Soft Water for my T@B

Pop-T@B
Pop-T@B Member Posts: 199
in Modifications & Upgrades

For those of you that have soft water at home and would like to also have it in their T@B as I do, there is a small solution. Most of the RV water softeners I have seen in the market place were too big to store easily in the T@B, you would either need to store them inside the camper or in the tow vehicle.  Then set it up outside to hook it up. After I found a place to store my sewer hose and sewer items (see my other post on “sewer hose storage solution”) it opened up some space inside the front storage box.  I work in Water Conditioning so I made a short custom water softener. With the factory sewer hose storage pipe removed I was able to fit a 6”x13” mineral tank with an 1190FP Clack in and out head on it. The unit should soften about 100 gallons of water before it needs to be regenerated with 2# of salt. If you are interested you should be able to get one made by your local water conditioning company, if they need details on how I made it, I will be happy you share the info. I can also store 4 wheel chocks and a 25 RV water hose in the box with it.

Thanks, Shawn

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Comments

  • JandJ92010
    JandJ92010 Member Posts: 304
    I think that it is so fascinating  to see what we all come up with to improve the enjoyment of our beloved T@Bs, we all are such a clever bunch aren't we.
    The HobbiT@B, 2015-L, towed by a2014 RAM C/V
  • larrygon
    larrygon Member Posts: 255
    How do you regenerate the resin tank?
    "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein
    2015 T@B M@X S White with Grey trim | TV 2021 Ascent Touring | Flagstaff AZ.
  • Pop-T@B
    Pop-T@B Member Posts: 199

    for a campsite regen you would shut off the water supply, unhook the hose feeding the RV and run it over to a proper drain, unscrew the cap and slowly pour #2lbs of table salt that has been dissolved in water into the top of the unit, reinstall the cap, let set for about 10-15minutes then slowly turn on the feed water to rinse out the salt thru the drain hose, run water until you can no longer taste salt in the drain water, reinstall hose to RV inlet and you are ready to go. Total time to regen is about 20-25 minutes, best time to do this is during your morning cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. 

  • Sharon_is_SAM
    Sharon_is_SAM Member Posts: 10,035
    Just happened to run across this thread as I was sorting my bookmarks, Poptab, is this something that someone out in Arizona could use?  I think someone said they had a lot of minerals in their water.
    Sharon / 2017 T@B CSS / 2015 Toyota Sienna Minivan / Westlake, Ohio
  • ChanW
    ChanW Member Posts: 3,165
    I missed this one. 
    Amazing...
    Chan  -  near Buffalo NY
    2014 S Maxx
    2011 Tacoma 4cyl ... edit: 2022 Tacoma 6cyl - oh yeah! 

     A_Little_T@b'll_Do_Ya
  • Pop-T@B
    Pop-T@B Member Posts: 199
    Sam,  yes this could be used anywhere on hard water. The only thing is, just like the rest of the water lines and tanks in the T@B you cannot let it freeze. You will need to bring it inside when the temps drop below 32
  • Sharon_is_SAM
    Sharon_is_SAM Member Posts: 10,035
    Good to know.
    Sharon / 2017 T@B CSS / 2015 Toyota Sienna Minivan / Westlake, Ohio
  • jimcenname
    jimcenname Member Posts: 346
    @Pop-T@B, do you think soft water is important for the maintenance of a clean plumbing system? I recall all of the scale in the traditional water heater of my last RV. Since the Alde heats water differently I wander if scale is an issue when using hard water.
    2019 T@B400
    TV: 2017 Nissan Frontier SV 4X4
    Southern California
    Full-timer since 2019
  • dragonsdofly
    dragonsdofly Member Posts: 1,927
    @jimcenname, @Pop-T@B has sold his t@b trailer and has not been on the forum for the last 1 1/2 years. This is an interesting question that I had not considered and I'm sure someone with more technical knowledge and experience  in this area can give us some insight. Calling all resident experts.....
    2017 t@b sofitel(Dr@gonsFly)TV 2015 Silverado 2500hd(Behemoth). Wyandotte, Michigan.
    Draco dormiens numquam titilandus.
  • Sharon_is_SAM
    Sharon_is_SAM Member Posts: 10,035
    I Googled “Effect of hard water on pex tubing”
    Sharon / 2017 T@B CSS / 2015 Toyota Sienna Minivan / Westlake, Ohio
  • Sharon_is_SAM
    Sharon_is_SAM Member Posts: 10,035
    Just found this in the Alde 3020 manual:

    “Hard water is water that has a high dissolved-mineral content, particularly calcium. If the furnace is used in a hard
    water area for prolonged periods, install a water filter. Hard water can lead to a build-up of lime scale that can reduce the functionality of the system.”
      
    Sharon / 2017 T@B CSS / 2015 Toyota Sienna Minivan / Westlake, Ohio
  • jimcenname
    jimcenname Member Posts: 346
    edited December 2019
    @Sharon_is_SAM I saw that information in the Alde manual too. What's odd about the statement is that a water "filter" will not remove "dissolved" material like calcium. Water "softeners" will remove the minerals using a chemical process involving salt. Water filters remove only stuff that is suspended. I'm surprised that a company that makes water heaters wouldn't know that. Unless it was lost in translation.
    2019 T@B400
    TV: 2017 Nissan Frontier SV 4X4
    Southern California
    Full-timer since 2019
  • Sharon_is_SAM
    Sharon_is_SAM Member Posts: 10,035
    You may want to contact Alde to discuss your plans for a water softener, although it looks like PopTaB did it.

    I found this in the Alde 3020 manual, but no discussion of a water softener.

    • Sterilisation fluids for water can cause harmful corrosion to the stainless structure of the furnace. Always read the data label regarding additives that are used and make sure that the system is flushed of all additives before using
    the hydronic heating system.

    • Hard water is water that has a high dissolved-mineral content, particularly calcium. If the furnace is used in a hard
    water area for prolonged periods, install a water filter. Hard water can lead to a build-up of lime scale that can reduce the functionality of the system.
    Sharon / 2017 T@B CSS / 2015 Toyota Sienna Minivan / Westlake, Ohio
  • ScottG
    ScottG Administrator Posts: 5,674
    I have hard water in my house and considered installing a softener early on but ultimately decided it was just swapping one set of issues for another. Twenty-two years later I've seem no obvious ill effects from hard water, other than occasionally having to clean deposits off of aerators and other fixtures. At this point, my heating equipment is going to die from something else rather than calcium.
    For what relatively little use the T@B gets, I have no interest in futzing with a water softener while camping. YMMV!
    2015 T@B Max S (320)
    2015 Nissan Frontier SV V6 4x4

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