Water

[jameswhite]

Hi all as some will know i am obsessed with water and love to teach my students all about it. I have started to use these water filters / purifiers for both base camp and travel and can reccomend them. They tend to be mainly wholesale but i can either get some wholesale or make intro to company for you to do the same, very reasonable in price. http://www.cleanwaterkits.com

[mole hill]

I've been looking at getting some type of water purifier for us as a family, as we rely on a well for our water, its treated before it come into the house and if we were to get a power cut our treatment equipment will go down. Also been looking at Oasis water purification tablets, anyone use these, and a they any good?

[tigs]

i use them and they are great but i would also invest in something like the british berkefeld filter http://www.safariquip.co.uk/brands/british-berkefeld/

[jameswhite]

they are great only trouble is you have to import from the states and the import tax and vat makes them expensive! I am trying to get some in so will keep people posted. I am also hoping to get wholesale celox which is the quick clot emergency deep wound trauma care system, yes you could use superglue on some stuff but not on a severed femeral or radial artery!

[tigs]

the link above is a british site as for Oasis water purification tablets http://evaq8.co.uk/Water-Purification.html both are british manufactured

[TorNicho]

Got myself a hand cranked UV steriliser from steri-pen. yet to test it, but it's part of my kit.

Worst comes to worst, a filter can be made to remove most harmful matter using activated charcoal.
I think it would go:-

Mesh/Sieve
Coffee filter (if you want)
Sand
Ground activated Charcoal
Coffee filter (to retain the filter)

Obviously retained within a container.
Activated Charcoal is incredibly porous and would remove most particulates.
This would certainly be safer than drinking un-filtered water.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=97664

If you're making activated charcoal, in the end you're going to want to grind the result into a powder, so start with small pieces of wood. I know someone who swears by old pallets. They're easy to cut into small pieces and they char very well. (If you're planning on using the activated charcoal for filtering water, apparently coconut shells are the best. Where to find large numbers of coconut shells in, say, Minnesota, is YOUR problem.)

Put the wood into your cooker, seal it up, and light a fire underneath it. As it heats, you'll see steam/wood gas come out of the small hole. After the steam starts coming out, cook the wood for at least 4 hours -- you'll have to experiment to see how long it will take depending on the amount of wood, etc. After 4 or 5 hours, take the cooker off the heat and let it cool naturally. You'll want to make sure it's thoroughly cool before opening it because otherwise the char inside will burst into flame when the oxygen hits it.

After it's cooled and you've opened it up to expose the charcoal, test a few pieces to make sure they've charred all the way through. If not, you can still use that batch for burning but not for making into activated charcoal; and remember to cook it longer next time. If all you're looking for is charcoal to make black powder, or charcoal to burn in your forge, you're done. Otherwise, read on.

Here's where it gets tricky. Get some battery acid from your local auto supply store. Using a glass pan, plastic or rubber tongs, rubber gloves, goggles, and all the other safety equipment you can muster, pour the acid into the glass pan. Then carefully place each piece of charcoal into the acid and let it soak for four or five minutes. Remove each piece from the acid, let it drain a bit, then put it back into the cooker.

When all the pieces have been treated, seal the cooker back up, put it back on the heat, and cook the charcoal for another 4 hours or so. Let the cooker cool, open it up, grind up the pieces, and you've got activated charcoal.

If you're not into all that waiting and cooking, you can buy activated charcoal at a tropical fish supply store (make sure it's JUST the charcoal, and nothing else.) If you're planning on using the charcoal for water filtration, etc., though, you may find it more cost effective to burn your own.

[jameswhite]

good find tigs, never found one in uk i dont think they do full range though but may if asked?

[mole hill]

Thanks for the link tigs.

[rik_uk3]

I've several filters, my favorite for family / group is the Lifesaver Jerrycan and a Berkefeld at home for water from the stream out back.

The one in the OP looks dandy but I can't find a price, any ideas of UK prices including postage?