Why use a water filter?

CHLORINE

Chlorine is a poison used to disinfect water.  It tastes bad. It smells. According to the U. S. Council Of Environmental Quality, “Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.”  With the proper water filter, chlorine is one of the easiest substances to remove from your water.

VOCs

VOCs or Volatile Organic Chemicals are synthetic compounds that turn into a gas at relatively low temperatures.  Most synthetic chemicals found in water, such as pesticides and herbicides, are VOCs.  We spray them on our lawns to make them green, we spread them on our agricultural fields and home gardens, and we toss them down our drains.  Eventually they end up in our drinking water source.  The proper filter can reduce the VOC levels in your water.

TASTE AND ODOR

Our body needs water to remain healthy.  Any reduction in the amount of water that we drink has a negative effect.  If our water tastes or smells bad, we turn to flavored drinks, sugared drinks, caffeinated drinks, etc..  Good water should be just that-water with no smell, no bad taste.  Good water is good for us and much less expensive than other beverages.  The proper filter will remove the bad taste and the bad odor found in so many of today’s water sources.

BOTTLED WATER

Many individuals buy bottled water, ranging in cost from $1 to $4 a gallon, for the perception of a product with higher quality.  The fact is, we don’t really know the quality of bottled water.  The proper filter will give you great tasting water as convenient as your own tap for pennies a gallon versus dollars a gallon.

CRYPTO SPORIDIUM

Cryptsporidiosis (Crypto) is the disease caused by crypto sporidium, a one-celled animal too small to be seen without a microscope.  Infected persons present flu-like symptoms, diarrhea, stomach cramps, an upset stomach, or a slight fever.  Individuals with a normal immune system will usually improve in a couple of weeks.  Crypto can be introduced into your body by drinking contaminated water or ice.  The CDC states that “Crypto sporidium is in many of the lakes and rivers that provide drinking water in the United States”.  Unlike most germs and one-celled animals, crypto sporidium is not killed by chlorine.  The proper filter will reduce or remove crypto sporidium from your water.

GIARDIA

Giardia is a round cyst approximately 5-6 microns in diameter.  It can only be killed by prolonged contact with chlorine disinfection.  The proper filter will reduce or remove Giardia from the water that you drink.

CYSTS

When certain organisms come in contact with a hostile environment, such as chlorinated water, they protect themselves and become dormant by folding themselves up into small balls, or encapsulating themselves in thin shells.  These cysts can be as small as one micron.  Once they reach a friendly environment, such as your intestines, they again “come to life.”  A proper filter of one micron or less is an effective and efficient means of cyst removal from drinking water.

WATER SUPPLIES

Is the campground’s water supply safe?  Who knows!  If it’s a well, when was it last inspected?  If it’s a municipal water supply, is it necessarily safe?  In a front page story in September, 1999, USA TODAY found that 80% of municipal water supply violations are unreported.  If the water was safe when it left the treatment plant, did it pick-up contaminants through cracks in the water line?  Is the water main lined with lead?  If the source of water is a well, is it properly maintained and operated by a trained, licensed, conscientious technician?  The proper water filter can restore peace of mind.

RV EQUIPMENT BENEFIT

Various contaminants, including chlorine, react with aluminum.  Your hot water heater’s tank is made of aluminum.  Contaminated water can cause your tank to corrode and leak causing you to replace it at a cost of about $400.  In an effort to postpone this, some water heater manufacturers place a sacrificial anode inside the water heater.  This is supposed to corrode, instead of your water heater’s tank.  But when this metallic anode corrodes and combines with the water, who’s drinking the water?  The proper filter will remove these contaminants and help prolong the life of your expensive equipment.

CARRYING YOUR WATER FROM HOME

Even if your household water supply is absolutely perfect, you are passing it through a hose, a filler neck, and into a fresh water tank.  Are these all perfectly sterile?  The answer to this is a big NO!  In fact, the dark, warm, moist fresh water tank in your RV is the perfect place for “who knows what” to grow.  We superchlorinate our tanks to make them safe for drinking water, but this creates lousy drinking water and terrible coffee.  Besides, why carry all of the extra weight?  A gallon of water weighs more than 8 pounds.  Fifty gallons of water is going to add an additional 400 plus pounds to your RV.  Extra weight means higher fuel consumption.  Then, what do you do for water when the 50 gallons of water are gone?  The proper water filter will supply great tasting water for all of your RVing needs, and for the entire time you are away from home.

GOOD WATER FOR ALL USES

It’s obvious that we all want to drink clean, safe, great tasting water, but don’t you want the same for preparing your food, washing your dishes, brushing your teeth, and showering? (Chlorine can actually be absorbed through the skin and inhaled during a shower.)  A proper filter at the point of entry (canister filter at the outside hose connection is a convenient place) as well as a filter at the point of use (under the counter in-line filter or canister at the kitchen sink) will provide your entire RV with water that is free of chlorine, of bad taste, and of offensive odors.

FLOW RATE AND CAPACITY  

In order for the filter to do its job effectively, the water must be in contact with the filter for a prescribed amount of time.  Typically the filter must be able to do its job with the water flowing at 2.5 gpm (gallons per minute) which is approximately how fast the water in your RV flows when you are filling something like a glass or a pan.  Inexpensive discount store filters are rated at half this rate, or less.  Remember, it’s your health, and you get what you pay for. 

The capacity of the filter is the number of gallons that can pass through it before useful life is depleted.  Inexpensive discount store filters have a lower capacity and therefore need to be replaced more often.  If you pay less and get less capacity, is it a bargain?

MICRON RATING

The micron is a unit of measure.  A grain of table salt is about 100 microns, a human hair about 70 microns, a red blood cell about 8 microns.  Bacteria are about 2 microns, and cysts are 3-5 microns.  Filters with a rating of 1 micron or less would remove cysts and would block the passage of cultivated bacteria on the filter media.

If you are not filtering your water with the proper filter, your body is doing the filtering.  Be kind to your body.  Filter your water with a quality water filter.

If your RV has a factory-installed water filtration system or if your RV needs a filtration system, you can find the proper high quality replacement water filter or after-market system for your RV right here on our website at The Flow Pur Company.  Flowmatic Systems, Inc. markets both RV replacement filters and RV filtration systems under the Flow-Pur label.

Remember, there is a difference in the quality of water filters.