Sawyer Squeeze questions

"Jeez, and doesn't it seem a bit much that you have to buy bags to use with it since the Sawyer ones are such junk (at least from just about every review I have read)".

I've run quite a few gallons through one bag without any problem. I don't squeeze mine like a macho man though. Then again, I rarely squeeze at all. I nearly always use the "squeeze" as a drip system. I just lean it against rocks, bushes, or logs and go about other business while it drips at its own pace. I haven't timed it but it seems to fill my 27 ounce bottle in under 5 minutes.

EDIT: To quantify, I have less than 5 gallons on one bag. Not as much as I thought when I posted…but more than some have gotten from what I have gathered in other threads.

My setup

2l Evernew (dirty bag) to sawyer squeeze to male tube adaptor to short tube to platypus tube adapter to 3l platypus (clean bag).

For back flush simply disconnect evervew and squeeze on platypus.

Last used a few weeks ago on five day trip filtering 50 liters (group of four) mainly in gravity mode with no pre-filter. Worked great with no field backflush. Backflush with syringe every trip when home.

Just set bag and Squeeze on a downsloping rock and let water flow into clean water bottle:

If you don't squeeze very hard, and you're careful with the Squeeze to bag connection I think it won't break. Or use Evernew bag but I bet if you really squeeze on it, it will break also. I've used the Sawyer bag on several trips, maybe 16 pints total without problem, but that's not a lot of use.

I backflow with syringe when I get back home. But I haven't filtered more than about 8 pints per use. I'm sure you could do much more than that without backflushing. If you were using for weeks, this maybe wouldn't work.

Don't filter water that you heat for cooking, or water for cleaning.

Just to let you guys know where I come from I have this little phrase of 'Apocalyse ready' . I don't believe one will happen but I like my gear to at least be able to stand alone without support. Especially for some of the prices out there. It should also be durable, reliable, at a decent weight and a decent price for the previous.

The 3 way inline filter can not be back-flushed easily but I could if I had two female ends to make a small segment to flip it around and use the same dirty bag. For my dirty bag I use a 3L MSR Hydromedary bag. I don't have to worry about that for years. I have even used it as a 'squeeze' bag some with no ill effects as of yet and I was really cranking on it.

I never want to be put in a position that I have to rely on the Sawyer bags period. I am a bit concerned about the Evernew bags but wanted to go down the rabbit hole some to figure things out. The back-flush thing without a syringe is the only thing I have not figured out about the situation. The keeping it from not freezing with water in it is easy.

That and I am not really going into a bag but rather a wide mouthed water bottle or a spigot.

I have used the Sawyer Squeeze this season for more than 400 miles on the PCT and it worked great. The sawyer bags do not last, no matter how gentle you are with them. I now use a platy 2l bag and it has held up very well. I have only back-flushed mine when i have picked up my re-supply boxes(every 5 to 6 days)and then just held it up to a hose bib and let the water run through it. I also use a screened washer on the inlet side to help with catching the big chunks. You can get these at any hardware store, in the hose section. I also use a Camelback bladder, so i put a quick release adapter on the output end so i can attach it directly to my Cammelback without taking it out of my pack.

It takes literally dozens of gallons to slow the Sawyer in line filter down much at all. It's easily back flushed in the field. You can use the sawyer syringe, but I just take a full clean water bag and gently squeeze clean water through the filter in the opposite direction and onto the ground or into dirty water set aside for non-consumption uses like washing. If you are not going into the field for a very extended period, they provide an attachment just like ULA used to provide with the H2Amigo that you put on a faucet or spigot and use your municipal water pressure to backflush it. That said, now that the squeeze can be used as a gravity filter it may be the better option. I like having mine plenty though and the weight difference is nominal. I use an old ULA Ray-way bag for diry and a clean 2L platy for clean and have it all wired up with blue platy hose so that I do not have to worry about fit.

it does not need to be that syringe, but if you get a wound in the field and need to flush it out, you will want to be able to generate enough pressure to get down in the cut.

I have been nursing a cut that I got in a river for the past 2 and a half months. The infection finally went away at the 1 1/2 month mark. If I had washed the wound with filtered water, when I got the cut, I might not have had the infection.

There are smaller syringes available. The sawyer syringe is 60cc. You can get a 10cc syringe and use it several times. Wound care people gave me a 10cc syringe, and it has the same tip as the sawyer 60cc tip.

A couple of additional tips…
Put a 5 pound rock on the squeeze bag when it is full, then use the tipping down thing shown by jerry adams, it will speed things up.

I have the $8 inline filter adapter kit on order. I plan to just add about 3 feet of hose between the adapters, and still use the sawyer bottles. That will give me a better head of pressure into the filter without needing to rig something elaborate (and heavy).

-Michael