My water filtration kit for good times and the very bad

Access to water always causes anxiety with a net from a network in my van – not when I am at home in Amsterdam, a city surrounded by things. This confidence has recently changed when the state ministers began to calmly push citizens to reserves in emergency situations from an increased risk of armed conflict and other regional improperities.

One recommendation of many is to have three liters (almost one gallon) of water per person per day or 15 liters per day for my household of five people. This means 105 liters in just one week or 450 liters Every month! I have no place for this. Who does it?

So, I began to think: why not increase my emergency freshwater stores using a set of filtering and cleaning, which can adapt to all water sources around me? And since I am a beginner vanlifer and a chronic adventurer, let’s make him portable so that I can take him anywhere.

I came up with this as the first advantage: a combination of filters with a quick connection, such as Lifestraft for $ 42, sold by Camelbak with a portable 11-liter jug ​​of GO ($ 69.99) and its water-water-water-watercover GO ($ 99.99. USA). Dirty water enters, and pure water comes out with double pressing on the mixer. He even has light!

If Europe really returns to the state of bustle, then I will pull the clean water-Mizinza-extensively-from this luxurious installation of the 21st century, at least until the electricity is disconnected. Even then, I did unforeseen circumstances, including protection from the changing genes of viruses found in zombies. You can never be too careful.

Let me be clear: this is not a review, despite the fact that he checked everything in the kit. This is the best assumption of newcomers who will support my nomadic adventures Vanlife, while maintaining my family hydrauli when a day of day comes. Offers are welcome.

Filter against purification

My main Lifestraw cartridge, because it has an integrated fast connection adapter, which is easily fixed to the Go CPC-mousse. It has two stages of filtering. The filter with hollow fiber physically removes bacteria and protozoa, which cause diseases, as well as dirt and microplastics, as well as the service life of 4000 liters (1000 gallons). Meanwhile, an activated carbon filter removes things such as odd tastes and smells. It has a service life of only 100 liters (25 gallons), and two packs of replacement can be obtained for $ 13 for popularity.

Using the GO tale for pumping water from the GO jug through the built -in Lifestraw filter reached 0.5 liters in 40 seconds or 36 seconds without a filter between them. I also have a small MSR filter that needs a tiny piece of 1/4 inch and an adapter of a quick connection to crash into a jug. He filtered 0.5 liters in 38 seconds.

The filtering is good for removing biological pathogens, usually found in the waters of North America and Europe, but I also want to protect against small bacteria and viruses carried by water found in places without well -groomed sewer systems. In Vanlife, you never know when dirty hippies throws a deuce upstream.

I spent and spent $ 200 on the Guardian MSR water cleaner with a size of pores of only 0.02 micron compared to about 0.1 to 0.2 microns for filters sold by Lifestraft, Sawyer, MSR and others. For the prospect, the bacteria of anthrax measure about 8 microns; Giardia, E. Kolyaand Salmonella exist in the range from 0.5 to 2 microns; And the viruses are distributed by human excrement, as a rule, measured from 0.01 to 0.3 microns, according to MSR. Therefore, the Guardian cleaner is my solution when I need to become nuclear at a suspicious source of water.

$ 200 is expensive, but the Guardian cartridge is designed for more than 3,000 liters (almost 800 gallons) of water before replacing it. Using the MSR cleaner creates much less waste than 3,000 liters of bottled water, which will also cost me about $ 1250 in my local grocery store – and this is before prices flare up during the crisis.

The MSR Guardian cleaner requires a quick connection adapter to crash into a GO jug. Unfortunately, the GO rechargeable crane does not produce enough absorption to stretch water through the guardian cartridge. But this is normal; It can slowly purify the water if I remove the GO crane, the GO jug is turned upside down and install it on your wagon to act as an energy system.

Even better, I complemented my settings using Autoflow Xl Gravity Filter 10L MSR. The idea is to hang the bag high in the tree and wait until all the dirty water goes into the jug with down through the cartridge for cleaning and / or filtering – pumping is not required. Thus, the GO jug can be 100 percent dedicated to clean drinking water.

The MSR gravitational package for $ 129.95 includes everything necessary for filtering a lot of water for several people: a 10-liter bag of water with a built-in fast connection, long parts of the tube and a nolgen cover, which is connected to the tubes and screws on GO Curug. It also comes with a small MSR filter with a 1500-liter service life, but the gravity system works with many built-in cartridges, including my LifeStRaW filter and Guardian MSR cleaner.

MSR says that its Guardian cleaner has a maximum flow rate of 0.5 liters per minute, which is accurate in my tests at sea level, when the gravity package is suspended at an altitude of about six feet (183 cm) or higher. The MSR filter, which was supplied with a bag, took only 35 seconds to filter 0.5 liters of dirty water, while the Lifestraft filter took one minute, like a cleaner. I am absolutely sure that I can speed up this with an adapter with a 90 -degree with a quick connection, which allows LifeStRaW to hang vertically.

I like these built -in filtration / cleaning cartridges because they are so flexible. For example, if I need to travel, Lifestraw and MSR filters can be used to extract water directly from the stream, Jerry may be a trunk, a puddle … Anything – I just hang from a water pipe on the back side and start sucking.

The integrated link to the fast connection of the LifeSTRAW also presses right in my Camelbak Chase backpack, which has a 1.5-liter water bladder for my personal use. This is a bag for hydration, which I grabbed over the past few years, when to ride on mountain bicycles, running along the path or hiking. Lifestraw adds an additional mass and weight to light and miniature packaging and requires about 20 percent more absorption. The water bladder can also be hung on a tree to serve as an impromptu gravitational filter.

I checked the jug of Dometic Go and Go Go, traveling around Europe in my van last summer, but I never found it so useful. Only after adding the built -in filter – something, that Dometic is not sold, but I must – I finally see their combined value.

One of the problems I encountered with Dometic’s Go was a plastic taste that it produced when the water was stored longer than a day. This is despite the fact that the vessel is made of food class plastic without BPA. I probably could solve this if I correctly cleaned it with a solution of bleaching without smell, but I had no. It has two holes: one is compatible with Nalgen, and the other a larger hole allows you to easily fill and achieve inside. Nevertheless, to try it now with the attached filter, I corrected the problem.

I also hacked the Go crane to expand the hose with about 1/4 inch found in my local store. Thus, I can safely remove the jug at the back of my van (distance of about two meters), while the crane is installed on its magnetic base next to the sink.

This gives me a choice between two taps of running water: one for filtered drinking water, the other for unsfilters, which I find along this path that is suitable for drinking my sink. The last I boil – killing all pathogens – for tea and coffee and use for washing or moisturizing the dog. This installation should help me extend the life of filters and a cleaner.

Dometic Go mixer is a luxury, but I like it. Double pressing the crane launches water flowing for one minute before automatically turned off to maintain this precious resource (one Krav disconnects it). The Go crane has an internal battery capable of making 150 liters (almost 40 gallons) for a charge.

I am absolutely sure that my kit for filtering and cleaning water serves me and my family well, but I am worried that I missed something. For example, this kit cannot process water contaminated with chemicals or toxins, and it requires regular care to avoid cross -pollution and stop the growth of mold and bacteria inside the system, when they are not used. But what famous unknown I do not know at present?

I will not be able to fix this using Amazon delivery if the shit leaves, and the supply chains will be violated – so any tips from the large brain … Braaaaaains… from Grave The reader of Collective is welcome.

Photo of Thomas Riker / The Verge