Water Filter Installation pictures - Montana Owners Club

trlrboy · 04-24-2011, 01:07 AM

I started the water filter installation yesterday. I began with a piece of angle iron screwed into the floor joists of the bedroom and also bolted through the wall to the service center area, then the bracket from the filters bolted to the angle iron. Seems to be very sturdy. I still need to route the hoses through gromments to the water hookup but so far so good...

Ozz · 04-24-2011, 03:23 AM

Nice job.

Mudchief · 04-24-2011, 07:13 AM

Nice place to put it.

stiles watson · 04-24-2011, 08:39 AM

Well done and nice looking. Mine is a factory job hidden behind that wall. There is a small door in the wall to get at it which I contort through every time I change the filter. Your is out there to be easily serviced.

sreigle · 04-24-2011, 04:22 PM

Looks really nice. I'd like to do that for ours and will save this thread and pictures.

One question, did that bracket come with the filters? I have one filter but no bracket so would have to locate or fabricate some kind of bracket to hold the lid.

trlrboy · 04-24-2011, 06:24 PM

Yes the bracket came with the two filters. You can check rvwaterfilterstore.com to see if a single filter can come with the bracket.

sreigle · 04-25-2011, 09:49 AM

I saw a single with bracket this morning at Home Depot. Since our single still works great I'll probably see if I can't fashion some kind of mount.

I can't do it exactly like you did, though. Ours has a pipe traveling between studs from front to rear and it hangs down below the studs. Drat. I sure like the way you did yours. I'll figure something out. Thanks for the information and idea.

Bob & Lee · 04-25-2011, 10:18 AM

the install looks great, only thing to watch mine was there and it froze, now building a box to put over it when in a cold place which I hope I'm not.

Bob

sreigle · 04-25-2011, 10:24 AM

Bob, what I do is hang two trouble lights with 40 watt bulbs from the rafters (install hooks if needed). I ran the cords for both to an extension cord which I then run up into the laundry chute, laying the plug end in the basket. When it's to be a hard freeze I just pull the cord out and plug it in to the 110v socket by the stairs. If we're to have several days of it I just leave the cord laying at the side of the steps and plug in as needed. I have a remote temperature sensor in the water connection center and the bulbs have kept the temperature there to right around 40 F even when the outside temperature was in the low teens. Cheap fix and works well. When we hit the road I just lay the trouble lights on the floor of the basement or, if we're done with cold weather for awhile, I coil them up and put them away.

Bob & Lee · 04-25-2011, 12:06 PM

Good idea Steve, it would be easyer to use I was going to build a box like a ice chest to put the filters in.

Thanks
Bob

illapah · 04-25-2011, 01:39 PM

I have tried to figure this out looking at the pics and since I have no filters, I don't understand the setup.
Question is, does water input and output plug in as mounted or is it relocated to somewhere else?

sreigle · 04-25-2011, 01:53 PM

Water in on one of those connections, from the hose. Then the other side goes to the connection in the convenience center. I think I'll get some of those heavy duty flexible hoses to run into the convenience center area from both of those connectors so the connections I make when we set up will be in that area. Those are more likely to leak than the fixed connections on the filters. That's just something I'm thinking about.

trlrboy · 04-25-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by illapah

I have tried to figure this out looking at the pics and since I have no filters, I don't understand the setup.
Question is, does water input and output plug in as mounted or is it relocated to somewhere else?

It will make more sense once I drill 1" holes through the wall to the convenience center. Then one hose will come in the bottom of the convenience center, hook up via a quick connect fitting and go to the filter inlet which is the right cannister on the setup. The water flows through the two filters and goes out on the left side. Then another hose will go through the wall again and to the inlet to the trailer. Very simple actually. In cold weather I would use a heat-taped water hose from the spigot and then just another heat tape wrapped around the filters. I'll post more pics when it's all finished.

sreigle · 04-25-2011, 03:17 PM

That's what I had in mind. I like your setup. I wish that pipe were not in the way on ours. But I saw a single today with a mount that would work if that wall is strong enough to hold it. I'll have to look more closely at that once the rain stops. Thanks for all the information and pictures. It's been very helpful.

trlrboy · 04-30-2011, 02:58 AM

Here are the last pictures with the hoses hooked up. I found the chrome rings in the plumbing section of Home Depot and fit a 3/4" hose perfectly. I drilled 1" holes through the walls so I could "angle" the hoses a little and wrapped foam around the hoses before putting the rings on to prevent them rubbing on the wood. It was a fairly simple installation and best of all...the water in the trailer is great!

The short hose is the inlet side and goes through a 5 micron filter followed by a carbon block filter. The long hose is the outlet side and goes back through the wall to the city water inlet.

You can see the hose from the spigot comes on the bottom to a brass quick disconnect and then to the inlet side of the filters.

This last pictures shows the convenience center hookups. I put a coat hook in there to hold my nozzle, filter wrench and a quick disconnect plug to put on the inlet hose while traveling. The chrome rings were a nice finishing touch.

oldelmer1 · 04-30-2011, 03:01 PM

SWEET!!!! Thanks for the pictures....

AND, I never thought of connecting the shower hose to the black tank flush, I always run another hose to it.

The hose ends look like they are factory made, where did you get such short lengths of hose with brass fittings?

sreigle · 04-30-2011, 03:35 PM

Nice job, thanks.

I wonder if there's a quick way to disconnect everything if you have to get into the water pump area behind the connection center? I'm thinking maybe that shroud could be cut at the bend and a piano hinge installed so nothing near the water filters would have to be disconnected.

Also, have you considered putting your water regulator in the water connection center so it will not freeze in subfreezing weather? I use an adjustable regulator that's not cheap and not a throwaway and we sometimes are in subfreezing weather.

We also use the shower hose for the black tank flush but have a quick connect with shutoff to disconnect it when not flushing, just to keep it from filling the tank should the shower water not be completely turned off. This method for the black tank flush was an idea posted here by the late Glen Adams. Trlrboy may have come up with this idea on his own but I just wanted to give Glen some credit, too.

trlrboy · 05-01-2011, 01:54 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by oldelmer1
The hose ends look like they are factory made, where did you get such short lengths of hose with brass fittings?

I when I measured for the initial installation I ordered the hoses from rvwaterfilterstore.com because you can order premade hoses from 1 foot to 25 feet.

trlrboy · 05-01-2011, 01:59 AM

Steve...

I don't know about a quick way to get at the water pump. The way I have the set up now I would need to remove 6 sheet metal screws and two bolts plus disconnect two hoses to get back there and that would only take a few minutes.

We also have a adjustable regulator, Watts N55G or somethig like that. I have a heat taped water hose we use when the weather is cold enough to freeze. There is plenty of heat tape at the end to wrap around the spigot and regulator. I think if we were fulltiming or in cold weather a lot we might look at a setup like you suggested.

We got the shower-black tank idea from our dealer when we bought the trailer. Works great for the most part. I didn't realize other people had done it also. Ours is also on a quick disconnect in case I need to spray the wife on a hot day.

sreigle · 05-01-2011, 09:35 AM

Thanks for the reply. No more often than I get into that water pump area it really wouldn't be a big deal to remove those things.

In the past we've stayed through Christmas in the Kansas City area to have Christmas with the kids. This year we're planning to go south on Dec 1 and drive up for a few days for Christmas. Anyhow, I have a heat taped hose for use during Nov/Dec but it's only 10 feet long. Where we are right now, for a month, most days the high has been in the 60's or 70's with lows in the 40's or upper 30's. But we've had some nights down to mid-20's. I didn't want to wrap the regulator and filter, both of which sit outside at this time, so just disconnected and put those things inside the basement. If I could rig our filter like yours and also get the regulator in there, then my 10' hose would work sometimes (not here). I have enough additional heat tape and foam tubes I could temporarily heat tape additional lengths of hose. In face, in January I did just that as I had about a 30' run of hose but the lowest lows only got in the low 20's and the temporary heat taping was fine.

One thing I like about your setup is the connections most likely to leak are in the water connection center, not in the carpeted basement where it might soak through and mildew. The connections near the carpet are pretty much fixed in place one you make those connections and are not likely to leak once you get it properly set up. Very nice job.

By the way, when we had our rig at the Keystone Service Center they suggested we not use the shower to feed the black tank flush because it's better to have full park pressure going into the flush. In our case it's not really a problem because we don't use those cheap regulators that give you 40 to 45 psi. Our adjustable is set at 60 psi and only a few parks exceed that anyhow. So the majority of the time we're getting full park pressure.

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