water filters

[katricol]

I looked at a boat last year that the owner had installed a "commercial" (his words) water filtration system which allowed him to drink the water right out of his tap. He had said he was tired of carrying 1 gal. jugs for his coffee and cooking needs, and drank a glass to show me. I anchor out a lot and bring lots of water on board both small bottles and 1 gal. jugs. Thoughts on this ? He pointed that it was under the sink so it could'nt have been too big, and this was not a watermaker it was for his fresh water tank. Wish I got into it further with him but I did'nt

 

[Turtlesboat]

I have a water filter for feeding the water tank. It has a gallon counter on it so you can set it for say 100 gallons and it'll shut off when it reaches 100 gallons. This is mainly for the transom water hookup so if something were to "let loose" in the water system, only so many gallons would get pumped into the boat. I filter all of the water that goes into the tank, but don't filter from the tank to the faucets. I haven't died yet.

 

[electricaldoctor]

I have a water filter for feeding the water tank. It has a gallon counter on it so you can set it for say 100 gallons and it'll shut off when it reaches 100 gallons. This is mainly for the transom water hookup so if something were to "let loose" in the water system, only so many gallons would get pumped into the boat. I filter all of the water that goes into the tank, but don't filter from the tank to the faucets. I haven't died yet.

Nice avitar ... rough night??

 

[fwebster]

I have replumbed the water faucet on our dock to include a whole house carbon block filter and I use a white potable water hose so that all the water that goes into my water tank is taste free and bottled water quality. The water on my boat tastes better than the water in my house.

 

[Dancin Dave]

Ric, I'm tired of lugging all those 1 gal water bottles to the boat. I may have to start filtering on my boat too.

 

[tobnpr]

I installed a General Ecology filter..."commercial quality" as you said.
http://generalecology.com/category/marine-rv
The price tage might freak you out, but I can tell you that even with our crappy Florida water (no one here drinks tap water) going into the tank, it comes out perfectly tasteless and odorless every time. Charcoal type filters will get the taste right, but the Admiral is a germophobe- and this thing filters out EVERYTHING down to viruses...

Don't forget about adding the "tee" to serve the icemaker (if you have one) as well.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Our dock water comes down from the house via about 250' of the black plastic (poly?) water hose. Because of this I have two GE whole house water filters - one on the end of the pipeline, and another on the end of the potable water hose that goes into the tank fill.

The water tank also gets a shot of straight bleach with every fill up. We end up bringing a 2 gallon re-fillable water container for coffee and tea. But for other cooking and washing we use tank water.

Henry

 

[Jackie J V]

I plumbed a GE water filter (from Home depot) into the cold water supply in the galley faucet in my previous boat. I too was sick of lugging water of board for coffee. The water was perfect with no taste.

My dock mates all filtered their water prior to filling the tank, however I didn't want to strip out the clorine prior to putting the water into the storage tank where it could be sitting for a week or two. Don't know if the logic is meaningful or not, however that's the theory. I also generally use the water in the tank constantly, versus hooking up a hose. I just want to ensure that water isn't sitting in the tank for extended periods.

Paul

 

[320Bob]

I have replumbed the water faucet on our dock to include a whole house carbon block filter and I use a white potable water hose so that all the water that goes into my water tank is taste free and bottled water quality. The water on my boat tastes better than the water in my house.

Frank,
Does your marina have well or relatively soft city water? The reason I ask is mine is on well water I believe, if they don't soften it, a carbon filter alone would clean it up enough. Also what brand and size of carbon filter do you use?

 

[fwebster]

I think the brand name was Omni and was the store brand at Lowes. We are in Florida and, even the water is safe but it generally tastes terrible. The taste is a by product of all the chemistry the city puts in their water. The filter removes some of the chemicals and we add a chlorine based sanitizer to each tank full we put on. We use the water constantly for spraying off salt water and for washing kids and dogs so my tank gets cycled every few days.

Any way, it works for us in this environment.

 

[highslice]

I think the brand name was Omni and was the store brand at Lowes. We are in Florida and, even the water is safe but it generally tastes terrible. The taste is a by product of all the chemistry the city puts in their water. The filter removes some of the chemicals and we add a chlorine based sanitizer to each tank full we put on. We use the water constantly for spraying off salt water and for washing kids and dogs so my tank gets cycled every few days.

Any way, it works for us in this environment.

You ain't kidding. Publix must make a fortune just off of selling bottled water to us tourists. The water is terrible.

 

[skolbe]

I filter all of my water which is well water with a softener. I do bring a refillable 2 gallon jug down for coffee and such. But in general the filtered water with sanitized tanks once a season tends to do well. We shower on our boat which keeps the water in the tank fresh. We never use the dockside hookup for water.

 

[320Bob]

Skolbe,
What type of softening system do you use? Is it resin based softening or use some other type of media?

 

[skolbe]

The marina has softeners. I just have the filter.

 

[66pony]

I use a whole house water filter and then use a resin base water softener(http://www.portablewatersoftener.com/). I use this for filling the tank and for washing my boat, black color, I recharge the softener 2-3 times a season and use tank water for everything, drinking, washing, coffee, and cooking. No fowl taste. No hard water spots either afgter washing the boat. The biggest trick is to use the water and keep it fresh in the tank.

 

[320Bob]

I use a whole house water filter and then use a resin base water softener(http://www.portablewatersoftener.com/). I use this for filling the tank and for washing my boat, black color, I recharge the softener 2-3 times a season and use tank water for everything, drinking, washing, coffee, and cooking. No fowl taste. No hard water spots either afgter washing the boat. The biggest trick is to use the water and keep it fresh in the tank.

This is potentially just what I am looking for. Does the unit hook directly to a garden hose or are they some additional fittings required?

 

[66pony]

This is potentially just what I am looking for. Does the unit hook directly to a garden hose or are they some additional fittings required?

They come with a plastic 3/4" to garden hose adaptors. I have replaced them with brass.

 

[Leafy Isle]

Our local water is good, so no filtering into the boat, but we use a 'Brita" filter water jug for drinking water to take any plastic taste out, works good, and costs basically nothing.

 

[320Bob]

I found out that the well water at my marina was not softened and had a rotten egg smell indicating sulfur. I went with the water softener/carbon filter unit by Boji from West Marine. I needed the carbon to take out the sulfur and the softener to take out harness and iron. 66Pony's unit was mixed bed - cation and anion exchange resin and I wanted cation only to take out harness (Ca and Mg). Some of the others there at the marina said the water was bad but after running through this unit, there was no smell and the taste was fine but not quite bottled water quality. Since there is iron in the water there, I may get some special salt with iron inhibitor in it when I regenerate for the first time which is what the owners manual recommends.

http://www.bojifilters.com/Boji_techinfo.htm

Both my current and previous homes were/are on well water so once I found out that the water was untreated and had iron and sulfur I knew exactly what type of system I needed. The total price of the unit with two extra carbon filter cartidges with shipping was $374.

 

[Sundancer]

I fill at home prior to heading out each weekend. I use the white hose so I don't get the plastic taste. We don't filter our water, but I shock it at the beginning of the season. We use it every weekend and drain it at the end so we can refill when we head out. We drink the water and have been doing so on all of our boats. Nobody has gotten sick and it's a whole lot easier than toting jugs of water and then storing the empty bottles too.

This would be a great poll topic to see how many actually drink from their tanks vs. bringing water aboard. I figure the tank is cleaner since I use chlorine to clean it. I'm guessing regular jugs of water are either from the factory or cleaned with dish soap! I'm not sure what the standards are for bottled water, but if it gets warm it taste like crap! I don't have that problem with the water tank in the boat!