Don’t Drink Dirty Campground Water – How to choose an RV water filter system

Do you have an RV water filter system? You sure should.

The problem of dirty campground water is growing as so many campgrounds, state and local parks, and long-established RV resorts grow older. With so many campgrounds relying on aging wells and plumbing systems, it's more important than ever that campers filter the water they bring into their RVs.

That's the topic on Episode 432 of the RV Podcast, recorded on location from the Tampa RV Supershow.

You can watch a video version of the entire episode - including the RV News of the Week, Travel Technology Tips, and audience RV Lifestyle questions - by clicking the player below.

An audio-only version is available on your favorite podcast app or via the audio player below:

How to properly filter dirty campground water

Our guest on the podcast is Keith Bernard of Clear2O, a company that makes one of the best RV water filter systems you can find anywhere.

Keith was demonstrating his RV water filter system at the Tampa RV show and I was able to pull him away from the crowd to demonstrate what to look for in choosing an RV water filter.

Watch the video or listen to the podcast for the specifics, but Clear20 offers a two-stage RV water filter system that Jennifer and I have found has consistently given us clean, good-tasting water.

The first stage, something Clear2O calls the Dirt Guard, filters out the sediments and solids that are so prevalent in campground water supplies. It connects directly to the campground water spigot.

The second stage is a Clear2O inline filter. One end screws into the Dirt Guard. The other end is attached to the hose, and then the hose attaches to your RV's water fill connection. The inline filter removes contaminants down to a one-micron level, 70 times smaller than a human hair.

Together, the system eliminates the unpleasant sulfur taste and odor so often encountered from campground water. The chemicals it removes include lead, chlorine, and organic pollutants that often make their way into wells through groundwater contamination.

A key reason why the Clear20 RV water filter system is so effective is that it uses solid carbon blocks to clean the water instead of the more commonly found granulated carbon filters found on most RV water filters.

Regardless of what type of RV water filter system you have, Bernard urges all RVers to do the following things when hooking up to campground water.

* First, turn on the spigot and let the water flow for five to 10 seconds before hooking anything to it to remove rust or sediment that accumulates in the spigot when not in constant use.

* Second, when hooking up a filter, run the water through it for a few seconds to flush out any carbon granules near the lower end of the filter.

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