Water filters. Which do you recommend for long term use?

[Woody girl]

I'm not sure I'm posting in the right place. Mods please move this if deemed nessasary.
Well I'm looking for a water filter, one that will filter loads of water before needing a new filter purchasing.
I have the water to go bottle which is pretty good for one person but I'm wondering if there is anything better out there that might be able to filter larger amounts of water at a time.
Any recommendations? Prices?
Oh I have a milbank too, which though low tech is long winded as the water still needs treating.
Your experience and advice will be gratefully recieved.

 

[Billy-o]

I have had a Platypus GRavity works for a few years now. Very quick and effective. Just looked up a price of 130CAD.

My eldest bought himself a Sawyer recently.

 

[Bishop]

Can't really go wrong with a Sawyer in the UK and large 3L hydration bladders routinely appear on ebay going cheap

 

[Dave Budd]

I guess it depends on your definition of large quanties of water. My mind instantly went to uv filters and 500l tanks of potted water, but thst is rather more static than bushcraft uses

I confess that i'm not a water filterer. I drink untreated rain water every day at work, so my gut used to most things thst get washed off my workshop roof in the woods (if you know what i mean!). The closest i get when out is boiling, but that's normally because i may have an excess after making a cup of tea

 

[Woody girl]

The platypus sounds ideal but even at its cheapest is out of my price range at present. Will be saving for one though.
The use will be for 4 people for one week wild camping (me in a hammock )with some new to bushcrafting friends in a private woodland. A stream will be our water source, but animal contamination possibility is high from surrounding area.
They don't have any kit like this so I'm looking to be able to filter enough water to cook clean drink without constantly having to pump water or filter tiddly amounts such as with the water to go bottle.
One person comming is fussy about having 8 pints a day to drink, and filters tap water and at home uses 3 bowls of water to wash up! (ocd) so is going to be a challenge!
He's not going to get washing up duty...I think latrines will be ideal for him.... we'll have the neatest and best loos of any camp.!
(Wicked grin )
It's ok.. not being too wicked. He has agreed to do the lats.

 

[Alan De Enfield]

One person comming is fussy about having 8 pints a day to drink, and filters tap water and at home uses 3 bowls of water to wash up! (ocd) so is going to be a challenge!
He's not going to get washing up duty...I think latrines will be ideal for him.... we'll have the neatest and best loos of any camp.!
(Wicked grin )
It's ok.. not being too wicked. He has agreed to do the lats.

Just think how many times a day he'll be washing his hands and using 'gallons' of water every time !!!

I use a Sawyer, you can hang it up in a tree and just let it steadily gravity fill any bottles / bladders etc you want. Just keep topping up the 'dirty' side (2 litre pop bottles fit)

The technical specs should impress your visitors :

The Sawyer MINI Water Filter is rated to 0.1 micron absolute, weighs only 2 ounces, and filters up to 100,000 gallons of water! The MINI can be attached to the included collapsible drinking pouch, inline on a hydration pack, on a standard soda bottle, or simply use the included drinking straw to drink directly from the water source. How is that for versatility? Like all Sawyer filters, a proper backwashing can restore up to 98.5% of the filter’s flow rate. That means no expensive cartridges to replace, ever...

* Ideal for outdoor recreation, hiking, camping, scouting, domestic and international travel and emergency preparedness...

* The MINI removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium...

* High performance filter fits in the palm of your hand, weighs 2 ounces and filters up to 100,000 gallons (30 times more than comparable filters)...

* Attaches to included drinking pouch, standard disposable bottles (28 mm thread), hydration packs, or use the straw to drink directly from your water source...

 

[C_Claycomb]

https://www.purehydration.com/all-products/emergency-aid/inline-purifier-assembly/

 

[Woody girl]

The sawyer sounds good.

https://www.purehydration.com/all-products/emergency-aid/inline-purifier-assembly/

This looks good too. I think that it is the same firm that provide water purifying kit for shelter box. So I'd imagine it would be pretty good.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I have had one of their Traveller models, actually, I have had two, and have used them all over. Been very happy with them. Used one in the Lake District last May, drinking from little peat puddles surrounded by sheep up on the hills, the water didn't even taste "funny".

Was first put on to their gear in 2005, when I was on a canoe expedition in the Knoydart area. Expedition leader (formerly in procurement for the military) had one of the gravity feed models for group water.

Yup, same people that supply Shelterbox.
https://www.purehydration.com/2013/07/thirst-aid-station-and-shelterbox/

 

[wales1]

Can certainly vouch for the Sawyer mini, a great filter. Give it the occasional back flush with the supplied syringe and if camping in winter, keep the filter in your pocket to stop it freezing, expanding and consequentially, fracturing due to expansion of the frozen water within the filaments, and it's good to go (sounds dramatic though a non issue if you look after it).
Not only does it make a great backpacking filter, if you are base camping, it screws onto an ortlieb water sack or a standard thread bottle to sit and filter loads of water whilst you enjoy chilling

Steve

 

[bearbait]

I have, amongst other filters, a Katadyn Base Camp Pro. Just hang it from a branch or hook and let it get on with it. Worked fine for me.

I think that you can get filters that screw in to Ortlieb water sacks, if you already have one of those.

 

[forrestdweller]

are you talking about hiking or static?!

i used a katadyn mini with ceramic filter (it's since 6years stored with friends in the other side of the earth disc as i wasn't using it that often but it did it's job another traveller recommended taking the ceramic filter element out and sucking the water out of it (as it's filtered no health issues) to prevent frost cracks in low temperature)

one guy here used the filter used by the us military for his farm -filters about 2gallons at a time and works on gravity. it's well-made but pricey (unfortunately i can't remember the name and --as i'm on non-speaking terms with this violent ***** (insert string of profanities of choice) i can't ask...)

 

[billycoen]

Due to moving house,i mislaid my sawyer mini,now after a good couple of years it turns up in the attic,i never used it,so would it still be ok. Hope this isn't a daft question. Thanks.

 

[hudd4444]

Due to moving house,i mislaid my sawyer mini,now after a good couple of years it turns up in the attic,i never used it,so would it still be ok. Hope this isn't a daft question. Thanks.

Should be good to go especially if never used. Used ones can seize up but you can get them going again.

I left a squeeze at a mates house in Thailand for at least two years, I had cleaned it with a bleach solution before leaving it. When I picked it up it was blocked, no water could go through, but I left it to soak in hot water, I left it hanging with a bag of hot water and slowly it started to drip and then slowly flow, I squeezed it a few times to add some pressure and flushed it a few times with hot water and it started working again, it took time though but all was good, still to this day, maybe five years later.

I use a grayl geopress mostly now though.

 

[hudd4444]

PS...never had the squits either!!

 

[billycoen]

Thankyou for that.

 

[SSGN_Doc]

I have a Sawyer Mini. And as someone else suggested it’s fairly easy to set up for hanging the “dirty water” bag and let it just drain into your clean container. I use some small clips to attach to the bag for hanging and have an additional Platypus bag which is thread compatible with the Sawyer.

 

[MrEd]

Sawyer mini, cheap and surpringly good

I use one, but keep it in a millbank bag then heavily silted water etc I can ‘prefilter’ with the millbank and then run through the sawyer to avoid gumming it up so much.

 

[Erbswurst]

If it is just for a weekend with some friends, I simply would buy water from a supermarket

 

[Allans865]

How much are you willing to spend?

I have an MSR Guardian Purifier.

Pumps a nalgene bottle in about 30 seconds and filters down to 0.02 microns, and is good for 10,000 litres. The downside...the price.

I paid £240 for mine about 4 years ago, but I have filtered some seriously dodgy water from some seriously dodgy places with it, and have never been troubled with any stomach problems whatsoever.

Worth checking out, especially for small groups. And looked after properly, this purifier will last you for years.

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