Long term water purification

[NorthernRaider]

My post was supposed to go
"Scythe13
Former P2S maverick

Thanks: 206
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RE: Long term water purification
Or just get the kettle on.

Get a big metal bath tub, and get the fire on. That'll sort the bacteria."

I was going to write " Boiling water uses valuable fuel that may be in short supply"

[Scythe13]

That's a fair response.

I would have still answered that with "I'm learning to make full size rocket stoves.....etc"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnr8ua54Uw

[Timelord]

Using sand is fine for a particulate filter, but it will not remove pathogens. Fortunately this bit is also relatively easy.

Forget all the high tech sounding mumbo jumbo of the water purifying device retailers, (hope they don't take a contract out on me for what I am about to divulge ) all that is inside is a v.simple material filter that is about 1 micron hole diameter in its matrix. This is the part sand or an alternative can replicate. The other part is just "activated charcoal". This is ordinary granulated charcoal that has been polarised with an electric field. Ok, so this polarisation is a much more recent enhancement and increases the efficiency of the charcoal, BUT just normal charcoal on its own is still effective, especially seeing as you should have a lot more of it to pass water through than the measly amounts inside these personal water purifiers.
So all you really need to do, is make charcoal & crush it. Now how hard is that?? this is v.old tech...
100% endorsed system.

See what is inside NBC suits...

Yes it takes a while, but eventually all the clues start to line up. TL.

[Scythe13]

Another thing that people might not think of is sea water.

You can easily drink sea water, provided you boil it and figure a way to catch the water droplets.

One of the things I've been considering is having a small fire under a tub containing water, then when it's boiling, use a poncho or a tshirt, a little bit above the steam, to catch the steam. That steam will be pure water, so salt or pathogens, or anything like that.

[bigpaul]

i always thought the best water purification was by bring it to a rolling boil, or if the source is a bit iffy boiling it and distilling the steam.

[Skean Dhude]

It is. I have a nice bit of glassware for distilling water. Steam goes in and water drips out. Uses a lot of fuel though to get a decent amount of water.

[Rush2112]

[attachment=174]

heres a very good pdf file regarding charcoal filtering. key points: if one is using activated carbon filter, no worries other than replacing the activated charcoal. filtering through regular charcoal still requires some sort of sterilization. Contrary to what many people believe, it is not necessary to boil water to make it safe to drink. Also contrary to what many people believe, it is usually not necessary to distill water to make it safe to drink. Heating water to 65º C (149º F) will kill all germs, viruses, and parasites.3 This process is called pasteurization and its use for milk is well known though milk requires slightly different time temperature combinations.

[Wildman]

big pot on the boil, sea water inside. lid slightly off, with string dipped in wax acting as a wick, plus you'll have the push of the steam and gravity helping things along not to mention the suction of the wicks. the wicks obviously go to a jar/bucket for the h20 to collect. havent tried this one, just off the top of my head.

[Binnie]

I still stand by the Millbank bag and boil method for semi-trusted water sources.

a millbank bag is a very inexpensive filter that takes up almost no room in a backpack.

the sand/charcoal method would by far be my best option for a permanent shelter.

[Luci_ferson]

its not to difficult to build your own portable sand and charcoal filter.
(its only experimental at the moment but appears to be working)

All you need is a piece of pipe (like the waste pipe of your washing machine ) about 3 foot in length. (probably could be smaller)
put a cap on the bottom with a few holes in and then put a small layer of sharp clean gravel.
above that put finer grained gravel
then a cotton wool filter layer and above it some more fine gravel. then a layer of sand then the top layer is activated charcoal.
with a final filter of more cotton wool before placing on another cap with holes in
this is the top where the water comes out
pump water in the bottom slowly until it comes out of the top .
collect the clean water from the top.

so far ive tested the water using my aquariums test kit.
the water I used was a mix of puddle water and urine (I didn't drink it afterwards)

it tests negative for nitrates, nitrites, and ammonium
but its Carbonate hardness increases as does its ph. (which was expected)

the original prototype fed the other way round top to bottom but although it worked the water had a slight cloudiness to it.
feeding from bottom and taking from the top seems to allow gravity to keep more of the particulate matter to be retained in lower levels.

At the moment I still intend to boil it afterwards for drinking.and obviously id try not to take water from sources that were likely to contain urine (that was only experimental).