Joe and Vicki Kieva

Joe: We went for many years without a water filter on our RV. Once in a while I would attach an inexpensive, sediment filter to our water hose but it seemed like such a bother. After all, I reasoned, the campgrounds were either on treated city water systems or their well water was tested periodically. And if the owner/operators of the campground consumed that water it must be safe for me.

Besides, I always look at, smell and taste the campground’s water before I hook up to it. In over 35 years we’ve run across only three campgrounds whose water failed my look, smell and taste test.

Vicki: But Joe’s eyesight and sense of smell isn’t what it used to be. And no one has ever accused him of having good taste (except for marrying me, of course). So when we took delivery of our new RV we decided to filter all the water that went into it.

We looked at an overwhelming variety of water filtration and treatment systems. Judging by the sales literature it was a miracle we had survived all the “bad” water we had been ingesting these many years.

Traveling as we do, our water comes from a variety of sources with the potential of being contaminated.

Reason seemed to suggest that some kind of filtration system was in order but experience indicated we could get by without spending a small fortune.

We looked at the substances (dead and alive) we wanted to eliminate and researched the filters that would accomplish the job.

Joe: We installed a sediment filter on our water hose. Its purpose is to screen out any dirt, rust or other particles (one micron or more in size) from all the water going into our rig.

The sediment filter does not affect the chlorine content of the water that reaches our RV’s water tank or plumbing. Chlorine kills bacteria. We wanted that protection to continue into our RV’s water system, especially the water tank.

A second filter was installed on the cold water line to our RV’s kitchen faucet. It meets NSF Standard 43, is Certified Class I and uses solid block carbon. This one is designed to reduce or eliminate bad taste and odors (like chlorine), chemicals, cysts, lead and heavy metals. It is also bacteriostatic, which means it is constructed of materials that prevent the growth of bacteria within the filter itself.

This filter setup screens sediment from the water as it enters our rig, allows the chlorine to continue battling with bacteria and gives us reasonably acceptable water for drinking and food preparation.

We change the inexpensive sediment filter every three months and the under-sink filter about every six months (we travel for three to four months at a time). One time when I opened the sediment filter, the inlet side of the filter element was covered with a fine, silt-like material. Sediment also clung to the interior walls of the filter canister. The outlet side of the filter element, however, was clean. The sediment filter had successfully kept that stuff out of our RV’s water system.

The next time we change the under-sink filter we plan to install a ceramic element that meets NSF Standard 53. It costs more but it will also catch E.coli and salmonella. And ceramic filters can be cleaned and reused.

Vicki: We have been using this water-filtration system for five years now. Our water pump continues to work great, our water tastes good and, most importantly, we have not picked up any water-transmitted illnesses.

Enjoy The Journey!