Great New Water Filtration Product?

[Trout Lane]

I thought this is a great idea from Katadyn for water filtration. If you hate pumping water like I do, I'd like to know more about the product. Its a 2.6 gallon bag that uses gravity to pull water thru a filter producing over 2 gallons of water in 15 minutes. Thats more than I can pump! On/off output hose, replacable filter, looks very packable, filters 200 gallons of water. Sounds great to me. Anyone used it yet? One can see it on page 19 of the latest Piragis BW Catalog. Oh, it costs $60 bucks and a replacement filter is 35 bucks. Just hang the bag upon a tree and drink. Your opinion?

TL

[Davo4]

I purchased one of the Katadyn gravity filters from Cabela’s last spring. It worked OK but the advertised rate of filtering is probably measured with distilled water in a new filter. One gallon per hour is typical of my experience and is attainable by keeping the filter clean. As for the filter element itself, being replaceable is not a big deal. The ceramic filter is similar but shorter that the one in the Katadyn ‘Pocket Filter’. A mildly abrasive scrub pad is used to scrude the surface of the filter clean. This process removes a micron thick layer of ceramic filter. I believe it would take several years of daily use to wear the filter element down to the point where it needed replacement.

What is not provided in the kit is a suitable receptacle for the filtered water. I use the largest MSR water bag I could find. It was necessary to construct an adapter with tubing to accommodate the different size Katadyn and MSR spigots. The MSR bag will accept a full load of water from the filter.

My BWCA trips with three adults and three children require lots of water. Years ago I constructed a similar filtering system based on plans in Ray Jardine’s book on light weight backpacking. It worked but was not as slick as the Katadyn system.

Do not forget that ‘instant’ water is not available when you arrive at camp. I made this mistake one hot day. The kids will not let me live that one down.

[Jimi]

I am interested in this too. Has anyone cobbled together their own satisfactory system? I am considering using one this summer. I hate pumping water. I have a 5 gallon and a 2.5 gallon MSR water bags. Ideally, hang the 2.5 to filter into the 5.

All I need is an inline filter and tubing to connect the bags.

Anyone try building such a contraption?
or tried this? www.ula-equipment.com/filter2.htm
Jim

[GladesGuy]

hndrsdnpce,
That's the filter I have it works.
GG

[azalea]

I used a similar product this summer. It worked very well for 4 people for 11 days (we filtered about half our water, the other half we got from the middle of lakes while paddling and we did not filter).

Filter rate slowed about halfway through the trip. We backwashed the system once and flow rate improved but not to the original level.

See www.ula-equipment.com/filter.htm

[Davo4]

( cont. from above) Over the years I have used (either my own or others) many water filters. Much of it backpacking on Isle Royale. Nobody likes water borne pathogens and addition to the usual concerns, Isle Royale has an added concern, tape worms. Nasty long worms inside you. And potentially devastating if the larva set up in your brain. Water must be boiled or filtered. The little worm buggers are larger than bacteria and should filter well. But this is no place for a broken filter.

Every “affordable” filter I tried or encountered failed. A friends once broke on the first day of a trip. One of mine broke the on last day of a trip. I learned that back flushing helps but does not restore full through-put. After a few back flushes it is time to replace the filter element. Filters that have a cleanable element are better. The units with the filtering surface on the inside of the ‘tube’ are less desirable than units with the filtering surface on the outside surface. It’s a mater of filtering surface area.

Best are ceramic filters with the filtering surface on the outside. The ceramic filter material can be cleaned so that near ‘like new’ through-put is possible. The Katadyn bag fed gravity filter is the closest I have come to my low cost, low weight, high reliability, high through-put ideal.

[Jackfish]

I'll add my two cents, and I think the advice is worth more than that (at least I think so).

The First Need Purifier, repeat Purifier, will not only filter all the 'yukkies' out of the water, it's efficient and relatively fast. The things I like about it:

1. It pumps like a bicycle tire pump. Less stress than on a 'water pump lever'-type handle. And you have more control over the tool.

2. The First Need is a PURIFIER, not just a filter. It takes care of viruses, as well as crypto, etc. It's been the "Gear of the Year" with Backpacker and Outside magazines because of it's performance in this regard.

3. It only has one hose - the intake. Makes pumping and filling a Nalgene a lot easier. Plus, the Nalgene screws directly onto the pump. Very efficient.

4. It will pump one liter of water (a Nalgene bottle is one liter) in 45 seconds. Considering the time it takes to unscrew the filled bottle and to screw on the next bottle, you're pumping one liter per minute. That's two gallons in less than 10 minutes. Pretty good speed, IMHO.

5. It's field maintainable. Pretty simple parts, and should it start to plug, you can back-flush it and it's good to go. A small tube of blue food coloring is provided to check the filtering ability. This is done as needed based on the amount of water pumped and the clarity of the water source.

6. It's compact and lightweight, therefore it packs small and is easy to carry.

As I said, it's only my two cents, but I researched several major brands before making my buying decision. The First Need is barely a few dollars more than other pumps that are just filters.

If anyone needs any more information, let me know.