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.