Water softner

[s1000pre]

I spent a week in Alamogordo, NM. The water was the hardest I have ever seen. I am having difficulty clean the hard water stains out of my stainless sink. Going to pick up some CLR today. Are you guys doing anything to soften water?

[lsbrodsky]

No, you need ion exchange for that. There are some small units intended for car washing enthusiasts, but you have to discard resin and replace it when testing tells you it is exhausted.
Larry

[McStreamy_]

The water is pretty hard here in Tucson as well. Normal stainless steel cleaner/polish works just fine for us - it's the same stuff we use at home.

[FishByFly]

I have no direct experience on your question but a quick internet search for RV water softener system pointed to many.

If you try these out, let us how it works out.

[BayouBiker]

Consider some polishing compound to clean the sink. It will take the stains out nicely. then follow up with some stainless sink care product or furniture polish. Will look good as new.

[TheGreatleys]

I use an RV water softener. Mine is the "On the Go" model, but there are others. It connects in-line with your hose when you fill up, or when you connect to a shore water supply.

To regenerate it, you open the top and dump in a standard 26oz container of table salt. The cylindrical cardboard one. Doesn't need to be iodized, but iodine doesn't hurt anything. Just get what's cheap. Should run you about 50 cents a pop. Then you run the water slowly for 10-15 minutes, then rinse, and you're good to go.

As far as determining when you need to regenerate, you need to monitor with test strips. You'll get a feel for how often you need to regenerate and then test less often. I can feel the difference when I wash my hands or shower if I waited too long.

When you move to a new area, the chemistry will change and you'll need to change the frequency of regeneration accordingly. For my full time use, I'm regenerating every couple of months in most places. The worst water I've encountered was around Quartzsite, when I had to regenerate every other fill (!).

An RV water softener will also remove dissolved iron, which is especially helpful if you chlorinate your tanks. (Chlorine will cause dissolved iron to drop out of solution in the tank.) I keep my tanks chlorinated to kill any bacteria in the water supply and to generally keep my tanks clean. Then I filter out the chlorine with a 0.5 micron carbon block immediately after my pump, which is also rated for protozoan cysts. I used to do commercial water treatment for a living, and I've seen too many campground water reports to trust what comes out of the faucet.

[SSquared]

We got an "On The Go" brand water filter when we spent several months living and volunteering at Kartchner Caverns State Park (gee, who would ever guess they have hard water where there is a giant limestone cave?). It does work. Since then, we use it a lot, even sometimes on an overnight stop.



At Kartchner, we did not get stains in the sink. What tipped us off to the hard water was unusual crackling noises coming from the water heater.

[s1000pre]

Originally Posted by TheGreatleys

I use an RV water softener. Mine is the "On the Go" model, but there are others. It connects in-line with your hose when you fill up, or when you connect to a shore water supply.

To regenerate it, you open the top and dump in a standard 26oz container of table salt. The cylindrical cardboard one. Doesn't need to be iodized, but iodine doesn't hurt anything. Just get what's cheap. Should run you about 50 cents a pop. Then you run the water slowly for 10-15 minutes, then rinse, and you're good to go.

As far as determining when you need to regenerate, you need to monitor with test strips. You'll get a feel for how often you need to regenerate and then test less often. I can feel the difference when I wash my hands or shower if I waited too long.

When you move to a new area, the chemistry will change and you'll need to change the frequency of regeneration accordingly. For my full time use, I'm regenerating every couple of months in most places. The worst water I've encountered was around Quartzsite, when I had to regenerate every other fill (!).

An RV water softener will also remove dissolved iron, which is especially helpful if you chlorinate your tanks. (Chlorine will cause dissolved iron to drop out of solution in the tank.) I keep my tanks chlorinated to kill any bacteria in the water supply and to generally keep my tanks clean. Then I filter out the chlorine with a 0.5 micron carbon block immediately after my pump, which is also rated for protozoan cysts. I used to do commercial water treatment for a living, and I've seen too many campground water reports to trust what comes out of the faucet.

Do you drink the water? I usually just stock up on Spring water. I sanitize my tank with 1/2 cup of bleach every season and religiously use the Camco taste pure filter. Thanks for the info on the “On the Go”. I’m going to place my order.

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by s1000pre

Do you drink the water? I usually just stock up on Spring water. I sanitize my tank with 1/2 cup of bleach every season and religiously use the Camco taste pure filter. Thanks for the info on the “On the Go”. I’m going to place my order.

Yes I drink the water from my tanks. After softening, chlorinating, and carbon filtering all of my water, I use a Zerowater pitcher to finish my drinking water. The chlorine plus carbon filter should be enough by itself, but I like an extra layer of protection just in case.

Worth noting, the dissolved solids are so high in Quartzsite that you pretty much have to buy separate drinking water there. The Zerowater pitcher will fix Quartzsite water, but the shorter life of the filters makes it cheaper to buy bottled water.

There are still risks with having bacteria in your tanks even if you don't drink the water (for instance, Legionnaire's disease). That's why I have chlorine in my water 100% of the time.

[DaveP]

3X the "On-the-Go" softener. Works well for us and is easy to regenerate.

[lsbrodsky]

Sorry, I did not know those things existed for RV's, that is with regenerable resins. Looks like the drawback with very hard water is that you are going to be regenerating often.
Larry

[dznf0g]

I use an Amerisoft unit. Pretty compact, works well...but unfortunately they were a cottage company and no longer in business. I use when i note hard water in travels. It is a 200 gallon unit (before regen) and even in the hardest conditions, that's accurate.

[Daquenzer]

I got a really good water filter. Then I hook it up on the water intake to the water softener. Made a big difference. I did this primarily to stop residue from plugging up the hot water heater filters on the valve sensor. We don’t drink the water from the campgrounds. We buy bottled water in a jug. But the water softner makes a hug difference in keeping the fixtures clean and makes for better showers.

[Rich W]

Here's a map of water hardness by the USGS

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by richw46

Here's a map of water hardness by the USGS

Could you give the link? Need that in my bookmark camping folder so I know when to pre-emptively drag out the softener while traveling.

[s1000pre]

Which of the "On the go's" did you go with?

[LNBright]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Could you give the link? Need that in my bookmark camping folder so I know when to pre-emptively drag out the softener while traveling.

Right-click on the image, and then click 'search Google for image', and you can find where the image came from....

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/w...center_objects

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by s1000pre

Which of the "On the go's" did you go with?

I have the smaller one on the left. Might be worth it for the fatter one in the middle if you're often in a very hard water area or you're hooked up to shore water.

For my use, portability is more important than capacity. Your needs might be different than mine.

[DaveP]

We got the larger On-The-Go in the middle. We also use it with our power washer to clean the AS. Leaves the surface spot-free.

[s1000pre]

Originally Posted by TheGreatleys

I use an RV water softener. Mine is the "On the Go" model, but there are others. It connects in-line with your hose when you fill up, or when you connect to a shore water supply.

To regenerate it, you open the top and dump in a standard 26oz container of table salt. The cylindrical cardboard one. Doesn't need to be iodized, but iodine doesn't hurt anything. Just get what's cheap. Should run you about 50 cents a pop. Then you run the water slowly for 10-15 minutes, then rinse, and you're good to go.

As far as determining when you need to regenerate, you need to monitor with test strips. You'll get a feel for how often you need to regenerate and then test less often. I can feel the difference when I wash my hands or shower if I waited too long.

When you move to a new area, the chemistry will change and you'll need to change the frequency of regeneration accordingly. For my full time use, I'm regenerating every couple of months in most places. The worst water I've encountered was around Quartzsite, when I had to regenerate every other fill (!).

An RV water softener will also remove dissolved iron, which is especially helpful if you chlorinate your tanks. (Chlorine will cause dissolved iron to drop out of solution in the tank.) I keep my tanks chlorinated to kill any bacteria in the water supply and to generally keep my tanks clean. Then I filter out the chlorine with a 0.5 micron carbon block immediately after my pump, which is also rated for protozoan cysts. I used to do commercial water treatment for a living, and I've seen too many campground water reports to trust what comes out of the faucet.

How do you go about chlorinating the water? Do you have a unit that is inline on the inlet hose similar to the water softener? If so, what is the name of the unit? Hose would go into the chlorinator, then carbon filter, then water softener?