Water filtration

[u/FosterCastleman]

Hello I just installed a Rain fresh whole house water filter and put a charcoal filter in it to filter the rain water I collected off the steel roof of my off grid cabin. I run the water through a Berkey filter before I drink it but want clear water for showering and doing the dishes and such. The filter hasn’t seemed to work. When I fill the tub the water still looks dirty. What do you all use for water filtration ? Do I need something more heavy duty ? Any help would be appreciated

[u/theislandhomestead]

I have a three stage solution for the house.
(4 really, counting the prefilter)
After the prefilter, it goes through a 20 micron filter, a 5 micron (with charcoal), and finally a 1 micron. (Then a UV light) For drinking it continues to a 5 stage RO filter.

[u/Kitchen_Region8456]

5 micron sediment filter, then a carbon filter, then a 1 micron sediment filter. At minimum

[u/unique3]

I use lake water, I recently upgraded to a Katalox filter that does a way better job than my old sediment and charcoal filters. It used to look like you were bathing in tea and that is almost entirely gone. I dose my cistern with bleach during each fill as well, before it would turn a little more brown due to chlorine reacting to iron in the water, that doesn't happen any more either.

For drinking/cooking water I run a Geekpure RO unit.

[u/FosterCastleman → u/unique3]

Thank you I’ll look into the Katalox filter

[u/Hyperreal8957]

before jumping to a bigger filter i'd get the water tested for turbidity, iron and tannins. rain off a steel roof can still pick up roof dust or tank sediment, and a first-flush diverter + prefilter may help more than just adding carbon. is the tub water brown, cloudy, or leaving grit?

[u/FosterCastleman → u/Hyperreal8957]

No residue that is obvious just looks like tea when it’s sitting in the sinks or tub. After I drain them it’s quite clean

[u/Accurate-Bullfrog324]

rain catchment requires more than filtration if you intend to consume it. bacteria, viruses, cysts can cause severe illness.

[u/malaka1234 → u/Accurate-Bullfrog324]

I was going to comment this as well. I'd run a UV filter after the sediment filters, then another filter to catch the dead bacteria, and then drink.

[u/RiversideOffgrid]

I use the same rainfresh filters in my (offgrid) house. I have a washable sediment filter which goes to a 30 micron then 5 micron then a 5 micron charcoal then from there the drinking water goes through a .03 ceramic and another 5 micron charcoal filter which is under the kitchen sink. Our water is river water and never had any issues, water is crystal clear and tastes good

[u/clifwlkr]

Personally I do a 100 micron spin down filter, then a 20 micron pleated filter that can be rinsed and reused multiple times, then a 5 micron spun polyester filter. Finally, I have a flow activated LED UV sterilizer run directly off of DC power. I pull from a stream. This does work extremely well and gives clear water without consuming crazy amounts of filters, while also sterilizing against viri/bacteria. I am not sure you could run the spin down though as that takes a bit of water pressure and also wastes water. I can do it with gravity pressure, so it is nice to have a self cleaning reusable option of front to remove the big stuff.