Reverse Osmosis

So many water bottles.

We’ve been buying bottled water for a while as we live in places where the water is a little less than savory. It’s fine but I get tired of all the containers carting around and the waste they generate.

We used those pay water filling stations a bit with a larger bottle, but having to find a station or lug it back and forth also becomes a chore.

Finally, it’s hard to get the kids (and ourselves) to drink enough water daily when the water we have tastes pretty bad and we’re out of bottled water.

Way back in 2017 I had put in the three stage filter system, which was a 5 micron, 1 micron, and carbon filter. It works pretty good, I change the filters out every two months or so.

It was pretty obvious most people use Reverse Osmosis systems to make drinkable water that is otherwise highly mineralized or off tasting. So I settled on a 6 stage system, and realized I could convert our three filter system to the “first three stages” of the system. Since we pre-filter all our storage water, I’d only need to plumb in the additional RO stages and connect to our water tap dispenser.

I installed the RO stages and connected to the water tap, and it was all relatively easy.

One thing done differently than most normal systems is ours is closed. That means instead of venting the water that didn’t make it past the membrane to waste, we cycle membrane rejection water back into the water tanks. This is a functional way to conserve water with an RO system.

If we were to try and cycle ALL the water (eventually) through the RO filter it would clog. In our case, we burn through 100 gallons of water in about a week, making approximately 10 percent (10 gallons) of RO water per tank, which is an acceptable ratio.

RO waste to tank adapter

Except for the faucet leak this morning, which was annoying, but a simple fix (tighten the fitting some more!)

The final install after using some zip ties made it look a bit cleaner.

11 Replies to “Reverse Osmosis”

  1. Very nice. I have been looking at a 3-stage system for our RV rebuild; what do the three additional stages add?

    1. Aaron Bockelie says: Reply

      The 6 stages:

      1) 1 Micron polymer filter
      2) Carbon granule bed filter
      3) Extruded poly carbon filter

      So those three filters process all water we take on before getting stored in the tank.

      That removes chlorine dirt and a lot of other bits larger than one micron and carbon reactive substances.

      The RO system consists of:
      4) RO Membrane (does the actual molecular filter work)
      5) carbon granule filter, additional carbon reactive filter
      6) mineral re-additive, adds back some calcium and other traces so it’s ok to drink.

      1. Thank you—makes sense! Can’t wait to hook up our own! Water has seemed the trivkiest part—especially for drinking. Didn’t want single use, or countertop filter. And thank you for the Amazon link!

      2. I saw your utube video. I love it. Do you have a video on how you converted the bus?

        1. Aaron Bockelie says: Reply

          I was too busy building to make and edit videos.

          1. Jabari Mckinsey says:

            Are you willing to help me build my bus?

          2. Aaron Bockelie says:

            Sorry I’m just not geared up to do the physical installations right now.

  2. Have you ever seen Multipure solid carbon block system? We have the sink system, they have whole house ones too. I bought ours in 1996. Still great technology. I got a countertop model but it easily goes under the sink with adaptation.
    The things it gets out is downright scary. Way beyond fluoride and chlorine. Yummy water!
    (Yes, it might be a MLM still, idk for sure. Im dont sell it nor any interest in Multipure. Just a LOVIN customer since 1996!)

    1. Aaron Bockelie says: Reply

      I’m happy to hear you’ve found a filtration system that works for you! Stages two and three in the filter system featured in the post I change out every 2 months or so – the carbon granule and poly block carbon filter. The Micron filter is variable on frequency – some times it’s been every few weeks, other times it’s been a few months. That one is highly dependent on how dirty the source water is.

  3. Mike and Sonja Reves says: Reply

    We are just getting started. We are interested in your faucet in the kitchen and have not been able to find one. We do the water filter system in our home currently and will be added to the bus. Wish we knew all the tech stuff!!! Look forward to meet you on the road!
    Oldies_bus_Newbies / R Bus

    1. Aaron Bockelie says: Reply

      Hi I made a post for you where you can get the faucet on amazon! 🙂

      https://broccolibus.com/index.php/2021/04/18/where-did-you-get-that-faucet/

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