Homemade Water Filter

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I made up a short video that describes the simple home made water filter I've been using for the past eight years in Brazil with very good results.

The filter costs about $3 to make. It must be used with a chemical method or boiling to make the water safe. This filter will remove a great deal of suspended material, small organisms, and make the water clearer but it DOES NOT IN ITSELF MAKE THE WATER SAFE TO DRINK. It does greatly increase the effectiveness of either iodine or chlorine and it makes water of questionable quality much better tasting.

Home Made Water Filter

Mac

 

[BushTucker]

Hey mac

Love the idea and the video, it is similar to one i worked on last year, but had 3 sections, i used toy stuffing fibre for the 1st, activated charcoal for the 2nd and in the last section was the contects of a water purifier, the jug type you fill at home from the tap.

Nice one

Don

 

[Humpback]

Mac
You don't say how often you replace the charcoal.
Alan

 

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That all depends on what you run through it. If I'm getting water out of clear streams I only change the fiber plug. The charcoal I swap out after maybe 20 - 40 liters but just out of habit.

I have used it with good results repacked with crushed coals from my fire (cold ones). Mac

 

[Chinkapin]

Have any of you read about using clear plastic water bottles, filled 1/2 full and laid flat in the direct sun to purify water? According to an article I read, a Swiss government lab said that if you use bottles made out of PETE plastic, two hours in direct sun would kill 99.9 percent of all bacteria in two hours. On a cloudy day with intermittent sun, six hours. They recommend laying the water bottles on their side, preferably on a piece of corrugated roofing. (this will heat the bottle up considerably). I don't know if bottles sold in the U.K or around the world are marked with the type of plastic or not. All plastic bottles sold in the U.S. are marked on the bottom. It must be the PETE type of plastic. The only real drawback to this that I can see is that there has been some talk lately in this country about possible danger of drinking water from plastic water bottles that has set in the sun. The theory being that once the water heats up, dangerous carcinogenic chemicals leech out of the plastic and into the water. I think that the jury is still out on this.

 

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Chinkapin,

Do a search for SODIS (solar disinfection). I know this method is taught in the developing world as a village health measure. I have read up on it and have some files stored on the method somewhere, but I haven't tried it.

If it came down to it I think dehydration would kill you faster than any cancer potential. In a village setting where people relied on it every day I would say cancer fears would be more justified.

In Brazil we have abundant sunshine for most of the year (200+ days), there are also rocks covered with a black growth that appears to be some type of very short moss almost like velvet. They get wicked hot in the sun and I have used these rocks to lay out my extra water in clear plastic bags, but I always treat my water with chlorine so it wasn't really a test of SODIS in a true sense. Heat greatly increases the effectiveness.

Mac