Water- and showersystem

Waterfiltersystem

Water is a very important issue on a world trip. It was important to us that we are able to prepare drinking water from different sources (lake, river, tap, etc.) everywhere. In addition, our system should be as space-saving as possible and not permanently installed, so that we can use it flexibly.

We have 2 water tanks of 25 liters each stowed behind the passenger seat. These are also not permanently installed, but can be easily removed for filling or cleaning.

Since we are often self-sufficient in nature on the road and do not want to be dependent on drinking water to buy in bottles, we have chosen a water filter system from Riva.

The following we have with us:

2 Riva filters: Multi and Life incl. replacement cartridges (--> to the set)
1 self-made pre-filter
2x approx. 2m hose with Gardena connection to connect filter and pump
2 flexible water canisters with 25l --> 50l each
Smaller hose pieces in different diameters incl. hose clamps and connectors (so that almost every water tap can be tapped)
different connections for water taps 1inch, ½ inch, ¾ inch (rarely used)

With these products we are able to fill up drinking water at various water points. If there is a water tap and it has at least 1 bar pressure, we connect the Riva filters directly to the tap and fill our water canisters that way. How we filter the water, if there is no tap with enough pressure, we describe below in the section Pump- & Showersystem.

First, more about the Riva-filter:

Riva has several filter setups in offer. One of them is specially designed for overland travels. This consists of two filters:

Filter 1 "LIFE": Block activated carbon filter with a filtration capacity of ≥ 20 microns (≥ 20 μm) which filters out heavy metals, microplastics, hormones, drug residues, pesticides, fungicides, carbons, asbestos, chlorine and more.
Filter 2 "MULTI": Hollow fiber membrane filter with ultra-fine filtration performance of 0.2 microns (≥ 0.2 μm) which filters out Legionella and bacteria.

Advantages:

Taste is filtered out.
Filters need only 1 bar water pressure. This is important because many taps have low pressure.
Cartridges easily replaceable. They generally last for 6 months. In Europe and Middle East, filters have often lasted us even longer. You can clearly see that the filter cartridges should be changed when the water flow is noticeably reduced (due to the clogged filters).
Flexible or fixed use
Compact system: 240 mm x 70 mm

You can find more information here in the product link:

Germany and Europe: https://riva-filter.de/produkt/riva-multi-explorer-overland/?riv=133
Switzerland: https://naturalaqua.ch/produkt/trinkwasserfilter-rivaalva-explorer-overland/?aff=11

If you order a product from Riva or Naturalaqua via this link, you support us at the same time. Please contact us if you have any questions about the watrerfilters. Several times a year we can also issue a discount code for orders.

Pump-& showersystem

Now more about our pump, which has two functions: Pressure build-up for the water filters and showering.

Since Africa we have more and more the situation that the pressure of water taps is too low for our waterfilters. Then we use our shower system to pump the water with enough pressure through the filters to get drinking water. Until now we had installed a pump with 1.4 bar. Since the water quality in Africa is much worse and contains more sediment, we now use an additional pre-filter to preserve the life of the Rivafilter. We built the prefilter from an old Riva cartridge and a stainless steel screen (mesh size: 500 mesh). However, due to the pre-filter the resistance is higher and more pressure is needed. For this reason, we have now made an upgrade and installed a 12V pump with 4.2 bar. Tigerexped advised and supported us in this. Many thanks for that!

More about the pump from Tigerexped can be found here:

https://www.tigerexped.de/index.php?a=125976&tigerme=EBVtC1YfQpEq3cJlMzdp

Our pump is located in the left fender and is connected to a water circuit. The circuit starts with an INPUT hose underneath the bumper, leads into the engine compartment to the pump, flows through a heat exchanger which is integrated in the small cooling circuit of the engine and then ends in the OUTPUT hose, where we can attach the water filter or also a hose with shower head by means of a Gardena connection. The water flow can be diverted by means of a valve in front of the heat exchanger to regulate the temperature when showering or to bypass the heat exchanger altogether when filtering water.

With the help of this system, we can now filter water at any time, as well as heat and shower when needed. We get warm water when the engine is still warm after driving or by turning on the airheater (Webasto) for a few minutes.

To make all this easier to understand, we have created a graphic that shows the whole circuit. You can also find pictures of our installation here.