Water filtration / purification?

[dbhost]

So... My first need deluxe backpacking hand pump water filter is rated to remove viruses, and bacteria, along with pretty much everything except H2O...

I do NOT want ot hand pump water needed for car camping at the lake...

I have a 12v pump setup with wiring, and plumbing that allows it to be connected to a GHT fitting, and thus inline filters.

I do have a Camco 40043, but it is really just a pre filter as it only filters to 20 microns.

There are cartridges for under sink onboard filtration, but I am looking to inline filtration that will work with the pump.

MY concept is pre filter, hose, pump, hose, main filter, hose, holding tank, OR water heater.

I guess I could run water from a bucket with water / sanitizer and then through the filter rig to remove the sanitizer taste, was looking for a more elegant, inline solution to the problem of safe water off grid...

 

[QueticoBill]

Probably missing your priorities but I backpack and canoe trip with Platypus 4 liter gravity filter. The make a 6. You can also buy the parts I believe. I could imagine the adding "dirty" water in a bag or bucket outside, routing through wall to a filter and then to clean bag or container inside. Or classic tear, just hang it all from hatch.

Works well and quick as long as you back flush evey load. Also let water with lots of sediment/particulate settle 10-15 minutes or prefilled with a mr coffee filter.

 

[dbhost]

Probably missing your priorities but I backpack and canoe trip with Platypus 4 liter gravity filter. The make a 6. You can also buy the parts I believe. I could imagine the adding "dirty" water in a bag or bucket outside, routing through wall to a filter and then to clean bag or container inside. Or classic tear, just hang it all from hatch.

Works well and quick as long as you back flush evey load. Also let water with lots of sediment/particulate settle 10-15 minutes or prefilled with a mr coffee filter.

I'm trying to be lazy here admittedly. Mostly due to age issues. My First Need is from the early 90s and they have not changed up much since then, at the time it was the absolute best on the market and served me well as a young, single guy, which I no longer am... I mean young or single, Still a guy...

https://amzn.to/2VsDuGH

Anyway, the big issue is the pump rate, 2qt / min. I don't paticularly want to kneel by a river bank for 10 minutes plus to fill a 5 gallon bucket so my wife can take a shower...

Honestly, if it would work, putting the 12v pump in place on the hand pump of the first need if it would work, would be fantastic.

Basically I am wanting to reduce manual labor in ackward positions that are at this point in my life... painful.

 

[QueticoBill]

I've always found the filter the speed limiter, not the pump or gravity. And when I pumped, I always used a bucket to collect water and sit in a comfy place and pump from bucket to nalgenes. (still have and use all my bpa nalgenes!) The platypus is similar but I don't pump. Carry water in bucket to camp, let it settle, fill platypus dirty water bag, sit in comfy seat and watch clean bag fill.

 

[dbhost]

I've always found the filter the speed limiter, not the pump or gravity. And when I pumped, I always used a bucket to collect water and sit in a comfy place and pump from bucket to nalgenes. (still have and use all my bpa nalgenes!) The platypus is similar but I don't pump. Carry water in bucket to camp, let it settle, fill platypus dirty water bag, sit in comfy seat and watch clean bag fill.

Not looking for speed, looking for lazy... I am camping to take it easy after all...

Probably fill bucket, roll to camp via folding hand truck, let settle, and transfer from bucket through filter into AquaTainer...

The big issue is between the wife and I, with comfy showers, and dish washing, we can EASILY go through 14 gallons a day. That would be basically a half hour of hand pumping I would rather not do when with a little prep work I should in theory be able to at least replace the hand pumping with turning on a 12v pump and letting it do its thing...

I am wondering if there is any way to bypass the first need hand pump. Need to take a closer look at the cartridge...

 

[mountainminded]

I literally have a bin full of hand pump H20 filters for backcountry travel but after acquiring a Katadyn gravity water filter I have never gone back to using them. Like QueticoBill I just fill the drybag type sack, hang it from something higher than the ground and watch as gravity does the hard work for me. The 10-L size is amply large for camp and I’ve used mine from the North slope of Alaska to the far south of Chile without issue. Again, this is not the answer to your question but is a simple solution for about $100. The filters do clog over time but you would only be filtering the water that needs it— for oral consumption.

 

[QueticoBill]

I don't filter wash water or cooking water that will be boiled. 14 gallons is a lot to filter.

Are you trying to pump from lake or river directly? Or bucket brigade to trailer and not lift? a dirty water pump to resivoir high on trailer and then let gravity work. I could see multiple filters for 14 gallons. They still need back flushing or will get very slow.

Have you looked at ultra Violet systems?

 

[dbhost]

I don't filter wash water or cooking water that will be boiled. 14 gallons is a lot to filter.

Are you trying to pump from lake or river directly? Or bucket brigade to trailer and not lift? a dirty water pump to resivoir high on trailer and then let gravity work. I could see multiple filters for 14 gallons. They still need back flushing or will get very slow.

Have you looked at ultra Violet systems?

Safety limiters on the on demand water heaters don't have them boil the water, so not a great option.

I will most likely bucket brigade but use a folding hand truck to assist with hauling tasks, using 5 gallon bucket for the job.

Yes 14 gallons is a lot. Totally agree. And there are options.

Start early in the day, grab 2 -3 buckets of water from creek, river, lake, stock tank, etc... Add some sort of water sanitizer, iodine, or ?? Let settle, THEN filter into the Aquatainers. I could use Chlorine but at what ratio to kill whatever is in the water that won't kill me?

I honestly just don't see the point in showering and washing dishes in pond water. It's the pond water I am trying to shower off after all...

 

[QueticoBill]

It would depend a lot where you were. Most of my experience is in Boundary Waters where it's a question to filter or just dip and drink. Where there are many other people and you can't see the bottom at 20', I might feel more like you do.

I think a pre-filter might help you in murky waters. Or alum. I heard a renowned camper authority author talk about using alum in the Grand Canyon, very murky water. I don't recall the process but something about the particles clumping and settling faster. Might be worth a Google.

 

[dbhost]

It would depend a lot where you were. Most of my experience is in Boundary Waters where it's a question to filter or just dip and drink. Where there are many other people and you can't see the bottom at 20', I might feel more like you do.

I think a pre-filter might help you in murky waters. Or alum. I heard a renowned camper authority author talk about using alum in the Grand Canyon, very murky water. I don't recall the process but something about the particles clumping and settling faster. Might be worth a Google.

I can't clarify this enough, I live in Texas, and primarily camp in the south / central US, and occasionally in Mexico. We do travel to the PNW but with things like Algae blooms etc... I have serious concerns for water quality...

My primary issue is camping in the national forests in east Texas. Slow moving streams that meander through cattle country.

If I could talk my wife into using a LOT less water, this would NOT be an issue. I am trying to accomodate someone who relishes long hot showers at the end of the day.... The waters from these streams have a visibility of about 1'... Heavily sediment laden, although sediment filters are easily added, heaven only knows what the cattle are leaving in the water upstream...

Honestly, if I could get her to take a quick shower, and learn to on / off the shower head while lathering up etc... and get that shower down to 2 to 3 gallons, then the AquaTainers carried in from home are WAY more than enough for a 4 day weekend trip. Longer than that, we can aways run into town with a water bandit to sources with a reasonable expectation of safe potability....

 

[Socal Tom]

I went with this.
https://www.amazon.com/LifeStraw-Advanc ... 9817&psc=1

Haven't ever needed to use it, but I would just gravity feed into my tank and refill as needed. Might get a bigger bag.

 

[QueticoBill]

I didn't know where you camped until last post, guess I don't look at screen names. As long as you back flush frequently this should be fine. Letting it settle and maybe try the alum routine.

I use a solar shower. We get 2 from a 2 gallon bag.

 

[Socal Tom]

It would depend a lot where you were. Most of my experience is in Boundary Waters where it's a question to filter or just dip and drink. Where there are many other people and you can't see the bottom at 20', I might feel more like you do.

I think a pre-filter might help you in murky waters. Or alum. I heard a renowned camper authority author talk about using alum in the Grand Canyon, very murky water. I don't recall the process but something about the particles clumping and settling faster. Might be worth a Google.

I can't clarify this enough, I live in Texas, and primarily camp in the south / central US, and occasionally in Mexico. We do travel to the PNW but with things like Algae blooms etc... I have serious concerns for water quality...

My primary issue is camping in the national forests in east Texas. Slow moving streams that meander through cattle country.

If I could talk my wife into using a LOT less water, this would NOT be an issue. I am trying to accomodate someone who relishes long hot showers at the end of the day.... The waters from these streams have a visibility of about 1'... Heavily sediment laden, although sediment filters are easily added, heaven only knows what the cattle are leaving in the water upstream...

Honestly, if I could get her to take a quick shower, and learn to on / off the shower head while lathering up etc... and get that shower down to 2 to 3 gallons, then the AquaTainers carried in from home are WAY more than enough for a 4 day weekend trip. Longer than that, we can aways run into town with a water bandit to sources with a reasonable expectation of safe potability....

ahh, ok. I see the issue now. I'd say, make sure she is using a low flow shower head for starters. The lowest ones I see are still about 1.5 gpm. Is there a chance you could rig a recirculation system. For example, if she does the wash/rinse and sends that to waste, then if she just wants to stand in the shower after that recirculate the water ?

 

[dbhost]

It would depend a lot where you were. Most of my experience is in Boundary Waters where it's a question to filter or just dip and drink. Where there are many other people and you can't see the bottom at 20', I might feel more like you do.

I think a pre-filter might help you in murky waters. Or alum. I heard a renowned camper authority author talk about using alum in the Grand Canyon, very murky water. I don't recall the process but something about the particles clumping and settling faster. Might be worth a Google.

I can't clarify this enough, I live in Texas, and primarily camp in the south / central US, and occasionally in Mexico. We do travel to the PNW but with things like Algae blooms etc... I have serious concerns for water quality...

My primary issue is camping in the national forests in east Texas. Slow moving streams that meander through cattle country.

If I could talk my wife into using a LOT less water, this would NOT be an issue. I am trying to accomodate someone who relishes long hot showers at the end of the day.... The waters from these streams have a visibility of about 1'... Heavily sediment laden, although sediment filters are easily added, heaven only knows what the cattle are leaving in the water upstream...

Honestly, if I could get her to take a quick shower, and learn to on / off the shower head while lathering up etc... and get that shower down to 2 to 3 gallons, then the AquaTainers carried in from home are WAY more than enough for a 4 day weekend trip. Longer than that, we can aways run into town with a water bandit to sources with a reasonable expectation of safe potability....

ahh, ok. I see the issue now. I'd say, make sure she is using a low flow shower head for starters. The lowest ones I see are still about 1.5 gpm. Is there a chance you could rig a recirculation system. For example, if she does the wash/rinse and sends that to waste, then if she just wants to stand in the shower after that recirculate the water ?

I have a folding doggie pool I use in the shower tent as a gray water capture, I guess we couls use that as the water source.

The water heater is a Camplux 5L so 1.32gpm max rate, the pump is 1.2gpm max rate. The shower head is the one that came with the Camplux with an on / off button. I'm not sure recirculating shower water back through the heater is a great idea though... I would again... need to filter soap and dirty off, but not impossible. Pretty sure the 20 micron filter may do the job...

 

[QueticoBill]

http://www.aboutrving.com/rv-topics/boo ... on-shower/

 

[dbhost]

http://www.aboutrving.com/rv-topics/boondocking/take-a-one-gallon-shower/

While I totally agree that minimizing water use is best. I am not the sole factor here. Were it just me I could get by every third day just doing washcloth baths in between... However it must be said that there is nothing like a nice long hot shower after a long day of hiking, cooking, prepping firewood etc..

It will be MUCH simpler at a campground with tap / potable water, However campground potable water can be questionable sometimes.

Given the inputs here so far, and what I know of from hiking filtration in my younger days...

Plan moving forward for off grid...

Collect water from source in 5 gallon buckets already in my onboard gear. I pack a lot of things in buckets to easy load in / out anyway. Let sit and have silt settle out. Set pump pickup on a rig similar to a fishing leader insuring it stays at least 1" off the bottom so we aren't sucking up silt, and pump from separation bucket to a second bucket. Add bleach drops, mix, wait. Pump from there through 20 micron filter, into heater and out spray head(s).

Might be worth maybe adding a thread bung to the separator bucket with a tap / hose bib, and just gravity change from separator / dirty bucket to collection / semi clean / sanitizer bucket.

If my thought process is right, then that would permit me to have acceptably clean bathing / dish water, and I can reserve the water from the Aquatainers for cooking and tooth brushing...

 

[Shadow Catcher]

All of the water gong into our tear (16 gallons) is filtered with a Dalton ceramic and .05 micron carbon block. This is for camp ground water. most from municipal systems. I do have a General Ecology (First Need) filter they intended for small campers.
This is an example of, the Dalton as white before filling (it can be scrubbed), I am betting it was either tannin or silt in the system. In fourteen years we have not had a problem.

 

[dbhost]

All of the water gong into our tear (16 gallons) is filtered with a Dalton ceramic and .05 micron carbon block. This is for camp ground water. most from municipal systems. I do have a General Ecology (First Need) filter they intended for small campers.
This is an example of, the Dalton as white before filling (it can be scrubbed), I am betting it was either tannin or silt in the system. In fourteen years we have not had a problem.

General Ecology has a first need intended for small campers? Do you have a link, that might be perfect for what I am looking for...