Winter Water Purification

imported
#1

I use a water filter (chlorine dixide tabs as a back-up to my filter) for purification on the trail, but with winter approaching I was curious if anyone had some insight on how best to manage water purification. In subfreezing weather I have brought my filter into my sleeping bag to keep if from freezing which would render the filter useless. Tabs and other chemicals usually need the water to be at a minimum temp to be effective. Aside from boiling (that means bringing more fuel) are there any suggestions on this topic as to how to better manage water purification in extreme temps?

Pilot

#2

Personally I use a Steri-pen nothing to freeze up and just have to keep the batteries warm which is not that hard to do. In 90 seconds you have clean water, I use the pre filter to take out the big crunchies.

Any day in the woods beats a great day in the office!

4Bears

#3

Does the steri-pen pre-filtr fit a one liter gatoraid container, and can you use the steri pen in the gatoraid container or can you list any other alternative light wt containers other than a nalgene.(That a pre-filter and steri pen works?)

Fl Flatlander

#4

It should fit into the gatorade bottle which if memory serves me correct the mouth is over an inch (2.5cm) wide. The pre-filter only fits on the “nalgene” bottles but you could use a couple coffee filters and most likely get as good results. Without digging everything out of the closet it should fit into the platypus containers which are about as light as you can get. On their web site steripen.com at least one of the tests was with 4 deg C water with over 99% kill rate

4Bears

#5

Have not had good luck with this device - batteries ran out after one day of use - ran into some other hikers in the Winds - same story. Only kept it to use on day hikes now. ClO2 drops the best - 1/2 mL in 1L (clear water) and good to go in 30 min - see Klearwater - hard to get now - I think the military is using it all.

pwsomers

#6

I tried the Steri-pen on the PCT this summer and it does work with a Gatorade bottle. However, I had the same experience with battery life. They only seem to last a day or two, tops. This was very frustrating, as needing to carry the battery capacity to get through a five or six day stretch kind of defeats the purpose of carrying a lightweight device, not to mention the expense and waste of all those batteries. I agree. The Steri-pen might be a nice convenience for day hikes or overnights, but beyond that I wouldn’t carry one again.

Gesh

#7

I use the Steri-pen Classic started a 5 day hike 2 people, with a fresh set of Eveready Lithium AA with several test cycles on them and had no issues. I can’t say what kind of usage one would get from the models that use the CR123’s.

4Bears