Water filtration while in the field? | 4WDTalk - Overlanding and offroad Forum
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Water filtration while in the field?

Randy

Randy

Well-known member
I've had to cut trips short because we ran out of drinkable water. How are you filtering water while in the field?
 
Solid block carbon. is what I run.

What size your going to run is based on how much room you have. In my trailer I have a short version of the standard household filter. If the water is muddy, you need to strain it first.

For a basic filter to fill my tank's I use a garden hose filter. This is one of the better filtering garden hose one's. It uses granulated carbon, not solid block. Not as good but removes everything in city water and then some. A word of caution here. If you filter the water going into your tank or water cans. Empty and dry out the cans and add a little chlorine to your tank. The city added chemicals to prevent bacteria from forming. You just filtered that out. I learned this one the hard way.

Years ago, on my camper and my old trailer I ran a solid block just after my pump the the drinking water I ran a separate ceramic filter in a much cheaper version of this on the countertop. On my new trailer, I haven't seen the need to go that overboard.

I have no issues pulling pond or stream water through mine. If I think there's bacteria or nasty living things, I put chlorine in the water before I filter it. The filter will remove the chlorine.

Years ago I jumped down the "filtering water" rabbit hole when I learned what's in our city water. Funny how years of High Sierra backpacking I drank from streams and springs without worry and as a kid, drank from garden hoses. I now filter everything including tap water.
 
Hey Tom, so that filter kit will be enough to let's say you use hose or city water to fill your tank, will that filter system be enough to make it drinkable?
 
RedNeck said:
Hey Tom, so that filter kit will be enough to let's say you use hose or city water to fill your tank, will that filter system be enough to make it drinkable?
Click to expand...

Those filter systems are pretty robuse and will do the job. Many full time van peeps use this system, pulling water out of rivers and lakes.
 
We only fill the tank from city water (from our hose at the house, or, if needed, a campground). We drink out of our tank just as it is, no need for us to filter city water. We do occasionally "shock" the tank to knock down anything that may be growing, and there is also a small built in filter on our trailer, but I have no issues drinking the water in the tank without additional filtration. We also drain our tank in between trips and leave it open to let it air dry if it will be some time before the next trip. The Guzzle H2O is only for filling from streams as a backup. The water that comes out of the Guzzle H2O is potable directly out of the unit, and I would feel comfortable filling the trailer's tank from a stream using the Guzzle H2O.
 
To be honest, we haven't tried ours yet (but we plan to as soon as possible to make sure the one we got works as expected and all of the parts are there). We purchased it this year at the Overland Expo PNW, but haven't yet needed it, so we take it along just in case. My wife tried it from their demo at the booth they had set up at the Overland Expo PNW, but she didn't say it tasted odd or anything. I didn't try it myself since I was busy asking technical questions (I was an Ultrapure Water technician for a major microelectronics corporation). I will try to post here once we use it to update on how it tastes, but based on their technology, I suspect the taste will depend on the water source.
 
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