Ex Archive: IN-FIELD quick&easy WATER FILTRATION

[Carrot Cruncher]

IN-FIELD quick&easy WATER FILTRATION
by TACTICAL CUTLERY EDC » Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:03 pm

OK so i thought i would be the first to post in this section although im positive there are others who know a dam sight more than me on the shop bought/hi-tech water filters, i know a wee bit about those but as far as the in house filters you can get im not very clued up at all, i know a wee bit on Water Ionizer's and how they work and there uses but my brief knowledge is more on in-line camping style of filters but im going to explain a quick,easy and very effective method of cleaning stream/pond water out in the field that will kill around 95% of none chemical nasties [more like 99% but i said 95% for the fussy ones out there ,,,

Ok so for this method you could use your compression sack from your sleeping bag or a millbank or a 2/3ltr bottle or some thing to that effect, even a old jumper or long sleeved T'shirt..
I will list the things you need,,
1, a chamber [bottle/nylon bag/a jacket sleeve with a knot tied in the cuff,millbank, ect]
2, A fire to get your charcoal from or if you can get charcoal from another ''trust worthy'' source
3, medium sized stones/silt
4, teeny tiny gravel/stones, from a river bed/bank otherwise know as silt.
5, cloth/cotton bandanna or a peace of your shirt [if your using a millbank then this is not needed]
5, a length of para cord/utility cord
6 a tree or a tripod made from 3 sticks around 3-6 feet in length and about 1-3 inches in diameter to hang it all from after its made
7, A cup or vessel to catch your water in

OK so here is the method of putting this together..
for arguments sake im going to put this together in a millbank,
OK so place in the bottom corner of your millbank around 3 inches of silt
next take your charcoals from your fire and crush up 2 handful's and keep around 2/3 handfuls of 3inch sized chunks of coals,
place the chunks on top of the silt then place the crushed coal over the chunks,
your charcoal layer needs to be around 4inches deep, or if you wanted you could make more layers but its not necessary.
Next add another 2inch of tiny silt and on top of that place your larger sized silt as the last layer.
Now you need to suspend the whole thing from a tree branch or make a simple tripod and hang it from that, once that is done your ready to wash it through before you use it..
when the water is running clear place a cup under it to catch your clean water
One thing you can do is place a marble sized pebble in the very bottom corner to help the water drip out of the very corner were its superposed to, right before you can use your filter you want to run a good couple of litres of water through it until it runs clear.

If using the above method with a bottle then you need to cut the bottom off and make 3/4 small holes at the bottom to hang it from and place the cloth/cotton shirt/bandanna at the very bottom as your first layer.
Leave the cap on whilst assembling the filter and then remove before use..

Right this filtration method is not a permanent way to filter your water its a quick and temporary way of filtering your water, when i personally use this method i only filter about 2-3 litres of water through it, i have never had any problems what so ever nor have any friends ,family or my dog using this method and ive cleaned up some pretty bad water with it, but you must be smart and not lazy, the key factor if you wanted to use your quick filter over a few days would be to keep replacing your charcoal and boiling the bandanna or millbank, but as it takes around 20minutes to make this from scratch you have no excuse to not just make a new one, but its very important to boil any materials that are going to be reused for this purpose.
Its very sensible to use the above in conjunction with boiling your water, its not necessary but if the water source is really dirty/bitty then its a good idea to filter and boil, also using this method makes water taste a dam sight better than the council pop i get through my taps any way

if your not by any trees and need to use a tripod then you can make one with 3 sticks of the stated width and length,
hold your 3 sticks next to each other length ways and wrap you cord around all 3, tying the quite tightly together and then stand them up with each leg spread out to form a pyramid/triangle

I will not be held accountable for any illness any one who may get ill from this, as all im doing is offing advice and telling you what has and does work for me and again only use this quick filter on water you know does not contain chemicals.
But i will say that charcoal will infact filter/neutralise quite alot of chemicals, i own a few NBC suits [Nuclear, Biological, Chemical suits] and they use charcoal to protect the wearer against Nuclear, Biological, Chemical warfare but its better to be safe than sorry..

[Bladerunner]

Hi Carrot,

Where did you get your Millbank from.

I have requested one from wifey for my birthday. I can only find them on Fleabay and they tend to go for about £20.

If you know of anywhere else they are available from I would be eternally grateful (well next week maybe).

Be lucky

[Carrot Cruncher]

Hi BR

That wasnt one of my posts, any you see with ex achive in the title are ones that were copied over from the old site, but....

I get my Millbank bags from Endicotts in Exeter, less than a tenner for an unused one though they may have marks on them. Here's the link to Endi's and the millbank bags, give them a ring and check they have the stock, their customer service and their prices are suberb

http://www.endicotts.co.uk/product_info ... ts_id=1360

[Bladerunner]

To say you are a gent would be an understatement.

Thanks a million. Any advice on using it or looking after it?

Be lucky

[Carrot Cruncher]

They are pretty much as basic and low tech as you can get. Soak them in water so that the fibres swell, fill to the top with water, hang from a branch or tripod (i have a carabiner attached to mine to make it easier), let the water filter through until the level gets down to the black line, then stick your bottle etc underneath.

In fact, most if not all of what I just said will be printed on each bag so you cant really go wrong. Other than that all I can suggest is getting it as dry as possible before you pack it away

Just remember that they only filter the water, not purify it. You will still need to boil or treat with puritabs etc

[Bladerunner]

Wifey has just informed me that she has located one for my birthday.

She actually rang up the company that make them and they said they are no longer allowed to make them because the government have put some sort of stop on the material/coating. I think they work too well and they don't like that.

I can smell a conspiracy here somewhere.

Be lucky (and paranoid)