Water Filtration New Build

[Deb&John]

We have 200 gallons of fresh water, and are planning to be full time off grid. Since we will be sourcing water from many different places (and because I’m a paranoid germaphobe) I would rather over filter than to worry. That said, I’d like to filter it before it hits the storage tank (inline, larger micron?) Then purify by charcoal in a canister between the tank and tap. Then… I’m reading how popular the UV systems are.
Can anyone share info on what layout you designed and why?
TY!

[Cheezewhiz]

Oof, I like where your heads at, and wish I had the budget to worry about it.

Source matters more than regularly available filtration methods. I've had cave water that was still cold after a whole day in the summer sun. A man I met never drank anything but his own personal well water. It did the same, stayed cold all day in my metal cup strapped to my bicycle-before those double walled cups were a thing. In Nevada. In August.

Anyway.

Prefiltering before you store aboard is ideal, I'd do as much as possible before your intake.

RO is top tier, but super wasteful. Maybe you can find places to pull it off. Maybe setup an RO system for use when you can, and an alternative when you don't have a good drain or can't afford to dump 3/4 of the water you're pumping. I'm also unsure of the energy use of RO.

Water hardness is also a consideration, some areas have such hard water it'll just jam your **** up with garbage real fast. I think you have to custom tailor your softeners to your source though.

UVC is great for biological nasties, so you want to hit it with that before you pack it around for sure. Perhaps there's an in-tank option? Or at least an in-line?

Your tank and lines are likely plastic, so use that charcoal filter as close to your tap as possible, to nab the microplastics and funky offgassing.

I'm kinda just sptiball rambling here. We fill a 5 gal cistern with whatever we can fit it under. Haven't died yet, but I can't say it's looking great. Maybe someday the pub will let me fill it up with beer

[AlphaHare]

Keep it simple.

The stuff below can be built for around $100 (the UV is extra) and takes replacement cartridges found in most hardware stores. Do NOT buy a proprietary canister size.

Get two of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Pentek-10-Sta.../dp/B003VT7ERY

Plumb them together on the inbound water. Put a 5- 20 micron cartridge in the first one for sediment.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082WS9NPH/?th=1

Put a one micron activated charcoal filter in the second.

https://www.amazon.com/GOLDEN-ICEPUR.../dp/B01N1IJ5V1

(Put a third single body under the sink and the same one micron filter if you're really paranoid.)

The first filter keeps your second filter from clogging quickly. It's disposable and when the water starts slowing down, change it.

The second filter is for taste, chlorine, etc. May help with some other things but read the label carefully.

One micron or less is what's required to filter out Giardia and other wee beasties (protozoa). This is what's in a Sawyer filter for camping for instance.

Extra worried:

To really, really kill everything, you need a UV cell on the incoming line, before or after the filters. These take AC power to provide enough UV light to handle the flow rate required.

https://www.amazon.com/HQUA-TWS-12-U.../dp/B07JLNYH49

I've run this essential setup at a camp pulling water directly from a lake with no ill effects.

[heimlich]

Why filter anything except your drinking water?

[Albatross]

Originally Posted by heimlich

Why filter anything except your drinking water?

That was stated in the O.P. (I'm a paranoid germaphobe).


Personally, I don't get it, and I think germaphobes are a big part of why so many people these days are having severe allergies and the like; the other part being the bastardization and toxification of our food supplies, as well as things like mercury and aluminum being added to things that go inside our body.

[AlphaHare]

I totally agree with not getting extreme, but we're talking about preventable diseases like giardia, diarrhea, dysentery, and other parasites or microbes in your drinking water.

I also don't like the taste of chlorine, and I don't want to see floaters or algae in my water glass.

Sub-micron filtration, activated charcoal, and UV bath does all of that for under $400. That's less than one trip to the ER.

[heimlich]

Once you put the water in the tank for storage it becomes a place for bacteria to grow. You may have filtered it to get it in there but bacteria will get into that tank. It's better to filter your water that you drink no matter if you filter it on the way in or not. Do not think that if you filter your water and put it in the tank and leave it there that it is safe to drink.

I am in the City of Houston. I see floaties in the tap water.

The more you expose your immune system to the better it will be. Expose it to nothing and the first thing it sees will make it go crazy.

If you are real worried about your water just boil it before you drink it.

[Dbacks2k4]

I designed mine with the assumption that the fresh water tank will get contaminated one way or another. I started with a cheap hose-attached RV filter to the intake to filter out the largest particles going in, but it's not going to be purified water by any means.



Coming out of the tank I'm going through a portable water softener first. I live in the midwest and just can't stand our hard water....



From there, drinking water supply will use a RO filter... 3 stage with two different micron filters and then the ro membrane - same as I use in my house, I can't remember the exact sizes. The RO drain will go right back to my fresh water tank.



My indoor shower is going to be the common recirculating design with 3 stage particle filter and UV light if I can figure out the plumbing logistics