fresh water and filters
hi all. i know this has probably been talked about before but typed the header in search window and came up with rubbish ot related to fresh water. what it is we british people can boast about having the cleanest water in the world and drinkable straight from the tap, so why o why do we have to use steralizer and filters when on site. do static caravans have filters. if all the pipe work in a van is food grade which i hope it is then shorely the water coming out of the site taps is drinkable straight from the tap as it is connected to the mains water network and treatment plants. thanks for any advice and of course tips.
Comments
-
this is getting quite confusing for me. i bought my caravan 6 weeks ago from a dealer near Thirsk??? not used it yet as getting everything together and yes i will forget something the first night.i went to my van today in storage and thought i will check this filter and low and behold non fitted, great dealer even forgot to fit motor mover. i was searching google and found this from the CC july 2010-----
For Systems:
1. Drain down the system (open all taps to allow air in, enabling the system to drain quickly).
2. Remove any water filters fitted, and replace with a short length of hose or empty filter cartridge (this will ensure the filter is not affected by the disinfectant/sterilant solution).
3. Fill the system by using the pump with a disinfectant/sterilant solution (check that the solution at full strength appears at all taps/showers). Allow to stand for the recommended period of time.
4. Drain the system down completely.
5. Thoroughly clean the outside of all taps/connectors with a cloth soaked in the disinfectant/sterilant.
6. Flush the system through with clean drinking water until no traces of disinfectant/sterilant can be detected at any tap.
7. Replace the filter.
Filters should be replaced at the recommended intervals, irrespective of how often they have been used – the filter ingredients are activated at first use, and will continue to break down whether or not the filter is in regular service. Also, with jug filters for instance, care must be taken not to exceed manufacturers’ recommendations before change. It is important to remember these filters must be used as a means of filtering fresh drinking water only.----- couple of questions please, as it states remove filter before using steralizer which i understand but what is this about fitting a short peice of pipe in its place? where do i fit it? what size does it have to be? getting a headache with the confusion. its a truma ultraflow with the blue filter. if i have no filter fitted will the water still get through? please help with some pics if poss before i just say sod it and sell the thing as you dont get this hastle with hotels. thanks fellow members. as you can guess everything and i mean everything is new to me.
0 -
lorna, the very short version....
you'll get posts from both ends of the spectrum....those who never clean their systems and drink the water from the tap.....right through to those who clean it every trip/month/season and never dring the water.....
......and every combination in between.....
one factor might be frequency of use....if there is a virtually constant flow of water through the pipes the need to 'clean' might well be less...
similarly, if you only have a few trips a year, you wouldnt want to leave water in the pipes for too long.....
advice on cleaning products etc will be along shortly....
FWIW, we have a MH with a large fresh tank but use the van very regularly, so the water is never standing for very long....the only thing we do is use a Brita filter jug for tea/coffee......it then get boiled....
good luck
0 -
As far as filters go, these vary from van to van. Our previous Abbey did not have a filter. The current Unicorn has a charcoal filter on the end of the pipe that goes into the Aqua roll, where the pump was on the other van, and it has an onboard pump. I believe some have on board cassette type filters. I am sure someone will be along shortly to advise on these.
As to cleaning the system / drinking the water, as BB says you will get umpteen variations. We use the water direct from the tap for everything except cold drinking, even teeth cleaning. However, to be fair even at home, if drinking it cold, I prefer Badoit to Nottinghamshire tap water.😱
0 -
Let me declare an interest, a large part of my job is to sell filters, filters that I guarantee, that they will produce sterile water. So please contact me and I will happily provide you with a quote
However before you do this please bare in mind the following
1 You couldn't afford it.
2 The flow rate would be poor compared to what you are getting
3 I would recommend a change every 24 hrs to main the system
4 You don't need a filter the human body has involved over thousands of years to be able to cope with with a certain level of contamination
5 The filters you buy are almost exclusively activated carbon, this includes Brita afaik, this will remove chemicals to a certain level including preservatives but what they won't do on the whole is reduce the bacterial load (yes I could do a demonstration to prove the opposite but it would be a dodgy test)
I don't use a filter and drink the water and if you prefer the taste then fine if you think it's safer I doubt it
0 -
Using a filter is purely a personal choice. No harm will come to you using the water straight from the caravan tap, just remember to run plenty of water through the system each time you set up to clear any tiny amounts that may have been left in the pipes from the last trip. If you are really concerned, run a sterilising solution ( like Milton ) through the system once a year.
0 -
Like Boff I too was in the industry and have never used a water filter of any kind for normal domestic/camping use in any country.
As for the UK having the 'cleanest' water in the world???????
The only benefit I can see is that some people are sensitive to the taste of some waters and a filter helps!
I do rinse my MH water tank out every year or so!
PS. I understand that hot water heating elements can be chemically attacked by products like 'Milton'...Copper?
0 -
To address a couple of points in the OP, you don't HAVE to use filters/sterilisers - it's personal choice.
Static caravans, to the best of my knowledge, do not have filters as they are generally plumbed into the mains supply. It's standing water in tanks/containers where problems are most likely to occur. Anything connected directly to the mains will be using fresher water. The exception being when taps have not been used for a length of time and older water will have remained in the pipes. That is the reason why, even at home, we are recommended to run off the first water from out taps after a period of absence.
0 -
I can't answer that without knowing your system. The filter may be needed for plumbing reasons, if not for hygiene reasons. Your hand book should tell you.
0 -
We have had 2 Sterling vans (part of the Swift Group) over the last 19 years, and neither have had a filter fitted, And we would not want one.
They cost to change, can harbour stuff etc.
If your van does not have one, do you actually want one? If not, stop worrying, if you do then fit one in the system at a convenient point.
We do clean the system twice a year before our main trips as it will have been sitting empty for a while, we use Puriclean. Clean the Aquaroll etc etc too.
We also drink from the van tap, not for everyone, but we have not suffered.
If you prefer, or are worried about drinking water from your system, you can keep a bottle for cold drinking water and fill it from the site tap. We have a 1 litre bottle we fill from the van tap and keep in the fridge......really cold water tastes so much better.
0 -
A system that is subjected to stagnant water is likely to be a bit of a soup. A filter just gives extra surfaces for the bugs to live. Read the filter manufacturers blurb and they make no specific reference to microbiological contamination.
For reference a sterilising filter must be capable of being exposed to 1 x 10^7 bacteria grown in a very specific way. The amount of bacteria is not per filter but per square cm of filter membrane. You are not going to get a filter that does for a tenner. If you want to remove mycoplasma and viruses you enter a whole new world of pain.
Be sensible drink the water and run a mile if their is any possibility of fecal contamination. That's what will kill you.
0 -
Never - in about 40 years around yachts, have I ever bothered to clean out the water system - including over two years, living on board in the Med - and - touch wood - have never suffered any ill effects from drinking the water from the boat's tanks. I do flush the system in the caravan with Puriclean every year - but I wonder why I bother?!! We also have a Britta type filter but this is mainly because it seems to reduce some of the limescale deposits in the kettle, although this might just be my imagination.
0 -
Had my current van 7 years - changed the filter once. No one has been ill or died yet. Such a con by the manufacturer of these products - do they say change every 30 days or so ?
0 -
When I changed the filter for the first time after the requisite 30 days from first use in my combined filter housing and water inlet point (Truma) the housing split when I tightened up the cap. This happened just before we were going away so there was no time to take the caravan to the dealers to get the housing replaced under warranty. I resorted to using epoxy resin over the crack which seemed to stop the leak perfectly. However, putting the filter in again and tightening the cap opened up the split again so obviously something to do with a, possibly, oversize filter, (it was the correct filter). I re-did the job but this time left out the filter. That was two years ago and the system has worked just fine. We don't drink the water from the system but do use it for teeth and we are both still here. Leaving it out has also saved us over £50 per year on filters!
I recently had a pump fail at less than two years old. On inspection I could see that the water pipe inside the blue outer cover was absolutely black inside with mould growth. Whenever I take the pump off I always give it a very good shake and spin around to try to remove any remaining water but obviously this isn't very effective. Using the pump during a start of season cleaning using Milton obviously doesn't help much.
0 -
My personal choice is to use filtered water to drink and cook with - I rinse the pipes through with puriclean or some such about twice a year. I use an ordinary filter jug which is a skinny one so fits in the fridge door.
I had some water in the car for the dogs which has been there perhaps two weeks - the bottom of the bottle was horribly green - reminding me not to want to trust to chance with the caravan pipes.
I was brought up believing UK water was far safer from that in Europe but I very much doubt that still holds true. My choice - even if it's safe I very seldom drink water straight from taps it tastes foul to me!
0 -
thanks for all the info. I will flush the system before my first trip. the van is kept on a somewhat dusty storage site so will put sanitizer in while I wash the van and flush it thought before setting of. just to be on safe side. I have ordered a 10 litre drinks container so will use that from tap for all the drinking water and the aqua roll for everything else. thanks again all.
0 -
Lornalou1
We use a drinks container, but we have 6 x 2 litre bottles that we have in a milk bottle carrier. The problem with a 10 litre one is the weight when pouring, where to keep it in fridge, and keeping it full. By having 6 bottles, we can have a couple in the fridge and we can refill the few we have used as we go along, so we don't run out at the wrong time. We don't bother to clean the system, but as it's not for drinking it doesn't matter.
Peter
1 -
Correct, I have the same system. You can remove the filter and it will work perfectly without.
I drink from the caravans tap, have done for twenty years with no ill effects, but once a year I do sterilise the pipework and renew the pumps piping that fits into the aquaroll. At home your water is constantly on the move as in daily use, but in the caravan whilst parked and not in use it lays stagnant over time, a good flush annually will do the job and lob the filter in the bin once used if you don't want to replace it.
1 -
In hot climates we find it better to fill used mineral water bottles direct from the tap so that we can always keep one in the fridge. So in France or Italy we will buy a six pack of 1.5 or 2 litre bottles for drinking and as we use them we fill from the tap. One place that we stay in Italy is 200 meters from a natural spring so ideal for filling bottles.
This avoids any risk of contamination and also reduces the number of times we need to fill the Motorhome tank. Our 100 litre tank can last 5 days or so and the grey waste can often be easily disposed of rather than left standing in the waste tank.
Like others, when we had a van with filter we either didn't bother to replace it or removed it all together. Many vans don't have one nowadays. It's yet another gadget to bother about that you really don't need.
0
