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Thread: Drinking water

  1. #11
    Rolling Along jim1521's Avatar
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  2. #12
    Seasoned Camper chemist308's Avatar
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    When I was in Memphis, I used a Camco carbon filter (available at Walmart). In Kansas, I put together a softener and RO system (found in replies to the link provided by Jim1521). Now in Colorado, I'm using the filtration system I put together, but thinking seriously of just going back to a carbon block filter. In short, yes, I drink the water.

  3. #13
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    Using this for years. Awesome system.

    https://www.amazon.com/APEC-5-Stage-...x+water+filter
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  4. #14
    Long Hauler DaveMatthewsBand's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aridon View Post
    Using this for years. Awesome system.

    https://www.amazon.com/APEC-5-Stage-...x+water+filter
    I read somewhere that reverse osmosis was a scam. Could have sworn I saw a 60 minutes episode on it.


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  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaveMatthewsBand View Post
    I read somewhere that reverse osmosis was a scam. Could have sworn I saw a 60 minutes episode on it.


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    It's a method of filtering water. Same with distillation which is another method. Reverse osmosis uses a series of filters to remove containments, distillation turns the water to steam and cools it back to water. You use one or the other to filter.

    There is no scam. In fact many cities and municipalities use reverse osmosis to filter their drinking water.

    Now if I tell you reverse osmosis water will regrow your hair or cure cancer, that would be a scam.

    Ultimately the quality of the water you get out of a RO system is determined by the size of the holes in the last stage filter. Anything small enough to pass will pass.

    Distillation has limitations as well. Everything has different boiling points. If something dangerous in the water boils with it, then it will remain in the purified water as well. Where distillation has an advantage is micro organism removal. Although that generally is not an issue with municipal supplies anyway.
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  6. #16
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    Thanks everyone for your replies. Hubby and I are looking over all suggestions! They are all really good! We just know we are over buying and storing bottled water. Thanks again! Tara
    Steve & Tara Smiley
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  7. #17
    Seasoned Camper chemist308's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DaveMatthewsBand View Post
    I read somewhere that reverse osmosis was a scam. Could have sworn I saw a 60 minutes episode on it.
    I'm a chemist, and my first job was in the water treatment industry. I promise you, if it was a scam, I'd know and I wouldn't have installed it. The problem is folks often treat perfectly good water with various filters, softeners and other things. Or worse, they treat bad water with the wrong things. They use softeners to remove iron, or they think RO is the golden route to making all water great. In short, here's what the some of the treatment methods are for:

    Sediment filters (string kind or pleated kind) do only that--filter solid dirt.
    Softeners remove calcium by exchanging 1 Calcium ion for 2 Sodium ions. This cuts calcification. They can also remove minor amounts of iron or manganese (orange and black staining, respectively) in hard to very hard water, but chlorination or iron filters do this better and without equipment damage.
    Carbon filters remove chlorine and organics (which are commonly associated with "odor"). In short I would not drink municipal water that was not at least carbon filtered.
    RO units remove ions or dissolved ionic compounds (commonly salts, flouride, lead, manganese, arsenic iron and the like). Calcium (hardness in water) and chlorine will significantly reduce the life of an RO membrane, which is why it's a good idea to have a softener and carbon filter if you're going for RO.
    UV light will render most bacteria incapable of breading if not kill it outright. For municipal supplies this is generally not needed. For questionable water I wouldn't use it either--chlorination or ozonation instead (but not practical for an RV). UV is really just a failsafe in case your good well water starts turning bad.

  8. #18
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    We retire in Nov. and begin our first snowbird run in Jan. We haven't been out west and south, usually too far. Most everywhere we have gone the water hasn't been bad, just filling and using their water. Private and state parks. Maybe we've been lucky.
    Ron & Sue
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  9. #19
    Full Timer warsw1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chemist308 View Post
    I'm a chemist, and my first job was in the water treatment industry. I promise you, if it was a scam, I'd know and I wouldn't have installed it. The problem is folks often treat perfectly good water with various filters, softeners and other things. Or worse, they treat bad water with the wrong things. They use softeners to remove iron, or they think RO is the golden route to making all water great. In short, here's what the some of the treatment methods are for:

    Sediment filters (string kind or pleated kind) do only that--filter solid dirt.
    Softeners remove calcium by exchanging 1 Calcium ion for 2 Sodium ions. This cuts calcification. They can also remove minor amounts of iron or manganese (orange and black staining, respectively) in hard to very hard water, but chlorination or iron filters do this better and without equipment damage.
    Carbon filters remove chlorine and organics (which are commonly associated with "odor"). In short I would not drink municipal water that was not at least carbon filtered.
    RO units remove ions or dissolved ionic compounds (commonly salts, flouride, lead, manganese, arsenic iron and the like). Calcium (hardness in water) and chlorine will significantly reduce the life of an RO membrane, which is why it's a good idea to have a softener and carbon filter if you're going for RO.
    UV light will render most bacteria incapable of breading if not kill it outright. For municipal supplies this is generally not needed. For questionable water I wouldn't use it either--chlorination or ozonation instead (but not practical for an RV). UV is really just a failsafe in case your good well water starts turning bad.
    chemist308...It sound like you have a lot of experience with water quality. I would like to ask a few questions about RO systems if you don't mind.

    We were going to add a RO system to our house so I started to read about them to see how they really work. What I read wasn't all good. It seems that the RO process was developed to extract salt from sea water to make it drinkable. What they seem to warn you about is that the process extract all the nutrients and minerals from the water and actually turns it into what they call "Dead water". They say that your body need these nutrients and minerals and if you don't get them from some other source that the water from a RO system is not good for you.

    It seems that a lot of people use RO systems so I wonder how true this is. Could you help me understand this system? Is it good or not?
    Thanks
    Randy & Sharon (Went full time April 14th 2017)

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  10. #20
    Seasoned Camper chemist308's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by warsw1 View Post
    ...What they seem to warn you about is that the process extract all the nutrients and minerals from the water and actually turns it into what they call "Dead water". They say that your body need these nutrients and minerals and if you don't get them from some other source that the water from a RO system is not good for you...
    Yes and no. Basically there are some minerals that you get from water. Some are good, some are bad, and some--most I bet--are non-factors because you get them from food and other things that you do drink. The measure of dissolved compounds in water is done through water conductivity. Water in it's purest form really does not conduct electricity. The ions from all the dissolved things in water make it conductive. Deionized, distilled and RO purified water have very little to no conductivity, and therefore nothing else in it. But water from a cistern (rain water) is not all that different. Water from an actual spring, at the source, is generally also relatively pure. It seems the deeper into the earth you go for your water, usually the more minerals your water has in it. It's when your water starts getting too much in it that the RO unit becomes a good idea.

    That's what happened to me in Kansas. The water there was notoriously hard. If I didn't add a softener, I'd have risked the washer, water heater and plumbing fixtures. But the softener only compounded the problem of drinking water--those exchange 2 sodium ions for every 1 calcium. That's why for that kind of water I usually used to recommend a softener for the house main and RO for drinking and cooking. But you may not need to go that far if you never end up in area where the municipal water is so hard that you get the hard water deposits within a week. Remember, not all water needs that level of treatment. But if you ever find yourself in an area where it seems likely every store is setting 50lb bags of softener salt, it's often a good indicator that you might need to go as far as I did.

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