Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
In the thread describing Shortbus Adventures travels, a forum member asked about filling their fresh water tanks on the Camper.
I commented that when filling our 40gallon fresh water tank in our Travel Trailer, we use a dual canister set-up that allows the 1st filter to simply be a sediment filter to catch anything that might clog the pump, and the 2nd filter being a Class 1 style filter that will filter out 99% of the nasties.
While traveling, we're usually filling our tanks from a gas station spigot or an RV park filling station. Most of these are drawing from city water supplies, so it's not that big of a deal, but not wanting to get a stomach virus while on the road, we always use this dual filter set-up to be on the safe side
I looked through my photos and couldnt find any of my personal set-up, but almost any harware store will have these already made up and ready to buy off the shelf.
Remember that these filters are good for a certain amount of gallons, so I keep a piece of masking tape stuck inside the cabinet beside the water inlet and just jot down how many gallons I filled each time so I can have a rough estimate of when I need to change them out with new ones.
When we're traveling fulltime, we keep a backup set incase we run into a really bad batch of water somewhere. The 1st sediment filter is really cheap ($2-5) and I tend to swap those out more frequently than the Class 1 filters that run around $30-45 depending on where you're buying them from.
I also keep a spray bottle of a bleach solution that is about 50-50 bleach to water in the bin that holds all the hoses and connectors. Before we start filling the 40 gallon tank, I squirt a few squirts into the tank. This was a trial by error sort of thing to find the right mixture that allowed a bit of bleach without being able to taste it in the water. Right now, 3 squirts for 40 gallons is about perfect.
Before putting the hoses away, I squirt one squirt into the hose before connecting it back to itself so it's a closed loop and cant get any nasties growing in it. When using the hose again, I run the water through the hose for a few seconds onto the ground to simply wash out the bleach before hooking it up to the filters.
Remember that this 40 gallons of water is used for everything from dish washing to showering to drinking. If we're drinking right from the taps, which we always do, we carry one of the Brita Pitchers and filter the water a 2nd time through that. I know it seems like overkill since the only time I'm usually drinking water is when it's mixed in frozen form with my Scotch or Bourbon, but again, I cant afford to be sick on the road.
Here is a link to a company that has EVERYTHING you'd need to build your own system from the canisters to the filters to everything in-between. We have no affiliation with this company, just sharing a link for others to get an idea of what is out there
I commented that when filling our 40gallon fresh water tank in our Travel Trailer, we use a dual canister set-up that allows the 1st filter to simply be a sediment filter to catch anything that might clog the pump, and the 2nd filter being a Class 1 style filter that will filter out 99% of the nasties.
While traveling, we're usually filling our tanks from a gas station spigot or an RV park filling station. Most of these are drawing from city water supplies, so it's not that big of a deal, but not wanting to get a stomach virus while on the road, we always use this dual filter set-up to be on the safe side
Remember that these filters are good for a certain amount of gallons, so I keep a piece of masking tape stuck inside the cabinet beside the water inlet and just jot down how many gallons I filled each time so I can have a rough estimate of when I need to change them out with new ones.
When we're traveling fulltime, we keep a backup set incase we run into a really bad batch of water somewhere. The 1st sediment filter is really cheap ($2-5) and I tend to swap those out more frequently than the Class 1 filters that run around $30-45 depending on where you're buying them from.
I also keep a spray bottle of a bleach solution that is about 50-50 bleach to water in the bin that holds all the hoses and connectors. Before we start filling the 40 gallon tank, I squirt a few squirts into the tank. This was a trial by error sort of thing to find the right mixture that allowed a bit of bleach without being able to taste it in the water. Right now, 3 squirts for 40 gallons is about perfect.
Before putting the hoses away, I squirt one squirt into the hose before connecting it back to itself so it's a closed loop and cant get any nasties growing in it. When using the hose again, I run the water through the hose for a few seconds onto the ground to simply wash out the bleach before hooking it up to the filters.
Remember that this 40 gallons of water is used for everything from dish washing to showering to drinking. If we're drinking right from the taps, which we always do, we carry one of the Brita Pitchers and filter the water a 2nd time through that. I know it seems like overkill since the only time I'm usually drinking water is when it's mixed in frozen form with my Scotch or Bourbon, but again, I cant afford to be sick on the road.
Here is a link to a company that has EVERYTHING you'd need to build your own system from the canisters to the filters to everything in-between. We have no affiliation with this company, just sharing a link for others to get an idea of what is out there
