Water filters - Any experience

[masongary44]

I have been reading the threads on water filtration and am perfectly happy with what needs to be done and most of the methods for doing it (I have been using them for years). What I am after, because I like to avoid unnecessary hard work, and the taste of chemicals where I can is information or recommendations on more efficient systems while maintaining reliability...

Obvious candidates are the micro filter type devices and there are now some portable light weight UV sterilising systems that could also do the trick??.

I am not looking to spend my life savings but could stretch to a budget of 100 - 150 pounds for something that does the job and does the job well.

I have an iodine/resin filter but the flow rate is less than half a litre a minute so it is quite a lot of work and everything tastes of Iodine....

Any thoughts??

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

I recomend the lifesaver bottle, it works with just a very fine filter so doesnt use chemicals but is so fine it removes all the nasties that chemicals do.
George

 

[Humpback]

I have recently purchased the drinksafe inline filter which is fitted to my water bladder and offers clean safe water on demand or in camp will serve as a gravity filter.
The inline filter is not bulky and does 1600l before needing replacement. It comes with a variety of fittings including quick disconnect ones that I'm using.

My bladder is 4l platypus 2007 model (on sale at half price through Go Outdoors coventry)

Have a look here for the filter: http://www.drinksafe-systems.co.uk/products.php#AquaguardEliminator

Giles is very helpful. They make bottle style filters also.

Alan

 

[Shewie]

Millbank and a boil, if you've got time that is.

 

[Goatboy]

If you do tink about using the UV type be carefull. These are pretty low output lamps and as such have minimal depth of penetration into the liquid with enough power to kill nasties. This means you can only treat small amounts of fairly already clean water at a time. Use to big a glass and you potentailly will only treat a "core" of water. Also as with all purification methods take care not to cross contaminate. Many have gotten sick by treating the water "in" the glass or bottle forgetting that some untreated water may be on the lip or in the threads. Also filters with inlets and outlets should have there hoses stored seperately for this reason. The glass lamp is also rather fragile.
MSR do a rather clever thing called a Miox, this makes an ionised saline solution that you then treat your water with. It's small and portable, it does have the drawback though of needing a rather specialised battery and a supply of salt.
Must say for reliability and volume of water I've always used pump filters. Though a mills bag and or boiling should do the trick.

There's a good book ( though a little out of date now in some respects ) called "How to **** in the woods" by Kathleen Meyer which was what I used as a good starting point as to the whys and wherefores of water purification. It is also excellent in teaching you how to dispose of body wastes in a sound fashion.

Cheers
Goatboy.

 

[Melonfish]

I have recently purchased the drinksafe inline filter which is fitted to my water bladder and offers clean safe water on demand or in camp will serve as a gravity filter.
The inline filter is not bulky and does 1600l before needing replacement. It comes with a variety of fittings including quick disconnect ones that I'm using.

My bladder is 4l platypus 2007 model (on sale at half price through Go Outdoors coventry)

Have a look here for the filter: http://www.drinksafe-systems.co.uk/products.php#AquaguardEliminator

Giles is very helpful. They make bottle style filters also.

Alan

i'm ordering this puppy as we speak, can i ask how quick the flow rate is on it? am i laible to get trickles or reasonable pulls on my camelbak?
pete

 

[masongary44]

That in-line filter looks interesting. I tend to prefer to keep my bladder full with already purified water though. It saves me from mistakes... cross contamination etc... I do have plenty of spares though so it is an option. How effective is it as a gravity filter?? micro-filters tend to require reasonable pressure to push the liquid through. a 2l bladder and gravity is probably not going to give a particularly quick purification rate. I already use the tried and tested millbank into billy + boil technique when I have time to wait for the liquid to pass through the Mill bag, and a good fire to get it up and boiling.... I am hoping to find something to reduce that time and go for more of a water on demand solution rather than collect filter, boil and store solution...... I guess I am just lazy but I am happy for technology to enhance my experience where things like this are concerned...

 

[Humpback]

i'm ordering this puppy as we speak, can i ask how quick the flow rate is on it? am i laible to get trickles or reasonable pulls on my camelbak?
pete

I found the suck to be fine. I did try another brand mouthpiece to the Platypus one as it had an on/off built in, but have reverted to the P one.

I think the blurb says 300ml max. Have a look on their site.

Alan

 

[wentworth]

I use the steripen and wouldn't chose anything else.

Go the www.steripen.com and look at all the independent tests done. It is only intended to be used for 1 liter of water, but tests done on treating 3 liters of water in an army hydration pack showed that it did sterilize the water to 99.99% (the exact log figure escapes me). This is triple the recommended volume.

If people read the instructions, they would note that the steripen requires stirring in the water, or agitating the water itself in order to achieve full sterilization. The 90 second dose of UV-C light is overkill in reality.

As for untreated water on the rim of a container, I use a widemouth 1L bottle, fill right to the top, sterilize then wipe any remaining droplets away. I then pour the water into my drinking bladder. It takes around 10 cysts (if we're talking crypto and giardia here) to make you sick. It is believed that even in highly polluted water, you couldn't find this concentration of cysts in the tiny volume of moisture that would be left on the rim of the bottle.

Please also remember that people regularly touch stream water with their hands when crossing water, or packing away their filter, and think nothing of it before using those same contaminated hands to eat food.

I've also used a gravity filter, the ULA Amigo Pro. It's similar in speed to the steripen (roughly a minute per liter). Much more enjoyable than squatting by a creek pumping a filter!
Other gravity filters on the market, such as the MSR autoflow and the platypus equivalent (which use the same filter infact) have received poor reports.

Inline filters are normally only 3.0 microns, which isn't really enough. Good pump and gravity filters are 0.2 to 0.3 microns.
For instance, the Aquamira Frontier Pro filter (designed to be used either as an inline filter or a gravity filter) is meant to be teamed up with chemicals (iodine, chlorine, chlorine dioxide). The chems kill the bacteria and viruses, the filter then removes some of the chems and filters out the cysts.

Hope this helps. Whew! I can be wordy can't I?

 

[bandel4]

I recently heard about a product called Lifestraw.
Below is the link.

http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw.htm

Am planning to get one to try here in the tropics.

Cheers,

 

[Twodogs]

Millbank and boil works for me , allso carry a pre-mac havent used it yet ,
Below staight from a gypsy well
Twodogs

 

[Asa Samuel]

I recently heard about a product called Lifestraw.
Below is the link.

http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw.htm

Am planning to get one to try here in the tropics.

Cheers,

I've seen a lot more compact versions of this on a few survival shop websites, things like this http://www.naturesalternatives.com/water/waterstraw.html

If it works I'll get one

 

[bandel4]

I've seen a lot more compact versions of this on a few survival shop websites, things like this http://www.naturesalternatives.com/water/waterstraw.html

If it works I'll get one

Correct me if I am wrong but the Seychelle Pure Water requires the use of Chlorine tablets.
I was told that with the life straw, all you need is the tube. No need to add any other tablets. The LifeStraw is like a stand alone kit.
I am waiting for the product to arrive in Malaysia.
Would definitely give it a go.

 

[Sniper]

Can't beat the Premac MWP in my book. These are also used by the forces and by relief agencies like the Red Cross when going into disaster areas where there is no safe drinking water, untill supplies can be brought in. Rough cost is about £50 - 60 and IIRC the cost of new filter set about £15 but these will do about 500 litres, quick and easy to use, no after taste and I think they are the dogs.

 

[Lurch]

Given that iodine impregnated resins are used in most of the filters like the premac, I'm not sure how they'll fare against the incoming EU regs. The manufacturers are using iodine as a biocide, which everyone and their dog knows it does well. Despite this it is not included in the approved list.
That suggests to me that filter manufacturers cannot sell iodine based technology for the purpose of water purification, I'm not aware of any exemption?

 

[Asa Samuel]

Correct me if I am wrong but the Seychelle Pure Water requires the use of Chlorine tablets.
I was told that with the life straw, all you need is the tube. No need to add any other tablets. The LifeStraw is like a stand alone kit.
I am waiting for the product to arrive in Malaysia.
Would definitely give it a go.

Nope, it says on the link that the tablets are optional. I've seen a lot of pen style filters it's just that was the one that came up first in my google search

 

[Mr Adoby]

I recently heard about a product called Lifestraw.
Below is the link.

http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw.htm

Am planning to get one to try here in the tropics.

Cheers,

Nice, but do you know if it's actually available now? It's been marketed since 2005, but I don't know if any actually are for sale online? If they are, please provide a link.

A.

 

[Mikey P]

Problems solved:

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product353.asp

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product433.asp

 

[masongary44]

Thanks all, I have taken the plunge.... I bought the Katadyn Vario (I would have liked the pocket, but the price was a bit mch for me, plus the lifecycle on the Vario means It is unlikely I am going to have to replace anything.... I also got the Micropur tabs.

I will be giving them some use in August so not long to wait before they get tested...

 

[He' s left the building]

The only filter I trust is the Katadyn Hiker, although I will replace it with a Vario soon which will be handy for the faster flow rate.

I use Katadyn chlorine tablets after filtering into a ten-litre pouch (MSR or Ortlieb). I used to use a four-litre pouch but it wasn't big enough for two people on some overnighters, we'd use two litres each overnight and then waste time in the morning filtering again.

UK armed forces are no longer using the Millbank bag method and the Pre-mac gear was never widely issued (and left an iodine aftertaste).

I have field-tested many filters and purifiers (note there is a different spec between a 'filter' and a 'purifier') and the user-friendly, fool-proof preferred option was always a Katadyn.

I would only trust a drinking straw/squeeze bottle design in a 'survival' situation, although there are some novel designs being produced all the time. The Frontier Pro looks like a compact useful piece of kit.