what's the best shtf portable water filter out there for frugal conscious folks?

reply to post by dominicus



There are a ton of options and brands out there but I prefer Katadyn Hiker Pro, rated for 300 gallons very small and compact it fits in a 5"x7" pouch thats about 3" thick. I think i paid $65 and replacement filters are under $30. I have used it a few times and it did its job, never got sick water tasted like water and it was crystal clear cant ask for much more. The absolute cheapest way to clean water would be with bleach use 2 drops per quart or 8 drops per gallon use only unscented bleach with 6% Sodium Hypochlorite (don't use color safe bleach or scented) stir and let sit for half hour and your good to go.

I like this one

Katadyn Vario

You should also have some 1 liter bottles and spare filters and spare parts kit for the filter. The one liter bottles attach to the bottom of the filter, makes it easy. Lots of good info at the Katadyn website. Katadyn Website

If you are getting your water out of a mud puddle your filter will last longer if you prefilter the water through coffee filters.

THere are also these purification tablets Micropur

Micropur at Katadyn website

If you use the tablets, you need to know how. The way the scouts taught me, you put the tablet in the 1 L bottle full of water to be purified. Let it sit for 30 minutes. Now after 30 minutes the water in the bottle is treated and safe, BUT, there is some water sealed in the threads by the cap that was not treated. So what you do is turn the bottle upside down and loosen the cap to let a little of the treated liquid out into the threaded area. I think they called it bleeding the threads. Once that is done the water is safe to use.

One other method I will mention is a solar oven. Water can be filtered and then raised to a temperature, and a solar oven can do this without using any fuel. THey also make this little wax in glass dohickey to indicate that the water did reach the correct temperature and it is reusable.

Here is the youtube

You need nothing more than bleach to purify water for drinking, a coffee filter or even a piece of cloth will filter out the chunky stuff. A couple teaspoons per gallon won't harm you and it works better than any filter.
You can also place water in clear plastic containers on a piece if tin or other reflective metal and leave it in the sunlight on a hot day to kill bacteria, this practice is used widely in African villages.

Originally posted by PaperbackWriter

Originally posted by superman2012

Originally posted by PaperbackWriter
He said frugal.
How about, coffee filters first. A couple times depending on the source, say a pond.
Then into a Brita filter countertop unit.
Add drops of H2O2 food grade dpending on the amount of finished water,
Recommendations are on the label.

I think you meant NaClO (sodium hypochlorite (bleach)) not hydrogen peroxide.

No I meant H2O2, but bleach in very small amounts will work also and should have included that also.
Get it at your health food store refrigerator section. Food grade is higher than 3% so it goes a long way.

I haven't heard of that before, thanks! I guess the main reason it isn't used, is that it is unstable.
We use a 12% solution where I work combined with greensand filters, kmno4 detention tanks, and then a reverse osmosis system. It works great! But, in a SHTF scenario and no chemicals/power I would just filter through cloth, coal, sand, gravel, and then boil it.

i have had a berkey water filter system for 2-3 years now and it is incredible it filters the water so well that it actually looks clearer in a glass when you drink it

i should get some new filter cartridges at this point but the nice thing about them is that the filter never stops working they just slow down and it doesn't really seem to slow down much
you can also take a green dish scrubber and clean them and they work good again

i have the plastic model which has about a 3 gallon capacity that i would think could easily supply all the needs of about 5-7 people probably lots more if you kept it filtering 24/7

i actually ran a glass of cherry kool aid through it and it filtered it into crystal clear water thats impressive
the taste of the water i great to it kinda spoils you for all other water

my only problem now is that i dont think i could go without it they have larger counter top models and portable bottles its initial cost might be a little higher than some others but i have been using the same filters for 2-3 years so due to that it makes it pretty darn cheap

reply to post by dominicus


cheap ebay or dhgate china made!


or


www.sawyer.com... the bottle one can do 1million gallons. I got one of those, haven't used it but it's just cool ha ha.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


Good to know, thanks for the heads up! I currently have one of the older models that I was looking to upgrade, guess I won't be getting that one.

I'm glad you posted that question because I was just thinking about buying one two days ago.
Didn't want to just pick some random unknown so I held off, now here is all the info!
I like the Katadyne so far, thanks so much for all the info everybody.

Originally posted by r2d246
reply to post by dominicus

 

cheap ebay or dhgate china made!


or


www.sawyer.com... the bottle one can do 1million gallons. I got one of those, haven't used it but it's just cool ha ha.

edit on 7-11-2012 by r2d246 because: (no reason given)

I bought one month ago and finally used it. Amazing. I have the filter that come with 3 different bags and can screw on a bottle. Amazing

Originally posted by AdamsMurmur
Best and easiest way to clean water from sources like rivers and ponds is to boil it...

That only works with bacteria. If there are other contaminants in it, you will only make it worse by concentrating the levels as the water evaporates.

If you can make a cheap distiller that works on a fire, that would be far better. The water will boil, killing bacteria and evaporate leaving other contaminants behind. Then as the steam condenses, it is collected in another chamber as pure water.

You can even use your own urine in a distiller and extract the water from it. It will still have a bit of an unpleasant taste though as distilled water is so pure, any smells tend to cling to it as there are no contaminants in it to mask them. I had a jug of distilled water in my fridge and when I drank it, I could taste strawberries in it because I also had strawberries in my fridge at the time.

reply to post by dominicus


There are only a few "inexpensive" filters out there which pass the 1< Micron test which is needed to protect the human body. Most filters are designed for the"Hiker" who is above the Industrial/Agricultural levels and is working with basically clean water. Thats why most have a microbial element to them. Three filters (that I Know of) and one tablet type will carry you from the inner city to the wilderness. The first is the Life Straw. Designed for Africa for a non profit organization it will filter the dirtiest water (think Africa), Second is the First Alert pump it is a true 1 micron pump and thrd is HTI products, They use forward osmosis (same as trees) to extract water like a tree root eliminating ALL harmfull elements including metals. Of the tabs only the Chlorine Dioxide gives true protection by killing all bugs. Remember you have to cover everything from viruses to metals and toxins in a survival situation..

Anyway if you want the real deal the guy who taught me in the military (a long time ago LOL) has a business now and unless he haschanged in the last 15 years hes worth checking out.

www.asistsurvival.com
Sorry dont knowhow to hyper link
Good luck

If frugal is what you want, build the filter in the image below and then boil the filtered water.

Get a canteen that has a metal canteen cup, and you can just boil the water.

Add some water tabs to your kit (cheap) and a cheap filter straw (around $10), and I'd think you're pretty good.

beprepared.com...

Step by step instructions here. cause lets face it, when its goes down, you will run out of store bought filters.

Here is how to do it in the wild.

www.practicalprimitive.com...

Katadyn Pocket Filter

I spend ALOT of time in the woods and I have tried many different filters. The challenge I have boils down to durability, functionality and ease of use. The Katadyn Pocket Filter fulfills all 3 criteria perfectly. At about $300 US it sits right in the middle regarding cost, BUT when you factor in volume (12,000 gallons per filter insert!) and durability (made of aluminum and stainless steel!), you'll be hard pressed to find another filter that matches its performance or quality. The silver coated ceramic filter insert eliminates bacteria, protozoa, cysts, algae, spores,
sediments and viruses in combination with particles greater than 0.2 microns and is very easy to clean. Replacement filters are around $200 US. But for $500 US you can filter nearly 25,000 gallons of water! The size and weight of the unit make it EXTREMELY portable and, again, its durability will not have you babying your pack for fear of cracking your life-saving water purifier.

Just my $0.02 - but my direct experience with this and nearly a dozen other filters puts this at the head of the pack!

reply to post by kozmo


Pretty ringing endorsement, but $300 puts it in the High Price category for most I'd think...certainly a bit more than I'd want to spend for sticking it in a BOB. Having one at the house, sure...but that'd set me back $1200 to put in all our BOBs.

reply to post by Gazrok


Good point, Gaz. As I think about packing out, I think about dispersing the load across my family, so just 1 filter for the three of us. If I've done my math correctly, $500 gives my family access to water for close to 10 years with only 2 filters! That said, and as others have indicated, knowing how to build an in-field sediment filter is a primary skill to learn. Additionally, I have backup filtration options, like LifeStraws that are in everyone's BOB - but that is not our primary source for our everyday water needs.

When it comes to cost, it is relative, in my opinion. I look at cost-per-gallon and factor in durability. A $10 filter does me no good if it is broken or it exceeds it's 30 gallon filtering capacity. My Katadyn Pocket will provide a gallon of potable for just over $0.02/gallon. Most of the straw type filters range from $10 to $15 and the cost per gallon is over $0.50/gallon - over 25X more expensive! Also, how many LifeStraws would be required to gain the same filtering capacity of the Katadyn Pocket? Answer: 800! Cost for 800 LifeStraws at $12.99 each? $10,392!!! All of the sudden $500 seams cheap.

Again, just my opinion, but I think it is important to make sound investments in equipment you can rely on when it is needed as well as being able to draw value out of the investment - especially for things that are life preserving, like water.

reply to post by lonewolf10


Agree. Berkey is the way to go. It nests within itself, making it somewhat portable, and the ceramic filters are cleanable, making them able to do more than the 6000 of the the black filters. It's a gravity filter for life, not just a short-term emergency filter.

www.youtube.com...

jrje73EyKag

this guy gets water boiling water in less then a minute using the sun not exactly portable but if your bugging in instead of out it could come in handy assuming you live in a sunny climate

reply to post by mumbichi


Can't bug out with a Berkey... too big! Great for sheltering in place or a base camp once garrisoned in place, but terrible if you need to be on the move. As an avid hiker, I know... I've been there. The small Berkeys aren't fast enough if you need to secure water on the move - as I'll discuss in a moment. See my post above regarding the Katadyn Pocket filter. It has all of the same benefits of the Berkey, but has a higher filter capacity, is more durable, is more compact for travel and ideal for long term use. Drawbacks of the Katadyn relative to the Berkey include: Have to actively pump to move water through the filter as opposed to letting gravity do the work. Doesn't have a reservoir (but that's why it's portable). I also like the fact that I can place the draw tube in even the shallowest of puddles or the smallest nooks and filter water. With a Berkey, I need to transfer the water into the filter reservoir which makes getting to small, standing or slightly obstructed water sources a more difficult task.

Now, I realize I pointed out that having to pump was a drawback compared to the Berkey but there are times when gravity won't be your friend, as I alluded to earlier. Most notably if you are required to be constantly on the move. My Travel Berkey takes between 30 minutes to 45 minutes to filter through its capacity, about 1.5 gallons, depending on how clean and fresh the filter is. It takes at least 15 minutes to fill enough of the reservoir to fill a canteen. Plus there is the set-up and breakdown time. The Katadyn Pocket comes out the pack ready to work and filters at a rate of a quart a minute!

Don't get me wrong, Berkey is GREAT stuff! I still have my Travel Berkey and I use it if I'm setting camp for several days. But again, I just think that Katadyn has taken everything great about silver-ceramic filtering technology and made it the most portable water purification system on the market.

And after all that, you'd think I worked for the company or something - I don't.