Living on the road can be a glorious experience. The freedom, self sustainability, adventure, and the views...it is exhilarating. One of the most important factors that will make road dwelling sustainable and comfortable is having the proper systems in your rig. Without the proper systems, your experience living on the road will become limited and more difficult.

When travelling one of the biggest priorities for me is having access to clean water. Without having clean water or access to clean water, you lose your sustainability, part of your comfort, a lot of your freedom, and water containing heavy metals and debris can damage your RV’s water system. This can really affect your lifestyle and you may find that you are not able to go off grid for extended periods of time, you will have to constantly purchase or seek out clean water, and overtime clean pipes, filters and water tanks from the minerals and debris found in non filtered water.

From my experience on the road, I have learned that I either have to trust that the water from a campground or a friend’s house is safe or put any water coming into my rig through a personal filter system. The solution to obtaining ease of mind and keeping your water system intact: install a water filter system. 

The most important rule I have learned while researching and beginning my own journey to full-time travel is: before anything, you need to determine your desired lifestyle for when you are on the road. This is true when determining what water filtration system is right for you. Not only do water filter systems keep you safe from bad water it also keeps your rig safe too. There are a lot of different types of water systems on the market, but today, we are going to focus on the Essential RV Water System.

The Essential RV Water System

The Essential RV Water system is a full water filtration unit! It uses a dual-canister, or two stage filtration process, to filter sediment, some chemicals, and heavy metal as well as neutralizing bad taste and odors. This means you can have confidence in the water you use on your rig!

I, along with many others in the buslife or RV community, tend to use garden hoses or fill stations to fill up our water tanks. The issue with using these options while traveling is you most likely are not familiar with the area and which locations or water sources you can trust. One of the nice attributes of the essential RV water system is that it is already fitted with hose fittings to handle the average PSI coming out of the hose and filter 3.4 gallons of water a minute. This makes it really easy to fill up and filter the water before it gets to your tank as well as making filling worry free from overflowing or overwhelming the system! Plus, you get fresh water as quickly as a garden hose can fill your tank. 

Before getting into the nitty gritty of the use, installation, and maintenance of the system, let’s first look at how this system filters your water.

Filtration Stages

This filter is composed of a dual canister or 2 stage filtration system. This means that the unit comes with 2 different types of filters; sediment and carbon. Each of these filters are designed to filter out specific chemicals, debris, and metals.

This is how I think about it; as the water enters the system, it first goes through the 2 sediment filters; these are like the first line of defense. They remove particles like dirt, rust, and silt from the water. Then the sediment free water is filtered through a carbon block filter. This filter uses activated carbon to filter out chlorine and similar compounds so you have fresh tasting water every time! 

Together, these heavy duty filters that can remove organisms as small as .5 microns and cysts [organisms that can make you sick!]. They also help remove a lot of the bacteria that can reside in your tanks and water system. These filters not only give you clean water, but also help keep your water system cleaner and sediment free longer than other filters. 

The Essential RV Water System is commonly used as a pre-filter in many water systems.  In many residential applications you might use a water filter installed in your fridge, a faucet filter or a standalone counter filter. The useful part of the Essentials system is that it filters your water before it enters your tank so all the water in your tanks is ready for use. Having pre filtered water in your tanks helps keep your tanks and plumbing system cleaner for longer! While I was living off grid, I had peace of mind because I knew that I did not have to worry about my water affecting my water system or my health.  

Now that we know how this system works, let’s take a look at where to install it in your rig.

Where to install the Essential RV Water Filter

The Essential RV Water System is installed before your tank. This way, the water entering your tanks is rid of dirt and heavy metals that can clog and contaminate your water system. Before determining where you should install your system, there are a few important factors to consider. The first is the filter exposure to the elements. If you plan to spend time in cold temperature climates, you may not want to put them on the outside of your rig because the system could freeze and become damaged. Consider creating a cabinet to hide it in instead!

Another factor to consider is the level of difficulty it takes to access the system. Your filters need to be changed regularly to ensure the cleanest quality of water. I personally install most of my water filtration systems in underbody storage boxes or hidden in a closet in the rig. I find that these locations provide full, easy access to the system so if there are any issues or I want to change the filter I can do it with ease. Like every other element on your rig, it is most important to install the system where it makes the most sense for you and your desired lifestyle.