water while free camping

Mr Best,
BestOff-Road stock's filter's.

In my 'other' job, I work in water quality...


Exactly what are you trying to remove from the water??


(I find that people spend an amazing amount of time and money trying to rmove insignificant things- esp as this is not for potable water

There are a heap of van/RV based filter systems available. For off road use I use a dual filter system that I run through the pump on my under bonnet shower (Twine). It has a prefilter and then a .05 micron filter which takes everything out of crappy water. Maybe excessive for your needs but a single filter of less density is perhaps more suitable. They are good for about 5-10,000 litres. It would be the first thing I put into any future campertrailer or caravan.

Cheers

Mick

Redbakk
We use a "Best" water filter available from Best filters Gold Coast.
We have used them connected to the inlet hose to the Caravan or when bush to fill the water tanks fitted to a hose.
We have used them all over OZ for all uses in the van including drinking, they cost about $95 and last at least 5000 litres of water they can be back washed when necessary.
Well recommended.
Regards Ted

I was considering using river water in an evaporative cooler. and like redbakk, I am concerned about the health risks and the water quality. What could be used to sterilize the water, I am concerned about legionela or other bacteria blowing around in the caravan

Redbakk,

Excuse my ignorance, but if you are buying 15 litre containers of water for drinking, why would you be overly concerned about the water in your tanks, because you wont be drinking it.

I assume the tank water is only to be used for showers/toilets etc and not drinking.

I can see that you dont want whatever goes into the tanks to be to contaminated and leave a residue of gunk in the bottom of the tank, so surely a filter of some type between the water source and the tank will suffice.

Cheers,

Cruiser

your worried about Ph levels for water that you will not be consuming ? am i missing something ?

do you check the Ph of the ocean before you take a swim ?

as for water ---- we ( that being my financial adviser - her 3 kids , 4 7 ,9 and my son 4 ) just use water out of the river for shower - cooking , cleaning --- dont filter..... and just take bottled water for drinking ( for the kids -- me bourbon + coke is if enough for me -- ice made from river water :)

If in doubt -- boil - but presuming your in good health you should have no issues - but then again - we do camp in places like barrington tops where the water from the river is Pristine .....

Boc

You could consider putting in a dedicated potable 80L water tank and separate pump. You top it up with whatever you consider good water when the opportunity arises. Buying bottled water is a rip-off IMHO and standard house quality water is just as good.

We have three non-potable tanks and one potable tank (all 82L)with its own pumping system. I use bore water, clean looking river/dam water or water from tourist information centres, servo's or wherever for the non potable. We try and keep rain water or household water in the potable tank.

Don't have any filters but probably should - in three yeas full time we have never had a problem of any kind
B-T

Well Redbakk, my solution to this problem when camped 3hrs from any water supply was to use brackish water in still pond and river for washing/showering. The first thing I did was to pour the water through a funnel filled with fish-tank filter wool into a 20 ltr Willow jerry-can. This removes all visible gunk, although the water may still look yellow/brownish. After lugging the jerry back to the camp-site, I squirted swimming pool strength chlorine into the water and then left the jerry, with the lid off, out in the sun for the rest of the day. The water was sparkling clean and stayed that way until the jerry can was empty and the whole process was repeated. I should say here that our camper has a tank with 140 ltr capacity and this is only used for drinking and cooking on extended stays/trips.
Sheila.

I use water filters on my camper, easy to fit, get them from any plumbing supplier and easy to change filters




Baz.

We have 2 tanks for drinking water and 2 tanks for washing water.
We chlorinate ALL our water when we pick it up (nless it is chlorinated). For this we use 4ml of liquid pool chlorine per 100L of tank capacity.
Drinking water goes through a 5um filter and a 0.5um active carbon filter just before the tap(s). This removes most things (including the chlorine).
Washing water goes through a 25um (rock) filter.
It is important, IMHO, to sterilise shower water as well as drinking water. Bugs can easily be breathed in during showering.
All this is based on the fact thatwe don't know the contamination levels of the water we pick up.
The chlorine will kill most bugs that could otherwise breed inside the tank and the filters.
One more hing. Fine filters should be flushed if not used for some days as bugs will grow in them too.

Cheers,
Peter.

Hi Redbank

Sounds like you will be staying in one spot for some time? Our water tanks last longer than the diesel tanks, so we try and fill up at servos when re-fuelling. However we are 'touring' rather than staying put.

When camped where water is good (eg by rivers in the Kimberley) i just fill a bucket and keep it behind the sink, with a tray on top to keep the dust out and a jug to bail it out for use.
As quick and easy as refilling tanks.

We camped by another Bushtracker (much more modern that ours) and they had a portable filter and pump that they could take water from buckets and put in into the tanks, and it is supposed to take out all manner of nasties. I didn't notice what type of filter it was, but may be the one a couple of people here have already suggested.

Do you really need to use 40 - 60 litre per day (not including drinking water) when in areas where water supplies are difficult to obtain?

If the water is dodgy and you don't want to risk it in your HWS, use the bucket method (above), and wash in a bowl rather than the shower (uses less water as well) instead of fillling your tanks. The anode is there to absorb the minerals so it doesn't harm your HWS - just check the anode more frequently and change when necessary. They are much cheaper to purchase from USA than in Australia, and you can get five or six sent for the same postage fee as one.

When we have a good outside water source - it is an opportunity to fill up the washing buckets and wash the clothes.

I don't anticipate finding any water sources such as rivers or pools on our way home from here, so we will just be careful to make what we have last after we fill here at Yulara.

Motherhen