Brita Filters?

[Hex]

sorry if this has been braught up before but i was just in asda and was looking at the water filters.

i was curious if they would be of any use for our sort of needs.

now obviously they arnt going to be efficient if your trying to get clean water from sludge but you could set up a 2 stage filter with say a towel to clear out the larger debris?

[I-K-E]

I vaguely remember a thread on these and it was clear that they would have no use for our needs not sure if it was here on on my lurking at other places

[Tigs]

they will clean the water but not purify it you would have to boil the water or add purification tablets , a millsbank bag does the same thing but cost about £10 and can be used over and over

[BeardyMan]

They are just activated carbon. Remove tastes / smells a bit, but it's not going to purify your water. You'll still need to filter / boil / use chems.

[Hex]

ah well, was worth considering thanks guys

[BeardyMan]

(10 September 2013, 12:31)Hex Wrote: ah well, was worth considering thanks guys

For the same price as a brita filter jug thing you can get a proper water filter. Check out the life straws, or some of the other pump filters you can get. I have a few kicking around. Katadyn are one of the best for the money - I take mine out when I'm in the local woods - saves carrying water in with me (although I take 2 litres with me anyway)


I wouldn't bother with a milbank bag - just use a bandana / shemagh. Multi-purpose

[Timelord]

(10 September 2013, 12:03)BeardyMan Wrote: They are just activated carbon. Remove tastes / smells a bit, but it's not going to purify your water. You'll still need to filter / boil / use chems.

Activated carbon is fine in many of the branded survival products like the straw products and does purify water. The problem with the Brita Filters as was discussed in a previous thread, was that upon dissection they were found to contain a minimal amount of activated carbon - with the majority of the filter matrix consisting of tiny white plastic beads. They are more of a marketing scam than any real use. Steer clear! I suspect but can not confirm that the plastic beads help to break down and reduce the Chlorine present in municipal water to a level that is not easy to detect by taste.
Filtering and boiling does not remove heavy metals or some chemical contaminants. TL.

[Lightspeed]

Brita filters are for sure better than no filter at all.

We have used both jug and plumbed-in Brita filters. They were OK for normal mains water, but worked out rather expensive to run in terms of the cost of replacement filters.

Our first and only expenditure on serious water filtering has been on a Berkefeld Ceramic candle filter system that we purchased from Avon Soft earlier this year. This has been an eye opener for us. The product performs exceedingly well, with immediately different taste to the water we consume. Its also built better than the Brita stuff we have had previously, and is pretty much of catering / industrial quality. Although a relatively expensive outlay, in the long run our system is very much more cost effective, as its cheaoer to run in terms of consumables. ( One filter element for teh Berkefeld costs around £10 and is good for up to 10,000L of purified water.)