My Steripen Adventure: Concerns and Vindication

[Phillip Colelli]

^That's not entirely true. The steripen's LED light signals if the lamp is malfunctioning and it goes on to say that the other alternative is that the lamp doesn't even light up indicating a malfunction also.

The OP's problem was that the light wasn't at full output and this is the first I've seen that that happened (who knows though). So we'll say that most of the time you'd know if the lamp wasn't working properly. Also, if you compare pictures to the OP's steripen and my assumed normally functioning one there clearly is a difference in visible light output. So in conclusion all failure situations are noticeable to the eye. I suppose however that it would be possible to not notice the dimmer light.

[Roger Caffin]

> other products I've consistently heard people have issues with and I realized that I haven't
> met anyone that has purchased a new Steripen or a new Range Rover that hasn't had it in for
> repairs in the first 6 months.
Can't comment on Range Rovers (big $$ there!), but my Adventurer and Opti have performed excellently all the time.

Many of the reports are due to either user error (it happens a lot!) or the first batch of Adventurers. Yes, I do read all the ones posted here at BPL.

Cheers

[EndoftheTrail]

Trace:

Swing my beautiful So Cal and I'll show you my 3 year old Steripen Adventurer that has performed flawlessly without exception.

As for the Range Rover, yeah, that one, you're right. English crap through and through. No user error there.

(Kidding about the Range Rover!)

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Ben 2 W and I both have used Steripens in nasty conditions and stayed well. We found the Steripens we used to be reliable. I have used it on Filipino well water that I was sure was contaminated and still had no problems. Believe me, we westerners are Very sensitive to bad bugs in our water. Any bad bugs would have given me the Shanghai $hits within an hour or so without Steripen treatment while I travelled in the Philippines.

YMMV but AS OF NOW the Steripen appears to be the state-of-the-art in water purification for travellers needing an easily transportable, easy-to-use purifier that gives fast tesults.

[John Nausieda]

The Range Rover , like most British Tin and Motorcycles was really designed originally to be tinkered with by its owner every other weekend.Must be a nightmare with computers on board. Having worked on leaky old British BSA's and Trumpets , you developed a fondness for the gods of various failures. Lucas, maker of the electrics, got labeled the Prince of Darkness. I have both a Steripen Adventurer and Opti -working well so far .

[Andy F]

I just pulled out my (never used on a trip) Steripen Opti, and the lamp looks dim like the photos Travis posted rather than bright like the photo Phillip posted. :(

I just figured it was supposed to be that bright until I read this thread.

I might have to go back to drinking untreated water. I never had any problems until I decided to start treating it! ;)

[Roger Caffin]

Bear in mid that what matters is the UV given off: the visible bit is irrelevant. Also, different camera sensors will see that blur visible light in different ways. Comparing photos from cameras in this case is not reliable at all.

Cheers

[Travis Leanna]

Yes, Roger, that is the odd thing here because there isn't necessarily a correlation between the UV and visible light.

Could there have been some type of malfunction within the lamp that caused UV output reduction in conjunction with a dimmer visible light? Or are the two so exclusive of each other that I'm looking at one hell of a lucky guess?

I don't know the nitty gritty details of how the technology works.

[Phillip Colelli]

Roger, I never thought of that. That makes perfect sense. I have heard before that some cameras can capture IR light and some cant so like you said I'm sure some cameras can capture UV light more or less so. I wonder if there's some simple test to see how much UV light you're putting out. I did a quick search but UV radiometers seem to be pretty expensive.

If you have access to a college science lab you might be able use their spectrometer. Dunno if that would work but it sure would be interesting.

[Steven McAllister]

Also consider the amount of ambient light when the picture was taken.
If you take the picture in pitch black it will look very bright. Take it with some ambient light and it will look faint. It will be invisible in bright sunlight.

[Will Webster]

Keep in mind that the UV light is blocked or reflected by the walls of the container and by the water/air interface. Sensitivity of the camera to UV light isn't an issue, but different sensors and different color temperature algorithms will react very differently to the deep-violet light which does come through. Any instrumentation used to measure the UV would have to work under water, or a quartz container would be needed (rare and expensive), or the safety features of the Steripen would have to be bypassed.

I wonder if it would be possible to roughly calibrate the lenses of a pair of Transition glasses?

[Jerry Adams]

I wonder if there is a liquid or paper that reacts to UV light and gradually changed color. Like it will turn from red to blue after a particular dose is received.

Another thing is, the more dose is delivered, the more the bugs die. After half the dose maybe 95% of the bugs die. Maybe it isn't that critical.

[Tim Heckel]

Actually I don't think UV kills as much as it sterilizes the bugs so they can't reproduce, correct?

[Travis Leanna]

@ Tim: correct.

[Ben F]

Jesus, so it doesn't even kill the bugs? Now that I'm reading, I've never come across this caveat before in regards to the steripen:

UV-treated water must therefore not be exposed to visible light for any significant period of time after UV treatment, before consumption, to avoid ingesting reactivated and dangerous microbes.

(from Wikipedia)

So if you're using a clear water container, you could be setting yourself up for trouble?

edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification#Ultraviolet_purification

[David Ure]

There is some confusion here with semantics. The Steripen does not REMOVE the bacteria, viruses, and cysts (etc) from the water but DOES destroy them at the cellular level (99.9%) redering them dead and useless. And not harmful.

The only thing it doesn't kill is worm larvae. Muhhahhahhaha.

[Trace Richardson]

Interesting point on the killing vs stopping reproduction …. the steripen site says it "kills" but then refers to "treating" water …. can't find further clarification: http://www.steripen.com/glossary

Couple other things I learned from their site: If you are using platypus bottles: "Because the playtpus bottle you mention is not uniform in shape, there is concern that microbes could posssibly hide in a crease in the bottle and the UV light does not hit the microbes in the crease. " https://steripen2.zendesk.com/entries/20818602-steripen-journey-with-platypus-soft-bottles

Why you shouldn't use zip lock bags as they might hurt your skin / eyes: https://steripen2.zendesk.com/entries/20826283-can-purify-water-with-my-steripen-using-a-zip-lock-plastic-bag

[Cayenne Redmonk]

There is the possibility of crosslinks being reversed.

For some definitions of life, it renders things dead, for at least some time following treatment.

Light based reversal of crosslinks is intensity dependent.

Visible light passes through plastic quite well, but UV doesn't.

Mostly a CYA, but inside a clear bottle the amount of radiation that reverses crosslinks is much greater than the amount of crosslink inducing radiation.

[Nathan Watts]

"So if you're using a clear water container, you could be setting yourself up for trouble?"

If you're using a clear water container and it's exposed to sunlight, the solar radiation (different wavelength of UV from the mercury lamps in the steripen) actually works to inactivate the microbes in a slightly different, but similarly effective way. And if the water temp is raised to 50 deg. C or higher there is added benefit.

In fact you can treat a couple liters of water in a clear plastic soda bottle in direct sunlight in only a few hours. Helps if you shake the water up first to aerate it. If the water is relatively clear, there's no need to filter or treat beforehand.

So presumably, by using a clear plastic container you might actually be increasing your factor of safety, rather than having cause for concern.

[Steven McAllister]

Regarding: "In fact you can treat a couple liters of water in a clear plastic soda bottle in direct sunlight in only a few hours. Helps if you shake the water up first to aerate it. If the water is relatively clear, there's no need to filter or treat beforehand."

UV light can not penetrate clear plastic or glass bottles.
Visible light stimulates repair of chromosomes and can actually repair cells. Which is why beer is usually put in tinted bottle.

There are are some cells organisms that can't survive visible light, but don't count on it.

So yes, try to keep treated water out of direct sunlight.

[Nathan Watts]

UV light can most certainly penetrate clear soda bottles. Look up SODIS system.

[Trace Richardson]

"In fact you can treat a couple liters of water in a clear plastic soda bottle in direct sunlight in only a few hours."

@Nathan: Something else I've learned today, very cool …. SODIS recommends 6 hours, metal roof, etc., but you're saying 2 is good? Where are you getting that number from?

[Nathan Watts]

"@Nathan: Something else I've learned today, very cool …. SODIS recommends 6 hours, metal roof, etc., but you're saying 2 is good? Where are you getting that number from?"

The 2 refers to the number of liters if you re-read what I wrote. The system works for volumes as high as 10 liters, but the guidelines call for using 2-liters per bottle. This is probably due to the commonality of 2-liter soda bottles. In general, the shallower the water the more efficient the treatment. Note that SODIS relies on both UV-A as well as heat from sunlight to work according to the guidelines. In lower light situations the treatment time needs to be increased. I would guess you could reduce the volume/depth in your container too.

Note that this method relies on a different UV wavelength than the steriPEN and other commercial UV lamps rely on. The mercury lamps are designed to directly inactivate the microbes, whereas the sunlight UV causes a reaction with the oxygen in the water which in turn inactivates the microbes.

[Cayenne Redmonk]

SODIS is a completely different mechanism of treating water, not a supplement to UVC treatment.

[Nathan Watts]

"SODIS is a completely different mechanism of treating water, not a supplement to UVC treatment."

That's correct. Each stands on its own as an effective method of treatment. I don't think you'd see any real gains by combining the two (assuming both were done properly).

[Author]

Posts