Cold drinking water options

[keeena]

I've been thinking about a better option for drinkable water in the camper. We currently don't use water from the tank/city hookup for drinking - don't trust it. I initially went down the road of the 5gal bottom-loading water dispenser, but these aren't practical because they require 120v and take up a bit of room.

These are my 2 options:

• Buy a quality, multi-stage water filter and install in-line on a dedicated drinking water faucet
• Rig a 2nd dedicated 12v water pump (like the shurflo pumps our campers have) to a 5gal water container and plumb directly to a water faucet

Trade-offs are obvious - cost & lugging around 5gal containers (~$1/gal) vs. cost for water filter setup & filters ($400+$70 for filter set every 1-2k gallons). Do quality filter units work as good as bottled water? Do you folks have any filters that you recommend?

The other part of my question: what do you guys know about drilling holes thru the fridge wall? What I'd like to do is run a water coil in/out of the rv fridge to cool the drinking water line. For those who aren't aware: this is what is done in residential refrigerators to cool the water prior to heading to the dispenser. I've searched all over and haven't seen anyone do something like this. I imagine that as long as I use good fitting grommets and air-seal the 2 holes: it should be fine...maybe. 

[Powder Hounds]

Hi,

We have no issues drinking from our fresh water tank. Every season after de-winterizing while the hot water tank is bypassed we bleach the tank and lines. Regular maintenance. Most of our camping is off grid for weeks at a time and we regularly filter water from rivers and streams. Gravity bag set up with a 1 micron and chemical filter. Numerous options available, but hauling water and backwashing the filters gets tiresome after 3-5 gallons. 10-15 gallons not fun and that is your day! Some water goes in the holding tank and some we leave in our drinking containers.

Filling up via taps, questionable locations we wipe the faucet with a bleach cloth and use a cheap Camco in line hose filter to remove sediment and then a decent 1 micron in line filter. Takes a bit to fill but worth the wait. Easy to use and good value. Decent water sources I'll just use the Camco filter.

Sawyer has a screw on tap filter that you could put on the sink faucet and that will give you 1 micron as well. You could still use a cheap sediment filter to fill with on your potable hose. We filter all water going into the trailer, just depends on what level of filtration we want, saves the lines and faucets from hard water build up, scale etc.

Or spend the extra money and go for a permanent system. Endless options.

Have fun!

[Merlin]

I'm not an expert on drinking water and I know everyone has their own risk level. I spent my career in part on water quality issues in the Great Lakes, so I know what the basic problems can be. There are biological contaminants like bacteria, algae, viruses, cysts, etc. There are aesthetic contaminants like taste, odor, color, cloudiness, etc. And there are toxic contaminants like lead, mercury, carcinogens, etc. To get to my risk level for all of those, here's what I do.

I use only water from public water supplies like campgrounds. I never use surface water or private water supplies. I flush the supply faucet for at least 10 seconds and then clean it carefully with a fresh Clorox wipe before hooking up my hose. Then every drop of water going into my camper, either into the tank or through the shore water inlet, is run through a blue Camco in-line filter that's changed 2 times per season. I also have a Brita filter on the sink faucet for a final taste polish before I fill water bottles and put them in the fridge. That eliminates the plastic smell the water can pick up in the tank.

And, like all good RVers, I completely sterilize the system each fall before winter storage. There is link on how to do that in the forum newsletter that is about to be published.

If your risk level is lower than mine, I recommend your option 1, installing a complete multi-filter treatment system and doing all the water. The reason I would do all the water, and not just the drinking water, is that some contaminants from each of the categories I mentioned can be aerosolized and get into your body even by taking showers or washing dishes. For my usage and risk level, that's not a problem. But, again, whether that's a concern to you depends on your risk level.

And one last note on bottled water. Unless it's carbonated or flavored, it's just tap water in a bottle. Don't get sucked into the hype.

I don't think you will want to take as much room in your fridge as would be needed to cool warm tank water in a coil before dispensing. Residential fridges have room for those coils, but at least in my fridge, there is no way I could take that from available space. I'm happy with just cold water bottles in the fridge for drinking.

[keeena]

I always use one of those camco blue inline filters when at campgrounds but those don't do much compared to a proper filtration system (the inline is really just for larger particulates and some odor/flavor - doesn't do squat for anything else). We otherwise only fill from our house (town water supply). I also sanitize 2x/year.

When I removed the fresh water tank earlier this year I was surprised to see "stuff" inside the fill and water supply lines. It looked a little like mold but not sure what it is. It's not much at all but definitely not squeaky clean either. It kind of reinforced my suspicion that more filtering needed if I wanted to feel comfortable drinking it. And I'm tired of buying gallon water jugs - its wasteful.

Wiping the supply spigot is always a good idea. I've heard of using a small bowl with a water/bleach solution and submerging the spigot in that for 30sec before use (and then run water to flush, of course). And 100% agree about what bottled water actually is. For the brand of 5 gallon jugs I started using: the water is filtered as well as goes thru a reverse-osmosis process (which is exceptionally good)...but in the end its just tap water that is filtered.

Water coils are not ridiculously large, but I get your point. And residential water starts at a cooler temp before getting to the fridge, so the cooling would only work well for filling a 16oz cup or so...then it would get warm-ish. I also debated just filling containers and putting those in the fridge. Sometimes like to over-engineer things. 

Funny you mention contaminants from washing hands, dishes, etc... To me I assume[d] the risk was low (e.g. washing dishes) relative to drinking it directly. Something I have to think more about...

[Merlin]

Hmmmm......you may be using a different filter than me. Camco's TastePURE in-line filters are advertised to remove all 15 of these. If I start with regularly tested water, like that at campgrounds, this filtration meets my risk level.

Aluminum
Bacteria
Bad Taste
Cadmium
Chlorine
Fungus
Heavy Metals
Hydrogen Sulfide
Iron
Lead
Mercury
Mold
Odor
Turbidity (cloudiness)
Sediment

[keeena]

We're talking about the same thing. Yes, it will filter stuff >20microns so it will catch metals & bacteria larger than that size (which is very small; I have no idea the distribution of sizes - probably varies greatly with location). Anyway, the consensus I've seen is that filters in the range of 1-5micron (absolute rating) as being "quality". That's my over-simplification of a complex topic.    Using the Camco is good and better than nothing; it's a basic filter.

[Merlin]

Report back on what you come up with for filtration. What you find and do will be really valuable info. 

[GoElectric]

We have contemplated taking our Big Berkey with us, but takes up just a little too much room when space is at a premium.  Do any of you all use one?