How To Properly Use an RV Water Filter

Common RV Water Contaminants include Silt and Sediment, Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Pesticides, Viruses, Bacteria, and Cysts

By Stuart W. Price

When you camp at an RV park, the water for your coach, fifth wheel or travel trailer comes from a hose bib.  Because you don't know whether the water is clean and sanitary (or whether the last user was clean and sanitary), you want to filter your water every time.  

The same holds true if you are filling your potable water tank. For clean, great tasting water, you also want to filter the water you put in your fresh water tank.

Common contaminants include silt and sediment, chemicals, petrochemicals, pesticides, viruses, bacteria, and cysts.  

You want a filter system that will remove as much of that stuff as possible. You also want a system that will work well even a challenging environment, and heavy or prolonged use.

Water filters work by passing the water through a medium.  The medium has pores large enough for water molecules to pass, but small enough to block contaminants.  

Contaminants range in size.  Silt and sediment range in size from 50 to 150 microns. Other contaminants are much smaller.  Bacteria range in size from 2 to 10 microns.  Cysts like giardia can be as small as .5 micron.

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Filters are rated by the size of their pores.   A filter with a rating of 100 microns might reduce the sediment in your water, but it will leave in harmful chemicals, bacteria and cysts.  Many small in-line filters, typically blue and about the size of a cucumber, are rated at 100 microns – or not at all.  

Better filters are rated at 5 microns.  The best filters are rated at .5 micron, but are prone to clogging unless paired with a sediment filter in a two-canister setup.

In a two-canister system, the first canister has a filter element specifically designed to reduce silt and sediment.  A 5 micron rating is perfect for this task. 

The second element is rated to reduce chemicals, bacteria, viruses, cysts, and other smaller contaminants.  A .5 micron (one-half micron) is best for this purpose.

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When you buy a filter, check out its micron rating.  If its rated at 50 or 100 microns, consider buying something that will filter out even smaller contaminants.  If the manufacturer doesn’t state a rating, you might want to pass. 

NSF is the gold standard rating agency when to comes to water filters. When you buy an NSF rated filter element, you know an independent agency has tested it, and found it met the claimed specifications. 

Editors Note:  Take a look at the video below to learn about the CLEARSOURCE Premium RV Water Filter System.

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To ensure you are getting safe, clean, great tasting water each time you hook up, buy a water filter system made for RV use with quality components, and a micron rating small enough to filter your water properly.

About The Author

Stuart Price is the President of Clearsource, a manufacturer of premium RV water filters.  Clearsource products are available at www.clearsourcerv.com, or on Amazon, by searching for “Clearsource RV water filters.”

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