What do you cats use for water purification?

[Mike]

What do you folks use for water purification?

I am sure that the filters work well but I have a very hard time fully trusting in them.

Boiling is effective, but takes lots of time and energy and you have to wait for water to cool down.

Halogen tablets and iodine tablets are OK, but they taste horrible.

At present, I prefer liquid chlorine bleach. I put in about 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water. It is fast, effective, and doesn't leave much taste - or maybe I am used to the chlorine taste because our city water is chlorinated.

What are you cats using?

[Hikenhunter]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

1/4 teaspoon is way too much. You are poisoning yourself .You only need one or two drops per quart.

[Hikenhunter]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

I use the Hiker Pro microfilter from Katadyn and have never been disapointed with the water from it or any of the filters that I've used in the past.

[Logtec]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

I use the MSR HyperFlow, it filters 3L per minute, and weights less then 7.5oz.
I added the MSR inline "siltstopper"(filled with activated carbon) and the "sweetwater" pre filter to extend the life of the cartridge. Which works great. This filter is easy to clean, you reverse 2 check valves and back flush 1L of water for every 10L filtered.
In Canada's lakes, streams and rivers, this filter is "apparently" all you need to have safe drinking water (although I wouldn't use it to clean water from major lakes). I have filtered water from the most stagnant ponds and had fresh, clean, odour/tasteless water. I haven't gotten sick from using this filter.

I also used the MSR miniworks EX, which worked great although to was bigger and heavier then the HyperFlow.

[Mike]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

1/4 teaspoon is way too much. You are poisoning yourself .You only need one or two drops per quart.

Well, two drops per quart is eight drops per gallon which is more than 1/4 teaspoon. Maybe instead of poisoning the water, perhaps I am not adding enough bleach?!

So far, it's working - could be dumb luck.

[Mike]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

I use the MSR HyperFlow, it filters 3L per minute, and weights less then 7.5oz.
I added the MSR inline "siltstopper"(filled with activated carbon) and the "sweetwater" pre filter to extend the life of the cartridge. Which works great. This filter is easy to clean, you reverse 2 check valves and back flush 1L of water for every 10L filtered.
In Canada's lakes, streams and rivers, this filter is "apparently" all you need to have safe drinking water (although I wouldn't use it to clean water from major lakes). I have filtered water from the most stagnant ponds and had fresh, clean, odour/tasteless water. I haven't gotten sick from using this filter.

I also used the MSR miniworks EX, which worked great although to was bigger and heavier then the HyperFlow.

Sounds like a neat system. You know, when I was a kid in the 1970's canoeing Quetico Provintial Park in Canada (and Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota), we didn't treat the lake water at all. We drank it straight from the lakes.

I think it was called the Voyaguer technique or something like that. You would be out in the middle of those dark deep cold lakes and you would spear your paddle striaght down into the water. You would spear it as straight and as deep as you could, letting go of the paddle, of course. The paddle would completely disappear into the depth of that crystal clear mysterious water. It was a neat technique because the guys that were good at it could spear their paddles so deep that it would take several seconds for the paddle to return. It would shoot out of the water and the paddler would grab it as it shot up into the air and then put the blade of the paddle to their mouth and drink the water pouring off of it. I can still do it to this day, but I just do it to impress the kids and not drink the water. I wonder how many walleye pike we speared to pieces without knowing it during the thousands of miles we canoed.

[CMPR1966]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

I agree with Hog. Nothing like the taste of the water from a Black Berkey Filter. I have been using Berkey Filters for years at home and the office. I filter all of my city water for drinking and cooking. There is no better tasting water. Guests even notice. I made a bucket Berkey for the office and I take it when we go car camping. I used a 5 gallon bucket for the bottom and a 2 1/2 gallon for the top so everything can be packed into the big bucket for compact transport. One good idea is to take some water with you to use when you first get to camp while your Berkey is doing it's thing. You can even freeze some good water in a jug to use in you cooler til it melts then drink it. Our last trip the National Park campground the water ran muddy through the tap for the first day and a half. This made for a slow flowing filter.

Day hikes where water can be found we often use a Berkey Sport bottle with a filter built in.

[Logtec]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

How fast does this berkey set up filter water?
(Say if you used 2 filters in a 5 gal bucket)

[05Kingquad700]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

I use the Hiker Pro microfilter from Katadyn and have never been disapointed with the water from it or any of the filters that I've used in the past.

X2 on the katadyn

[05Kingquad700]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

I also like the idea of 5 gallon bucket water purifiers. I could save some space with aquatainers.

[Logtec]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

It's around 3 gallons per hour. You can double that rate by using 4 filters instead of 2.

After a few camping trips the rate will slow down a bit especially if you are filtering muddy water. Just take the filters out, hit them with a green scrubby (that's never had soap on it) to clean them and then they will be right back to 3 gallons an hour again.

You also have to keep the filters primed with water inside. If you use your Berkey at home then it will be primed and ready when you go camping. If you leave the Berkey on a shelf at home and only use it while camping, it will dry out and you'll have to prime it. The easiest way to prime it is with a kitchen faucet which provides pressure to make the priming go fast - within a few minutes. If you don't have pressurized water to prime it you can still dunk the filters in water but then the priming will take a few hours. Either way it's all very easy and the instructions come with the filters.

Cool, thanks...
I like the idea, but for the amount of car camping I do, compared to backpacking, buying a few gallons of water is cheaper.

[05Kingquad700]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

Cool, thanks...
I like the idea, but for the amount of car camping I do, compared to backpacking, buying a few gallons of water is cheaper.

I had a bit of sticker shock when I saw the price tag of the filters as well. I did a little research and found some filters that would work on www.cheaperthandirt.com If I buy the filters from cheaper than dirt, buckets from home depot (if they are BPA free) and a spigot from ebay, I could be in for a whole setup about $30. BTW, I also saw a tip to drill a small vent in the bottom bucket so the air can be pushed out by the water.
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/CAMP-357

[Riverdog]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

I just use some very finely woven muslin cloth folded over a couple of times. Since I am into being safe I filter twice with two different muslin cloths. As for purification, not to worried about it I got a cast iron GI tract. Besides if you do a little queasy it will pass in a day or two.

[Hikenhunter]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

Well, two drops per quart is eight drops per gallon which is more than 1/4 teaspoon. Maybe instead of poisoning the water, perhaps I am not adding enough bleach?!

So far, it's working - could be dumb luck.

Do as you wish

[Hikenhunter]

Re: What do you cats use for water purification?

Hey Riverdog that hand woven muslin must cost quite a bit of money. I use a coffee filter held in place with a rubber band. It is easy to rinse the sediment off of it after using it and it keeps a lot of larger particles out of the prefilter. I'm guessing but I'll bet my prefilters last4 or 5 times as long as they would without them and my filter cartridges probably last twice as long as they would without them. Just thought I'd mention it in case you or anyone else were interested.