flat bottom boat.... and did aerobatics in small planes and gliders.
Yes, I'm THAT dain bramaged.
(and we haven't even gotten to the 6 totaled vehicles)
Chris

[d2reid]

I have been full circle on the subject. When I installed an ro system in my old 5th wheel I couldn't keep the tanks emptied, RO sluffs a lot of water off. Water tasted good. A fear monger told me I was gonna die for lack of nutrients, did some research, nope. Minerals etc are mostly provided by what we eat, you would have to drink an abnormally large amount of RO water before it would have a minor effect on you internal chemistry.

So I did some more digging. I found some rare cases where water contamination was bad enough to actually affect peoples health after years of drinking the same water. But nowhere did it instantly kill you or even make you sick. Hmmm! More fear mongering. So I dug into some water plant writings about water quality. It appears that 99% of tap water is safe to drink in the US. High standards for quality and content must be tested to keep licenses etc.

So replaced the RO system in the old 5th wheel with a mid-price water filter system from Lowes. Couldn't tell a difference. When It came time to modify the water system on my new Momentum I just added a better filter canister in the sand filter that's already installed. I have traveled all over the US and Canada, water has been fine.

IMHO the most of the water quality issues is in making people fearful so they will buy a product, not science based decisions. I am just really glad that we quit buying cases of bottled water, those plastic bottles got to be really annoying in locations where recycling wasn't organized.

I am becoming quite the doubting Thomas when it comes to trends....

[Guest]

d2reid Dallas, agree and am planning to make up a filter for my Imagine from a whole house filter with a carbon filter element for the rare cases I get a full hookup. The RO in my home serves a specific purpose of removing salt from the softened water and is used for drinking water only. Had the well tested and other than a small excess in iron that is being removed from the softener, its very much like bottled water. We cook with this water and do not use RO for cooking.
If I'm on an electric only site as in most cases, I haul my own water. Since I do not know what is in some of these campground aquifers, we prefer to drag around our own water.
Retirement and eventual snow birding will force us to use the water that is available to us.

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

[Teamjd]

I wanted to add that if you do install an RO system, also install a "permeate pump".
It is self powered by the water and cut my RO waste water by 75%.

[Cate&Rob]

Teamjd

Good information! . . . I did not know about a permeate pump. More info on how it works here: https://www.freshwatersystems.com/bl...osmosis-system

Rob