boatless
Washington State
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Spending my winters in Texas, Mississippi and Arizona for the past 7 years all my valves, fititngs and most of the plumbing fixtures are now having to be replaced do to heavy build up of minerals in the very hard water. Is there any system that can be attached between the water source and coach that will trap these deposits? I have tried sveral filter systems but to no avail. Homes use reverse Osmosis, but a large expensive system, not for RV's. Any suggestions.
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RicJones
So. Cal.
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Joined: 10/29/2007
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CLR or white vinegar for exposed area, not sure for the inside of pipes.
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naturist
Lynchburg, VA
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Removing those minerals is the purpose of water softeners. Besides reverse osmosis, there are ion exchange units as well, with the down side of those being the replacement of calcium, magnesium, and iron with sodium. Those are the units that use rock salt to regenerate the unit from time to time. These are possibly smaller and cheaper than reverse osmosis.
As bad as the calcium and magnesium are for your plumbing, they are good for your health, certainly better than sodium, anyway.
If you go with an ion exchange system for saving the plumbing, you'll want to drink bottled water instead.
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justlou
Northern, Illinois
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I have an on-the-go water softener that helps reduce the buildup, but I still need to clean the exposed areas and soak the shower head in CLR each season. I consider it one of the drawbacks to enjoying the warm desert sun during the winter.
justlou
2006 Monaco Diplomat
2004 Saturn Vue Toad
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wny_pat
Western NYS
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Have the Flow Pur Mark 8000, a portable RV water softener. You recharge (clean) it with table salt every couple weeks or so, and then start the process over again. Nice soft water and no hard water mineral deposits. I got mine for the same problem your having. You start running the soft water thru you system and it will start clearing up the hard water deposits. Oh, the folks who operate the linked company are RVers like us.
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boatless
Washington State
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Thanks to all. I am thinking now of the Flow Pur System. Not sure about all that salt. Here on the west coast of Washington salt will destroy metal in a season.
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tempforce
Pacific Wonderland (in the summers)
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using the r.v. for a while in a area with soft water will remove most deposits...
be prepared to change out the rod in the water heater. as going from hard to soft water several times will eat the anode up. if you don't have a anode, the life of the water heater will be much shorter...
(water heaters create a mess when they burst).....
somewhere in the texas 'lost pines'
'08' Dodge mega limo-cab, 409, kelderman rear air ride, max brake controller.
'02' 34' Holiday Rambler TT, the Gypsy Wagon.
'83' Ford Ranger with a 2.2 Diesel, little smoke
'56' F100 project truck
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DoubleW
fulltimer - S.D. resident
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For about $250 to $300 you can get a reverse osmosis system which I'm told is fairly easy to install. I know that there is a fellow that sells them in Quartzite that seems pretty knowledgable in January. Just outside the big tent to the north. My wife's cousin put one in his rig last fall. I've thought about it as we tend to be in the same places as you, and I did replace one in my "winter place" in AZ in January when the old one was beyond repair. Okay, I had a plumber do it right. The RO system feeds the regrig and a tap on the sink... that's all. The salt system we have in the house does not seem to keep things from corroding, but does slow the pace.
Double W
2005 Beaver Santiam 40PRQ, C9 CAT
2005 Jeep Gr Cherokee Ltd Toad
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wny_pat
Western NYS
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boatless wrote:Not sure about all that salt. . The salt is flushed out after it desolves the minerals that have been attracted to the resin inside the softener tank. After you flush the dissolved minerals and salt, you will find very little salt left. Then you start the process over again until the resin attracts so many minerals that it quits working (abt 3 weeks or so) and you add the salt to desolve the minerals again, and flush everything out.. The salt doesn't stay in the system. And the Flow Pur uses a dollars worth of table salt, not rock salt, to dissolve and flush the system.
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ryanallie1
Magalia, Calif
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Hi All.
A RO System wastes more water than it makes. And the Filters are not cheap to replace. Not a very good option for Boondockers.
I installed our "Water Softner" in our House myself, as I use to do it for a living. All kinds of Water Systems and Exchange Tanks.
Whats good for the "House" is good for the "Motorhome" as well. Once you get use to "Soft Water" all of the time, you will never want "Hard Water" ever again.
Good Luck. Happy Travels. Dan & Jill
1998-33.5 Rexhall, Rexair SL. 460 EFI. F-53. 7.3 MPG. TST TPMS. HWH Levelers. 5.5G Gen. Convection/Microwave Water Purifier/Water Softner. 2 A/C's. Alarm Systems. Honda EU2000i's W/Kit. Steer-Safe. CR-V W/SMI System. FMCA #F414397 Nam-Vet, 66-67-68&70-71
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