Ian a great believer that if needs be, our clean water is the key to survival. I understand how to sterilise water but on the move you sometimes do not have the time to sterilise water. I have been looking at the uv steri-pens which I know are expensive however with this in mind clean water is worth it's weight in gold if needs be... Soo the question is... Other than evil bay where's the cheapest place to get a steri-pen and does anyone know of any other osmosis filters?
Uv water filters...
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try an inline water purifier like the pure hydration. 2 litres a minute through nothing more than gravity, no chemicals used, no batteries etc. Turns peat coloured water clear. Exellent
Problem I found with UV filters is that the bulbs are pretty friable, they're battery hungry, they're container specific (it's a pretty weak source of UV with penetration in the water column of a couple of centimetres, for sitting stationary in a stndard size 1l nalgene bottle say it wont purify the edges or the bottom without gentle slow aggitation). They really are meant for travellers for treating tap/bottled water of suspicious origin, not for outdoors water.
An osmosis filter is generally someting to remove dissolved chemicals like salt, generally found inlifeboats to give fresh water from sea water.
Of most use to most outdoor folk who're really worried about water would be either some form of purifitation tablet/liquid. Again the water has to be pretty good quality (not too much in particulate matter) mainly chlorine or (harder to get now as it has long term use drawbacks) iodine based. Pretty temperature dependant on purification times.
Some sort of chemical and particulate folter is best. These can either be in the form of a bottle/straw/gravity fed or fitted with a pump and use a mix of chemicals, sometimes with an end point charcoal filter and either ceramic or otherwise microfilter that takes out all the little bugs. You can get some quite high flow rates if you're going through a lot of water.
Remember most folk get sick when using some sort of purifier from treating the water inside their bottle but not realising that theres untreated water on the bottle lid/treads
You also get ion treatment best I give you a LINK as there's a lot to explain.
For good reading on the subject and worth every outdoors person reading in MHO is "How To **** In The Woods" by Kathleen Meyer. Great section on water treatment and outdoor health in general. You'll pick it up for about a tenner.. If you've any specific questions let me know, there are also some camp based methods like millbank backs and all sorts of other Heath Robinson contraptions for water treatment but you have to ballance portability/price/water treated volume/effectiveness/and source water quality to see what you need. Or you could just boil it.
Cheers,
GB.
An osmosis filter is generally someting to remove dissolved chemicals like salt, generally found inlifeboats to give fresh water from sea water.
Of most use to most outdoor folk who're really worried about water would be either some form of purifitation tablet/liquid. Again the water has to be pretty good quality (not too much in particulate matter) mainly chlorine or (harder to get now as it has long term use drawbacks) iodine based. Pretty temperature dependant on purification times.
Some sort of chemical and particulate folter is best. These can either be in the form of a bottle/straw/gravity fed or fitted with a pump and use a mix of chemicals, sometimes with an end point charcoal filter and either ceramic or otherwise microfilter that takes out all the little bugs. You can get some quite high flow rates if you're going through a lot of water.
Remember most folk get sick when using some sort of purifier from treating the water inside their bottle but not realising that theres untreated water on the bottle lid/treads
You also get ion treatment best I give you a LINK as there's a lot to explain.
For good reading on the subject and worth every outdoors person reading in MHO is "How To **** In The Woods" by Kathleen Meyer. Great section on water treatment and outdoor health in general. You'll pick it up for about a tenner.. If you've any specific questions let me know, there are also some camp based methods like millbank backs and all sorts of other Heath Robinson contraptions for water treatment but you have to ballance portability/price/water treated volume/effectiveness/and source water quality to see what you need. Or you could just boil it.
Cheers,
GB.
...although - if possible - its better to try to remove as many partculates as you can from water before going through a filter like the Pure, or Sawyer etc. Millbank bags etc - or even a tshirt - are worth their weight in gold if you're relying on a filtration method and want to avoid early clogging of your water-filter.
i wanted one of these but read some reviews and not to keen on reliability, also you need to use non recharheable batteries meaning no way to recharge in the field and would need to cary extra....the new ones are usb chargeable I believe
i got an msr miniworks in the end as they are pretty bulletproof and can be stripped down and maintained easily, i use a paper coffee filter as a prefilter, also the Msr sweetwater silt stopper pre-filter will go on but I'm fine with cheap coffee filters, have used it up in the hills many times in streams and lochs and never been ill
i got an msr miniworks in the end as they are pretty bulletproof and can be stripped down and maintained easily, i use a paper coffee filter as a prefilter, also the Msr sweetwater silt stopper pre-filter will go on but I'm fine with cheap coffee filters, have used it up in the hills many times in streams and lochs and never been ill
One of these inline petrol filters is a good addition to the filter if the water contains lot of particulates;
I've been using one for years now and at a £1 a pop and over a year of life, well worth it.
One of these inline petrol filters is a good addition to the filter if the water contains lot of particulates;
I've been using one for years now and at a £1 a pop and over a year of life, well worth it.
Oh my word! Brilliant! Classical bushcraft thinking there Teepee - its so obvious when you think about it, yet despite fitting loads of these when running a diesel on veggie oil in order to pre-filter for impurities, it never even occurred to me to use them for water!
It wasn't my idea unfortunatley
They hold up to water well, only filtering rainwater from the tarp has caused any issues as it gets covered in algae falling from the leaves and it goes a bit manky.
on the reliability issue, I could not say as I have not road tested it enough, but I had a Katadyn pump before and it cracked at the plastic. As you clog it it becomes harder and harder and so I guess it gave way. Another point is they are all suseptable to ice if you don't empty them.
Info I've researched into UV :
there is a wind handle generator pump thing that looks alot better than the pen, no corners to miss.
Also the UV led's last alot longer than the old bulbs , so I've read.
Decided not to go for the UV myself as the particles remain, but with the petrol filter above, looks as good as the inline thing, as a whole package. Will remember that (hopefully) nice idea !
Info I've researched into UV :
there is a wind handle generator pump thing that looks alot better than the pen, no corners to miss.
Also the UV led's last alot longer than the old bulbs , so I've read.
Decided not to go for the UV myself as the particles remain, but with the petrol filter above, looks as good as the inline thing, as a whole package. Will remember that (hopefully) nice idea !
I have a few options but actually I tend to use a Steripen with their fits all pre filter, I boil when I can but for short stops works a treat on a wide mouth KleanKanteen (Use it inverted with the filter to swish it around). I find it's the best compromise between weight, protection, speed and convenience, the downside is batteries (one set is good for 30 litres I find) and fragility (But it's not that fragile if you put it away in its pouch with the cap on). I have 2 one of the Journey (the one after the initial problems) and one of the Ultras. Yes the bulb is made of glass so I guess fragile but I have not managed to break it. Not sure where the idea that "it was designed for meant for travellers for treating tap/bottled water of suspicious origin, not for outdoors water came from" Not from them and it's seen a fair few horrible water sources on every continent over the 2 and half years I have had it and I have not had any problems yet. A lot of people in my team use them as well. Tablets are a back up for me as they don't work on Cryptosporidum and taste yucky, very few filters work on viruses and none anywhere as light as the Steripen.
Elen Sentier
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
It wasn't my idea unfortunatley
They hold up to water well, only filtering rainwater from the tarp has caused any issues as it gets covered in algae falling from the leaves and it goes a bit manky.
I do like that idea !!! ta for heads-up Teepee
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