MSR Hyperflow issue

Hi Barry,

Your Waterworks has a carbon stage that will remove organics (the brown fraction in your water, in this case) which the Hyperflow doesn't. The Hyperflow is strictly a particulate filter, removing cysts and bacteria. I'll wager your filtered water was fine to drink, and the brown was organic staining from leaves, needles, etc. (Hey, I was hiking at Tahoe last weekend too. Sure isn't much snow for May.)

Hope that helps.

Rick,
I am agreeing with you, the staining is probably Tannin from the vegetation. But still doesn't inspire confidence with me.

Yep, not much snow lower down at all, but plenty of runoff though.

Barry

Lacking a carbon element, the Hyperflow won't improve water taste either — so foul tasting water will remain foul tasting.

But viruses aside, treated water should be biologically safe to drink — even if it still looks and tastes 'yucky'.

Barry,

The Hyperflow’s micro-filtered water was safe to drink. Use activated carbon as a post Hyperflow micro-filter stage to eliminate color and foul tastes.

Activated carbon is built into the MSR MiniWorks and WaterWorks, but it has a 10x shorter lifespan than the companion ceramic micro-filter. The MSR ceramic micro-filter will last ~2,000 liters. Normal effective lifespan of activated carbon is only about ~200 liters. High chemical or odor concentration can further reduce the normal capacity of the carbon.

Activated carbon is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen to open up millions of tiny pores between the carbon atoms resulting in highly porous carbons that have surface areas of 300-2,000 square meters per gram. These so-called active, or activated, carbons adsorb odorous or colored substances (organics) from gases or liquids. When a material adsorbs something, it attaches to it by chemical attraction. The huge surface area of activated charcoal gives it countless bonding sites. It also provides catalytic reduction, a process involving the attraction of negatively-charged contaminant ions to the positively-charged activated carbon to remove things like chlorine. Once all of the bonding sites are filled, an activated carbon filter stops working. At that point you must replace the carbon.

The simplest Hyperflow add on is to purchase some ¼” ID silicone tubing and the Katadyn Carbon Cartridge set for $11.95 suggested retail. There are two cartridges in the set and each cartridge will typically treat 200+ liters of water. The tops screw off the cartridges so that you can replace the spent activated carbon. You can buy Katadyn Carbon Cartridge Replacement Carbon for $9.95 suggested retail. That is enough activated carbon for two refills of a cartridge. Alternatively, you can buy activated carbon in bulk from many other sources. Connect a piece of tubing between the center nozzle of the Hyperflow output and the input to the activated carbon cartridge. The activated carbon cartridge is designed to securely fit any standard wide mouth bottle, platy, Dromedary bag, etc. The Katadyn Carbon cartridge weighs ~2.5oz and effectively replaces the 1.25 oz Hyperflow's wide mouth cap for a 1.25 oz weight increase.

For a custom ultralight backpacker’s solution, purchase a plastic drying tube with ¼” nipples, put a cotton ball at one end, fill with a variable amount of activated carbon based on the capacity you want, and then place a cotton ball at the other end. Place the drying tube in line with the Hyperflow output. Using this approach you should be able to achieve a ~1oz solution.

I have used the Katadyn carbon filter. It's relatively cheap, and it definitely improves water clarity and taste. However, it's one more thing to splice into your filter/tubing system. While it isn't big, it's not all that compact either.

Rather than defeating the purpose of the small and light Hyperflow, if water clarity and taste is important to you, then you might want to go with the MSR Sweetwater filter instead. While it's useful life is shorter than the MSR Miniworks, 200 gallons or 800 quarts is still many seasons of use for the typical hiker — esp. if you are just filtering water for yourself and not a large group. It's easy enough to change out the filter once every few years — but in the meantime, you have a much lighter and faster pump filter as compared to the Miniworks. Anyway, food for thought.