water filter for bob

[tony]

hi all.im looking at getting a water filter for my family theres 5 of us to put into my bob , theres so many out there,any idears please

[bigpaul]

got a "LifeSaver" brand one, can be expensive though, got mine on ebay!

[tony]

the thing i dont like about the lifesaver ,is the life of the filters on the website its only 3-5 years,if i dont need to use it thats a lot of money ,but thats the only downside apart from that its a great filter.

[bigpaul]

(2 May 2012, 17:02)tony Wrote: the thing i dont like about the lifesaver ,is the life of the filters on the website its only 3-5 years,if i dont need to use it thats a lot of money ,but thats the only downside apart from that its a great filter.

same here, i only got it in case of emergency, but 3-5 years is quite a long time, can you remember what you were doing 5 years ago-cos i cant?

[tony]

(2 May 2012, 17:25)bigpaul Wrote:

(2 May 2012, 17:02)tony Wrote: the thing i dont like about the lifesaver ,is the life of the filters on the website its only 3-5 years,if i dont need to use it thats a lot of money ,but thats the only downside apart from that its a great filter.

same here, i only got it in case of emergency, but 3-5 years is quite a long time, can you remember what you were doing 5 years ago-cos i cant?

so true

[Dorset Lad]

I use an MSR Miniworks Microfilter. Not used any other make to compare it with but it does everything I want. ie it filters water! I've not read anything about its filter element having any sort of shelf life. They do recomend also treating the filtered water with a chemical. I use the two part one I got from Millets. The filter I got from Ultralight Outdoors (cheepest place I could find at the time) along with a maintenance kit. Maintenance can be carried out in the field.

[Skean Dhude]

All filters clog up or are contaminated. Everyone should be replaced on a regular basis and it sin't measured in years it is X litres passed through.

[Dorset Lad]

The MSR comes with a small sort of pot scrubber and a gauge to clean and test the filter. It is a good idea to pre-filter your water through cloth or something as the more lumps you can remove first, the longer the filter will last.

[Nemesis]

(3 May 2012, 19:36)Dorset Lad Wrote: The MSR comes with a small sort of pot scrubber and a gauge to clean and test the filter. It is a good idea to pre-filter your water through cloth or something as the more lumps you can remove first, the longer the filter will last.

Very busy tonight but I just had a quick look and from what I can see the MSR Miniworks Microfilter comes with an element that can be cleaned, a bit like my Berkley filters on my home setups, is it ceramic Dorset lad? And a case of scrubbing the element from time to time?.

I myself don't use these type filters so don't really know the pros and cons of them.

[Timelord]

That bit about shelf life/expiry date is right. Carbon is not going to degrade anytime soon, especially when isolated from UV daylight. It is definitely X amount of litres passed.

Even so, this is not really accurate. It will depend on the quality of filter/thickness of the element and also on the amount of contaminants being processed through the carbon filter. If your water is fairly dirty, then it will not last as long. I would think that hard water will also contribute towards this. In this circumstance, the X literage suggested may be severely reduced before the filter either becomes clogged or becomes ineffective at cleaning the water.

If you try to select cleaner, less visually dirty water, that will help. If you think there may be a lot of biological organisms in the water, even though it appears clear - then this will also reduce the efficiency of the filter.

In a long term survival scenario, good tip would be to only use the carbon filtration device either in an emergency or after first taking other simple methods to filter or boil the water. Prior chemical tabs may not help for this, as the chemical & biological waste matter would still be present as the water passed through the carbon filter and could contribute to clogging up the filter.

Another emergency tip - THOUGH NOT RECOMMENDED UNLESS IN DIRE STRAIGHTS - would be that if the carbon filter has become clogged, maybe repeatedly after manual scrubbing(if this can be done), then it might be possible to shave some of the outer layer of the carbon filter away to expose fresher inner layer . Some filters may not be robust enough for this and so trying this could wreck those ones, so examination & care must be taken. I am not suggesting that this newer inner surface will be clear of contaminants, only that contaminant build up or clogging will be heavier from the outer layer inwards. This shaving action may allow a heavily used & maybe clogged filter to be used for a short time longer in an emergency situation. Hopefully other measures will have been put in place by a "prepper" or any survivor to not have to try this method.

The above is theory only and anyone who undertakes this does so at their own risk. I have put it down as it crossed my mind and it could be of use in a dire situation.

Regards, TL.
(always I.M.O.)