Water purification

[surreyprepper]

Hi all, I was wondering if the lifesaver brand is still in business, I was just about to buy the lifesaver jerrycan when it came out they didn't do what they said on the tin. Have they made new ones with better filters or gone under? If they've gone under is there any other similar products? I have an msr pump and an aquamira straw but I'd like something with a bit more capacity. Thanks surrey prepper

[Deeps]

While I'm no expert and have been swayed by what I've read on here and then watched on Youtube I like the Sawyer's, its not quite the same as a Jerrycan, I suppose it will come down to what you're requirements are but if you're staying put you can rig a Sawyer to store water too. What swung it for me was the gazillions capacity.

[ur]lhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Sawyer-Products-Water- ... B0185QNVE2[/url]

Shop around, I think I got one for less than 20 quid.

[Jamesey1981]

You could rig up a tank and use either the sawyer mini or squeeze inline with a gravity feed, the mini can go into thin hoses like you get on hydration bladders and I'm pretty sure the squeeze has attachments to put it directly on a tap, it has a much higher flow rate than the mini so would be your best bet if you can figure out a good way to attach it.

Most of these little filters don't take out viruses though, the lifesaver claimed to but they won't tell you what the pore size is in their filters which makes me pretty suspicious.
The virus issue isn't that bad if you're out backpacking in the UK but if there was an emergency situation where there's the slightest chance that your water has been contaminated with human waste (water companies are allowed to discharge raw sewage directly into the Thames if the rain has been heavy enough, made David Walliams pretty ill when he swam the length of it for example) and as things like meningitis and hepatitis can be spread by waterborne viruses then I would say that it still needs boiling or chemical treatment as well before I would consider drinking it, in which case you could just run it through a millbank bag to take out the grot if you're going to treat it anyway.

There may well be an equivalent to the lifesaver that does take out viruses available, I personally don't know of it though, so someone else might be able to help there, I'm pretty sure lifesaver got bought out and I think they're still going so you should be safe with their products, but I haven't looked into it that much so that's something you would need to look into to decide if you trust them.

[Brambles]

Yorkshire Andy did a review of the Sawyer and built a bulk system.

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=11357&p=124814&hil ... ni#p124814

Edit to add, I have no experience witht Lifesaver products, I think Hobo may have some.
My own water treatment plans are a homemade charcoal pre filter then a Sawyer mini. If things are bad enough that I have to scavenge water, I have a Millbank bag and some water treatment tablets. If all else fails, I also have a big pot

[surreyprepper]

Nice one guys really good info. I've looked at the Sawyer before and thought they would be a good addition to my preps anyway so I think that would be my best bet by rigging it to a larger water container as a gravity flow system. Cheers

[surreyprepper]

Just looked at Yorkshire Andy's tutorial on how to rig up the Sawyer as a gravity fed filter, I'm now going to buy a couple of Sawyer's it's made up my mind! Thanks guys

[PreparedKent]

Also always assume water in UK has had rats pissing in or around it.... A few water users round my way have come down with weils disease, it can kill.

I'm not 100% if chlorine or boiling killl it either.

I would boil or treat THEN filter, hopefully that will do it .

[ForgeCorvus]

Also always assume water in UK has had rats pissing in or around it.... A few water users round my way have come down with weils disease, it can kill.

I'm not 100% if chlorine or boiling killl it either.

I would boil or treat THEN filter, hopefully that will do it .

I know a guy who works in Water....I'll ask him

[Jamesey1981]

Also always assume water in UK has had rats pissing in or around it.... A few water users round my way have come down with weils disease, it can kill.

I'm not 100% if chlorine or boiling killl it either.

I would boil or treat THEN filter, hopefully that will do it .

Boiling will kill Leptospirosis, no need to worry there, it's a bacterium larger than .1 micron too so the sawyer will get rid of it if used properly.

Always filter first if you're going to boil or chemically treat your water as well as filter, it removes any turbidity which can mean that you need a longer boil or longer contact time with your chemicals in order to get rid of everything, that introduces a variable into the process and means you could drink the water too soon, whereas if you're always treating water that's been filtered down to a certain level then you know where you stand and how long to give it to be safe.

[PreparedKent]

Thanks for the tip James but my filter requires me to suck through the straw hence the need for pre treating or boiling