Anyone compared Pur and Brita water filters? Pur claims to be able to filter out some microbiological cysts but the filter costs about 50% more.

I plan to store tap water with clorox (8 drops to a gallon) and filter it before consumption.

Thanks in advance!

-- Serio (y2k@survival.com), August 20, 1999

Answers

After review..... we felt this was a much better choice.... 20,000 gallons of filtration from the charcoal/carbon filter. 5 years use on the ceramic. This DOES filter all the nasties out.

http://www.coolandunusual.com/y2k/cgi-bin/deliver.cgi?pureflow- y139twok-1

We filtered out of a mud puddle......... and it realy worked! ( we had a 3 stage... which has a pre-filter) like the seller did.... and it worked great.

Extreme.... but I can think of 1,000's of folks after a disaster wish they could do that.

-- JBM (wapiti@yahoo.com), August 20, 1999.

If your filter unit works on critters, dirt, off flavors, and other nasties, might it not be better to NOT chlorinate? I understand that, with the British Berkefield at least, chlorine shortens the life of the filters and must be "cooked" off periodically.

Just a thought, Gypsy

-- Gypsy (GypsiGold@aol.com), August 20, 1999.

Im an experienced backpacker and did quite a bit of research on filters. We live in an apartment in a country area along a river, so my water solution is to purify. I picked up an MSR Miniworks and Waterworks, with enough filters to carry 1600 gallons. My friends have many types of filters which has given me some insight into their operation. Below are my impressions of each and why I bought an MSR. Please note that the Brita is NOT designed to filter anything but tap water.

For years I used a First Need, later went to a Sweetwater (now out of business). The First Need is a great filter but is heavy (consideration only to backpackers). Im not sure if it has a charcoal filter but it claims to be able to filter our some chemicals. It is somewhat awkward to use and I spilled my fresh water container more than once in the process of filtering. I then went to a Sweetwater but this had the annoying habit of spraying water when pumped to fast. First Need filters are hard to find and of course the Sweetwater is no longer made.

My requirements were thus; to have a filter that can be put into a puddle of excrement and pull out clean water. I wanted a bottle top adaptor like my Sweetwater, and a charcoal filter that would take out iodine/bleach, since the water might be treated like this prior to filtering. I have a good amount of respect for this aspect of survival. Ten years ago I was in the hospital for a week with what was probably a parasitic infection from the Catskills. I treated the water with iodine AND a filter, and still got sick. More than likely, a drop or aerosol particle of contaminated water got on the threads of a bottle being filled.

A friend has a Katadyn. Ive tried both models and they are VERY hard to force water through, but very durable. The disadvantage is that the Katadyn will not take out viruses and has no charcoal filter, which will take out some chemicals. The Katadyn mini has two models, regular filter and charcoal filter. Cant have both. The filters treat an emormous amount of water in their lifetime. I didnt buy a Katadyn because the filters are imported, and they are difficult to pump (I consider this important, after using my friends for 4 days). To treat for viruses and iodine I would have to use iodine, THEN the filter, THEN another charcoal filter like a Brita. They are also pretty expensive and I wanted to buy a backup. In the event Y2K blows over, my spare is going to be donated to missionaries in the Soviet Union, and I didnt want to go nuts with the expense.

Two friends have Pur. Great for virus protection, however there is no way to tell when the iodine matrix has lost its effectiveness. The filters are also paper which I have read is subject to tearing while filtering in some tests. In cold backpacking climates this can happen more frequently. They pump very hard compared to an MSR. Finally, I want to remove all chemicals from the water to avoid liver damage.

I spent about 30 minutes on the phone talking to MSRs Waterworks designer. There are a number of attractive features for the Mini/ Waterworks. - Screwtop adaptor so dirty particles are sealed off from the filter process. - Clear filter body. - Filter replacement gauge built into the body. - Ease of pumping! - Inner core of charcoal under the ceramic filter, to remore chemicals. - Miniworks is used by the US military after tests. - Entire filter can be disassembled. - The designer told me that although the packaging states filter to .02 micron, most particles are caught at .01 and they are doing more tests to make that claim. - The relatively inexpensive filter and cartridges ($30) might be used for barter. - MSR says that all filters are produced at one small plant in the US, and with current (hopefully compliant) technology. -Overpressure relief valve to avoid injection of contaminated water.

The disadvantage of the MSR is the number of parts, which can be lost during repair. The filters also only get about 150 gallons per. They also obviously require an iodine pre-treat to kill viruses. Ive used the filter in human excrement-exposed water (found out after filtering that some yuppies were crapping and peeing into the stream at a campsite up from us) with no ill results. My friend used his Pur during this incident and also had no aftereffects.

MSR makes dromendary bags which screw on the filters. They are black and heat up water pretty well, as this is a consideration in New England.

-- Retroman (retro50@agapeis.net), August 20, 1999.

I will be storing lots of water with clorox in gallon and 2 L bottles. Will store lots more in moterhome. We always add clorox to the water tank. Have 2 kid's swimming pools to store more water in and will keep covered with black plastic. Will use water from pond, creek(1/2 mi away) and off roof to flush toilet. I have a Brita that we use all the time for our tap water. We will use it to remove clorine from stored water. If necessary to use creek water for drinking, we will boil if we have fuel, otherwise we have a Pure Plus filter for a backup. We just cannot afford expensive filters without cutting back on other preps, such as food and fuel.

-- Homeschooling Grandma (mlaymon@glenn-co.k12.ca.us), August 20, 1999.

This site sells the ceramic filters found in the British Berkefeld for about one tenth the cost. Excellent service and web site. Recommend style A - will last for thousands of gallons.

http://www.pwgazette.com

-- RDH (drherr@erols.com), August 21, 1999.

I wanted to get a british berkefield for a long time, but just couldn't justify the big bucks. After doing much research, I just got my model 77 filter (and an extra one for backup) and a several more supersterasyl filters for replacing the original filters. These are the same filter candles used in the Berkefield. They filter out enough bad stuff to satisfy me.

I found the folks at Pure Water co (pwgazette.com) in Denton, Texas to be great. Great speedy shipping, great prices, and lots of different types of water treatments available. We will probably get a system that filters out iron and the rotton egg smell out of our well, too. The web site is most informative. I plan to use the candles as the emergency siphon as described on the web site, if I don't have electricity pumping our well water to the house.

I also have a MSR waterworks - I tried filling a 5 gal water bottle and I thought I would have a stroke. It is LOTS of work to get this much water, couldn't do it in a day------ I keep it just for emergencies (or backpacking)

I don't work for Pure Water co, just a happy customer.

-- nobody (nobody@nowhere.com), August 24, 1999.