Water Filters

The whole point of fitting a water filter is to save the hassle of humping bottles of water back from the shops. I'm sure there are some excellent models around, but we are happy enough with the usual Jabsco, at the galley cold tap. It is not there to save my life but to make tea and coffee palatable, though we have been known to drink water too.
 
We use the Nature Pure QC. Well made and easy to install. We do treat the tank and pipework each season as well. The filter provides excellent taste and in a blind test SWMBO though it was bottled.
Just be sure that when you replace the cartridge that you specify (and actually get) P/N 420420. The 420422 canister has been supplied in the past and does not have the fine filter ability to remove bacteria or viruses. There has been a lot on it in the motor-home forums.
 
Our boat came with a Jabsco filter at the galley cold tap. Our winter procedure is to empty all the pipework, but unfortunately I didn't take the filter apart to make sure that it was empty. It froze and split. I bypassed it, and use a couple of 10 litre containers for drinking water, but for all other purposes, the water comes straight out of the stainless tanks. I see no reason to replace the filter, and the water from the tanks is fine.
 
Water treatment is one of those topics, like anchoring, where there is a lot of misinformation resulting from a lot of bad advertising. As a chemical engineer, I spent a lot of time around the topic, and I've written a few magazine articles.

I think the thing I find most amazing is that one of the best product lines is UK (Dulton) but that it gets very little mention here. Seagull is UK too, but IMHO they've spent a LOT more on advertising and less on substance than needed. Like personal computers, there is now a lot more competition in the market, prices have come down, and some folks don't get that.

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But anyway, perhaps this blog post would be of some help. There are 4 steps to good water.
1. Pre-filter. I don't care what else you do, if you don't keep the solids out of the tank it will get nasty. The baha filter in the above image is probably the best choice, and certainly the cheapest.
2. Chlorinate. Sure, you can get a great filter that removes everything, but NOTHING is as effective at preventing rotten tank syndrome as chlorine. Sulfate in the water will be converted into sulfide (rotten eggs smell) by bacteria over time. Filters can remove it but they are not as good at it as chlorine.
3. Secure the vent. There is an 80% chance your tank has an open vent somewhere. Bugs crawl in and die... or breed. The plumbing code requires vent filters for water tanks, but boat builders skip it. A simple screen will do.
4. Final filter with ANSI/NSF 53 certified carbon block or ceramic (NOT granular carbon--it does NOT remove cysts or bacteria). This will stop the cysts, which the chlorine may miss. Carbon is also very effective at removing chlorine; it is chemically burned, giving it huge capacity. There also carbon/ceramic options (Doulton Supercarb) and ANSI/NSF P231 certified microbial barriers. The key here is to look for something that fits international standard housings, to avoid the one-source trap.

Not lugging bottles is nice. If the PBO writer actually though bottles were better... perhaps he is a writer and not an engineer. Sad.

http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2014/06/drinking-water-filtration-short-version.html
 
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NormanS said:
Well, we're still alive, without any of that stuff. But then, we're not in the tropics.
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;) ;) The truth is that tap water is quite safe in the UK and USA. I was simply explaining the logical steps for solving potential problems. For example, the well water (no chlorine) from many marinas around here stinks after storage because of high sulfate. Chlorine is the solution for that specific problem, not a filter, though a carbon filter is still needed to remove the chlorine.

Folks often waste money on a filter they bought hoping it would "help," without understanding what problem they are trying to solve or what a specific step actually does.
 
Have a Jabsco filter - works well, replace the filter every season [ish] and use Aqua Tabs - the big ones that do >200 litres at a time.

Found it to be very satsifactory for tea, coffee and even drinking.

But I am put off a bit by the knowledge of all the things that fish do in the water. I've also seen what water does to the bottom of boats.
 
As I said earlier in this resurrected post, the General Ecology filters (came out top in the PBO Test) are brilliant. Tea on the boat tastes the best of anywhere, and the testers said that tea made through the GE filter was better than their control (Poole local mains)...
 
We use a jabsco filter. We put 6000 litres through it last season. Tea tastes great. All our water is RO water so the Jabsco isnt working too hard to take anything out. The UV filter kills the bugs before they get to the tank.
We will probably swap to a standard 10 inch filter housing for next season and use a carbon block filter.
 
Gladys said:
As I said earlier in this resurrected post, the General Ecology filters (came out top in the PBO Test) are brilliant. Tea on the boat tastes the best of anywhere, and the testers said that tea made through the GE filter was better than their control (Poole local mains)...
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But what a pitiful test. It would fail as a middle school science project.
1. They made no effort to determine what made it taste bad.
2. They made no effort to understand what the filters were doing.
3. The only measurement (taste) is wholly subjective.
4.The "plastic" taste almost certainly does NOT have to do with plastic. If it did, the tank would be releasing chemicals and would never be potable water certified. Bottled water do not taste "plasticicy," yet if you put tap water put in an empty water bottle will. Obviously, this taste is cause by changes in the water that have nothing to do with the container.
5. They ignored prefiltration. I wonder how dirty the test tank was.
6. They did not discuss water safety, other than a brief mention of chlorine (chlorine is effective against most cysts and parasites).
7. They did not study endurance. Carbon filters can remove tastes for the first few days but will begin to break through very soon.
 
I agree. Some people paranoid about drinking water that has been stored in a boat tank. In the UK, provided you take a few basic precautions, there is little problem.
1. Sterilise the tank once a year (I used industrial chlorination tablets when I worked in the water industry but anything containing chlorine will do)
2. Flush out the tank well after chlorination to remove the unpleasant strong taste (remember that the flushing water will contain a residual chlorine dose)
3. Take care when filling from a public supply, run water through the hose before starting to fill, don't put the end of the hose into your filler - you don't know where it's been!
4. Preferably use your own clean hose
5. Don't waste your money on bottled water, the public supply is far better.
PaulRainbow said:
Blimey, i just fill the tanks up and drink it as required. A few bugs help to keep ones immune system on its toes :)
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thinwater said:
But what a pitiful test. It would fail as a middle school science project.
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Would be interesting to see what harmful entities are in the tanks in the first place. Then see which filters remove these entities. I wonder how many of these "funny" tasting cups of tea are actually caused by owners dosing the tanks with chlorine at regular intervals ?
 
As much as I want to install a Water filter, to prevent my Wife from encroaching in our old Engel fridge's Alcohol space, all I do is treat the water every now and then with Aqua Pura tabs, and use as much water as possible.

It actually tastes fine, as Water goes. Not as good as Vodka, but fine, on the basis it's only really used for Tea/Coffee or Washing (usually the decks!)

If you want to drink the finest purest water.....go to Waitrose :encouragement:
 
No Regrets said:
As much as I want to install a Water filter, to prevent my Wife from encroaching in our old Engel fridge's Alcohol space, all I do is treat the water every now and then with Aqua Pura tabs, and use as much water as possible.

It actually tastes fine, as Water goes. Not as good as Vodka, but fine, on the basis it's only really used for Tea/Coffee or Washing (usually the decks!)

If you want to drink the finest purest water.....go to Waitrose :encouragement:
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Apparently your wife doesn't think it tastes fine! I think you may also underestimate how much improvement is possible.

My marina is foul. With chlorination/carbon block filtration it cannot be distinguished from bottled water. And my wife--a former bottled water person--agrees! It is the 1-2 combination that really makes it work, since carbon and chlorine do different things. Together, they are synergistic.
 
The water in my tanks is only used for washing. For use in food I use bottled water. The supermarket that we go to offer three six-packs of 'free' water with every €100 spent. That works out as 18 x 1,5 = 27 litres of mineral water; enough for my use on board as I usually sail solo.
 
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