[Shanti]

If you have a foot pump to your sink, share with me about your water filter system.

I'm pretty clear about the water I drink and have been hauling the drinking and cooking water that I use in my house from a fresh spring for over a decade. I don't drink tap, city, or plastic bottled water. Obviously this makes things not so easy when I need to refill my van water tank. I'll have to deal.

Nothing is set in stone but, as of right now, my plan is to have 18+/-gallon water tank with foot pump. I don't want any more electrical and I also think I'll save more water this way (plus more exercise is good).

How have you set this up? I know there's a filter I can get for at the hose before I fill the tank but what do you do indoors? Does it work well enough with a foot pump? Is there enough pressure built?

TIA for your wisdom and experience. And pics of your set-up would be great, including the ends of the water tank... your set-up for filling the thing.

 

[rockDAWG]

It really depends on what filter(s) that you are going to use - carbon filter, sediment filter (10, 5, 1 or 0.25 micron) This will affect your foot pump effort. I am not sure why you don't filter the water before entering your water tank. If you think that city water or even bottled water is not good enough for you to drink, why bother to introduce it into your tank.

Without knowing what is your concerns are regarding tap, city, or bottled water, it is hard to offer a viable solution to your need.

 

[surly Bill]

There are camping filters that work with gravity, so I'm sure they would work with a footpump. Since you're using water from a creek, you only need to filter out sediment and bacteria like giardia. That would be a 1 micron filter.

I don't like the taste of water with chlorine or plastic, so we usually take gallon glass jugs of filtered water from home for our jaunts. 4gal lasts a week for just drinking, cuz beer, cocktails, flavored mineral water, etc. takes up some of the drinking time. The life accomplice is very particular about food and water (very), and has a silicone water bottle that has a built in filter "for emergencies", like when we run out of our filtered water from home. If it's acceptable to her after all her weeks of research, it's probably more than adequate for other people concerned about what goes in their body.

 

[koggedb]

Bit of a tangent but I never understood the craze around filtered water. However, I did recently try water from one of those home Brita filters and I gotta admit it tasted noticeably better

 

[rockDAWG]

Bit of a tangent but I never understood the craze around filtered water. However, I did recently try water from one of those home and I gotta admit it tasted noticeably better

You should do a double-blind study. Take a glass of city water and let it seats in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the chlorine out and compared it to the Brita filtered water. Let see if you can tell the difference between the two.

 

[njvagabond]

(plus more exercise is good).

This will affect your foot pump effort

Win - Win
You don't often see this in van build choices

 

[BobCollins]

If you have a foot pump to your sink, share with me about your water filter system.

I'm pretty clear about the water I drink and have been hauling the drinking and cooking water that I use in my house from a fresh spring for over a decade. I don't drink tap, city, or plastic bottled water. Obviously this makes things not so easy when I need to refill my van water tank. I'll have to deal.

Nothing is set in stone but, as of right now, my plan is to have 18+/-gallon water tank with foot pump. I don't want any more electrical and I also think I'll save more water this way (plus more exercise is good).

How have you set this up? I know there's a filter I can get for at the hose before I fill the tank but what do you do indoors? Does it work well enough with a foot pump? Is there enough pressure built?

TIA for your wisdom and experience. And pics of your set-up would be great, including the ends of the water tank... your set-up for filling the thing.

Hi Shanti,
We are planning on a foot-pumped water system in our van. I like both the simplicity and the control, which should lead to conserving precious water. My initial plan is to use 5 gallon jerry cans, and consider installing a larger water tank later.

As far as filtering, I suspect that the degree you are interested in would require a gravity-type filter such as the Brita or the Berkey, which is very popular with vanlifers.

Cheers,
Bob

 

[Shanti]

Thanks for your comments everyone.
The reason I don't drink city water is because of the chemicals - known and unknown - plus the taste. After drinking water from a fresh spring (crystal clear, no odor, no taste, no fuzz that needs to be off-loaded), it's hard to be with anything else. I'll be able to do this for some of the time but it won't be for those longer trips.
I was looking to see if anyone had a filter system as part of the hose system from the tank to the sink. Sorry if i wasn't clear.
As RockDAWG said, filtering at the pump before it goes into the tank is good and can be part of the plan. Just curious what others have done.
I'm learning to look at as many options as possible to get the best idea. There are so many ways for many thing, it seems. thanks for taking the time!

 

[T town]

Try out a Berkey?

Berkey Water Filters - World Leader in Water Filtration

World's largest dealer of the famous Berkey Water Filter systems. Complete source of information about all Berkey Filter products including videos, specifications, reviews and manuals.

www.berkeyfilters.com

 

[surly Bill]

You should do a double-blind study. Take a glass of city water and let it seats in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the chlorine out and compared it to the Brita filtered water. Let see if you can tell the difference between the two.

It depends on the CITY!

 

[DPL646]

I use a foot pump in my transit and love it. I have two 6 gallon cans under the sink. Its not filtered and I only use it for washing dishes/hands/face. If im drinking water. I use my lifesaver jerrycan. Its like a Berkey for vans. link here

Theres ONLY one decent option if you want to go the foot pump route. WHale. link here



Heres a YouTube video of how I designed my foot pump system link here


Ill post some photos tomorrow.

 

[kenryan]

It depends on the CITY!

Here in Anchorage, our city water comes from a glacier fed lake via relatively modern infrastructure. It's really good water. I feel sorry for you folks in the Lower 48. A lot of you are drinking really bad water. Remember Flint, MI?

To the OP, you might consider a reverse osmosis machine.

 

[T town]

It may not be glacial but Seattle gets its water from the Cascade range . It’s a huge no access water drainage. Only elk, bears and whatever else up there. Seattle does add a small amount of chlorine because, you know, animals poop and stuff.

 

[Shanti]

Here in Anchorage, our city water comes from a glacier fed lake via relatively modern infrastructure. It's really good water. I feel sorry for you folks in the Lower 48. A lot of you are drinking really bad water. Remember Flint, MI?

Right?! Happy you have the glacier fed lake. Maybe I'll make it up there sometime and can fill my tank.

 

[Shanti]

I use a foot pump in my transit and love it. I have two 6 gallon cans under the sink. Its not filtered and I only use it for washing dishes/hands/face. If im drinking water. I use my lifesaver jerrycan. Its like a Berkey for vans. link here

Theres ONLY one decent option if you want to go the foot pump route. WHale. link here



Heres a YouTube video of how I designed my foot pump system link here


Ill post some photos tomorrow.

Thanks, Mat. Funny that I had checked your video out a few months back when I was just beginning to explore this whole van thing.

Thanks as well for the recommendation on the Whale product. FarOutRide also recommended a Whale although it's a different version. HERE Was this available when you selected yours? If so, any reason to choose the one you have over this one?

 

[surly Bill]

Water "taste" comes from the minerals dissolved in it, mostly. You can have great tasting, transparently clear water that has enough bacteria or other stuff in it to make you sick or kill you.
I can totally understand getting water from a trusted open, uncovered stream. Still, having friends who've had giardia, and a relative who had long term arsenic poisoning from such sources, I'd want to send it for testing if I was going to use it a lot.

City water systems? It might meet requirements and regulations at the treatment center, but it has many miles of pipe of dubious quality to go through before reaching your drinking glass. Best to filter at the very end of all those pipes, at the faucet. And remember, the gubmint puts fluoride in the water to control your mind and activate 5G transmitters in your teeth, so stay away from gubmint water!

 

[BobCollins]

Here in Anchorage, our city water comes from a glacier fed lake via relatively modern infrastructure. It's really good water. I feel sorry for you folks in the Lower 48. A lot of you are drinking really bad water. Remember Flint, MI?

To the OP, you might consider a reverse osmosis machine.

The problem with the water in Flint MI was not the source, it was the distribution system.

 

[rockDAWG]

The reason I don't drink city water is because of the chemicals - known and unknown - plus the taste. . After drinking water from a fresh spring (crystal clear, no odor, no taste, no fuzz that needs to be off-loaded), it's hard to be with anything else. I'll be able to do this for some of the time but it won't be for those longer trips.

If the chemicals are your concern, it is easy to remove with the current technology. Just use the activated charcoal filter. This setup is cheap, simple, and sustainable. As an off-shore sailor, we always fill our tanks with charcoal and particulate filters where ever in the world. When in doubt, we boil our water for drinking. Sometimes we add Clorox to our drinking water, chlorine will evaporate in a few days.

Be aware, the ultrapure water (Type I water, >18 MΩ-cm) does not taste good. We need the dissolved minerals. The in-home RO system produces Type IV water (200KΩ).

Van life is not home life, there are compromises. Keep it simple and don't go into a rabbit hole and forget the very first objective that brings you here. I trust that you will make the right choice for your need.

 

[Boondox]

Shanti, I am in a similar situation. I have lived off grid and on wells for the last 25 years. When I am in town can I ever smell the chlorine. However, I do find that a Zero Water filter makes it drinkable. So far I have avoided needing to fill up on the road but someday I will need to. So as the van build progresses I am planning on putting in a two stage filter with carbon on the fill side with a 5 micron filter. Then under the sink a .5 micron filter. However, I don't think that the .5 would work with a foot pump as they generally need 10PSI or so to operate.

 

[ranxerox]

City water, the tap water in Racine Wis. and Shreveport La. has caused me to run to the store for Imodium AD. Not all US city systems are up to Standards.
Boil Water Alerts are common in Jackson Ms. I live twenty miles south of there and our water is full of sulfur, Making it almost undrinkable because of the taste.

Precautions to Take - Mississippi State Department of Health

msdh.ms.gov