With the improvements needed to modernize today’s campgrounds, RVers must be concerned about the water in outdated setups. At least that’s how Keith Bernard, CEO of Clear2O, felt about it when taking his family camping in an RV back in 2016.
Until then, Clear2O had only been known for creating water filters for home and business starting back in 2008. For their camping trip, Bernard tried to find a filter to meet his family’s needs. But no other products did the trick.
“We didn’t want to have to haul bottled water all the time or worry about the water,” said Bernard.
This led to Clear2O’s launch of its filtration system in 2018, expanding it out to a wider customer base in 2019.
“During that time – as we got more and more people contacting us about this – we came across a number of questions (from customers),” said Bernard. They asked about the “filter clogging all the time” or “lasting as long as it should” or “feeling like it’s not doing all the work it can do.”
The issue, it turns out, was the amount of sediment before even reaching RV filter. As customer service began recommending RVers to use a prefilter, Bernard said the company rapidly realized that such a thing didn’t exist.
A year later, Clear2O is releasing a porous, 20-micron pre-filter capable of trapping all the sand and sediment found in campground water.
For reference, a human hair follicle has a diameter between 35 to 70 microns. After several tests, the team at Clear2O found that the DirtGuard prefilter can expand the life of the carbon filter by 30 percent.
Not much larger than a pint glass, Bernard said the DirtGuard – made from high-density polyethylene – is rigid enough to stand on. It also was designed to last for an entire camping season of constant use. So, instead of a pleated design like most prefilters, Clear2O utilized a nesting design.
“The nesting design is actually another integral part because we didn’t want to have a series of filters where you’d have your prefilter and then another hose and your carbon filter,” said Bernard. (See the exploded view below for a better understanding of how it works.) “We wanted the DirtGuard to be in the smallest space possible. So, we nested the carbon filter inside the actual prefilter itself.”
In an environmentally conscious move, Clear2O made it so RVers only had to replace the nesting carbon filter instead of having to replace the entire prefilter itself.
The DirtGuard is already in production and will be viewable at the 35th Annual Florida RV SuperShow, running Jan. 15 to 19.
