Mounting Filter Canisters in the Equipment Bay

[David-and-Cheryl]

Hi everyone. I'm getting ready to order a dual jumbo canister water filter system from RVWaterFilterStore.com. I want to mount it in the equipment bay of our 2013 Landmark San Antonio, behind the UDC and water heater. There is plenty of space in the bay, but no open wall space on which to mount the canisters.

I found Jim Beletti's photos of a similar install in his 2014 LM Savannah. He built a frame out of 2x4s and screwed it to the floor. However, it looks like he has standard size canisters; my jumbo canisters will be larger and pretty heavy when full of water, and I'm concerned that just screwing the frame to the floor might not be stable enough.

Thoughts? Should I also brace the frame at the top with a connection to the ceiling of the compartment? Or mount it some other way? (I assume the ceiling, which of course is the coach floor, isn't strong enough to screw mounting brackets into directly?)

I'd also like to find a way to avoid having the filter system permanently in the way of access to the rest of the bay, just in case I need to have something else in there serviced. So I'm trying to figure out how to make the whole thing movable if needed...hard to do if it's screwed down and connected with PEX to the water system. Maybe another mounting solution altogether is out there?

Last question: with the filter system installed between the hose connection and the Anderson 4-way valve, I'm considering creating a bypass around the filters with a pair of Y fittings with shutoffs, and a hose between them. That would allow me to bypass the filters if they're clogged or have some other problem, or if I'm pumping in sanitizer or antifreeze through the 4-way valve. Worth doing, or is that overkill?

 

[jbeletti]

Hi David!

You'll get a lot of feedback on this thread from those who have added their owner systems and I want to go you mine as well.

The filter housing tops I'm using have a bypass level on them. While they may not be the same form factor, I did find a jumbo canister with this feature.

The desire to tuck the filters out of the way behind the UDC and utility wall and be able to be easily taken out for servicing stuff back there is tough to reconcile. I suggest considering a 3-way valve prior to the first stage of filtration. I suggest using Shark Bite fittings where possible. Throw the 3-way valve to bypass and use the Shark Bite removal tool and you can have those filters out of the way on a few minutes - including using a screw gun to remove your wood frame from the floor.

As for mounting the filters, get the metal brackets available for your selected housing. As your filters are jumbo, I suggest you build a framework that allows the center of gravity of the suspended/bracketed filters to be in the center of the framework. The center of gravity of my filters hang past the center of my framework, but my filters are less weight than what you'll be dealing with.

In terms of fastening a wooden framework to the floor, a couple of ideas....
1. No need to penetrate the floor more than than 1 inch. Longer fasteners pose the risk of impaling a holding tank!
2. Consider installing some sort of female inside-threaded fastener (maybe a t-nut, threaded-inserts or similar) to the floor in 2 places and use a threaded bolt with a handle of sorts on the top. Those bolts would go down through your framework and into the female fasteners.

 

[David-and-Cheryl]

Thanks for all the info, Jim!

The filter housing tops I'm using have a bypass level on them. While they may not be the same form factor, I did find a jumbo canister with this feature.

Cool, I'll have to find out if the ones I'm looking at have or offer that feature.

The desire to tuck the filters out of the way behind the UDC and utility wall and be able to be easily taken out for servicing stuff back there is tough to reconcile. I suggest considering a 3-way valve prior to the first stage of filtration. I suggest using Shark Bite fittings where possible. Throw the 3-way valve to bypass and use the Shark Bite removal tool and you can have those filters out of the way on a few minutes - including using a screw gun to remove your wood frame from the floor.

I'm familiar with the SharkBite fittings from replumbing one of the sinks. They're pricey, but worth it and really easy to use. I saw those in your photos.

So on the three way valve, one side would go to the UDC hose inlet, one outlet would go to the filter system, and the other outlet directly to the Anderson valve?

As for mounting the filters, get the metal brackets available for your selected housing. As your filters are jumbo, I suggest you build a framework that allows the center of gravity of the suspended/bracketed filters to be in the center of the framework. The center of gravity of my filters hang past the center of my framework, but my filters are less weight than what you'll be dealing with.

In terms of fastening a wooden framework to the floor, a couple of ideas....
1. No need to penetrate the floor more than than 1 inch. Longer fasteners pose the risk of impaling a holding tank!
2. Consider installing some sort of female inside-threaded fastener (maybe a t-nut, threaded-inserts or similar) to the floor in 2 places and use a threaded bolt with a handle of sorts on the top. Those bolts would go down through your framework and into the female fasteners.

All good ideas and input. I'm not sure the t-nuts would be secure enough--I'd be afraid that tightening down the frame would pull them loose--unless I could mount them from underneath the floor, which is more trouble than I think I'd want to go to. But the threaded inserts should work.

Thanks!

 

[avvidclif]

Make sure you leave enough space from the bottom to the floor that you can remove the filters to change them. When I get around to that project I plan on mounting them to the panel I remove to gain access. By using long enough hoses (washing machine) I can move them outside the RV far enough they won't get any water in the RV when removing the cover.

Still in the planning stages....

 

[David-and-Cheryl]

Make sure you leave enough space from the bottom to the floor that you can remove the filters to change them. When I get around to that project I plan on mounting them to the panel I remove to gain access. By using long enough hoses (washing machine) I can move them outside the RV far enough they won't get any water in the RV when removing the cover.

Thanks, Clif. I'd thought about the vertical clearance issue, but not about the water in the basement problem. Does anyone know how much water comes out when changing the filter cartridges? (Assuming of course that the supply is turned off first!)

Now I'm thinking about mounting the whole thing in a plastic tub, like some people do for external use, but then setting the tub in the equipment bay - assuming I can find one that will fit. That would support the canisters and provide leak protection. And I could remove the system to get at the cartridges easily. Hmmm...

 

[EPaulikonis]

Here' a link to older thread with photos of filtration setup in my Landmark Savannah. https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/51348-Water-Filtration-System?highlight=

 

[jbeletti]

Thanks for all the info, Jim!

Cool, I'll have to find out if the ones I'm looking at have or offer that feature.

I'm familiar with the SharkBite fittings from replumbing one of the sinks. They're pricey, but worth it and really easy to use. I saw those in your photos.

So on the three way valve, one side would go to the UDC hose inlet, one outlet would go to the filter system, and the other outlet directly to the Anderson valve?

All good ideas and input. I'm not sure the t-nuts would be secure enough--I'd be afraid that tightening down the frame would pull them loose--unless I could mount them from underneath the floor, which is more trouble than I think I'd want to go to. But the threaded inserts should work.

Thanks!

In Anderson's documentation, they say the white vinyl hose loop on the back is where water filters should be plumbed. Heartland does it differently. I pull the loop and plumb my filters in there.

On the 3-way valve idea, I was just responding to your comment about winterizing the tank/pump and not pushing antifreeze into the rest of the plumbing system. So my thought is that it would go on the output of the pump and in normal mode pass water through the valve into the system as presently plumbed. But when you rotate the valve, water/anitfreeze bypasses the water system and diverts out the 3rd port to wherever you want it to go (gray tank/ground etc.).

As for the T-nut idea, I was thinking of a 24" long 2x4 laid flat on the floor where near the ends, a hole would be drilled all the way through and the t-nut inserted from the bottom. In this fashion, it would not be pulled out. You would need to screw that flat 2x4 down to the floor semi permanently but I think that fits your desire to make the water filtration system easily removable for servicing other items back there. Likely okay to have that flat 2x4 stay there for service. Of course, you need to come up with a frame design that works for you

 

[avvidclif]

Eric your setup is the one I was going to follow until I got to thinking about the mess and clearances when changing filters. How do you handle that? Is there enough room to unscrew the cannister? I do like the hinged door and the way you plumbed it in.

 

[EPaulikonis]

First time I opened the filter canister after I'd charged the system it was a mess. Lots of water spilled out despite how careful I tried to be. That's when I decided to change the plumbing around slightly so I could blow out the filter system without running air through the remainder of the coach. Inlet to filter connected to back side of fitting for city water inlet. Loop through filter then outlet goes to Anderson valve. Two valves on outlet side of filters allows me to purge filter system only, air or water. Now it's much cleaner because the filter housing is almost completely dry when I'm done with the compressed air.

Filter has plenty of room to get the filter wrench under the canister. Just be sure to account for the gap when installing the filter brackets. I used heavy bolts with washers to install the brackets. I also framed the basement opening and used gate hinges to support the added filter/water weight on the door. So far the hardware is holding up nicely.

Best of luck on your project.

 

[avvidclif]

Thank you very much.

 

[MTPockets]

Just curious why you choose jumbo filters... Also, have you considered as well a water softener? Ours isn't built in as I was never comfortable with the possibility of spilling water on the floor when changing filters. I suppose some sort of drain pan could be placed under the filters.. Thinking out loud, this may have motivated me to look into an inside mount...

 

[David-and-Cheryl]

As for the T-nut idea, I was thinking of a 24" long 2x4 laid flat on the floor where near the ends, a hole would be drilled all the way through and the t-nut inserted from the bottom. In this fashion, it would not be pulled out. You would need to screw that flat 2x4 down to the floor semi permanently but I think that fits your desire to make the water filtration system easily removable for servicing other items back there. Likely okay to have that flat 2x4 stay there for service. Of course, you need to come up with a frame design that works for you

Ah, I'm following you now. That will work! Thanks for the clarification.

- - - Updated - - -

Just curious why you choose jumbo filters... Also, have you considered as well a water softener? Ours isn't built in as I was never comfortable with the possibility of spilling water on the floor when changing filters. I suppose some sort of drain pan could be placed under the filters.. Thinking out loud, this may have motivated me to look into an inside mount...

I chose the jumbo filters to ensure maximum flow through the system, and also so that I won't have to change them as often. We'll be fulltiming, so we'll put a lot of water through the filters.

I did think about a water softener, but when I looked at them they were crazy expensive. So I figured I'd wait to see if we really need it, and add it later if so. (I've lived in Dallas most of my life, so I'm used to hard water!)

- - - Updated - - -

First time I opened the filter canister after I'd charged the system it was a mess. Lots of water spilled out despite how careful I tried to be. That's when I decided to change the plumbing around slightly so I could blow out the filter system without running air through the remainder of the coach. Inlet to filter connected to back side of fitting for city water inlet. Loop through filter then outlet goes to Anderson valve. Two valves on outlet side of filters allows me to purge filter system only, air or water. Now it's much cleaner because the filter housing is almost completely dry when I'm done with the compressed air.

Filter has plenty of room to get the filter wrench under the canister. Just be sure to account for the gap when installing the filter brackets. I used heavy bolts with washers to install the brackets. I also framed the basement opening and used gate hinges to support the added filter/water weight on the door. So far the hardware is holding up nicely.

Eric, that's a great plumbing setup, especially with the purge valves. That solves the problem of getting water in the bay when changing filters. Very nice. I'll likely follow your design. The only thing I'm going to add is an adjustable pressure regulator on the output side.

I thought about building the door like you did, but I'm planning on installing a sliding tray that runs the width of the basement. Even though my coach has that angled wall like yours does, I don't think I'd be able to open the door wide enough to get to anything in the equipment bay--the sliding tray would block the door. So I'll probably go with a support frame set inside the bay and fastened to the floor like Jim suggested. Then I'm going to convert the bulkhead panel to a pair of sliding doors in metal C-channel tracks, as someone else on the HOF suggested.

I'll post some photos once I get around to doing all this! Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[EPaulikonis]

I have the adjustable pressure regulator attached to the hose inside the UDC. Another user mentioned having one on inlet and one on outlet side of filters to see pressure drop and make determination on when to change the filters.

Best of luck on the build and look forward to seeing the photos.

 

[David-and-Cheryl]

I have the adjustable pressure regulator attached to the hose inside the UDC. Another user mentioned having one on inlet and one on outlet side of filters to see pressure drop and make determination on when to change the filters.

Yes, I saw that also, and I'm thinking seriously about doing the two-gauge setup. Decisions, decisions...

 

[David-and-Cheryl]

So, another idea. I just saw in a photo of a newer Landmark that Heartland is now pre-installing water filters, and mounting them to the ceiling of the equipment bay. Any thoughts on doing that as a retrofit?

Each canister, full of water, would weigh 10-12 pounds. I'd have to screw a bracket of some type into the ceiling, and rely on just the screw threads to keep the bracket in place (since I can't get to the other side of the wood--I think it would be under the shower pan). Does anyone know how thick the ceiling material is and if it could support this weight?

 

[jbeletti]

David - my guess is that attaching the jumbo canisters to the ceiling is a no-go. Unless there's blocking in there, I believe it's just luan on the bottom. That said, when I removed my HL installed canister, I left their bracket up there and it seems real secure.

 

[David-and-Cheryl]

David - my guess is that attaching the jumbo canisters to the ceiling is a no-go. Unless there's blocking in there, I believe it's just luan on the bottom. That said, when I removed my HL installed canister, I left their bracket up there and it seems real secure.

I was afraid of that. I suspect you're right, but I'll check when I'm at the trailer next to see if it's luan or plywood, and if there's any blocking behind it.