Does anyone know of any water filters within the 30-50 dollar range which have an unlimited upkeep? Possibly a filter than can be manually flushed, not needing replacement?

biosand filters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioSand_Filter

95% effectiveness isn't very good compared to commercial methods. And it needs to remain wet to keep the organisms growing in it alive. It's interesting but I'm not sure that's the kind of thing Lastborn is looking for.

A couple of the new MSR models have flushable filters and are usable indefinately with proper maintenance but you'll spend over $100 on them for sure.

The only other filter I know of which fits that description are the Sawyer flushable filters...they're not cheap either by comparison to your quoted price range.

My apologies for a minor threadjack, but I have a filtration question and it seemed redundant to start another thread on virtually the same topic.

I have a ten year-old PUR Voyager filter that was recently discovered wrapped in a drawer, after my wife and I had long accepted that it had been lost in one move or another! It seems structurally sound (except for a bit of cracking in the foam collar down toward the intake point of the tubing), but was unfortunately left with a cartridge in for, oh, 8 years or so, so it has a lovely orange patina from the iodine. Is there any reason why I shouldn't just clean it up a bit, grab a new filter cartridge, and use it again? I.e., are there adverse effects from prolonged exposure to the iodine, or just from age and disuse? After a bit of poking around, it looks like one of the Katadyn filters fits my (discontinued?) model, so I'd just as soon use what I have if I can.

Thanks much in advance for any feedback.

I was a little tongue in cheek as most of these systems
are for home use and are made of concrete. But they are
cheap.

True 95 to 99% effective for anyone one type of pathogen isn't
that effective compared to other types of filters, however the biosand
removes many more kinds of pollution, as well as bacteria,
virus', and parasites that a pump type filter, charcoal,
or chemical type water purifier cannot match. And they don't
need replacement parts. Your basic backpacking filter
isn't going to do much with arsenic or petroleum.


Usually the biosand filters are used in conjuction with
simple sunlight purification as a second step treatment
(SODIS) for drinking water. This then equals or betters the commercial
methods of individual water treatment.

Intrepid,

Welcome to the fire, newguy! Any chance you could post a picture of your water filter? I'd like to see how much damage has occurred. You might want to call or write PUR for their advice. Iodine is VERY reactive stuff and so I'd be a little concerned about damage you couldn't see such as weaken plastic or damaged seals. Having it fall apart on you out in the woods would not be good.

Please keep us posted on this, it's very interesting.

-Blast

Lastborn,

Welcome to the fire, newguy! $30-50 is a pretty low price. What sort of stuff do you want to filter? Just biologicals (bacteria/virii) or also chemicals? Will this filter be responsible for supplying all your family's daily needs or just for the occasional use backpacking?

Without further information I'm going to assume you want biological and chemicals removed for daily family water needs. For that your best bet pprobably would be a sand filter system. There's lots of plans for these on the web and even a few discussions here on ETS.

-Blast