Bus Water

[LarryB]

I have seen many using various forms of water softeners for coach water supply. We do not like the feel or the taste of softened water and I was thinking of a product called "E Z Water" for the coach. We spend considerable time in the desert south west and need something to help improve the quality of that water for both humans and bus water system.

Is there anyone in the group that uses this system in their home or Bus?

[garyde]

I have a two stage softner, but after that I have the culligan water purifying 3 filter sstem. That goes strait to the refer ice and water tap.

[gmcbuffalo]

Gary do you get clear ice from your system?

[garyde]

No, somewhere in between clear and white.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I added a RO water unit like Gary did when I changed refrigerators. It has been excellent. We waste about 4 or 5 gallons for every 1 gallon of pure water we produce, but that has not had an affect on us. The system now allows us to use water from our tank for ice and drinking and cooking, something we would never do despite sanitizing the fresh water holding holding tank and water system about twice a year.

For those who dry camp and do not want to waste water, the discharge from the RO unit can be returned to the holding tank.

[Yankee802]

We waste about 4 or 5 gallons for every 1 gallon of pure water we produce, but that has not had an affect on us.

The system now allows us to use water from our tank for ice and drinking and cooking, something we would never do despite sanitizing the fresh water holding holding tank and water system about twice a year.

For those who dry camp and do not want to waste water, the discharge from the RO unit can be returned to the holding tank.

Jon, when you say waste 4/5 for every 1, you mean from your grey tank it takes about 6 gals to make 1?

When you say the system allows you to use your tank, do you mean fresh or grey?

I'm still learning about RO, and have many questions, as usual. :) What is the name of the system you have and where did you get it? If I understand correctly and you are recycling your grey water through your RO, how are you getting it from grey to RO with enough pressure? I just purchased a new MAC pump, and was thinking about using that for the purpose of getting water to the RO with sufficent pressure.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Yank,

Not even close. Whatever goes down the drain is waste and is not recycled. I am talking about a Reverse Osmosis (RO) unit available at Loews or any other similar store. Those units produce very clean tasteless water suitable for drinking or ice or cooking. But to produce one gallon of pure water from our fresh water holding tank requires about 4 or 5 gallons of water. The excess water I create in my coach is dumped on the ground, but it could be dumped into the waste water holding tank or even back into the fresh water tank for use in showers or other use that will tolerate less pure water.

[gmcbuffalo]

Jon why couldn't you use the fresh water in your tank to cook and drink?
GregM

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I sanitize my tank about every six months along with the entire plumbing system with a 2.25 cups of Chlorox into a full tank. I run Chlorox treated water through the entire bus, including toilet, all hot and cold water lines and then drain it after it has been in the tank and lines for about a 1/2 hour. I replace both house water filters at that time also.

Even with that frequency I get a lot of crud. I know the water I use to fill from my house is decent because it is softened, and then goes through a chlorine contact tank and then a large charcoal tank to remove the chlorine odor and taste. The final stage is a UV light to further kill bacteria. But we have to take on water when we travel and water quality and the amount of disolved solids and other contaminants vary. Adding to that, when the bus sits for a while the water can develop pseudomonas because the environment is ideal for their development http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomonas

So I choose to use our holding tank water for things other than ingestion.

As a footnote, when I pulled the tank for my recent water heater replacement I saw a fair amount of solids drain from it when I tipped the tank indicating that even though I try to keep it clean crud still accumulates.

[truk4u]

Greg,

We've always used water from our fresh water tank, it's filtered twice.

Jon has this deep dark fear of an amoeba getting mixed up with the Geritol and causing a big wort to grow on his nose. Come to think of it, his nose looked a little gnarly the last time I saw him.:p

[rahangman]

Just a "Devils Advocate" thought. Ever replumb an older home with galvanized pipe that contained cooking/drinking water from the faucet? Seen the crud and the deposits that develop over time especially in the horizontal runs. Thus the water softener and treatment industry, but before that?????hmmm