Reverse Osmosis Installation

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Since we bought our coach about 5 1/2 years ago the Amana refrigerator has had problems. On the last trip it was unable to run as cool as it should have so we decided to quit nursing it back to health after every episode and get a new replacement.

The Amana had an icemaker and water in the door, but because the system was unpurified water from our holding tank or the campground municipal supply we decided to install an RO system dedicated to the refrigerator. We were reluctant previously for several reasons, not the least of which was an RO system wastes 5 gallons for every gallon of water produced.

Adding to our reluctance was the fact it was going to be more work than I wanted to tackle because to access the area behind the refrigerator I have to remove the table and chairs, and then horse the heavy refrigerator into the dining area just to be able to work. Then I had to solve the problem of the water drain from the RO. The short version is I wasn't ready to go to that much trouble. But now that I have to strip the refrigerator in preparation for taking it out and moving the new one in, I am dealing with a much lighter, smaller refrigerator so today was the day to tackle the project.

I bought a Whirlpool system from Lowe's. With tax it cost $182. That was cheap enough. The system is comprosed of an accumulator tank and a three stage RO system. Behind my refrigerator (the only place where there was room in my coach) was some unused space. My refrigerator sits in the space at an angle and behind it is the back side of a lighted display shelf unit visible from our dinette. I mounted the tank on top of the shelf unit in some saddles I made of scrap wood. I secured the tank to the saddles with perforated strapping so it will not come loose. The three stage RO unit was mounted on the rear wall. I drilled into the bus frame structure for the mounting screws. Both units are secure.

The system comes with all the tubing and fittings needed, but I improvised a little. I used the existing refrigerator water line. That line has its own shutoff under a vanity. The picture of that is shown below. The drain was to be my biggest problem, but I lucked out. One of the condensate drain lines for starboard side middle cruise air was close, so I cut a section from the line, added a "Tee", a small length of tubing to create a stand pipe and slipped the red drain tube into the stand pipe. That photo is also shown below. I am aware if we travel in the winter that line will freeze, but that is something I will be aware of. Right now we have no intention of tackling cold or snowy weather.

The entire installation was easy, the instructions were well written and I think we are going to enjoy being able to drink water and get ice from our new refrigerator without having to lug jugs of water from home.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

Very Nice Install Jon. Man I sure wish I lived closer to you ! Think of all the things I could have you help me do

But then again I probably couldn't afford to keep my bus up to par like yours?

I do know that the RO Systems have been improved a lot since we started using them 15 years ago in our homes. Some of them don't waste as much water as you are talking about. Can you send that clean fresh waste water back to your fresh water holding tank to have it circulated again? Just a thought.

Gary S.

[jelmore]

Jon, doesn't that system have components that require periodic service?

[rickdesilva]

Now I know where I'm going to get ice cubes at the next rally.

[Ray Davis]

Nice job. Just as a point of reference, my unit has a RO, however it's located on the side of the water pump bay on the passenger side, basically underneath the fridge. I haven't looked closely, but I believe it taps into the water line right there, and then runs the small water feed line through the bay ceiling, up to the kitchen area?

It's even on a small slide out, and I can just pull out the unit, and change filters. That's a reminder, I should probably do that soon.

ray

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Jon, I'm surprised your doing this at your age. The human body has a more difficult time utilizing cold fluids.
Warm fluids are easier for the body to metabolize and give relief from thirst and heat stress.
The older one gets the more we have to make things easier to stay healthy.

by the way, Nice Job.

JIM

[garyde]

Hi Jon. Liberty placed my accumulator tank under and back at the sink. The 3 stage canister is in the water bay. There is the line to the refer and the other line to the accumulator. This is a good thing because mine is a Culligan unit and the fittings to the RO have a tendancy to leak from time to time. I had Culligan come out and change the filters and tune up all of the fittings. One thing I want and don''t have is a sink top spigot for the RO water. I'm going to add that this year.
Also, most new refrigerators come equipped with a water filter.

[flyu2there]

The filters should be changed yearly. I installed a Premier Systems unit, found at Costco, made in Phoenix. There are a variety of different sized units. the little ones that priduce about 8 gallons/day are just fine for most applications.

BTW these things all need minimum of 40 or so psi water pressure to operate at peak effeciency. The water pumps, at least in my coach, fall well below that value, so it doesn't do too much when not hooked up to an external water source. Should you be really into the "green" one can install a pump that will take the waste water from the system and return it to your water tank....the waste water goes through the filters first and is separated at the membrane so it is cleaner than what is already in your tank. Check out Watts Premier for all of that add on goodies available.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If I could have located it so I could change elements without pulling the refrigerator I would have. I lack space anywhere it made sense to place it and thus ended up there. The only other logical location would have been the space under the vanity that has the water supply shut off, but there was nothing I felt strong enough to secure the three element unit, plus it lacked room. With this location, with the refrigerator out of the way I have all the room in the world.

But it is not such a bad spot because I am using the one we have at home as a guide to my maintenance schedule. We have had our unit at home for 10 years. I periodically have brought the RO unit for testing and despite it being 10 years old now it is still functioning properly. (The local Culligan people can test the elements) I have changed the first element once in ten years and that was about 2 years ago. I have not yet changed the RO element. We use the one in the house for ice, drinking water, cooking water, and coffee so the life of the one in the bus is going to be much greater.

I preceded this unit with two house sized in line filter elements, both being carbon to trap sediment and remove chlorine so I think we will be OK. The acid test will be measuring recovery rate and taste over time.

I can get my refrigerator out in about 5 minutes so servicing it will not be much more of a pain than accessing the Cruise Air filters.\

I do not want to return the discharge water to the holding tank. We will start out with the system fully charged and the refrigerator full of ice. We don't dry camp much so we probably will have no issues with quantity of water available.

[dale farley]

Nice job Jon. I am sure there are others that want a demonstration, so you can use my bus for that demo install at the next rally.