All kinds of problems with these. They either leak because they aren't tight enough or the housing cracks when you tighten them up. I've been advised to leave the filter out or modify the housing to obviate the need for a filter. Any advice, suggestions or experience. To date we've spent £100 on replacement housings!!!
Carver water filters
- Thread starter Stuart_5040858
- Start date
A few years ago I read an article from a scientist who said that the water filters did more harm than good in that they provided a breeding ground for bugs. He suggested discarding the filter. This appealled to me as I'm not keen on things that are relatively expensive and need replacing regularly (except anything that is essential for safety of course).I followed his advice by prising off the filter from the screw cap then just replace the cap. We've never had any problems with this arrangement. We never use the water from the system for drinking though, preferring to fill up a large container that used to contain spring water for that and keep it by the sink.
I wrote this in reply to someones similar problem.
The filter is sealed by a rubber 'O' ring and for the lack of or the wrong type of lubricant, it jambs solid.
Best way I have found to get it unscrewed is with a standard pair of pliers, however used the wrong way round!. Put the plier handles into the corners of the filter and use a bar or screwdriver though the end you normally grip with for leverage. This forces the plier handles into the corners where the plastic is at it's strongest and unlikely to break.
The best lubricant I have found to be silicone grease, the worsted type is 'Vaseline' which swells the rubber seal and jambs the filter solid.
Cracks around the threads of the housing are normally caused by either the 'O' ring swelling, over tightening, or frost during winter.
It should seal, (thinking as if a clock), with the 'bar across the middle of the filter', pointing at twenty to two.
I might add, I fitted a new housing to a customers van one Saturday afternoon, by Sunday lunchtime the unit had cracked in the six O'Clock position. Now I am sure I did not get it wrong, my only doubt is whether the customer had a 'play' with his key spanner after I had left. The customer had bought the unit locally and on asking the dealer he told me Trauma's advise as to why it had cracked was we had not 'opened' the filter???. I am not even going to explain this only to say as a reason, it's complete rubbish. What it will mean to you however is you are not getting a free replacement, even if as I believe it is faulty plastic and or manufacture.
The filter is sealed by a rubber 'O' ring and for the lack of or the wrong type of lubricant, it jambs solid.
Best way I have found to get it unscrewed is with a standard pair of pliers, however used the wrong way round!. Put the plier handles into the corners of the filter and use a bar or screwdriver though the end you normally grip with for leverage. This forces the plier handles into the corners where the plastic is at it's strongest and unlikely to break.
The best lubricant I have found to be silicone grease, the worsted type is 'Vaseline' which swells the rubber seal and jambs the filter solid.
Cracks around the threads of the housing are normally caused by either the 'O' ring swelling, over tightening, or frost during winter.
It should seal, (thinking as if a clock), with the 'bar across the middle of the filter', pointing at twenty to two.
I might add, I fitted a new housing to a customers van one Saturday afternoon, by Sunday lunchtime the unit had cracked in the six O'Clock position. Now I am sure I did not get it wrong, my only doubt is whether the customer had a 'play' with his key spanner after I had left. The customer had bought the unit locally and on asking the dealer he told me Trauma's advise as to why it had cracked was we had not 'opened' the filter???. I am not even going to explain this only to say as a reason, it's complete rubbish. What it will mean to you however is you are not getting a free replacement, even if as I believe it is faulty plastic and or manufacture.
My filter hadn't had the suggested 30 days use but was full of green slime. I put just the cap back and have had no ill effects.
After many years caravanning, I find this item to be probably the worst designed piece of equipment on a caravan or motorhome. In my opinion the only sensible thing to do is to use the end cap with no filter and fit an inline unit somewhere near the kitchen tap. Carver/Truma will probably lose money but it might make them design something that isn't a total load of junk!
Agree with all the others, only bothering to add this comment in the hope that Carver and all users of their filters finally get the message. It's a useless piece of junk. Doesn't add to water cleanliness. Of extremely poor design, Excessively expensive and made of shoddy material. I was quite surprised to discover the filter is fully bypassed when the water container is stored in the front locker.
Never buy a new filter, cut open the old container with a hacksaw, throw away the contents, replace the cap and hope the casing doesn't crack in the process
.
Never buy a new filter, cut open the old container with a hacksaw, throw away the contents, replace the cap and hope the casing doesn't crack in the process
.
In response to Gary's reply, he is right to avoid vasaline as a lubricantn ot only does it cuase teh rubber oring toswell, it is not safe fo potable water, which is why silicone is should be avoided. Vegetable oil is the prefered lubricant. Also for those who are upset by the content of the filter when they change it, consider that the debris you find in teh filter wold have travelled into your system without a filter. If you read the blurb that Carver put out when the Crystal was made available, a big issue was made of the fact that the filter contains silver, which is deadly to bacteria.
It would be highly irresponsible to recommend a lubricant that was unsafe to health. With this in mind I took the trouble to read the spec for both Dow Corning and Rocol who are the two major produces of Silicone grease. Rocal 'Sapphire Aqua Sil' is in fact sold for use in both cold 'drinking water' and hot water systems, it says so on the tube!
I have never followed the recommendation of 'vegetable oil', mainly because it's water soluble and of very limited life so at best a poor substitute if the correct lubricant is at hand.
However Vegetable oil is to be highly recommended for cooking purposes!!
I have never followed the recommendation of 'vegetable oil', mainly because it's water soluble and of very limited life so at best a poor substitute if the correct lubricant is at hand.
However Vegetable oil is to be highly recommended for cooking purposes!!
I have had similar problems and have taken the advice of others to remove the filter and replace the cap, and have had no problems. To allow me to use the water as drinking water, I went to my local Army surplus store and bought two boxes of Aquaclear water purifying tablets. They are about the size of Natrena artificial sweeteners and easily drop into the water tub. Four or five tablets do for me in an average aquaroll, although the directions are 1 tab=1litre water. I have not been ill. The tabs are cheap enough at
Personally I cannot see the need for a water filter at all.
In all the years I've been caravanning I've never used one or needed one.
From the vast correspondances over the years on Forum these things seem nothing but trouble and a drain on your money.
In all the years I've been caravanning I've never used one or needed one.
From the vast correspondances over the years on Forum these things seem nothing but trouble and a drain on your money.
When I collected our new Swift van last year I was a bit worried that Swift had adopted a policy of not fitting any type of water filtration on the 550SE model.
It would appear that it was the right decision. We never drink the tap water anyway so at least I saved some money on filters.
It would appear that it was the right decision. We never drink the tap water anyway so at least I saved some money on filters.
Facebook
Twitter