Are you a full-time RVer or plan to take the RV for a summer vacation? If yes, clean, fresh water is one of the basics you'll need.
Unfortunately, there's no guarantee you'll always find clean water at the campsites or picnic areas. The water may contain impurities such as sediments, chemicals, heavy metals, and potential bacteria. Such contaminated water can seriously affect your health and even damage your RV appliances and plumbing system.
Installing the best RV water filter in your RV solves the potential risks of unclean water. It flushes out all the undesired contaminants to give you clean, great-tasting water.
Here, you'll discover some of the highly-rated RV water filtration systems available today to help you choose the most suitable model for your camper.
Best RV Water Filter Reviews:
1. Frizzlife Under Sink Quick Change Water Filtration System
This water filtration system from Frizzlife comes at a great price while offering you a quick solution for clearing the water entering your RV of any harmful contaminants. It offers you a performance only comparable to that of models high up on the price ladder.
The unit presents you with a 2-stage advanced water filtration system to help remove up to 99.99% of lead, heavy metal, chlorine taste and odor, sediments, chemicals, and more. And when removing these undesired contaminants, the filter leaves behind essential minerals such as calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, chloride, and more.
You'll also like that this filtration system comes packed with a beautiful, classy stainless steel faucet. This faucet is 100% lead-free and included to prevent secondary contamination of your water after this filtering system has already decontaminated it.
The twist-in installation design is super-easy, and you can do it on your own-no need to hire an expert to do it for you. The instructions plus necessary hardware come included in the kit to make the installation smooth for you. Its filter cap features an auto-shutoff switch to make it easy for you to replace cartridges.
Highlighted Features:2. Culligan F-10 Recreational Vehicle External Water Filter
Culligan's external water filter will supply your family with visibly clean and great tasting water for cooking, drinking, bathing, and more, in your recreational vehicle.
It comes designed as a pre-tank filter and is suitable for exterior filtration of your RV water to ensure you enjoy 100% clean, contaminant-free water in your RV.
The filtration system utilizes granular activated carbon to effectively reduce sediment, bad tastes, and odor in your water. It comes packed with a foot-long hose that quickly hooks to your RV for hassle-less installation. Moreover, the filter has a slim design to facilitate even easier installation while making storage convenient for you.
You'll be pleased to note that the cartridge that comes with this system have a pretty long-lasting performance of up to 250 gallons before you can replace it.
Don't forget that this filtration system comes with a tough plastic housing that makes it ideal for exterior water filtering in your recreational vehicle or camper. It can withstand various weather elements, extreme temperatures, and various abuses.
Highlighted Features:3. Camco 40043 TastePURE KDF/Carbon Water Filter
Camco is one of the top brands devoted to making your RVing lifestyle more notable by providing top-of-the-line RV accessories. The Camco 40043 is one of their most reliable water filtration systems for reducing bad taste, sedimentation, and chlorine to let you enjoy cleaner and safer drinking water.
One thing that makes this product highly popular among RVers is the large capacity it comes. This enables its water filtration performance to last a whole season.
It comes with a wide-body design for high flow rate and increased capacity. This qualifies it as a highly functional and practical way of cleaning the water getting into your recreational vehicle.
The RV water filter also comes with granulated activated carbon that works tirelessly to ensure you enjoy clean drinking water in your recreational vehicle. Thanks to the integrated KDF (Kinetic Degradation Fluxion), this filter will keep off the growth of bacteria, fungus, and mold.
Overall, this is a great water filter for use at campsites to keep the sediments out of your RV water tank. It will improve the smell and taste of your drinking water and prevent possible clogging and damaging your RV pipes, valves, and appliances.
Highlighted Features:4. Clearsource Premium RV Water Filter System
Streaming from Clearsource, this is a premium water filter system for RVs water decontamination needs. It's an award-winning RV water filter system engineered to filter out all the sediments, odor, and taste in your water, so you no longer need to buy bottled water for your motorhome or RV.
One of the most impressive features of this system involves its premium design. It comes in heavy-duty design with a rugged and robust metal chassis plus powder coating to make it suitable for the tough RV lifestyle. The metal chassis is also beneficial in that it facilitates easy installation between your RV and the water source.
When it comes to freeing your water of contaminants, this system utilizes a two-stage filtration system. The first 5-micron stage removes sediments. And the second 0.5-micron stage gets rid of organic compounds, chlorine, cysts giardia, and other contaminants to give 100% clean, better-tasting water in your recreational vehicle.
Other notable features of this system include the high-quality, rust and corrosion-free stainless steel fittings for maximum long-lasting, a built-in stand, and high water flow capabilities for fast filtration.
Highlighted Features:5. AQUACREST RV Inline Water Filter
If you thought that no water filtration system could completely remove fluoride in your RV water, then you haven't met the AQUACREST Inline Water Filter. Compared with other water filters for RVs, this unit comes with a fluoride removal function to ensure you consume fluoride-free water for the sake of your bone, teeth, and digestive system health.
Other than fluoride, this unit is also designed to flush out other contaminants for healthier drinking water. It boasts an upgraded filtration system that effectively eliminates heavy metals, chlorine, sediments, rust, and other pollutants. Once you pass your water through this filtering system, you're assured that you'll enjoy refreshing and tastier water than ever before.
This in-line water filter features a high capacity, and you can use it for 3 straight months (a whole season!). You can easily connect it to a standard water hose or faucet to meet your unique water cleaning needs. Or you can connect it with a pressure washer to clean your car with clean water.
Aquacrest has designed this water filter with durable but 100% food-grade materials to ensure they don't become the same enemy they fight. This way, you can stay assured that its plastic housing won't leach harmful chemicals into your water or contaminates it in any way.
Highlighted Features:- Multi-stage filter system
- Up to 20-micron filtration capabilities
- Made using food-grade material
- Connects to garden hose or faucet
- Up to 3 months performance
- Features leak-free fit
6. Waterdrop & Marine Inline Water Filter
Waterdrop also gets a spot on our top RV water filter reviews due to its commitment to providing clean, safe, and great-tasting water. This in-line water filter isn't just another ordinary in-line filter. It's a high-efficiency unit that goes the extra mile to ensure you enjoy crisp and cleaner water, free of any contaminants.
The unit comes armed with a multi-stage filtration system that involves both the KDF and GAC (Granular Activated Carbon) filtration mechanisms to ensure maximum filtration. This makes it a highly efficient unit in getting rid of fluoride, chlorine, arsenic, heavy metals, sediments, and other harmful contaminants.
Setting up this water filtering system is quick and easy, and you don't need any tools to get it up and running. The fact that you can connect it with a standard garden or water hose increases its versatility. You can use it for gardening, pets, washing cars, and more.
Thanks to its larger capacity, this water filter can last up to 3 months, which means it'll let you fair through an entire camping season with clean and great-tasting water. With its food-grade materials construction, you can rest assured that this filter will not contaminate your drinking water in any way.
Highlighted Features:7. AQUA CREST Inline Water Filter
Also from Aquacrest, we have this in-line water filter that brings together excellent quality, great price, and ease of use, all in a single unit. It comes packed with an upgraded multi-stage advanced filtration system. This works exemplary well to remove heavy metals, chlorine, rust, sediments, and other contaminants that make your water unhealthy for drinking.
The Aquacrest also boasts great fluoride removal capabilities, thanks to its integrated fluoride removal function. In other words, the water you'll enjoy in your RV with this filter will promote healthy bones, teeth, and digestive systems.
Just like our previously discussed in-line water filters, this model also offers you versatility in its usage. This is made possible by the fact that you can easily connect it with any standard gardening or water hose and use it to wash your car or for gardening.
Also worth noting is that this unit adopts food-grade plastic housing to ensure it doesn't leach any contaminants back into your filtered water.
Despite its great pricing, this unit has a long-lasting usage rated up to 3 months. This means it'll reliably provide you with clean, safe drinking water for the entire camping season you'll be out there in your RV with your family or friends.
Highlighted Features:- 20-micron high-efficiency filter system
- Sturdy, food-grade plastic housing
- Attaches to standard water/garden hose
- Features fluoride remover
- Lasts up to 3 months
- Includes anti-kink hose protector
8. Beech Lane External RV Dual Water Filter System
Are you tired of the water in your RV having a funky taste and odor? If yes, you just need to make it run through this Beech Lane external water filter system. And when it comes out, both its smell and taste will be noticeably better.
The system presents you with dual water filtering capabilities. It combines a o.5 micron plus 5-micron water filters to help maximize the purity of your water. The 5-micron polypropylene filter gets rid of the larger sediment such as sand, dirt, and silt while the 0.5-micron carbon block filter traps the remaining smaller particles such as chlorine, chemicals, bacteria, cyst, and other smaller contaminants.
Instead of using the cheap plastic fittings with high tendency of stripping, cracking, or leaking overtime, Beech Lane using brass fixtures that provide strong connection with hose and prevent possible leakage. What's more, these fixtures are 100% lead-free to prevent secondary contamination of your already purified water.
You'll also appreciate that the engineers behind this filtration system designed its housing, bracket, and fixtures with extremely sturdy materials to enable them to hold up to various abuses and stand the test of time.
Highlighted Features:9. EXCELPURE Inline RV Water Filter
No more stressing about lack of clean water or spending crazy amounts of cash on bottled water to last you the entire camping duration. This filter will give you a cheaper solution by freeing the available water of any contaminants. Not even the stinking water that looks brown will not stand the superior filtration performance of this in-line RV water filter.
The value-priced filter comes with a 20-micron polypropylene filter that blocks all the sediment in your drinking water, including sand and dirt.
In addition, it comes armed with NSF certified natural coconut shell activated carbon that effectively removes chlorine, odor, color, VOCs, and THMS. Thus leaves you with perfectly purified water that's safe for drinking and cooking in your RV or travel trailer.
Since this water filter can also be attached to a standard gardening or water hose, youll be able to use it for washing your car, gardening, pets, and more.
The complete package comes with a pack of 2 water filters at no additional cost. You'll just need one pack to see you for your entire camping duration. And you can carry the second one as a backup in case of anything.
Highlighted Features:- Attaches to standard garden hose
- Equipped with 20-micron sediment filter
- Removes chlorine, bad taste, and odor
- Covered by 6 months return policy
10. PureDrop CUW4 Aquacube Tankless Drinking Water Filter System
The last unit on our RV water filter reviews is a great, one of a kind water filtration system. The system stages a great performance that leaves you with safer and healthier drinking water in your RV.
It utilizes an advanced 4-stage design that combines filtering capabilities for sediment, activated carbon and even the ultra-filtration filters. The combined effect equals a superior filtration system that eliminates a wide variety of unhealthy contaminants-including bacteria, fungi, algae, lead arsenic, iron, nickel, cadmium, aluminum, mercury, chlorine, chlorine treatment byproducts, hydrogen sulfide, pesticides, and other harmful organic compounds.
The high-performance filtration system installs under your RV sink. It comes with an elegant, space-saving design to help save as much space as possible in your RV.
It comes fitted with high-capacity filters that will see you for a longer period of time and offer you maximum water flow. It also with a tough build quality to stand up to the tough RVing environment. The lack of moving parts in its design makes maintenance pretty easy.
Don't forget that the system comes equipped with a lead-free faucet with gorgeous chrome finish to prevent pollution of your already filtered water. The system comes pre-assembled features push to connect fittings that makes the installation easy for you. The clear step by step instructions further simplify the setup process.
Highlighted Features:Things To Check Before Getting One
Before you choose a water filter, you need to examine it closely to ensure it meets your unique water filtration needs. The following factors will help you pick the best RV water filter for your water purification needs.
Filter type
You might have already noted that different water filtering systems come equipped with varying filter materials. Let's outline the most common types of filters below to help you choose the most suitable one for you:
1. CarbonCarbon filters are among the most popular types used in the recreational vehicles. Filters with this type of filtering material remove not only particles but various water contaminants to improve the taste and smell of your drinking water. The carbon filters are available in up to 3 types-granular activated, modified carbon block, and solid block. The granular activated is the least priced of the three but still does a great job at purifying your camper water.
2. SedimentAs you can easily tell from its name, this type of filter works by trapping the particles in your water/ These types of filers have different filtration capabilities and are rated depending on the size of particles they can trap in terms of microns. A micron translates to a thousandth of millimeter. The smaller the micron rating, the finer particles the filter can remove in water.
The main benefit of installing this type of filter in your camper is that it'll help prevent clogging of your plumbing lines and appliances that use water. However, you need to know that it requires more maintenance than the other types of filters.
3. CeramicA ceramic filter features small holes that enable it to trap various contaminants in water, including sediment, bacteria, protozoa, giardia cysts, and more. This makes it the perfect choice if you want to flush out biological pests in water entering your camper.
Unfortunately, ceramic filters aren't as effective in getting rid of chemical contaminants in your water. For this reason, manufacturers usually use them alongside carbon filters to boost their filtering efficiency and performance.
Source of water supply
Where are you getting the water you're planning to run through your new filtration system? If you're simply hooking up your RV to the campground water supply, then you should consider getting an in-line water filter. If you only need to fitter out your faucets or the water supply inside your RV, a compact canister filter is your ideal choice. It's pretty compact, light, and won't take up space in your RV.
Ease of installation/use
Make sure you choose a water filtering unit for your recreational vehicle that's easy to setup. If you're not careful when moving through the numerous options at the market, you can come across a model that's a real pain to install.
Remember, you'll be replacing the filter every 3-12 months, so you want to ensure the replacement process is always a breeze for you.
Look for a water filtration system that comes with a detailed instructional manual on how to set it up from start to finish. The usage and maintenance of the unit should also be easy for you.
Filter size
One more thing you should keep in mind when shopping for an RV water filtration system is its physical size and storage. The perfect unit should be able to store in the available space in your RV. Generally, RVs have limited space, so you need to keep this factor in mind. You don't want to end up buying the huge, heavy water filtration systems that are awkward to store in your recreational vehicle.
Pro Tip I: How much water do you plan to filter?
If you want to get a water filtration system that meets your specific water purification needs, then you'll need to take into account the amount of water you plan to filter.
Some RVers opt to purify all the water running into their RV system while others are only interested in purifying drinking water.
By identifying which of the two groups above you fit in, you will have an easy time choosing RV water filtering system with the right capacity to meet your unique water purification needs.
Pro Tip II: How long are you planning to live in your RV?
As you already know, RV water filters don't last forever. They need to replace every few months for continued effectiveness at eliminating undesired contaminants in water. Consider stocking enough filters or bringing backup replacement filters with you if you plan to go RVing for an extended period of time. This will ensure you don't run out of clean drinking water when you're in the middle of nowhere.
Which RV filtration system removes salt?
If you're looking for a water filter system for s that removes salt, this is your part.
One thing you should keep in mind is that not all filtering systems can remove salt (sodium) from your water. For instance, carbon filters-the most popular types of filters for RVs-can't get rid of sodium from water. Although some manufacturers will mislead you into thinking that these filter are capable of removing salt from your water, you shouldn't fall into the trap.
With that said, we researched on the filtration systems that actually remove sodium from water and found the three top types listed below:
1. Dual stage filtration system
Dual stage filters utilize filtration and ion exchange to purify your water, making them a great option for removing slat form your water. Not just sodium, they also remove heavy metals and chlorine. But they leave traces of healthy minerals such as potassium.
If you install a dual filter system in your RV today, the water will be passed through two carbon filters and then to a tube connected to faucet line. The result is 100% clean and great tasting water, minus salt and other impurities.
Keep in mind that these types of filtration system are intended for under the sink or countertop installation. They're also incredibly easy to use and maintain. However, you'll need to hire a professional to do the installation for you.
2. Reverse osmosis filtration system
Reverse osmosis systems are also great at removing sodium from your recreational vehicle drinking water.
They work by utilizing pressure to force the water through a membrane filter that traps everything in the water and ONLY allows water molecules to pass. The water first passes through carbon pre-filter to trap organic materials and chlorine that may otherwise damage the membrane. They remove not only salt (sodium) but also barium, arsenic, hard metals, and a variety of other impurities.
Once the filtration is done, the filtered water passes to your RV faucet while the rest (water concentrated with impurities) passes down the drain.
It's important to keep in mind that reverse osmosis systems are intended for plumbing-in with permanent connection to existing water pipe. They cost more than other types of filters and require replacement filters that are also quite pricey.
They also deliver high waste water ratio. For every 5 gallons of water you filter with a reverse osmosis system, you can expect around 40-90 gallons to be sent down the drain as waste water.
3. Distillation filtration system?
Ever heard about distillation filtration system? Well, this is a type of filter that boils your water to produce steam which is then blown into a separate cooling chamber with the help of a fan.
You can also trust this type of filter to remove sodium (salt), heavy metals, microbial contamination, pesticides, and many other contaminants in your water.
You'll have various sizes to choose form when it comes to distillation filters...from the small batch processor (the size of a coffee cup) to a larger under sink continuous flow unit.
However, keep in mind that this filtering system removes all the minerals in your water, including the healthy ones. Since it uses electrical energy to boil your water in a process that takes around 7-8 hours, you can expect your energy bills to go up.
How to keep RV water filter from freezing?
RVing in freezing weather has its share of problems, among them...the high risk of water filters for RVs getting damaged.
Luckily, you can put a few measures in place to enable your water filter to survive through the harsh winter weather without sustaining any damages.
These measures include:1. Completely empty your filtration system
One of the most effective measures you can take to prevent your water filter from getting damaged by winter weather involves emptying it completely before the freezing begins. This will ensure that the freezing doesn't catch up with water in your in-line filter or cartridge and cause the water inside to freeze. Besides preventing damage, this will also help prevent huge water messes in your recreational vehicle when the water inside warms up.
2. Bring in your filtration system
If you're using a cartridge filter system, leaving it outside will make it highly vulnerable to freezing weather. This will cause it to develop micro-cracks in its mechanical structure. These allows large particles to easily pass, compromising the filter's efficiency. We, therefore, suggest that you bring it in your RV (and make sure it's fully emptied).
3. Insulate your filter
Another great way to keep your RV water filter from freezing up involves warming it up. If you're using a canister filter, you can keep it in an insulated box to keep it safe from freezing and the mess that comes with it. If you have filter situated outside, your travel trailer, then you may consider using an old ice chest with shop light inside to insulate and protect it against freezing.
4. Keep the water running
Yes, if you keep the water running in your RV installed faucets, water will keep flowing in the filtration system and the possibility of freeze-up happening in your RV will fall next to zero. This idea is based on the fact that, if water is moving constantly, it's at a much lower risk of freezing when expose to extremely low temperature.
5. Winterize your
What if you want to store your recreational vehicle in the freezing winter months? Well, in this case, winterizing the vehicle will help protect your water filtration system as well as other appliances and equipment that can be damaged by freezing.
For starter, winterizing an RV simply means preparing it for the cold weather conditions. The largest part of winterizing your camper involves preparing the plumbing system by draining all the water in the system, including the water heater and storage tank, filling all the pipes in your RV with non-toxic antifreeze solution
NOTE: It's recommended to always go through your RV user manual before you attempt any winterizing to help you understand any wintering instructions specific to your camper model.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long will my RV water filter last?The lifespan of these water filtering systems vary from model to model. The simpler, less expensive systems tend to see you for an average of around 3 months while the higher-end canister models can go for up to 6 months before they need replacement.
The manufacturers usually indicate the lifespan of their filters to give you a clue when to replace it. Other models come with an indicator to show when their filtering capabilities are running low to help you replace them on time.
Generally, if you notice that your water still has that weird taste or odor after filtering it or you notice a sudden drop in flow rate, it's a good indicator that you need to replace your filtering system.
Q: Should I filter all the water used in RV or just the drinking water?If you want all the water entering your RV to be clean and free of sediment or contaminants, then you should go for a full RV water system filter. Also, if you're concerned about the quality of water in the campground or your trip route, filtering all the water in your RV is advisable. If you just need clean water for drinking, then you should simply install a simple under sink kitchen filtering system.
Some factors such as cost, amount of space available, and personal preferences will help play a role in your final decision.
Q: Can I use my water filter with hot water?No! water filters are designed for use with cold water. The manufacturers advise you against running hot water through their filters as this can reverse the chemical abortion process, causing release of contaminants back into your water.
Q: How do I install an RV water filter?The installation of RV water filters is pretty easy and you can do it on your own without hiring a professional installer. In most cases, the installation will take around 30-60 minutes, depending on the type of filter you buy. Just make sure you read all the manufacturer instructions on how to set up your water filter correctly.
Q: What are the most trusted RV water filter brands?Some of the top brands that have a made for themselves with top-quality products include Camco, Culligan Clearsource, Clear2O, Watts, and Hydro Life. Note that these are just a few examples of famous brands and they're not the only manufacturers of great wear filtering systems out there. You can find a great product from other brands as long as it meets your specific water filtering needs.
Q: Can I use a reverse osmosis water filter in my RV?Absolutely! A reverse osmosis water filtering system is also suitable for use in your RV. As its name suggest, it works by reversing the natural osmosis process. It blocks ALL the contaminants in water and allow only the water molecules to pass. This makes it a great option if you want to enjoy highly purified water, with low salt and minerals content.
Final VerdictWhen you start shopping for the best RV water filter, you'll need to prioritize your specific water filtration needs to ensure you get the perfect filtration system. What works for your friends' RV might not work for your travel trailer. Before you make a selection, keep in mind how much water you plan to filter, the supply source, and what you want to remove from the water. These factors will help you choose most suitable models for your needs. Get one of the highly rated water filters we have featured on our list above to start enjoying 100% clean, great tasting drinking water in your RV.