Not much has been going on lately. So far this month we have had 6 whole days with out rain. This past week I decided to build a new water filter system.

The taste of iron in the water here at the camp has become more noticeable. The prevailing theory is that after filling the pool we are using water from deeper in the well. What ever the reason is, the smell and color are not very appetizing.

The campground runs the water through a water softener. A water softener reduces the dissolved calcium, magnesium, and to some degree manganese and ferrous iron ion concentration in the water.

The water softener reduces the scaling, which is the left over mineral deposits that are formed after the hard water had evaporated. This is also known as limescale. The scale can clog pipes, ruin water heaters, and coat the insides of tea and coffee pots. The water softener does not do anything about the taste.
 
We have been using an inline granular carbon filter that hooks to the water hose.

                                             

It is made by Camco and is called a TastePURE RV Water Filter. We have bought them from RV shops and at Wal-Mart and they cost between $22.00 and $26.00 and should last about three months, depending on the quality of the water. This gets expensive if you start replacing them every month or so. 

We have seen many full timers using a two stage filter system. With these systems, you have two reusable filter housings and you just replace the filter cartridges. The filter cartridges only cost $10.30 to replace both, that’s about half what the inline filter costs.

These systems are available from the RV Water Filter Store for $59.95 http://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/ .

I decided to build my own system from parts I can get from Home Depot. The filter housings are made by GE and cost $19.98 each. The brass pipe and fittings cost me $30.83. I could have saved a little money on the fittings but I wanted the hoses to hang down rather than sticking straight out of the filters. The street elbows for this modification cost $16.36. So here’s the cost breakdown: Filter housings, $ 39.96, brass fittings $ 14.47, if I had not added the street elbows the cost would have been $ 54.43. With my modification the cost was $ 70.79.

                                                   

The water tastes and smells much better and we will save money on the filters from here on out. This was a project worth doing.