Water purifiers

[VanKitten]

I was looking to find a reasonable, low power (no power) purifier.

I think it would be a good idea to have one...just in case.

But, as I look around...there seems to be a lot of choices and so much detail technical data.  

Since I am not a scientist, most of the tech. Data is meaningless to me

What do people use?   If you have to purify your own water..what would you (do you ) use?

Some of the systems have notations that they are hard to set up.   That they are hard to clean.  That they require filters that need replacing often with use.   Etc.

So, in a boondocking situation, waiting for a filter order to arrive doesn't seem like a good plan.  Having a system that can't be cleaned renders the whole thing pointless.

What is a good choice to filer about 1quart of water at a time?

 

[Ballenxj]

I was looking to find a reasonable, low power (no power) purifier.

I think it would be a good idea to have one...just in case.

But, as I look around...there seems to be a lot of choices and so much detail technical data.  
<-------->
What is a good choice to filer about 1quart of water at a time?

I have been a member of the ESEE Knives forum for a number of years. That forum is owned and run by Jeff Randall whom also runs Randall Aventure Training. These guys are always testing survival gear in places like the Amazon in SA, and the subject of water filters came up. MR Randall personally recommended the Katadyn Vario, stating it was durable, and put out a descent amount of filtered water. I bought one based on his recommendation.
Here's a link to it.  https://www.katadyn.com/us/us/405-8014931-katadyn-vario-usa

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I was looking to find a reasonable, low power (no power) purifier.
 . . . 
What is a good choice to filer about 1quart of water at a time?

Being a long time backpacker, I have tried the major purifiers.  Here is a rundown:

• UV pen type purifier.  Works good if you follow directions.  Doesn't filter out anything, so you will still need to use a filter for sediment (I use a coffee filter in a funnel and that part is time consuming).  They don't work well in cloudy water.
• Ceramic backpacking type water filter.  IMHO the best tasting water.  These will filter out any waterborne deseases found in North America.  I carry a pump type ('cuz I have it).  Pumping is tedious; the gravity fed ones are easy, but take a while.  Mine will filter 5,000 gallons before the filter needs replacing.  I have not replaced my filter in 25(?) years of backpacking use.  You know it needs replacing when it plugs up.
• Chemicals.  I use iodine now when I backpack because it weighs almost nothing.  You can now get a followup treatment that precipitates out the iodine to improve the taste or use a drink mix to cover it (or get used to it).  Need to have water sit at least 1/2 hour for proper treatment.  Doesn't filter out sediment and cold or cloudy water slows disinfecting.
• Boiling.  All you need to do is bring water to a rolling boil to kill pathogens (at lower elevations).  At higher elevations boil for longer time to correct for lower boiling temperature of the water.  Works just as well on dirty water, so filter out gunk before or after.  I think boiled water tastes 'flat'.

I carry a pump type Katadyn Hiker that connects to an REI Dromedary 4L water bag.  I use a coffee filter on the inlet hose to pre-filter out as much sediment as possible, as dirt is what clogs the filter element (and keep the inlet off the bottom).  I also carry iodine and aquapure tablets.  And of course I can boil water.

I would not recommend using chlorine bleach to purify, it is hard to get the proportions right to insure complete disinfecting (that is why I didn't include it above).

 -- Spiff

 

[lenny flank]

In my backpacking days, my choice was always iodine tablets. They take up no room and weigh nothing, and they do the job.

Alas, they taste bloody awful. Like drinking medicine.

 

[John61CT]

They're not reasonably priced, but just for those researching for vehicle-based boondocking as opposed to backpacker solutions, it is standard for liveaboard ocean cruisers to be fitted with marine "watermaker" appliances which produce drinking water using seawater as input.

They use a fair bit of power, so often part of the morning "genny run routine", and do use expensive filters.

I've come across forum threads where sailors discuss rebuilding discarded ones, and even DIY approaches, so thought might be useful to mention the category even if not useful for the OP.

 

[Ken in Anaheim]

I've always liked the Sawyer Mini. https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-mini-filter/

 

[JimMcBride]

I'm a fan of the Berkey water filter.  There's a smaller size.

http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/

Jim

 

[highdesertranger]

right now I have 2 of the small pump filters from Katadyn. but I am looking at a big Berkey gravity filter. much easier. highdesertranger

 

[Zizzer_Zazzer_Zuz]

I can boil water in a pan.
I have iodine tabs.
I have a ceramic filter and a replacement (10,000 gallons) with a pump.
I have know how to make multistage filters from buckets, sand, knit fabrics, etc. (Filter not purify).
I have recently devised a plan to make distilled water using my pressure cooker, some cooper.tubing, and clean bottles. (I can also use it as an autoclave for steralizing sutures, scalpals, and tweezers for emergency first aid)

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[TrainChaser]

There are two general of contamination:  organic (bacteria, parasites, viruses) and chemical (farm, industrial, mining, etc).  There is a third contaminant, radiation, but that is  beyond the scope of most people.

And there are two kinds of water treatments:  filtering and purification.  Filtering sifts out the lumps (debris, parasite eggs and most bacteria) but most can't handle viruses (too small).  The exception to the viruses is the Sawyer PointZeroTWO.

If you want a filter that does it all and is cheap, there isn't one.

Boiling and iodine kills organic contaminants.  Distillation (condensation) works fine for some things, unless the water vapor can carry the chemical contaminant with it.

Heavy metals, lead, arsenic, copper, mercury, chromium 6 (did you see movie 'Erin Brockovich'?) are difficult to impossible to remove because they bind to the water or the molecules are too small.  Boiling has no effect on this stuff, it just concentrates the toxins.

ZeroWater brand filter will filter out lead and chromium.  

Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filters will to bind to harmful contaminants, especially Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), from water.  They can also be used to remove chemicals that give objectionable odors or tastes to water such as hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs odor) or chlorine.

If you have a filter that will remove chemical contaminants, it won't filter organic contaminants, so after filtering the chemicals, you will still need to boil the water afterward.

Brita filters only cleanse regular tap water of chlorine and odors, nothing more dangerous, and certainly NOT 'wild water'.

Collecting rainwater for drinking is another option.  Texas A&M University has collected a lot of info on rainwater harvesting.  "Harvesting, Storing, and Treating Rainwater for Domestic Indoor Use" at http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/files/2011/05/gi-366_2021994.pdf

Before the Acid Rain Fearmongers (ARF) jump all over me, YES, there is such a thing as acid rain.  Acid rain comes from industrial pollution, usually in the form of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.  Looking at this map, you'll see that the pH of the worst areas is about 4.3 in the NE part of the country:
https://water.usgs.gov/edu/graphics/phmap2002.gif  You'll also notice that the acidity of the rain in the western half of this country ranges from 5.3 to 6.0.

Many people seem to think that acid rain is approximately as strong as battery acid, which simply isn't the case.  The lowest pH of 4.3 is LESS ACIDIC than orange and grapefruit juices, sodas and tomato juice.  ISN'T THAT AWFUL?  I'll bet none of you drink that dangerous stuff!  The western states range from strength of coffee to coffee with some milk in it.  HORRORS!  Why aren't we all DEAD?

pH of common liquids:  http://www.discountfilterstore.com/media/wysiwyg/fridgepedia/fridgepedia-ph-scale-02.jpg

The next argument of the ARFs is organic contamination, like bacteria.  Stop and think for a few seconds, and ask yourself this:  Do You Think There Is More Bacteria In the Air Or In The Soil?  About 43 million people (15% of the U.S. population) rely on drinking water from home wells.  I would guess that most of those wells haven't been tested for any kind of contamination for at least ten years. 

HOW CAN WELL WATER BE CLEANER THAN RAINWATER?  Answer:  It can't, and it isn't.

 

[05kas05]

i have the regular sized sawyer squeeze and have used it many times with no problems, planning on picking up the mini version next. 
the sawyer squeeze mini version is 20.00 bucks at walmart so it is rather affordable also.

 

[Zil]

A filter that can be cleaned will not remove the stuff you want removed from a questionable water source.

 

[lenny flank]

Many people seem to think that acid rain is approximately as strong as battery acid, which simply isn't the case.  The lowest pH of 4.3 is LESS ACIDIC than orange and grapefruit juices, sodas and tomato juice.  ISN'T THAT AWFUL?  I'll bet none of you drink that dangerous stuff!  The western states range from strength of coffee to coffee with some milk in it.  HORRORS!  Why aren't we all DEAD?

Well, no...... Uninformed people who get their information from YouTube may haver thought that (and unfortunatly there are LOTS of those in the US), but people who actually understand "science" never did. The danger from acid rain was never that "it kills people who drink it omigodz!!! Acid rain was a danger because it lowered the normal pH of rainwater. As anyone who has kept houseplants knows (just water your plants with orange juice for a few days and watch what happens) many plants are very sensitive to pH levels in the soil. One of those plant groups were conifers--which is why acid rain was having particular effects on taiga forest. 

PS--The effects of acid rain have now been greatly reduced, mostly because of the very successful effort to control it by reducing industrial emissions. Like the equally-successful resolution of the ozone-hole problem, it was an envrionmental success story, and demonstrates that we can indeed repair the environmental damage we are causing--if we want to.

 

[bigsallysmom]

I have a versa flow mini I keep in my camping bag just in case.

 

[karl]

I carry a Sawyer straw, and a poor man's Berkey- a Dalton ceramic "candle" in a 3 gal food grade bucket.

 

[frater secessus]

I picked up a Sawyer Mini but haven't played with it yet. I plan to rig a gravity feed.

 

[Almost There]

I carry a Sawyer filter with me in my canoe/backpacking gear that I could pull out to use if I ever needed it. It's squeeze model that I keep meaning to change out to gravity but it sees little use so it's not at the top of the 'to do' list.

However, in 14 years and again now almost 2 years, I've never had to pull it out while travelling or boondocking. I've come down to the last gallon of water on hand in my water supply but always had juice etc to use if I got stuck.

In AZ/CA etc, I buy my water from the Glacier fill stations. Other places I find either springs or other sources of good drinking water.

It's not a bad idea to have a smaller filter on hand but the best course of action is not to get yourself in to a position where you're having to use it.

 

[66788]

right now I have 2 of the small pump filters from Katadyn.  but I am looking at a big Berkey gravity filter.  much easier.  highdesertranger

I have the Travel Berkey, and I've used the same 2 black filters for the past 2+ years and it still produces great tasting water. This filter travels with me in the van and doesn't take up a lot of room.

If you have dirty water, you can run the water through a large coffee filter before filling the upper reservoir and that helps keep the black filters from clogging up and extends the time between filter cleaning.

66788

 

[WalkaboutTed]

I've always used Katadyn filters and then iodine tablets. It doesn't taste too great, so it's only tea or coffee for drinking.
Ted

 

[PattySprinter]

Travel Berkey