RE: [A/S] 1976 Airstream Restoration In Progress Water filter

["Oliver Filippi" <ofilippi@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My personal preference is to go with the Everpure RV filter.  Everpure makes
all sorts of water filters for commercial applications, and is first class
firm with first class products.

The primary function of a water filter in an RV is to "purify" water of
questionable potable quality.  There are many ways to do this, but the most
practical is to "super chlorinate the water source" [by adding sufficient
chlorine bleach to kill off the bad stuff ( bacteria, etc.) that could make
you sick] and then filtering out the chlorine and the sediment (dead
bacteria) caused by the chlorination treatment.  To do this requires a GOOD
activated charcoal filter.

Note: there are two potential problems with charcoal filters: 1) the filter
must have sufficient charcoal surface area to adsorb (that is not a
mispelling) the chlorine and 2. the filter must not clog or tunnel (allow a
"hole" or passageway to develop which would allow the water to flow through
the filter without going through the charcoal filtering media).  Most
charcoal filters are simply a pile of activated charcoal which can clog
easily (if there is a lot of sediment in the input stream) and also tend to
develop tunnel bypasses.

Everpure uses a proprietary technology which avoids both of these problems.
They use a multi fold paper element which is covered with the charcoal.
This provides a large exposed surface area which resists clogging and
tunneling and has a relatively long life since essentially all of the
charcoal is exposed to the input water. An additional benefit is the
packaging which facilitates changing the filter without causing a big mess
or flood below the filter. The filter is enclosed in a disposable cartridge
assembly which hooks to the filter head with a half turn "bayonet"
mount.(the filter is self contained and does not go into some sort of
enclosure or bowl).  The lever in the head (fastened to the trailer) not
only unlocks the filter cartridge, but also shuts off the water.  So a
filter change is a snap. Flip the lever, twist the old filter a half turn,
pull it down, insert the new filter, give it a half turn and then flip the
lever back to lock it.

The Everpure filter is available at RV dealers (including Camping World) as
are the replacement filter cartridges. Airstream has put these filters in
for many years as a factory installed option.

Oliver Filippi