Regarding this water filter...

Greetings folks,

It seems that every time I do a search for anything survival related on the internet I end up being directed to this site or a place called "survival topics". I figured since I end up here so much anyway I may as well try it out as a member and pose a few questions of my own. Besides, that other place didn't have the same vibe. People who post here appear to be a little more down to earth.

Here goes...

I normally use 2.5 percent iodine and/or good old fashioned boiling to make safe drinking water on the trail. I recently received a MSR mini-works water filter and a whole bunch of cartridges as a gift from a friend. While I hate to fix what isn't broken I really want to give this new filter a fair shake.

I normally don't like things that are complicated and which have a lot of moving parts, but it appears to be a solid bit of gear and appears to be highly rated.

Does any one have any good or bad experiences with this brand of water filter they could share ? Since it says it filters everything except viruses I am a little bit skeptical I suppose. I have caught a waterborne illness twice in my life to date (both times while overseas) and it is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I have a bit of distrust for mechanical filters as a result but I do admit the ones I used before were of much lesser quality that the MSR. I will be doing a solo trip soon and while waterborne viruses are not common in northern Canada I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask all the same. I am feeling the need to boil or treat the water after being filtered, which obviously defeats the whole purpose of having the filter along.

Thoughts or experiences?

Thanks in advance.

How will you be traveling? Unless you are backpacking, I wouldn't think twice - just bring it. I am a firm fan of boiling as a method of treatment; probably my second choice is filtering, but I have no experience with the model you have. I am less inclined to use iodine, but it has worked for me in the past.

I will be on foot. The filter is rather large but not unreasonably so. I don't consider myself an "ultralight" backpacker by any stretch but this does have considerable bulk. More designed for a basecamp perhaps. Still, It was a gift and I guess good or bad I will see how it performs. Besides, I hate having fancy stuff unused.

I only use iodine if I wants to spare stove fuel and lighting open fires is unwise or prohibited. Beside being a good backup water cleaner in liu of boiling it works wonders in its intended use for small cuts and scrapes.

I have used the MSR miniworks EX with no problems at all. It does have lots of moving parts, just keep the rubbers in good shape and it should work fine.

One thing to take care is, to keep the clean and dirty parts apart.

Isn't that the same filter used by the Marine Expeditionary Forces?

I have one of the older MSR Mini Waterworks filters and have had great service from it. The one problem with mine is that the filter was changed on the EX model and my filter cannot have the cartridges replaced since they are no longer produced.

My filter still works fine though and I just followed the directions and keep it cleaned after trips.

I too once got a waterborne infection and it was miserable, since then I have carried a filter. I prefer to boil the water and that is fine in camp. On the trail when I need to refill my water containers the filter is my first choice, quick and easy.
The filter I carry now is a Katadyn Hiker Pro and I have it setup so I can directly connect it to a Camelbak bladder by the drink tube or fill bottles without screwing them on. The main reason I changed to the Hiker Pro was availability of filter cartridges and ease of rigging it to work well with the Camelbak.
It is also a little lighter and smaller than the MSR.

I still boil water if there is a virus risk and when cooking in camp I boil water for tea without any filtering. Unless the water is cloudy, then I filter first.

I hope this helps. Have a good trip!

Thanks for the info widget, very helpful indeed.

I was actually playing around with it today (the water filter I mean) and I must admit it put out water fairly fast, at least from a clean water source anyway. I guess you can even thread it directly to the top of some containers which could be a plus in the right situation.

Have you had much problem with clogging? any requirement to wrap cloth around the little float thing or is it good as is ?

Where I am heading the water is mostly of the pond type. Very heavy in debris this time of year. I suppose I could do what I always do by scooping it into a container and letting it settle before taking the clear(ish) water from the top of the container but that takes a few hours sometimes.

Welcome Stephen!

I've had a lot of success by using a simple coffee filter and rubber band around the float inlet. It seems to cut down on the clean up of the cartridge.

I also use a Steripen after filtering the water to help kill any virus that may have slipped through. I don't know if it's overkill or not, but I haven't gotten sick from any of the suspect water that I've poured down my gullet.

If you haven't purchased one yet, you might want to purchase a maintenance kit for the Miniworks. It's pulled my bacon out of the fire more than once when an O-ring goes bad out on the hike.

Hope to see you on the trail.

Personally, even though the risk is admittedly low, I'm not comfortable with a water treatment solution that won't deal with viruses. My current choice is a pre-filter with a SteriPen (boiling & MP1 tablets are my back-ups).

Even if using a full blown filter, I'd feel safer with an added step that could neutralize any viruses that may be present.

That said, there certainly are lots of people that rely solely on a filter with seemingly good results; I could just be too cautious in my thinking on this.

Thanks boom,

I have been looking around for these repair kits as they do seem like a good investment. Hard to find little suckers though. Either sold out or the store wants an arm and a leg for them. I may solve the o-ring problem by hitting up the nearest Canadian tire and raiding the garden hose isle. See if any sizes match.

Awesome avatar pic BTW.

Trust me. One case of beaver fever and there will be no such thing as too cautious. Very common in our neck of the woods actually. I admit, I wasn't in Canada at the time I was struck down but it was a lesson well learned about having someone else prep drinking water. I only drink water I prepare myself nowadays.

It was a steripen that was used BTW. I don't know if it was user error or malfunction. Maybe the water was too cloudy and didn't have time to be fully zapped before being consumed. I don't trust them anymore regardless. Second time was using one of those useless purification "straws"

Unless I see the water boiling like mad or it tastes like strong iodine I don't get a warm fuzzy feeling. Thus the reason for posing the questions. Now I must admit, water being forced thru ceramic comes out really clean looking. I guess if I am posting from the toilet in a few weeks it can be safely assumed I was no good at working an MSR filter either.

I don't know about Calgary, but up here north of Edmonton the water is more like a scum right now.(around the accessible edge anyway) The north sask river smells and tastes like fuel, and you couldn't pay me enough to use the snow runoff in some areas do to all the chip bags and garbage collected in the water.

In some very sandy water, like the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, it could help to have something wrapping the float to help filter some of the silt. Normally, there is no need for anything, the float has some filtering built in. I have never had it clog on me but that is always a possiblity, with any filter, really. It can easily be cleaned in the field. The clearer the water source the less likely it will clog. Scooping water into a container and letting it settle would be desireable. In that case it may be better to wrap the float with a bandanna or filter the water through a cloth before filtering. The more sand and debris the more likley the filter will clog or at least pump harder.

The standard wide-mouth Nalgene 1L bottles will thread directly on the MSR filter. That is a nice design feature.

I don't know or at least I'm not convinced about most stomach ailments being a water problem. I know we are all careful with filters, bleach, tablets, chlorine dioxide, boiling water, et al. but I think the majority of our "beaver fevers" have little to do with giardia and the like but rather good old e-coli and samonela. I think a good portion of our ailments are either a result of poor food handling and simply poor personal hygiene.

The liberal use of hand/face washing and even alcohol based cleansers would do much to reduce these problems. When you are camping by yourself, you are dealing with your own issues but in a group you may be dealing with others with less than ideal hygiene practices. All it takes is one person to forget to wash up after a bio break. Then everybody grabs into common snacks, meats and cheeses, common utensils, etc. and the potential for spread of bacteria increases. Now, put your food back in the pack and let warm temperatures incubate them.

I've only had one real intestinal problem from camping in my life -- I got the runs. And that was more likely due to not filtering "milky" glacial water more than anything else. Uncomfortable yes, but also a problem because I only had 1 set of underwear so other people on the trail "knew" I had a problem too!

I use an old Katadyn Hiker filter but prior to starting a trip, I check out the filter itself. If there is any question at all about the filter material, I toss it and replace. I have been know to boil and thoroughly dry the filter as well before the trip. Other things like keeping the tubing clean and the hydration bag sanitized, mouthpiece clean, etc. are also good practices.

I second on the coffee filter trick. I hiked in a swampy marshy area that had a ton of algae. After the first round of filter left me with green tinted water, I filtered a second time with the coffee filter and it came cleaner and most of the wierd tast went as well. On that trip it was very warm (30*C, 90% humidity) so I didn't use my stove much. Boiling the water in the evening for a full hydration bladder isn't much fun.

A trick I use is a funnel with 1 or 2 cone shaped coffee filters to pre filter before letting the water settle then refiltering before using Potable Aqua. Hope this helps.

My skin is crawling. You couldn't have known that I'm a germophobe. LOL.

I was exposed to water on Ft. Hood Texas after a week of very heavy rain. We had to drink that water in the field since we were on foot and without any large unit support. There were cattle in the area, lots of cattle waste and the only method to purify water was issued iodine tablets.

Within a few days of returning home I began an alternating bout with diarrhea and vomiting. This lasted about a week before finally letting up slowly. After that trip I bought a water filter. I also learned more about the iodine tablets and found that if they are green they have lost their strength and needed to be replaced. I also lost the tablets in the field, having them stored in the little pocket on the canteen cover (USGI) is almost a guarantee that they will end up falling out somewhere.
I was never sure of the exact ailment, other than it was ugly and I have avoided it since.

For sure, keeping hands and kitchenware clean are important, both at home, on the road and on the trail. I even use hand sanitizer after pumping gas to keep from getting something off that pump handle.

All key points, Hygine while in the field is certainly paramount.

Having a dirtbag in the crew certainly don't help. We have a crude name for what you are describing. I won't mention it here but The common slang is simply "gastro". I'm sure nine out of ten times thats all the problem may be. A couple of days with the runs because someone failed to wash their hands and touched your food is not the same as beaver fever. I mean gastro isn't nice either, but it dosen't even rate on the same scale as giardia. Anyone who travels abroad frequently probably picked up "a case of gastro" at least once from eating in an unclean establishment.

When you do get gardia you will know. Takes a week or two IOT develop in most people. Small exposures may not even get to some folks, I have drank directly from water sources many times in the past and almost had to chew the water to swallow it because of all the floaties. Nothing, not even a good fart. but in one particular case we were out for ten days drinking the water we could find as resupply thinking our equipment was working. After drinking that much sheer volume I guess it finally took hold. Knocked me off my feet for a couple of weeks. Another in the party was tested positive later but did not get nearly as sick. If you do react in a less than desireable manner however, look forward to explosive bloody runs, vomiting, severe cramps with chills/fever/skakes and dizziness for 1-2 weeks (with treatment) Not to mention the horrible smell and the embarrasing tests you need to do to confirm your condition at the hospital.

Sorry for the terifying mental images BTW

Go to any automotive parts store like Napa and see what they have, they genereally have a wide selection of them.

The Miniworks EX is a very good filter. Use a coffee filter on the inlet and the element will last much longer. Also, as previously mentioned, the repair kit and at least one spare element is a good idea. Take special care when cleaning the element because they are very fragile when not in the pump!

The Backpacker's Handbook by Chris Townsend has a pretty good section on water safety.

Townsend makes the point that in the North American backcountry, cleanliness and personal hygiene are more important than treating water for avoiding sickness. For example, he refers to a 1995 study published in the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine that suggests that giardiasis and other gut disorders are spread "by oral-fecal or food-born transmission not contaminated drinking water." He said that of 34,348 reported cases of giardiasis reported to the authors that only 19 were associated with contaminated water and only 2 of those were known to be campers or backpackers.

He also raises a good point that hydration is more important than treatment when it comes to water. He suggests that avoiding dehydration is more important than ensuring all your water is treated (in the North American context at least, I assume).