Delicious Drinking Water on the Road
My method of always having great-tasting water at every campsite - and elsewhere
Frieda and I enjoy drinking a lot of water and we’ve come to love our at-home under sink Waterdrop G3 Reverse Osmosis Water Filter System. Frankly, I can’t understand why anyone would buy bottled water when you can have all the delicious water you could ever want at home for a fraction of the price.
Unfortunately, the Waterdrop G3 won’t fit in our Oliver Legacy Elite II travel trailer. Waterdrop does have a countertop version that looks interesting, but the dimensions seem excessively large for the limited counter space in our Ollie.
An option many folks enjoy is a Berkey. While I have no experience with one, the reviews are overwhelmingly positive and it’s probably a great option for many folks both at home and in an RV. But like the Waterdrop countertop version, the footprint of even the smallest Berkey is not favorable for the limited counter space in the Oliver. Thus the reason we ruled it out. So what do we use? First, some background:
Before we got the Waterdrop G3 in 2021, for about a decade we used a reverse osmosis system from Bulk Reef Supply similar to this one.
The primary advantage of the BRS system above is that you can clearly (no pun intended) see when the filters are getting dirty and you have a pressure tank that means you always have about two gallons of water on hand ready to go. For home use, this was a fantastic setup for us and more than a few guests commented on how delicious our drinking water was. The only reason why we switched to the Waterdrop G3 is that it was a bit more convenient for our particular situation and I was ready for something new and a bit more fancy. For someone buying their first home RO (reverse osmosis) system, I would recommend going for a Waterdrop system simply because installation and filter changes are much easier.
What I did learn over ten years by owning the three-canister BRS system was how flexible such as system is when it comes to filter choices. In the water filtration industry, there are several standardized filter sizes including the very common 10 in. x 2.5 in. filters the BRS system uses. My preferred RO setup was to run a 1.0 micron sediment filter followed by a 5.0 micron Chlorine & VOC (volatile organic compound) Carbon Block Filter and finally through a 1.0 micron Universal Carbon Block Filter. The filtered water was then passed through the reverse osmosis membrane and then into the pressurized holding tank.
Now, back to my solution for use on the road in our Oliver:
Campground water can be nasty. It might come from a clean municipal water supply, a sketchy well and just about everything in between. You are wise to at least use a simple inline filter such as this one from Camco or these from Glacier Fresh. Just be sure to change them out frequently.
From my experience with the multi-stage BRS home RO system, I decided to go with the Clearsource Ultra RV Water Filter System with VirusGuard that uses the 0 in. x 2.5 in. filters I’m used to. Now, this is obviously a very high-end filtration system. In my opinion, it’s a bit overpriced but having used it for almost a year now, it’s built like a tank and I do not regret the purchase. You do get what you pay for.
If you want the best for your RV, in my opinion you can stop here and just buy the Clearsource Ultra and be done with it. You will have clean, good-tasting water and a lot more filtration power than a simple inline filter. If you want to save a little bit of money, the Clearsource Premier RV Water Filter System seems like a good choice as well with the caveat that you give up that third filter and thus flexibility, as I’m going to dive into below. I’m also going to tell you how you can ensure you always have clean drinking water in an emergency.
Geek warning: What follows is how I have customized my Clearsource Ultra. You might say I’m a bit of a water connoisseur, fanatic and even a hobbyist. I am, however, extremely happy with these modifications. Your mileage may vary and experimentation is the key to what comes next.
The first thing I did upon receiving the Clearsource Ultra was to remove the second-stage 0.5 micron filter and the third-stage 0.02 micron VirusGuard filter and replace them with the 5.0 micron coconut shell and hospital grade 0.2 micron (absolute rating) filters that come as standard equipment in the Clearsource Premier.
Why? In a nutshell, because I believe the two-stage Premier system is good enough for nearly all RV campgrounds with the exception that it lacks a 1.0 micron sediment filter and thus will clog the premium 0.2 micron filter prematurely — a filter that is capable of removing bacteria like e. coli and Legionella, cysts like Giardia, viruses, heavy metals (like lead and mercury) petrochemicals, and trace pharmaceuticals.
So the first thing I did with my Ultra was to keep the first stage 5.0 micron Rust Filter but then replaced stages two and three with the filters from the Premier System Replacement Filter Twin Pack. This allowed me to set aside the even more expensive VirusGuard filter about which Clearsource claims the following: Our VirusGuard ™ filter that uses NASA-developed technology to remove or reduce not just bacteria and cysts, but viruses and heavy metals using electro-adhesive media. No other RV water filter on the market provides anything close to that level of protection. Filtration effectiveness of 0.02 microns. (emphasis mine).
Note the 10x difference between 0.2 microns and 0.02 microns in that third stage filter! More on that in a bit.
I then used this three-stage setup for eight months including 45 days of full-time camping during our Summer ‘22 Cross Country.
I put a ‘Y’ adapter on the output of the Ultra so that we could pull drinking water directly from the Ultra while also simultaneously routing the filtered water to the Oliver’s City Water inlet. (For safety and sanitation reasons, we never pull drinking water from our fresh water tanks or from city water that has come through the RV plumbing system.)
When we returned home and I checked the filters, I was amazed at how much sediment had been stopped by the first stage 5.0 micron sediment filter. (Did I take a picture of it before it went into the trash, of course not. Doh!). And not surprisingly, a noticeable amount of sediment had passed through to both the 5.0 micron coconut shell carbon block and 0.2 micron filter with both of these still being usable for awhile longer.
Now this is where the flexibility of this setup comes into play.
For a couple of weeks now, we have been staying with a neighbor and friend who does not have any sort of water filtration system at all. He prefers the city water with all its sediment and chorine. Yuck! Since we are not currently using our Ollie, I reassembled the Ultra with the following three filters and hooked it up to our friend’s deep sink in his utility room:
2.5" x 10" - 1.0 Micron Purtrex Depth Sediment Filter from GE Water Technologies (rationale: inexpensive filter to capture more than a 5.0 micron would)
BRS Chlorine & VOC 5.0 Micron Carbon Block Filter (rationale: chlorine and VOC removal)
BRS Universal 1.0 Micron Carbon Block Filter (rationale: chlorine and chloramines removal)
The result of the above is water that tastes great but with a slight mineral taste that is absent with RO water. Frankly, I’m a bit torn as to which I prefer taste-wise. But for versatility on the road, this setup works perfectly! In the meantime, I dried out the Clearsource 5.0 micron and 0.2 micron filters in the sun a bit and then placed them in the trailer for final drying (the air conditioning is running) and use later when we get back on the road.
Summary: Water is critical to life, and I’ve always been a big water drinker. I’m used to the cleanest possible water for drinking at home, thus the reason why we have the Waterdrop G3 RO system installed. On the road, we’ve found that the Clearsource Ultra modified to run a sediment filter in the first stage, a chorine and VOC block in the second stage, and a filter capable of removing bacteria like e. coli and Legionella, cysts like Giardia, viruses, heavy metals (like lead and mercury) petrochemicals, and trace pharmaceuticals is perfect for the third stage.
If you’re going to run just two filters, I would recommend dropping the middle one above as it’s primarily for taste only. The final filter will keep you from getting sick and the first stage sediment filter will protect your expensive final stage filter.
If staying at someone’s home or in a campground on what is most certainly a safe and clean water supply, then chorine and chloramines removal is likely to be the higher priority, and thus the reason to switch to those filters.
Postscript: So what do I intend to do with the VirusGuard filter removed from the Ultra? Use it in the event of a water emergency.
When I was researching the Clearsource Ultra, I was fascinated by their Nomad device that is capable of pulling water from any lake or stream to provide clean drinking water. But while I love the concept of the Nomad, the price, size, and fact that it has to be hooked up to a vehicle battery (to use the pump portion) all seemed awkward to me. And since 99.9% of the time I would only want the two stage water filter portion to filter campground water, it seemed like serous overkill compared to a Clearsource Premier. While writing this post, I did note that while Clearsource now sells the two stage Nomad with a 5.0 micron coconut shell carbon block and a 0.02 micron VirusGuard filter, when I was doing my research in 2021, the Nomad came standard with the same filters as the two-stage Premier system, i.e. a 5.0 micron coconut shell carbon block and the 0.2 micron (absolute rating) filter.
Perhaps I was ahead of Clearsource at the time because in an emergency, drawing water from a lake, stream, swimming pool, etc, I would want the VirusGuard with its 0.02 micron filtration rather than the lesser-capable 0.2 micron filter as my final stage (the latter being perfectly fine for most campground situations). The fact they have since changed the second stage to a VirusGuard makes sense given the Nomad is designed for situations where the water source is of unknown quality. What doesn’t make sense to me is the 5.0 micron first stage as I would expect the VirusGuard filter to clog quickly if the source water is less than clear. Better to filter out everything above 1.0 microns before sending everything else through a 0.02 micron final stage.
So in an emergency when we need drinking water from a lake, stream, river, swimming pool, etc. (or if the municipal water is compromised), I’ll put a 5.0 or 1.0 micron sediment filter in my Ultra’s first stage, another sediment filter -or- a carbon block filter (depending on what I have and the condition of the water) as my second stage, the 0.2 micron filter as my third stage, and then the VirusGuard as my fourth stage.
Fourth stage? But you said there are only three stages in the Ultra…
I told you I’m a bit of a water connoisseur, fanatic and even a hobbyist. When I pulled that brand new VirusGuard out of my Ultra, I put it in one of these:
This would also work. I then set it aside for an emergency.
Now, in order to get the water out of the lake, pond, river, stream, etc. and through the filters, I’m going to need a pump. After a lot of research and searching, I found this Milwaukee M18™ Transfer Pump, which has exceeded my expectations in every regard.
Like the Clearsource Ultra, this M18™ Transfer Pump is not cheap, but it’s also built like a tank and it works perfectly for this application. It’s even self-priming — a feature found only on the very best water pumps. home
So in an emergency — at home or on the road in our Ollie — I can pull water from a water source using this pump and push it through my four stage water filtration system like an Clearsource Ultra on steroids!
Big investment? Yes. Not having access to clean drinking water in an emergency? Possibly fatal.
This is my setup and I’m happy with it. I look forward to your questions, comments, or thoughts.
Hey Scott, for your in-home Waterdrop system, how much is spent on filters and roughly how often do they need to get changed? Thanks!