The Blu Tech AR3 is a three-stage canister water filtration system for RVs, built in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that filters campground water down to 0.2 micron before it ever enters your rig. After about a month of running the AR3 Essential Bundle on our Brinkley Model Z 3515, our verdict is simple: we should have bought a system like this on day one instead of waiting a year and a half.
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Why we bought it
For our first eighteen months of full-time RV life, we hooked up to whatever came out of the campground spigot and didn't think much about it. Then at one stop we found a sign taped to our door warning us about lead in the water. The water we had been drinking, cooking with, and brushing our teeth with. There's no undo button for that, only a decision about what happens next.
Not long after, we met the Blu Technology team at the RV Content Creators Convention in Tampa. They sent us their AR3 Essential Bundle to install and review honestly, which is exactly what we did on camera. A few things sold us before we even opened the box. The AR3 is a true three-stage system with NSF 42 and NSF 42/61 certified filters, the final stage filters down to 0.2 micron, and the whole thing is made in Kalamazoo. Nathan grew up in Michigan, so a water filter built an hour from home was an easy thing to root for.
How we use it
We filmed the whole unboxing and install in our Blu Tech AR3 install video post, and honestly, that week tested our relationship with water in general. Days before the install, a small toilet paper mishap turned into a running toilet that flooded our basement storage at midnight. That flood had nothing to do with the filter, but mopping out your own basement at 1 a.m. puts you in the right frame of mind to take your water setup seriously.
The install itself was simpler than we expected. The bundle comes with stainless steel quick connects, and after a year and a half of fighting cheap plastic fittings, those alone felt like an upgrade. The system sits between the campground spigot and our rig, we run a flush when filters are new, and that's it. Now every drop that enters the Brinkley has been through all three stages.
The two results that surprised us: pressure and taste. We expected a filter this fine to choke our water pressure, and instead pressure was noticeably better than what we had before. And the taste test was a real pass. Fabiola is picky about water, and she drank it straight from the tap without making a face. We did our one-week check-in on camera from a Renaissance Festival in South Carolina, and the honest review held up: better pressure, clean-tasting water, and no more guessing what's in the campground supply.
What to know before buying
A few honest notes from our experience so far. First, flush new carbon filters before you drink anything. The first water out runs black, which looks alarming and is completely normal. Second, it's one more piece of gear to set up and stow, though at 7.75 pounds the AR3 is light enough that this hasn't bothered us on travel days. Third, we've only run ours for about a month, so we can't tell you yet how the filters hold up over a year of full-time use. And to be clear on the disclosure: Blu Tech sent us this unit to review, though everything above is what we actually experienced.
Where to get it
Blu Tech set us up with a partner link that gets you 7% off anything on their site: goblutech.com/NomadsAmor, with the coupon code IEOHHWNJ. If you want the exact package we run, it's the AR3 Essential Bundle, which includes the stainless quick connects.
The AR3 is the centerpiece of our full RV water filtration setup, where we cover the pressure regulator, water bladder, and the rest of our water gear. And if our midnight flood story made you nervous, the leak sensors that now guard our bathroom are in our RV safety and monitoring gear.