• Mossberg Owners is in the process of upgrading the software. Please bear with us while we transition to the new look and new upgraded software.

Water

John A. said:
I read through the berkey website and it looks like they can also filter out viruses, which is a major concern if you are forced to filter water that you ordinarily wouldn't consider drinking.

I'll probably decide on the Berkey filters

They're hard to beat!
 
This is an awesome project! I might have to try this myself.

John A. said:
I read through the berkey website and it looks like they can also filter out viruses, which is a major concern if you are forced to filter water that you ordinarily wouldn't consider drinking.

I'll probably decide on the Berkey filters

I don't know where you are with this project now John, but from my experience using backpacking filters (both gravity and pump styles), filtering viruses is not necessary. Most backpacking filters filter down to .2 microns which is more than enough to get all bacteria, protozoa, and other nasties.

The reason they don't worry about viruses is because unless you are in a 3rd world country, the chance of having a water-born virus is almost 0%. There are no (naturally occuring) deadly and/or toxic viruses in N. American waters.

That is to say that you should be fine with the other filter.
 
Right now I'm exactly where I was earlier. I was hoping to wait until we get our tax refund (I hope) to pick up a few filters so I can finish it.

Out of the couple of fresh water sources I have available, a couple of the streams should be pretty good water as it stands because there are no houses or business even close by that could sustantially contaminate it

For those sources to become unusable, something really bad would have to happen. (NBC?).

But I'm not so sure about the river where our (city) water comes from. I know without a doubt there are several "straight pipes" that run into it, although I know the water company filters and uses chemicals and stuff in it, but I still am not very comfortable with it.
 
Mudinyeri said:
2. Like many things, a multi-layered approach to purification is the safest. We have a home-made 4 gallon filtration system based on the Berkey Black filters. Additionally, we have chlorinated bleach and water purification tablets. We also have a propane-fired cook stove that can boil water in fairly large quantities. Utilizing all three methods to purify water that has been acquired near "civilization" is not a bad idea.

Ok ... I've got some questions on water purification tablets. When would I use these different tablets? Will they do the same thing? Is one tablet for one type of drinking water and the other tablet for another type?

I've got 2 different kinds and they were both bought at Wal-Mart and they both have different active ingredients:

1) Potable Aqua Chlorine Dioxide Water Purification Tablets: Active ingredient is Sodium Chlorite (6.4%) and Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate Dihydrate (1%)

Potable Aqua Chlorine Dioxide Water Purification Tablets are for the emergency disinfection of drinking water. When used as directed, the tablets make contaminated water suitable for drinking. For use by anyone needing to drink water of questionable microbiological quality. Effective against viruses, bacteria, and cysts - such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium. This takes 4 hours of treatment time for effectiveness.

2) Potable Aqua® Drinking Water Germicidal Tablets: Activie ingredient is Tetraglycine Hydroperiodide (16.7%). Each tablet contains 6.68%Titratable Iodine.

When used as directed, they make most water bacteriologically suitable for drinking. Used by anyone needing to drink water of questionable bacteriological quality. Potable Aqua® is for use only when drinking water is suspected or known to be bacteriologically substandard. It also came with Potable Aqua® Plus neutralizing tablets for use after water has been treated with Potable Aqua®. P.A. Plus neutralizes the iodine after-taste and color.
 
Tonight, I purchased a Crown Berkey Water Filter System with 4 filters (would filter 12,000 gallons) and also purchased 4 WaterBob's. Other than weapons, I thought my first prepping focus would be to start on the water needs of my family. Living in Phoenix, water is so precious and with the heat it would be disasterous to not have enough water to get through at least the hot months (Mid-May thru mid-October).

About 7-8 years ago, Phoenix had a water scare. For about 2-3 days, the entire Phoenix metro area (5th largest in the country) was warned not to use the water. We were told "bateria" might be in the water supply but rumors where flying around like crazy. Bottom line was we couldn't take showers or anything for a few days ... it was not good. If this can happen in Phoenix then it can happen anywhere. I'm finally starting to do something about it.

Crown Berkey Water Filter System

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/waterfilters/crown-berkey.htm

crownberkey.jpg





WaterBob

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ItemDetail.aspx?sku=CAMP205

CAMP-205.jpg



My Next Purchase??

Now that I've purchased my Berkey and WaterBob's, my next purchase will probably be to increase water storage with SureWater 525 Gallon Storage Tanks.

525gallon_640h.jpg
 
is that surewater tank pressurized?
Ive been considering adding a 50 gallon well water tank to the house as a back up to the city water. with a bit of creative replumbing, it would also prevent the cold shot in the shower when someone flushes.
 
I am running from a deep water well and I use filters in the kitchen. I also have portable filtering in my BOB. An Areo-Motor windmill is on my list of things to get for the Kat Ranch. There is a more shallow water and the well has already been drilled and cased for the second well. EDG is on the list too. I plan to bug in, not out.
 
Fronty Owner said:
is that surewater tank pressurized?
Ive been considering adding a 50 gallon well water tank to the house as a back up to the city water. with a bit of creative replumbing, it would also prevent the cold shot in the shower when someone flushes.

This comes from their FAQ's:

Q. Can a Sure Water Tank be put "in-line" so water is always circulating through?

A. No. Plastic tanks cannot hold municipal water pressure.
 
I finally decided to order the Doultan Super Sterasyl 10" ceramic/carbon candle filter and will be using mudnyeri's template for the containers.

I liked the Berkey for being able to filter virus' and heavy metals, but the Doultan seemed like it would give me basically everything I think I need a short term survival filter to do.

It filters all sorts of natural microbes and parasites and things that are well known to make people sick.

If I need to filter heavy metals and stuff, staying in place would probably be a bad idea anyway.
 
I've got the Crown Berkey but I'm also looking at the Sawyer .02 as well. From a water perspective, I like the thought of having back-up to the back-up to the back-up.

There's many decent filters out there that should provide adequate water filteration. Good luck!!
 
My filter is done, although I may add another filter later on just to speed up the process.

It took roughly 24 hours to filter ~5 gallons of water with the single filter, although seems to be going faster today. I couldn't hear any water dripping when I first installed it and started, but when I refilled it today, I could hear a fast drip drip drip

I also made a few small changes.

First, I had to use a 1/2 inch bit for the filter candles. I couldn't force it through a 3/8" hole and worried that I would break it, so I went with the larger bit. I also figured that the specs may be a little different being a different brand as well.

I also drilled through the reservior lid to allow for the filter like mudnyeri said, but I worried that if someone came along and tried to raise up on the lid while it was full of water (heavy) that it would add stress to the filter candle nipple, so I opted to drill a very large 1-3/8" hole using a taper bit so the top part could be removed from the bottom part without having to support the lid of the bottom part.

waterfilter001.jpg


I'm happy with the way it turned out. This was a very worthwhile project indeed.

waterfilter005.jpg
 
I live on the coast, across the street from the beach actually. Was wondering what type of options I have for desalinization? I see alot of expensive stuff online but was wondering about homemade? I looked at some pictures that showed a heating/cooling technique to do it. What are your thoughts?
 
LOL. Not nearly enough info for this one. How much water per day? What are your size/space limitations? Do you plan on it being passive or using electricity? I'm not sure what kind of maintenance requirements these units might have but I imagine cleaning the salt occasionally must be done too. Interesting thought though. More details on the idea would be nice.

Paul
 
I agree we need to know how much water are you looking to clean up? A lost in the woods technic uses passive solar that can be adapted to home use. Lost in the woods? Dig a hole in the ground till you hit wet dirt, put a clean container in the middle of the hole, cover said hole with plastic wrap and put some type of weight in the middle of the plastic so it is tight and concave. Moisture drops form on the plastic and fall into the container you put in the hole. To adapt this for home use fill barrels, home depot buckets or what have you with ocean water, float your clean water container and cover the same as you did the hole. The solution requires some DIY but no energy used other than calories in toting water in the barrels, buckets etc. :geek:
 
4bubbaswitz said:
I agree we need to know how much water are you looking to clean up? A lost in the woods technic uses passive solar that can be adapted to home use. Lost in the woods? Dig a hole in the ground till you hit wet dirt, put a clean container in the middle of the hole, cover said hole with plastic wrap and put some type of weight in the middle of the plastic so it is tight and concave. Moisture drops form on the plastic and fall into the container you put in the hole. To adapt this for home use fill barrels, home depot buckets or what have you with ocean water, float your clean water container and cover the same as you did the hole. The solution requires some DIY but no energy used other than calories in toting water in the barrels, buckets etc. :geek:
along the same lines, build a solar oven to heat your water for a solar still. it'll be slower than a boiled water still, but uses free solar energy.
 
Please do me a favor and congratulate him on his accomplishments for me. I also had the Webelos Arrow of light. Matter of fact, I still have it, and numerous pins I earned.

I was going to recommend the Katadyn straw filter, but do not know the difference between it and the one you linked.

I think they are both the same. Same specs. Same colors even.
 
Thanks John. I'll check the Katadyne too. I don't have much experience with water purification. It sound slike dad needs to learn some too.

I also passed on your congratulations and he appreciated it. We were real proud of him. Him and his best buddy were the only ones to receive the super achiever for completing the entire book. He was out back today practicing fire starting with his flint stick and striker.
 
Havn't used a lifestraw myself, but they come really highly recommended by those around me who use them. Really great to pack around and you dont have to wait to drink (like with tablets), nor do you have to extract the water from its source. When I was younger my buddy would pack a filtration system around. Worked in the same way this does, however it had a hand pump, a number of screens and was really bulky and awkward to pack. Worked like a charm though. I wouldn't mind purchasing one of these things myself.
 
Back
Top