Purification

[Gwhtbushcraft]

thank you purity! you have given me a lot to think about. I think i will try the tablets again before i go.
George
:You_Rock_

 

[Spacemonkey]

I have used the PreMac travelwell on many occasions, and I love it for it;s size and convenience. I have also used the MSR Miniworks for ages that my mate owns. Sometimes we chlorinate, others not. MSR says it will filter out Crypot Giardia etc and pretty much anything you'd encounter in this country. I don;t know if this is true or not, only you can decide that, but it is no effort to add a puritab if it worries you. I don't often and I have never got ill from water on Dartmoor, Brecons, and the New Forest etc.

I bought a pair, and two titanium sporks form a US ebay shop, and they werre delivered in two days. All in, including p&p it ws cheaper than buying just one MSR Miniworks in the ripoff UK.. I bought from here:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BaseCamp-Outlet
They don;t list everything, so it's worth sending them a message for the Miniworks. They have a Katadyn mini filter in stock at £35:
CLICK HERE

They are a great company to deal with..

 

[TheMagicalBadger]

I have an MSR miniworks and it's brilliant. If I have to purify the water I tend to add a few drops (use product guidelines though) of the MSR chlorine solution after pumping and then leave the water container in the sun for a few hours - it seems to decompose and a lot of the taste goes away *remembers A-level chemistry lessons briefly*

Remember also that you can plug a platypus (and probably other kinds) hose directly into the bottom of a miniworks (squeeze all the air out of the bladder first) - useful for filling up a 6L platy water tank in one go without pouring between containers. Alternatively you can screw a nalgene wide mouth bottle into the bottom of the filter. I found with the nalgene you can hold the bottle rather than the filter body with 1 hand, and the filter handle with the other hand and get a bit of mechanical advantage but it's really not hard to pump either way. I also have found that other people seem more than happy to do all the pumping for you, given that they see it as an exciting toy!

 

[Goose]

I would say it is better to filter before boiling or chemically treating, bugs can be inside sediment which can give an element of protection against treatment or heat and bigger bugs are more resilient to treatment. So if you treat or boilfirst there is a chance,admittedly slim, that the bigger bugs may survive, best practice in my book, is to filter then boil. Apart from making it look clearer there is no real advantage of filtering after treating is there?

 

[littlebiglane]

The miniworks can be bought with a activated carbon filter that removes the taste of chlorination.

I tend to use a little vitamin c added to the water and that masks the taste quite effectively.

I cannot think about too many other options that you have, I had a thought about one other purifier (it is a filter, but they class it as a purifier) try doing a search for First Need Deluxe. I think the company that sells them are called General Ecology. They are EPA certified, but I personally have no experience of them so I cannot comment on how effective they are.

They have a phenomenal flow rate (1.7 liters per minute), but they are limited by their capacity, which is about 125 gallons. IIRC they cost about £50, but don't quote me on that. They are not brilliantly well known in this country, but once again thye have got a very good reputation.

I hope this helps,

Leon

Oh well couldn't resist tracking them down, here's a link

I have used this. At first it was good. But even in fast running, fairly clear water it turned into a brute to pump after 3/4 multi-day outings. The 'filter' I felt was silting up and even back pumping (which you can do with this model) only very temporarily sorted this problem.

For information on Chlorine Dioxide then look at the Environmental Protection Agency's PDF on it
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/mdbp/pdf/alter/chapt_4.pdf

 

[leon-1]

I have used this. At first it was good. But even in fast running, fairly clear water it turned into a brute to pump after 3/4 multi-day outings. The 'filter' I felt was silting up and even back pumping (which you can do with this model) only very temporarily sorted this problem.

For information on Chlorine Dioxide then look at the Environmental Protection Agency's PDF on it
http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/mdbp/pdf/alter/chapt_4.pdf

Hi there, which filter, was it the first need??

If so any information on it from someone who has used it would be good. As I said I haven't used it.

I am reasonably familiar with a lot of the chemicals, I have used a few of them. For working with larger groups (like a battle group 8 - 9 hundred guys) we tended to use calcium hypochlorite run through a variable volume doser, dosing water at 5ppm (the average swimming pool is 0.5ppm), when tested at the water butt the water had to be around 2ppm as a minimum before it could then be used or placed into 100 gallon water bowsers ready for dissemination to the rest of the guys

Only once it was ready for consumption in the bowsers was the detaste placed into the water (sodium thyosulphate IIRC).

I would say it is better to filter before boiling or chemically treating, bugs can be inside sediment which can give an element of protection against treatment or heat and bigger bugs are more resilient to treatment. So if you treat or boilfirst there is a chance,admittedly slim, that the bigger bugs may survive, best practice in my book, is to filter then boil. Apart from making it look clearer there is no real advantage of filtering after treating is there?

You are correct that it is safer to filter first before sterilising, chemicals have a tendency to adhere to particulate matter in water rather than doing their job and killing nasties and larger particulate matter can harbour bugs that could be resilient to heat.

Obviously the more particulates in water the longer the "soak" period where you cannot drink the water and the potential for requiring to double dose. Water temperatures also play a part that can mean leaving for double the amount of time when using chemicals.

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

Would the iodine taste from the premac be removed by neutralising tablets?

 

[leon-1]

Would the iodine taste from the premac be removed by neutralising tablets?

You tend to find that most commercial (lifesystems) neutralising tablets tend to mask the taste as they are derivatives of vitamin c, you can get the same effect by carrying a small thing of Jiff Lemon or some form of lime drops.

Activated carbon filters tend to remove the taste if you could run the water through one.

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

Where can i get an activated carbon filter from? (i know my fishtank has one)

 

[littlebiglane]

Hi there, which filter, was it the first need??

If so any information on it from someone who has used it would be good. As I said I haven't used it.

I am reasonably familiar with a lot of the chemicals, I have used a few of them. For working with larger groups (like a battle group 8 - 9 hundred guys) we tended to use calcium hypochlorite run through a variable volume doser, dosing water at 5ppm (the average swimming pool is 0.5ppm), when tested at the water butt the water had to be around 2ppm as a minimum before it could then be used or placed into 100 gallon water bowsers ready for dissemination to the rest of the guys

Only once it was ready for consumption in the bowsers was the detaste placed into the water (sodium thyosulphate IIRC).



You are correct that it is safer to filter first before sterilising, chemicals have a tendency to adhere to particulate matter in water rather than doing their job and killing nasties and larger particulate matter can harbour bugs that could be resilient to heat.

Obviously the more particulates in water the longer the "soak" period where you cannot drink the water and the potential for requiring to double dose. Water temperatures also play a part that can mean leaving for double the amount of time when using chemicals.

Just to confirm my comments - it was about the General Ecology First Need one.