Water Purifier -- thoughts?

[chris_kelly]

X-Post from a FC forum thread.


Wanted to ask the forum members what are their thoughts on the UV purifiers for RV's. We currently use a Berkey, but realize that is only a filter, not a purifier.

We're considering installing an Acuva Tech water purifier at our sink.

The Acuva case study seems valid.

A couple of youtube'ers we follow have posted their review. But they've been sponsored by the company.

Would like the forum's overall thoughts and ease of installation under the sink in a 2019 Int'l Sig 23FB.

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[Rich W]

We have stayed on floating houses in Tennessee that had UV systems. They pulled lake water in, filtered it then ran it through some kind of UV device that was supposed to make it safe to drink. As long as it's working right I don't see a problem. The water tasted fine and none of us got sick.

Then again, we stayed at a cabin on a Canadian lake for 5 days, drinking the tap water and making ice for drinks. The owner dropped by one day, saw we were drinking the tap water and said "you know that comes right out of the lake". I said he needed to put up a sign to let people know. Again, none of us got sick, but we didn't drink the water after that.

[BayouBiker]

I have a Chemical Engineering Degree and spent some time in environmental science, and sewer and water treatment. UV light is a very effective way to destroy bacteria and the unit under consideration works well. I don't know about reliability of these residential and smaller systems and can't speak to that.

These are primarily intended to treat self sourced surface waters and and make it safe to drink at a reasonable flow rate and cost. The alternative is micro filtering or membrane filtering which won't let the bacteria through but flow rates are low so you have to store the cleaned water, but that is not an issue for trailers. Also filter care is an issue.

Here are some thoughts though.

First off it is far better to filter and then UV treat the water before it even enters the trailer. No sense establishing a colony of bacteria in your pipes or tank. since the flow rate is relatively low for this, fill your tank with treated water then use water from your tank. If you plan to go off-grid, water purification by some method is a must, but there are a couple other effective ways to remove or destroy bacteria, you should compare them and pick the method that fits your situation.

If you are intending to use this on city water just to be sure, I won't stop you, but I think it is overkill. If the cost seems worth it for piece of mind, okay, but there are far bigger risks out there that money could be spent on.

[chris_kelly]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

I have a Chemical Engineering Degree and spent some time in environmental science, and sewer and water treatment. UV light is a very effective way to destroy bacteria and the unit under consideration works well. I don't know about reliability of these residential and smaller systems and can't speak to that.

I've seen them being used on an industrial scale to treat NYC water systems, at least on a NYT video.

These are primarily intended to treat self sourced surface waters and and make it safe to drink at a reasonable flow rate and cost. The alternative is micro filtering or membrane filtering which won't let the bacteria through but flow rates are low so you have to store the cleaned water, but that is not an issue for trailers. Also filter care is an issue.

Agreed that an RO system probably not the best for a small trailer with limited space to begin with.

First off it is far better to filter and then UV treat the water before it even enters the trailer. No sense establishing a colony of bacteria in your pipes or tank. since the flow rate is relatively low for this, fill your tank with treated water then use water from your tank. If you plan to go off-grid, water purification by some method is a must, but there are a couple other effective ways to remove or destroy bacteria, you should compare them and pick the method that fits your situation.

Yes, we do pre-filter the water prior to going into a storage tank with the blue camco hose filter. Not ideal but at least it's a first filter. The idea behind the UV system is to replace the Berkey water filter we have so we can re-gain space, on the counter and during travel days.

If you are intending to use this on city water just to be sure, I won't stop you, but I think it is overkill. If the cost seems worth it for piece of mind, okay, but there are far bigger risks out there that money could be spent on.

Don't disagree -- but as we move towards our grand plan (traveling six months of the year in our trailer) not sure about consistent source of drinking water. We would be able to get onboard to military famcamps but then again those aren't always the safest.

Appreciate you taking the time to post!

[chris_kelly]

Originally Posted by richw46

We have stayed on floating houses in Tennessee that had UV systems. They pulled lake water in, filtered it then ran it through some kind of UV device that was supposed to make it safe to drink. As long as it's working right I don't see a problem. The water tasted fine and none of us got sick.

Awesome!

Then again, we stayed at a cabin on a Canadian lake for 5 days, drinking the tap water and making ice for drinks. The owner dropped by one day, saw we were drinking the tap water and said "you know that comes right out of the lake". I said he needed to put up a sign to let people know. Again, none of us got sick, but we didn't drink the water after that.

Doh! Luck be your lady!

[kidjedi]

Originally Posted by richw46

Then again, we stayed at a cabin on a Canadian lake for 5 days, drinking the tap water and making ice for drinks. The owner dropped by one day, saw we were drinking the tap water and said "you know that comes right out of the lake". I said he needed to put up a sign to let people know. Again, none of us got sick, but we didn't drink the water after that.

This is hilarious. Like, the owner stops by and says: you're sleeping in the beds?! You know those are stuffed with ticks and spiders, right?

Filtration in the AS is my next major research topic. I think a 3 canister set up is the best place to start (filtering lead, chlorine, cryptospores, and other *particulates* out). But UV to kill bacteria when pulling from "questionable" sources would be a great *additional* part of the setup.

[azflycaster]

For a few cents per bottle, this works very well for us...

[chris_kelly]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

For a few cents per bottle, this works very well for us...

Way too much waste and cost overall ... single use plastics are not why we want to be out in nature -- plus adds to hauling trash. Why do that when we have a perfectly good, large storage container in our trailer?

[chris_kelly]

Originally Posted by kidjedi

Filtration in the AS is my next major research topic. I think a 3 canister set up is the best place to start (filtering lead, chlorine, cryptospores, and other *particulates* out). But UV to kill bacteria when pulling from "questionable" sources would be a great *additional* part of the setup.

That's where we are too ... replacing the Berkey with something smaller, always on is how we want to go.

The UV light has a pre-filter either standard or advanced. For your use case, it would seem the advanced is the way to go.

But I'm not a fan of drilling another hole in the countertop -- neither is the other half. In browsing the What Did You Get Your Trailer Today thread, VeloBuckeye installed a dual faucet. The one he purchased isn't in stock anymore, but Amazon does have this one.

[waninae39]

we use a high flow dual filter for all water coming in.
we have a separate low flow triple filter and tap at the sink for drinking water. this is all passive and uses no power, just water flow. over three years we've run into ZERO issue.

we remove the filter at the end of the season and place new ones in each year, thus no issue with mold build up
this is our schematic

plastic water bottles cost 100X the cost of tap or fresh water
plastic bottles are a HUGE waste issue to the environment.
we need to reduce waste and not add to it.
also there are NO controls or nation/local standards of what is in a water bottle. Many cheap suppliers just get it from local tap water

[chris_kelly]

Originally Posted by waninae39

we use a high flow dual filter for all water coming in.
we have a separate low flow triple filter and tap at the sink for drinking water. this is all passive and uses no power, just water flow. over three years we've run into ZERO issue.

Where do you store all of the filters -- your TV? It's an interesting thought.

So I just ran a 12AWG wire along with a neutral/ground from the DC distribution under our fridge in the 23FB -- since the unit runs off of DC -- which is kind of awesome for long term use.

plastic water bottles cost 100X the cost of tap or fresh water
plastic bottles are a HUGE waste issue to the environment.
we need to reduce waste and not add to it.
also there are NO controls or nation/local standards of what is in a water bottle. Many cheap suppliers just get it from local tap water

^This!

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by kidjedi

This is hilarious. Like, the owner stops by and says: you're sleeping in the beds?! You know those are stuffed with ticks and spiders, right?

We didn't go back there. We had a good time but he was NOT a good host for several reasons, but water was at the top of the list. He sold us bags of ice where the water was right out of the lake, just a PVC pipe from the shore with a wire basket filter on the end to keep the chunks out. Again, no signs anywhere, he just acted like it was supposed to be common knowledge.

We've rented places with well water but then everyone in the area had wells for decades and they were all periodically inspected by the town's health department.

[waninae39]

Storage? We don't store the filters. They are installed.

The 2 main high volume filters are under the closet. They are the white ones on the edge of this pic. the top is street facing

we keep the 3 low volume drinking filters under the counter just to the left of the sinks. They cant be seen unless you remove the uwave. They have a separate tap. we use this for any drinking/cooking water. As you can see in the schematic, the low volume filters are inline and get the water that has been filter by the two high volume filters.

all is easy now to remove for winter storage. The union connection makes it very easy to disassemble. The 5 filters are disposed of in paper recycling . we get new filters each spring

[captsquid]

As a former tropics sailboater from the 20th century. 8 drops of iodine per gallon of water in fresh water tank and a 2 to 3 micron faucet attached filter was as high tech as we achieved. Cheap, effective and low maintenance. 100 drops = 1 teaspoon = 5mil. Close enough.

[SilverWind]

This is what we use.

https://www.berkeyfilters.com/products/travel-berkey

In our opinion, much better tasting, safer and environmentally more responsible than disposable plastic bottles.

[ROBERT CROSS]

This three stage system makes the BEST tasting filtered water.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[Walstib]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

This three stage system makes the BEST tasting filtered water.👍

Bob
🇺🇸

That's two stage....spare sediment filter.

This is what I have. Great company to deal with. Buy direct https://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/

They sell and upgrade ceramic for the carbon. Expensive and best is to add it on the end so it is a three stage. The ceramic is prone to clogging if not filtered with sediment filter. Carbon works as one of two stages with ceramic with it but wears out faster without sediment filter. Making a three stage gets clunky if you're using out side as full water supply. Ceramic greatly reduces flow as well.

[Kanusport]

I use a standard pur filter that screws onto the faucet like the one you would buy for your home. It works great. I also use a filter that attaches to the hose I fill my water tank with. These two filter processes work in tandem to make good water. I also don’t ever add antifreeze to my water tank. I blow lines with water.

[chris_kelly]

Originally Posted by waninae39

Storage? We don't store the filters. They are installed.

The 2 main high volume filters are under the closet. They are the white ones on the edge of this pic. the top is street facing

we keep the 3 low volume drinking filters under the counter just to the left of the sinks. They cant be seen unless you remove the uwave. They have a separate tap. we use this for any drinking/cooking water. As you can see in the schematic, the low volume filters are inline and get the water that has been filter by the two high volume filters.

all is easy now to remove for winter storage. The union connection makes it very easy to disassemble. The 5 filters are disposed of in paper recycling . we get new filters each spring

Gotcha ... I was wondering where they were installed in the camper ... and it seems to be working for you in a 22'!

[chris_kelly]

Originally Posted by SilverWind

This is what we use.

https://www.berkeyfilters.com/products/travel-berkey

In our opinion, much better tasting, safer and environmentally more responsible than disposable plastic bottles.

Yes -- we have one as well, but the idea is to reduce the need to store the Berkey on travel days, and with two people and two dogs, a 23 FB isn't the best in terms of large storage.

So the intent is to reduce our Berkey use (although still keep it in our bricks and sticks house in case of an emergency).

We even found a non-berkey filter that works just as good as the Berkey branded ones.