How Long Do You Need To Boil Water?

[Nemesis]

( Ron Fontaine )

I frequently come upon bad advice about boiling water to make it safe to drink. Having enough safe drinking water is of utmost importance to any survivor. Proper information is very important and for that reason I am writing this Survival Topic in order to set the record straight.

Boiling Water is the Best Method

As some of us know, boiling water is surest and most effective method of destroying microorganisms including disease causing bacteria, viruses, protozoan’s, and parasites.

Modern filtering devices and the chemical treatment of water come in a poor distant second to the ancient and almost foolproof method of boiling water to make it safe to drink. And importantly to the survivor, the boiling of water requires no special apparatus, training, or difficult to find chemicals. The means to boil water for safe drinking are usually close at hand:

•A source of heat
•A vessel to hold the water.
Couldn’t be simpler. Or is it?

Commonly Stated Water Boiling Times

I am always hearing different amounts of time that water needs to be boiled to kill disease organisms. Recently I perused various publications put out by the government and trusted health organizations. What is glaringly obvious is they disagree on the length of time water should be boiled to make it safe to drink.

Common water boiling times that are stated include:

•“Boil water for 10 minutes” is a common statement
•“5-minutes of boiling” is also frequently heard
•“Boil the water for 20 minutes”. Would there be any left?
•“A rolling boil for 1 minute”. Is it enough?
•“When at high altitudes you need to boil water for twice as long”
Modern filtering devices and the chemical treatment of water come in a poor distant second to the ancient and almost foolproof method of boiling water to make it safe to drink.

Which of the above statements are true? None. That’s right. Following any of the above advice for the boiling times of water is a big waste of fuel (and a waste of water if you are short on water cannot afford to lose any to evaporation).

Throughout the world whole forests have been cut down for firewood in order to boil drinking water. Hikers and mountaineers have used up precious fuel boiling water for inordinate amounts of time. In a survival situation you cannot afford to waste valuable resources and energy. With all the bad advice around, many thousands of trees and other fuels and a huge amount of effort have been wasted. See http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio- ... ipt_en.asp

Correct Water Boiling Time

whole forests have been cut down for firewood in order to boil drinking water

The correct amount of time to boil water is 0 minutes. Thats right, zero minutes.

“According to the Wilderness Medical Society, water temperatures above 160° F (70° C) kill all pathogens within 30 minutes and above 185° F (85° C) within a few minutes. So in the time it takes for the water to reach the boiling point (212° F or 100° C) from 160° F (70° C), all pathogens will be killed, even at high altitude.”

Source: http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/manual/water.shtml

“What is not well known is that contaminated water can be pasteurized at temperatures well below boiling, as can milk, which is commonly pasteurized at 71°C (160°F)…”.

Source: http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Water_pasteurization.

What is not well known is that contaminated water can be pasteurized at temperatures well below boiling

The fact is, with a water temperature of 160 to 165 degrees F (74 C) it takes just half an hour for all disease causing organisms to be inactivated. At 185 degrees this is cut to just a few minutes. By the time water hits its boiling point of 212 F (100 C) – plus or minus depending upon pressure or altitude – the water is safe. Even at high altitudes the time it takes for the water to reach a rolling boil and then cool means you can safely drink it.

Lacking a thermometer to measure water temperature, you only need to get your water to a rolling boil. By that point you know the water is hot enough and that the disease organisms in your water were destroyed quite some time earlier. End of story, turn off the heat. Stop wasting fuel. Let the water cool down. Your water is safe to drink!

[Kenneth Eames]

Yes this is so. The only other Problem we encounter is chemicals in water. If the water has arsenic, mercury or other poisonous principles within it, these will have to be removed. The only way to remove these is with special filters or distilation. Even with distilation some chemicals can still come over in the distilate. Kenneth Eames.

[Skvez]

I disagree (with Wet and Cold).

Boling water will kill nearly all microorganisms but won't filter out toxins, filters can.
There are some very poor filters our there but the best filters are better than boiling, the finer the element the more things are filtered out. (One micron is the sort of high quality filter you need).

"At altitude" water boils at lower temperature due to the lower atmospheric pressure.
At 4000 ft it boils at 96°C
At 15000 ft it boils at 84°C
So if it takes "a few minutes" at 85°C to kill most pathogens then 0 minutes at boiling at 15000 ft isn't enough.
Fortunately the UK is all at low enough altitude that the effects of high altitude can be ignored (but for those in other areas of the world it *is* a consideration)

Take a big hunk of dog poo, dissolve it in litre of water for two days. Now drink the water. Your choice you can either boil it or filter it.
Personally I'm filtering it!

[NorthernRaider]

Boiling kills biologicals
Microfilters remove metalics

Some like supers sers use microporous ceramics to filter out bugs and metalics and have silver iodate coating just to be extra safe.

[bigpaul]

boil the water into some form of still, the steam will form into water droplets, catch these in a container, this is safe to drink.

[Nemesis]

Skvez I never boil water without using a filter first, I have many ways to filter water in my home, (more than most preppers) and we use one to filter tap water, used daily. I have 2 rain farms and would not think about drinking the water unless I filtered it first, I would think this is common knowledge and it is something we all would at least try to do, I add these posts so you can add to your arsenal and implement into your way of doing things or at least offer to the less knowledgeable some insight.

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(30 November 2011, 13:13)NorthernRaider Wrote: Boiling kills biologicals
Microfilters remove metalics

Some like supers sers use microporous ceramics to filter out bugs and metalics and have silver iodate coating just to be extra safe.

I have black berkey's stored and ceramics which we use for tap water, major prep NR well worth the investment.

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(30 November 2011, 14:48)bigpaul Wrote: boil the water into some form of still, the steam will form into water droplets, catch these in a container, this is safe to drink.

That is actually a way to turn sea water into drinkable water BP.

[Skvez]

My comment on the OP wasn’t to detract from the value of boiling but to point out that (like all methods) it has limitations.

Boiling and condensing is probably the 'best' way to get pure drinkable water but it's very inefficient in terms of energy use. If you've only got very polluted water and you've lots of fuel (and time) it's a viable solution. On the move it's wholly impractical.

[NorthernRaider]

(30 November 2011, 15:04)WetandCold Wrote: I have black berkey's stored and ceramics which we use for tap water, major prep NR well worth the investment.

W&C and group are you aware that in the US at least there has been major QC problems with British Berkfeld filter candles?

Appparently a batch either made in the US or sold in the US have been substandard and the candles have either failed or broken.

The source I have is from Surv Boards I'll try anbd find the link if I can.

I played safe and bought in 4 more candles from seperate stockists and batches.

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Here we go, I hope SD does not mind a link to SB because this is a safety issue affecting t5he primary water filter system used by Brits.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthr...p?t=178353

[Nemesis]

(30 November 2011, 16:27)Skvez Wrote: My comment on the OP wasn’t to detract from the value of boiling but to point out that (like all methods) it has limitations.

Boiling and condensing is probably the 'best' way to get pure drinkable water but it's very inefficient in terms of energy use. If you've only got very polluted water and you've lots of fuel (and time) it's a viable solution. On the move it's wholly impractical.

(30 November 2011, 16:36)NorthernRaider Wrote:

(30 November 2011, 15:04)WetandCold Wrote: I have black berkey's stored and ceramics which we use for tap water, major prep NR well worth the investment.

W&C and group are you aware that in the US at least there has been major QC problems with British Berkfeld filter candles?

Appparently a batch either made in the US or sold in the US have been substandard and the candles have either failed or broken.

The source I have is from Surv Boards I'll try anbd find the link if I can.

I played safe and bought in 4 more candles from seperate stockists and batches.

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Here we go, I hope SD does not mind a link to SB because this is a safety issue affecting t5he primary water filter system used by Brits.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthr...p?t=178353

Intresting I bought mine about 4 years ago from UK company, I would like to know more.

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Skvez I agree with most things there are limitations, everything I post is post shtf which will increase our limitations further.

[JD1]

"Berkey" and "British Berkefeld" are two seperate companies despite what is written in some places, and the names are often used interchangeably. I know the candles that were supplied with my BB were made by Fairey Ceramics (who are part of British Berkefeld/Doulton), were those the same people who manufactured the candles in the US that had the problems ?