Water Filtering

[Paul]

Cost of those Katadyn filters is too much for my pocket so I've been experimenting with ceramic filters and came up with this.



My good friend the diesel hand pump and plastic pipe (a new one untouched by fuel), a Super Sterasyl filter candle, a jubilee clip and a coating of silicon seal underneath the plastic pipe on the filter thread which I had to warm up to get it big enough to screw onto the filters thread.
Then a simple jubilee clip to secure the pipe.

I made a little wire cage to slip round the filter but when I tried to photograph the whole thing, it looked a bit dark hence the picture as shown above.

Super Sterasyl filters are >98% Efficient at 0.2 um.
Some also contain carbon filters so help with chemical contaminates but I prefer the plain filters as the carbon ones have a "life".

You need to get a bit inventive to use these as stand alone filters as they are designed to fit into a unit. Slip inside a wire cage to prevent damage as they are ceramic and will break if abused.

It was suggested that I drop it into a simple close weave material bag to stop "the big bits" but I haven't tried that yet.

All I do is fill a canvas bucket with the clearest water I can find, dunk the filter into it, and pump away.
Dead low tech, just like ME!

This could cope with Cryptosporidium and Giardia cysts (according to the Sterasyl site).
It can't however cope with most viruses which range in size from 0.02 um to 0.4 um.

The most effective way to kill viruses IMHO is to boil them to death anyway.
I still boil my water though even after it's been through the filter.

Caution: I've been told that not every single virus in the world can be killed by boiling.

[NorthernRaider]

Yes Paul this will work and very well BUT you must be very slow and patient if you use the squeezy bulb to suck water throught the filter, it will clog faster in turbid water if you go faster than gravity would, but a good adaptation none the less and should serve you well.

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(9 September 2012, 13:39)Paul Wrote: Caution: I've been told that not every single virus in the world can be killed by boiling.

Naaa doesnt work on all socialists either, keep throwing boiling water at them but they refuse to be good parasites and die

[Biter]

I am pretty sure most known virus die above 60+ degrees centigrade. At least from what I remember. Boiling has always worked in the past.

[Metroyeti]

Always good to have a back up,you might not be able to boil water every time you need it.

[Hrusai]

boiling is the most reliable method, and the one you should rely on most, a little condenser kit or something can go along way, reducing loss in water vapor (easy to make, same sorta setup as if you were distilling!)

but yeah water tablets for when u cant boil water, if you got nothing, take some charcoal from a fire, find a hollow read, get some grass, stuff it down the tube, then the charcoal, then use as a straw, grass filters particulate matter, and the charcoal binds to most toxins

other good rules of thumb, running water