Steripen Fits All Prefilter

[Michael Williams]

Has anybody had any experience with this? I am considering using this in combination with chlorine tablets for water treatment. It has a 4 micron mesh which should be enough for protozoa like Giardia and Crypto and the chlorine tablets should take care of viruses and bacteria.

I've tried the Aquamira Frontier Pro previously as a gravity filter but the water seeps out the side where its screwed onto a plastic bottle. I prefer the Aquamira because of the carbon element but it just doesn't seem to work so I thought a straight pour through filter might work better. Any thoughts?

[EndoftheTrail]

Michael:

I am not following…

If you use a 4-micron mesh with chlorine dioxide tablets, then you don't need a Steripen.

And if you use Steripen with a pre-filter, then you don't need chlorine tablets (unless for backup in case the Steripen fails).

Separately, if you like the Frontier Pro / chlorine combo — and the only problem is water leakage out the side where it screws onto the water bottle, then it's probably a worn-out or defective Frontier Pro — so why not just get a new one?

And finally, if you opt for Frontier Pro (which blocks protozoa) — then all you need is inexpensive chlorine (like Clorox) to treat bacteria and viruses. Chlorine dioxide tablets are very expensive — and unnecessary.

[Michael Williams]

Hi Ben,

I would only be using the Steripen Brand 'Fits all prefilter' not an actual Steripen itself. I was wondering if anybody has had any particular experience with this prefilter.

Also I would be using normal chlorine tablets 'e.g. Aquatabs' sodium dichloroisocyanurate which are cheap not chlorine dioxide (Aquamira). I didn't actually say anything about chlorine dioxide, only chlorine…

Have many people had experience of a defective Frontier Pro? Was it an early batch issue or are some just randomly not so great?

Thanks,
Michael

[EndoftheTrail]

Ah, my bad (about both Steripen and the chlorine dioxide).

I normally just suck water through my Frontier Pro, but have tested it a few times as an "in line" gravity filter. There was no issue with water leakage at the end — which leads me to think that maybe yours is damaged from use or just defective. If you like your setup, maybe it's worth buying a second Frontier Pro.

As for the 4.0 micron size Steripen "Fits All" prefilter — no firsthand experience whatsoever, but you got me curious…

According to the REI write up, cryptos range in size from 2 to 5 microns. REI recommends filters with an absolute size of 0.2 – 0.3 micron to filter out crypto. Not a pathology expert, but I'm sure there are reasons why MSR and Katadyn filters are sized down to 0.2 and 0.3 micron respectively. I don't know if I would rely on the 4-micron prefilter alone to block protozoa.

[EndoftheTrail]

Also, Roleigh Martin (fifth post down) wrote about a 1-micron prefilter.

[Michael Williams]

Thanks Ben,

I wasn't aware that cysts could be that small. It would be great if BPL did a state of the market report on water treatment techniques as I think the ongoing discussion in the forums shows that it is still an area of uncertainty. Will check that thread.

Thanks,
Michael

[Author]

Posts