Filtering water

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Pack Mule

Pack Mule

TF Site Team
Joined
Jan 24, 2013
Messages
3,749
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Slo-Poke
Vessel Make
Jorgensen custom 44
I'm looking at filtering our water . We have two tanks 75gal each .Water is for bathing and washing dishes ONLY . If I add a filter for each tank should it be on the pressure side or non pressure side or does it matter ? If on the non pressure side does it need to be higher than tank to work right ? What kind of filter would you suggest?
 
I'm on the pressure side, 5 micron, full woven, in a "big blue" housing. I don't like the pleated with molded end caps. Then a small charcoal at sinks for icemaker/coffee/instahot etc
 
What are you looking to do with the filters? Taste? Sediment? Instead of filtering the water on the boat, we filter before it goes on the boat/in the tanks. We use a standard 10" filter housing with a 9.75" carbon/sediment filter, a hose fitting and an adjustment valve. We throttle back the flow rate on the shore side so we have the contact time with the carbon to take out the chlorine, about 1 gpm. Water tastes great, no mess when changing filters on the boat and fewer potential leaks. :)


https://www.filtersfast.com/P-Culligan-HF-150-Whole-House-Water-Filter.asp

http://media.wattswater.com/WattsCarbonBlockSS.pdf
 
So what kind of filters are used on our shore homes? Why does a boat need one unless the tank is falling apart, which is not uncommon.

Sure, when filling at a marina in say the Baja but for offshore work a watermaker is the choice.

I drain my tanks every spring to the bilge and the grit sediment is nil.
 
We have always used the tank water for everything. A bleach treatment of the entire system each year then we use a sediment and charcoal filter on the kitchen faucet only, pressure side.
 
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Larry M said:
What are you looking to do with the filters? Taste? Sediment? Instead of filtering the water on the boat, we filter before it goes on the boat/in the tanks. We use a standard 10" filter housing with a 9.75" carbon/sediment filter, a hose fitting and an adjustment valve. We throttle back the flow rate on the shore side so we have the contact time with the carbon to take out the chlorine, about 1 gpm. Water tastes great, no mess when changing filters on the boat and fewer potential leaks. :)


https://www.filtersfast.com/P-Culligan-HF-150-Whole-House-Water-Filter.asp

http://media.wattswater.com/WattsCarbonBlockSS.pdf
Click to expand...
This sounds like my best plan . I have been filling takes with black garden hose and I know that is a nono . I just bought a white hose but have not used it yet . The water has just a little smell but not bad . A portable filter to filter the water before the tanks sounds perfect . I think I already have a canister somewhere . I winterized my lines last year and my hot water heater, not going to do that this year . Thanks
 
Pack Mule said:
This sounds like my best plan . I have been filling takes with black garden hose and I know that is a nono . I just bought a white hose but have not used it yet . The water has just a little smell but not bad . A portable filter to filter the water before the tanks sounds perfect . I think I already have a canister somewhere . I winterized my lines last year and my hot water heater, not going to do that this year . Thanks
Click to expand...


Look at the Pentek DGD-2501 filter, in a 10" Big Blue housing. (filtersfast.com has 'em). It's a dual-gradient sediment filter, outside 25 microns, inside 1 micron. Doesn't seem to affect flow rate when I use it hooked up to the shore water connection, either.

Then consider a carbon block filter on water to be used for drinking, or coffee or whatever. When we fill our tanks, we use a smaller (diameter) secondary housing with a Pentek FloPlus-10 carbon block filter (.5 micron)... but that does affect flow rate, so we don't use that when connected to shore water. (It'd maybe be overkill with many shorewater sources, anyway. And we don't actually often hook up to shorewater, anyway; we mostly use water from our own tanks for everything.)

A possibly better solution might be a carbon block filter on a purpose-specific water faucet... something like Moen's SIP system which we have in our house. I've been intending to install something like that -- to supercede that secondary filter above -- at our galley sink, but haven't gotten a round tuit yet.

All that said... it's good to drain/clean/sanitize your freshwater tanks first, though. Just running clean fresh water through those won't really clean the tanks of existing sediment, crud, whatever.

-Chris
 
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We've been using one of these disposible Camco RV filters when we fill the tank for the past few years with good results. We also use a dedicated white howe that lives in a locker on the boat. The water on the boat never smells, although we do not use it for drinking (just dishes and showers). http://www.amazon.com/Camco-40043-TastePURE-Flexible-Protector/dp/B0006IX87S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1438720609&sr=8-3&keywords=camco+rv+parts

Our marina has well water, so no chlorine, nor do we add chlorine to the tank. We winterize by draining the tanks, then just putting the pink antifreeze in the lines, so the stuff has never touched our tanks. The other part is that we use a lot of water on weekends. My preference is to turn it over as much as possible. The filters certainly work - we had one actually clog after the maria had done some work on the well pump which caused some sediment in the lines.
 
We do not drink from the tanks, but still filter as we fill the tanks at the dock. I found before we used the filter that the water would get stinky after sitting for a week or two. We also have had problems with sediment at our marina (well water). Also feel better having filtered water for showers and cleaning dishes. At $15 a year, it isn't much for a little peace of mind.
 
filtering is always good. But it sounds like you need to disinfect your tanks.

1/4 cup of bleach for every 15 gallons of water. run the faucets until you can smellthe bleach then shut them off and let everything sit overnight. flush it out and you should be good to go.
 
Practical Sailor Magazine just ran a very good three part article on dealing with potable water on a boat. The first part dealt with pre-filtering the water as it went into the tank. The second part dealt with tank and line treatments. The third part dealt with filtering the water as it came out of the tank. It was very well researched and written.
 
Not a good idea to put bleach in an aluminum tank.
 
Prefilter for sediment at fill up and then filter for taste and odor on board.

They make 25 micron carbon filters that will not restrict you pressure. At least until they start to clog up like any other filter will.

Use the big fat blue filter bodies. Just don't use the clear bodied ones.
 
"Use the big fat blue filter bodies. Just don't use the clear bodied ones."
\

You Bet!

It is a poor practice to have ANY clear hose in a FW line, as the light will allow "stuff" to grow.

Remember chlorine evaporates and the water is on its own to grow stuff.
 
HopCar said:
Practical Sailor Magazine just ran a very good three part article on dealing with potable water on a boat. The first part dealt with pre-filtering the water as it went into the tank. The second part dealt with tank and line treatments. The third part dealt with filtering the water as it came out of the tank. It was very well researched and written.
Click to expand...


Good articles. I think the author is "thinwater" who's very active on cruisersforum... and I think some of his research took place during discussions over there.

-Chris
 
Hi Chris, yes it was Thinwater who did the research for Practical Sailor. I sent him some water purification and tank cleaning chemicals to test. He liked Puriclean for tank cleaning and said it was much safer to use in aluminum tanks than chlorine.
 
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