Lighter weight tubing for Gravity filter

That's why I went with an "all Platypus" system. Their bottles, tubing, etc. are all on the light side — but robust.

Probably an unhelpful post if you're just looking at the tubing… but in case you are at the point where you're also buying additional bladders, etc. — then it may be worth a re-look. My half cent.

Isaac, what's your setup? My drink tube is the same tube I use for my filter. I put a quick connect system so I can hook up my Katadyn filter (homemade system) directly to my drink tube. So, only one tube!

Look for silicone food grade tubing at a hardware store. Much lighter .0328 oz per inch.

I drink from 2 1 liter platys that i carry in my front pockets. My gravity setup consists of 1 large 2 liter platy bag, frontier pro filter, then i jsut let the water fall into my 1 liter platys via screw top that screws onto the top of the 1 liter platy. The whole setup weighs 5oz-but i modified it by shaving, cutting, etc). Anyway thats my setup, hope that helps. I also treat before the filtering process with micropur tabs for 30 min.

Im also tinkering to find a way to mount my frontier pro lower in the setup in order to get more pressure on it, probably in the middle of the tube. Ultimately i want to replace the frontier pro with a sawyer, which is probably what i will do anyway. '

If i buy a sawyer filter, will it just fit into the tubing in my current setup, in the middle of the tube? Or will i have to order parts?

thoughts, advice?

Yea right now i only have one tube, but i would be fine cutting it in half and putting a sawyer in the middle.

I use a silnylon drysack for my gravity fed sawyer inline filter. It fits just fine to the standard platypus tubes. It does benefit from a few feet of hydraulic head, so put some tubing between the water source and the filter, rather than having the filter right at the outlet of the hanging bag.

this is a key reason these outperform the katadyn hiker based gravity filters, in my experience.

Hi Isaac,

I just replaced the filter cartridge in my homemade gravity filter with the sawyer filter. I bought the filter from REI; it came with everything I needed to plug it directly into my system, where the previous filter was. The current sawyer filter kit includes a couple of fittings for a quick disconnect. All the pieces are sized to your standard 1/4" inner diameter drink tubing. I think you might need to use the quick disconnect fittings in order to get the hose to fit onto one end of the filter cartridge. (sorry no photos at the moment)

As far as finding lighter drink tubing, I, like others have gone to the platypus bladders and tubing.

Otherwise, check out the McMaster-Carr website. They sell more tubing options (different materials, grades, diameters, thicknesses, etc.) and obscure plastic plumbing fittings than you could ever need.

my hose is currently 38 inches and weighs 1.7oz with screw cap that scews onto platy bottle. Is that heavy for a drinking tube? Also im curious to know how you guys store your filter/platy scooper/contaminated gear. The quart zip locks weigh .2oz, while being the lightest, i still try to keep them down to as few as possible.

Right now i have two…

Quart zip lock 1:
Frontier pro filter + replacement prefilter
disk

Quart Zip lock 2:
Platypus scoop (2 liter platy cut in half @ diagonal to fill other 2 liter platy)
Micropur tablets
(I like to seperate these items because they are both obviously dangerous, the tabs can split open and leak chlorine powder and the scoop is contaminated. )

======================================
**Total kit:** about 5oz
1 2 liter platy
2 quart zip locks
micropur tabs
hose
frontier pro filter
=====================================

—-

My hose is stored outside and it all is encompassed by my 2 liter platy resevoir with a shock cord elastic loop around the neck that holds it all in place.

how are you all storing your possibly contaminated materials?

I think this is important because most times people get sick, or at least people i've been with on the trail, its IMO due to hygiene(i don't mean body), i mean improperly storing/contaminating things.

I had not heard of the Sawyer filter until I read this post. I was about to purchase the Aquamira Frontier Pro myself. Other than flow rate, are there other benefits to the Sawyer over the Aqumira? Do you still need to treat the water with tablets before filtering as you do with the Aquamira?

Isaac, I believe you use the Jason Klass method. Correct? Would you simply replace the Aquamira with the Sawyer in that setup?

yea i would replace it, the sawyer is a much better filter, though lacking a charcoal element. IT has a much longer life, would last you for months and months and months. I think they have a huge gallon lifetime, don't remember. Smaller micron filtering too. I don't know if the sawyer is heavier or not. There are two, the filter and the purifier. You want the filter. I do use the klass method. I would replace it, but also move it down lower in the hose so it has more pressure on it.

I am trying to come up with a way to encorporate charcoal filtering (for taste/look) after the sawyer does its thing, If someone knows a way to do so, that would be a perfect setup: micropur + sawyer + charcoal..

Thanks for the quick reply. Hmmm…if it does not have a charcoal filter, the water could still taste bad. I wonder how much drink mixes would mask that. I guess it depends on how bad the water was to start. =)

im going to make one once i get in the lab.

Del, one huge benefit of the Sawyer is that it filters to 0.1 micron, whereas the Frontier Pro (IIRC) only goes to something like 3.0 micron.

You do not need any other treatment option with the Sawyer.

I just spliced mine into my hydration bladder. If I want fresh-filtered water on the go, I have it. If I want to hang it in a tree and gravity feed, no problems. After a week of filtering for 2 people I noticed a slow in flow rate; I'm guessing that 2 weeks solo filtering would be fine. Near there or longer, I'd rig up a way to field back-flush the filter.

I'd be curious to see what everyone else is doing/using too for their contaminated gear.

For me, most recently, I've been using my "homemade" ti-tri caddy (a cut down throw-away plastic water bottle) as my dirty water scooper. When not scooping water, it holds my ti-tri inferno, shelter and stove stakes, alcohol stove, etc.

The dirty water bag (2L platypus bladder) gets rolled up and bungeed with a shockcord loop attached to the threaded opening. I put a cap on the dirty bladder to help make it easier to carry water back to camp and not spread any bad water funk around my gear when it's stored in my pack.

The clean water bladder(s) double as my drinking bladder(s) and are either in the bladder holder in my pack or in a side pocket depending on which set-up I'm using.

The filter and dirty/clean hoses all stay connected together. The clean end of the hose gets tied up in a thin plastic bag to separate it from the dirty end. So far, so good.

EDIT: Isaac, just saw your questions about the charcol filter. Katadyn makes a standalone charcol filter that you can add inline on the gravity filter system before or after (I put it after) the sawyer filter. It's kinda' heavy though. I've seen others have sewn their own small charcol-filled baggies to place in the water bladder or I've thought about checking for a smaller charcol filter cartridge that would fit the 1/4" i.d. hose at the local aquarium supply store or maybe you could re-fashion one of those re-usable in-line fuel filters into a charcol filter. Curious to see what others have to say.

"Im also tinkering to find a way to mount my frontier pro lower in the setup in order to get more pressure on it, probably in the middle of the tube. Ultimately i want to replace the frontier pro with a sawyer, which is probably what i will do anyway."

In gravity mode, I doubt the exact in-line position of the Frontier Pro will have any noticeable effect on the flow rate.

Curious, why switch from the compact/light Frontier to the bigger, heavier Sawyer that lacks a carbon element to improve water taste?

The Sawyer filter will filter out bacteria — which the Frontier won't. But neither is any good against viruses — which will require chemicals — like chlorine. But then, the Frontier Pro will remove the chlorine taste whereas the Sawyer won't.

The Sawyer will last significantly longer, but then the Frontier Pro is just a fraction of the cost — and size and weight as well. Subjective here, but for me, given the low cost anyway, I'd rather carry a significantly smaller and lighter set up on a given trip — even if I have to replace the filter a bit more frequently in-between trips.

whats your current setup?

than the frontier pro by 1oz stock — you can get them close to even with mods. The sawyer dries much more quickly, and is a full filter, whereas the frontier pro requires chemical treatment.

I am not aware of a lighter <1micron filter anywhere for any price.

Re the location of the filter vis a vis filter times, it makes a huge difference. It's the same concept as hydroelectric power generation — by storing the water higher than than the filter (or generator) you use all of the potential energy of the water to push water through the filter.

gravity is 9.8 m/s2 right? For every meter of height you have a lot more energy stored by virtue of the weight of the water.

With the sawyer filter, I get roughly 1L in 2min with a 3' hydraulic head.

Also, the sawyer is field serviceable via back flushing — not sure re the frontier pro.

edit: re storage, I use quart freezer bags. 1 holds all the dirty stuff, the filter bag, hose, etc. The other holds the sawyer element, which serves to both separate contaminated elements of the system as well as give me an easy way to throw it in the bottom of my sleeping bag when it freezes at night to protect the filter without worry of water spillage.

you also have to take into account, as you guys have said, that with the sawyer you can roll the dice with viruses and not have to carry the weight of micropur tabs in their foil packaging(probably about 1-1.5oz) as well. Which version of the sawyer do you have that is 1oz lighter than the frontier pro?

And if you use micropur, how long do you wait until you drink the water? I wait about 30-45 min. The package says several hours. I've thought of it before, but now im considering that it may be bad to drink it so soon, as the chlorine is still in the water. Thoughts?

Similar to yours actually.

1. Scoop water and pass through a pre-filter into two 1L platy bottles.

2. Add 6 drops of chlorine per liter and wait 30 minutes

3. Suck water through Frontier Pro: bottle–>tubing–>FP filter. I attach the filter to my shoulder strap for easy access. I drink water using its bite valve.

4. At camp, I have a 3L platy to hold water, which I treat with chlorine.

At camp, I usually just screw the FP directly onto my 1L platy — leaving out the tubing entirely. Drinking this way is so easy that I don’t even bother with gravity set up (although I was the one who introduced the FP/Platy gravity set up to Jason Klass). For cooking, I just pour water directly into my pot for boiling. There’s no need to pass cooking water through the filter.

On some of my backpacks, there is a large mesh-type side pocket. After I've used my water filter system, I put it into the pack this way. The intake/dirty water ends go into the mesh pocket first, so they are on the bottom. Within the mesh, they will air dry. The output/clean ends go in on top, and they are in a nylon stuff sack. If a drop of dirty water leaked out, it is not going to leak upward, and it sure isn't going to penetrate into the nylon stuff sack. I mark all of the ends and parts for RAW with black or CLEAN with red. That way, nobody is going to screw up and do something wrong, like drop the dirty end into a clean water bottle.

Oh, here is one reminder for anybody who uses a ceramic water filter element in cold weather. Make sure that you purge all water from it overnight if it could freeze. I've seen some tremendously expensive ceramic elements that were frozen and cracked into a million pieces. It's even better to store it next to your sleeping bag or someplace warmer.

–B.G.–

http://domsoutdoor.com/sawyer-filter-with-faucet-adapter/p/1-029006/

http://www.scs-mall.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SWP120

I did not find this particular one at REI. I did find the heavier 3 Way Inline Filter.

http://www.rei.com/product/801824

EDIT:
Isaac, your question about tube weights turned into a very informative thread. Thank you!

Benjamin, you might want to explore the size of your bleach drops. Some dropper bottles have totally different size drops from another. I can't remember where, but I saw one instruction that said if you have one kind of dropper bottle, use 4 drops of something, and if you have another kind, use 7 drops of something. You might want to standardize your drops, or at least know what you have. Get the guy down the street that runs an illegal meth lab, and borrow some of his chemistry lab gear.

Also, there are different concentrations of bleach. It used to be that most household bleach was sold here in a gallon jug. Then they shifted to 3/4 gallon jugs, and one noted that it was simply more concentrated so that it had the equivalent bleach to a whole gallon. So, it would be nice to know how many free chlorine molecules you are really turning loose in there.

–B.G.–

I noticed you gentlemen are both using bleach drops. Why are you partial to this method instead of micropur tabs/aquamira drops?

How can you be sure the baddies are truly dead when using bleach, micropur gurantees it…but after 4 hours. I remember reading that micropur kills all the bacteria based stuff in 30 min(not sure if thats right or not), but leaves the crypto/viruses until 3-4hrs, anyone have any info on this? Finally, what if any chlorine would be in the water after waiting 30 min and running it through a frontier pro/sawyer setup? I know it takes a few hours for the chlorine to fully be gone, could bleach be gone faster?

@DEL
No problem, i enjoy learning just like everybody else.

"I noticed you gentlemen are both using bleach drops."

I've never used bleach drops for backcountry in the last 35 years. I've led group trips where others were using bleach.

I've used about six different brands of filters, iodine crystals, chlorine dioxide liquid, boiling, and some other diverse methods.

–B.G.–

How can any of us be sure that all baddies are truly dead — without carrying a portable lab with us? We can’t. We rely on a combination of manufacturer brochure/instructions/independent lab tests (if available) and word of mouth.

The American Red Cross and countless government health and disaster preparedness agencies recommend the use of chlorine (household bleach) as water disinfectant. Note that chlorine will kill bacteria and neutralize viruses — but not protozoa cysts (giardia, crypto, etc.) — at least not in the “4-6 drops per liter” low concentration that humans will tolerate drinking.

That’s why I use my combo method: chemicals to kill the small stuff (viruses and bacteria) — and a simple, light and compact filter (Frontier Pro) to block the bigger stuff (protozoa), clarify water, and improve water taste.

Finally, relying solely on chlorine dioxide to “kill all” is a false sense of security if only because few of us will ever wait up to 4 hours for our water — except at camp when water can be left overnight.