Water Filtration Below Freezing

[HellsCanyon]

Down to 20* or so a filter or pump can be pumped "mostly" dry and as long as it's kept near the inside of your pack it won't freeze....

When temps drop into the teens or single digits or lower than a steripen or tabs are where it's at. I've lost 2 sawyer filters to freezing, and before they froze the last one never did filter right, even with multiple backflow procedures done. The first one I had was a champ for multiple seasons and summer scouting trips.

Anymore I use a pump, or a steripen.

Mike

 

[treillw]

I never have. I know a lot of guys go that route though

Think the drops are faster? You said around an hour for the tabs.

I thought the drops might be easier in a camelback - don't need to screw around with making sure they are dissolved.

Do the tabs dissolve pretty quick? Instructions say to shake for 10 or 15 minutes.

 

[mtwarden]

Think the drops are faster? You said around an hour for the tabs.

I thought the drops might be easier in a camelback - don't need to screw around with making sure they are dissolved.

Do the tabs dissolve pretty quick? Instructions say to shake for 10 or 15 minutes.

tabs dissolve quickly, but they recommend an hour-ish wait; the wait isn't a biggie for me as I use two bottles and one is always ready to go

 

[Dos Perros]

How can you tell a filter has frozen? I’d guess performance would be the same as far as one could perceive.

I have a Steripen, never used it, but have a little experience in UV water treatment. From what I understand it’s pretty important to get a decent filter process, can’t just be dunking that think into muck thinking it will do the job. Need to filter out particles that could house and protect bugs from the UV light.

 

[NevadaZielmeister]

This ^^^

The things are pretty small. And you don't have to keep them on a pocket with body contact, just close to your body or insulated in your tent. I'm thinking between your sleeping bag and pad would keep them from freezing all day long except in the harshest environments. I don't do that type of hunting, but for that environment it seems you'd have your hands full keeping your water bags from freezing, much less a filter. So melting snow might be the alternative, and generally no filter required for that unless you are paranoid or surrounded by dirty snow. If you don't have snow or ice to melt, you have a bigger problem and go back to the issue of keeping your water bags/bottles thawed.

Yeh, I glad someone nailed it. When there is snow everywhere, you don't need to filter it. It is as clean as an be. I think the problem lies in the period in the mornings where it has been below freezing. The solution is simple, just blow the filter out or swing it around at the end of your arm, centrifugal force will act as gravity and rid the filter of most of the water.

 

[hikenhunt]

tabs dissolve quickly, but they recommend an hour-ish wait; the wait isn't a biggie for me as I use two bottles and one is always ready to go

The tabs and drops are both chlorine dioxide. Either requires a 4 hour wait to fully treat for Crypto

 

[treillw]

The tabs and drops are both chlorine dioxide. Either requires a 4 hour wait to fully treat for Crypto

That's not what the directions state for a wait time, for what it's worth.

What type of water is crypto found in typically? Streams with cows feeding?

 

[LongWayAround]

The wait time on the package of my tablets is approximately four hours. My understanding is that the liquid iodine drops do not kill cryptosporidium.

 

[mtwarden]

the Micropur show a wait time of 4 hours for cysts (crypto, giardia) in dirty water- guessing very turbid water, 30 minutes for clear water

the water I'm sourcing is almost always clear, waiting 1 hour should easily satisfy their requirements

 

[bridgermgmt]

Just a question, but for those who are not using a pump, how are you filtering water without getting cross contaminated? Or for that matter, how are you avoiding any form of cross contamination?

G/Crypto are both spread more commonly from your hands and dirt/surfaces rather than drinking bad water. And when your choosing water spots, if your only able to use terrible water, than it’s safe to assume you are touching that at some point. So are you then washing your hands with your filtered water?

If your not choosing bad water spots or have access to decent streams than another question is for those steripen / tablet people, how are you avoiding parasite eggs? And as mentioned above, matter that protects from the uv light.... and cross contamination?

 

[Htm84]

Any reason the Steripen is better than tabs?

A lot of the tabs leave a funky taste. To me anyway. I always keep a few in my first aid kit just as a back up

 

[Mike7]

Although theoretically you could get a little sick from a single cryptosporidium, I have never seen someone sick from documented cross contamination. Now something like norovirus is another story...that stuff is fastidious and really contagious.

I usually see symptomatic crypto in small kids with less developed immune systems, who are literally drinking river and lake water while playing in it right where geese crap.

Also, the Sawyers have a cap that covers the clean water end, and you can rubber band a plastic bag over the dirty water wnd.

 

[Low_Sky]

How can you tell a filter has frozen? I’d guess performance would be the same as far as one could perceive.

I have a Steripen, never used it, but have a little experience in UV water treatment. From what I understand it’s pretty important to get a decent filter process, can’t just be dunking that think into muck thinking it will do the job. Need to filter out particles that could house and protect bugs from the UV light.

The gravityworks filter I have killed by freezing burst.


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