My water filtration kit for good time and very bad

Access to water is always a matter of concern when the grid is closed in my van – not when I am in the house in Amsterdam, which is a city surrounded by luggage. This certainty has changed recently when the government started starting Silent citizens Stocking on emergency supply due to increasing risk of armed conflict and other regional untowardness.

a recommendation, Lot's ofThree liters per day on hand (about one gallon) per capita, or 15 liters per day for my five-person house. This means 105 liters for just one week or 450 liters Each monthYou do not have a place for him. who does?

Therefore, I started thinking: Why not increase your emergency freshwater shops with a filtration and purification kit that can suit all the water sources around me? And since I am a budding vanalifer and chronic adventurer, let's make it portable so that I can take it anywhere.

I first came with it as a preper: like added as quick-connect water filters $ 42 lifestraw sold by Camelbak Domatic portable with 11-liter Water quarrel ($ 69.99) and its rechargeable Go to the hydration water tap ($ 99.99). Dirty water goes in and clean water comes with a double-tap on the tap. Even there is a light!

If Europe is actually returning to a state of turmoil, I extended clean water-pink-from this magnificent 21st century setup, at least until the power is off, I extended clean water-pink will be. Nevertheless, I have created contingencies, including protecting from the gene-transit virus found in the zombie poop. You can never be too careful.

Let me be clear: Despite doing everything in the kit, this is not a review. It is the best estimate of a novice survival that will support my nomadic Vanalife Adventures, keeping my family hydrated when Dumsde arrives. The suggestion is welcome.

Filtration vs purification

My primary filter is a lifestraw cartridge because it has an integrated quick-connect adapter that easily snaps in the CPC coupler of Go Jug. It has two stages of filtration. The hollow fiber filter physically removes bacteria and protozoa that causes diseases, as well as a lifetime of dirt and microplastics, and 4,000 liters (1,000 gallons). Meanwhile, the active carbon filter removes things such as strange taste and odor. It has a lifetime of only 100 liters (25 gallons), and $ 13 may have two-pack replacement for a pop.

The in-line reached 0.5 liters in 40 seconds, or 36 seconds without a filter in the middle using Go tap to pump water from Go Jug via Lifestr filter. I also have a small MSR filter, which requires a bit of 1/4-inch tubing and a quick-connect adapter to snap in Go Gua. It filtered 0.5 liters in 38 seconds.

The filtration is usually fine to remove biological pathogens found in water from North America and Europe, but I also want protection against small bacteria and waterborne viruses found in places without well -made sewage systems. In Vanlife, you never know when a dirty hippie is leaving a duce upstream.

I spent $ 200 on one and spent MSR guardian water purifier For filters sold by Lifestraw, Sawyer, MSR, and others, compared to about 0.1 to 0.2 μm, only 0.02 μm with holes size. For perspective, the anthrax bacteria measures about 8 μm; Giardia, e coliAnd Salmonella exists in 0.5- to 2-Micron range; And the viruses spread by human feces usually measure between 0.01 to 0.3 microns, According to MSRThe Guardian Purifier is so my Go-Two solution is when I need to go to a atom to a suspicious water source.

$ 200 is expensive, but the Guardian cartridge is rated for 3,000 liters (about 800 gallons) water before the need for replacement. Using MSR purifier makes 3,000 liters of bottled waste less waste than water, which will cost me about $ 1,250 at my local grocery store – and it is prior to prices during a crisis.

The MSR Guardian purifier requires a quick-connect adapter to snap in Go Jug. Unfortunately, the rechargeable go tap does not produce adequate suction to draw water through the guardian cartridge. But that's fine; This can gradually purify the water. If I remove the cow tap, I reverse the Go Jug, and set it to act as a gravitational system on my van.

Better yet, I have increased my setup MSR's autoflow xl gravity filter 10lThe idea is to hang the bag in a tree high and to wait for all dirty water so that the goal can flow through the cartridge for purification and / or filtration – no pumping is necessary. In this way, Go Gua can be 100 percent dedicated to clean drinking water.

Many people in MSR's $ 129.95 gravitational bundle require to filter a lot of water: 10-liter water bags with an integrated quick-connect coupler, long parts of tubing, and a tuberculin-composed cap that tubing And Go Jug connects with screws. It also comes with a small MSR filter with a 1,500-liter lifetime, but the gravity system works with several inline cartridges, including my lifestyle and MSR Guardian Purifier.

MSR states that the maximum flow rate of its guardian purifier is 0.5 liters per minute, which is accurate in my test at sea level, when the gravitational bag is hanged about six feet (183 cm) or more. It took just 35 seconds to filter the MSR filter coming with the bag to filter 0.5 liters of dirty water, while the lifestraw filter took a minute, just like. I am sure that I can move with a 90-degree quick-connect adapter that hangs the lifestraw vertically.

I like these inline filtration / purification cartridges because they are very flexible. For example, if I want to travel to light, the lifestyle and MSR filters can be used to drain water directly from a stream, Jerry Can, Barrel, Pokhar … whatever it is – Backside water in the source bus source Started hanging and sucking the tube.

Lifestraw's integrated quick-connect link also clicks right Camelbuck Chase Backpack, which holds a 1.5-liter water bladder for my personal use. This is a hydration bag I have been holding for the last few years when mountain biking, trail running, or hiking. Lifestraw adds excess bulk and weight to light and low packs and about 20 percent more suction is required to drink. The water bladder can also be hung from a tree to act as a gravitational gravity filter.

I tested Domatic Go Jug and Go Tal while traveling in Europe in my van last summer, but I never found it useful. This is only after adding an inline filter – some do not sell dometrics, but should be – that I can finally see their joint value.

An issue with Domatic's Go Jug was that when the water was stored for more than a day, it was the taste of plastic. This is despite being done with BPA-free food-grade plastic. I could probably solve that I had cleaned it properly with an unsated bleach solution, but I had no one. It has two openings: one is nullgin-compatible, while the other makes it easy to open and make it easy to get inside to clean. Nevertheless, now trying it with the attached filter has solved the problem.

I also hacked the cow tap to increase the hose with some 1/4-inch food-grade tubing found in my local hardware store. In this way I can safely drop Go Gua down in the back of my van (a distance of about two meters), while the tap is mounted on its magnetic base next to the sink.

It gives me an option between two taps of flowing water: one for filtered drinking water, the other for unformed water which I think is suspicious that is suspicious (according to signage or locals) and I can keep my sink down in 20-liter Jerry. The latter I boil – killing all pathogens – for tea and coffee and using to wash or hydrate the dog. With this setup, I should help increase the life of filters and purifiers.

Domatic Go tap is a luxury, but I love it. A double-tap on the tap starts flowing water for one minute before automatically closing to preserve that precious resource (a single tap turns off it). Go tap has an internal battery that is capable of 150 liters (about 40 gallons) per charge.

I am confident that my water filtration and purification kit will serve me and my family well, but I worry that I have missed something. For example, it cannot handle polluted water polluted by kit chemicals or toxins, and to avoid cross-pollution and not in use when it is not used, requires regular care to prevent mold and bacteria from growing inside the system Is. But what are the known unknowns I do not know in the present?

I will not be able to fix it with Amazon delivery if the dirt goes down and the supply chain is interrupted – then any suggestions from the big mind … Brayas… Of Ruckus The reader is welcome to the collector.

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge