Bottle cap adapter for Sawyer mini filter

[HeathP]

So I've been looking for an easy and cheap solution for filling water bottles with my new sawyer mini filter that would prevent me from spilling water all over the place and I came across these the other day;

https://blumatsystems.com/product/61/Bottle-Cap-with-Blumat-8-mm-barb

Available here

http://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=113&search=Bottle+adapter

I ordered a few (5 and shipping was $5) and using the Sawyer in a gravity or squeeze configuration with some hose I picked up at Home Depot this adapter works pretty well. The diameter of the barb is about 0.31". Not bad for an adapter that costs only $1 and fits on most water bottles.

[John Myers]

Nice find.

If you added that adaptor, could that filter be used inline with a platypus drink tube? I'd rather just fill up and go if possible.

Advantages & disadvantages?

[HeathP]

The sawyer mini doesn't have any threads on the clean side only a nipple. I'm attaching a hose to the nipple and then this cap is screwed on to my clean water bottle and then the hose is attached to the barb on the cap pictured. That way I don't have to watch it and I don't spill water all over the place. You can buy a 1/4" to 1/4 " nylon barb adapter at Home Depot to fill a platypus with the sawyer. I would attach a piece of hose to the output side of the sawyer mini nipple then the barb then yank out the mouthpiece from your drink hose plugin the barbed adapter and either squeeze or use gravity to fill the bladder. That's what I'm doing with the dromedary bag I have.

Also since most folks here use recycled Smart water bottles and what not this is a great way to use those bottles in a gravity situation with a short piece of hose and it'll allow you to back flow the filter

[J-L]

Isn't that just the adapter that Sawyer sells?

http://www.rei.com/product/837889/sawyer-inline-adapter-water-filter-connections

[HeathP]

Looks very close but if its the same it's only the blue part and it's only $1. The Sawyer one has two parts and costs $5.

[And E]

Are you going to be screwing the clean cap side onto a hard sided bottle? If so, wouldn't the building air pressure as more water filters in create enough back pressure to stop further filtration with nowhere for the air to escape to? If using empty platypus style bags, then it won't be an issue.

[HeathP]

Yes but I haven't had a problem yet but I've only been playing around with it for a day or so.

[Jason G]

Pic of the setup??

[HeathP]

I'll try and get one up in the next couple of days. I work like 50+hrs a week. I'm usually posting on here from my phone when I've got a short break at work, plus I had a surgical procedure this morning and I've been in bed most of the day. My wife would kill me if I was up playing around with my hiking stuff.

[McDowell Crook]

Spilling was an issue for me with the regular Sawyer filter because I had to squeeze so hard. The mini is so easy to squeeze that for me spilling is no longer an issue.

[HeathP]

Andy, looks like you were right, I played with it some more today and at first the water was flowing well but it I noticed it wasn't an airtight seal so if you put more water in the squeeze bag than the bottle can hold it runs out from under the cap once it gets to the top. The cap came with an O-ring but once you add that into the mix the air pressure prevents the water flow, unless you leave the cap unscrewed a bit( I am using a 2 liter bag with a 1 liter bottle) or I could use a smaller 1 liter bag and there would be no problem. I am thinking about adding a small rubber one way valve to the cap to allow air to flow out (Klean Kanteens have a valve like what I am thinking about in their lids). I might tinker with it a bit and see if I can modify it. If not I am only out $10.

[And E]

Yeah, a one way valve sounds smart, or the second bag to fill clean water into.

My regular squeeze filers quickly enough, I just use Smart Water bottles and filter into them with a push/pull cap screwed onto the clean end. The push/pull cap fits nicely into the empty bottle and makes it easier to filter water if I am doing it by myself.

[HeathP]

The mini only has a nipple on the clean side and my fear is that I would break a bag while squeezing it and contaminate my clean water. I wanted a solution to have the dirty water bag and filter away from the clean bottle via a few feeet of hose in case it break the bag or it leaks so that I can still save the clean water I have already filtered. I can still use the mini with a short section of hose but I was looking for something a bit more elegant that required less babysitting. I can still use the hose with the 1/4 dual barbed adapter I have to fill my dromedary bag so I guess that will have to do until I can salvage a valve from one of my kids klean kanteens.

[Jerry Adams]

the chance of your bag breaking is small, so if it breaks and contaminates clean water, just empty clean water container and start again with another bag, assuming you have another bag.

There are many reports of bag failures so you should have a spare.

[Harris Goldstein]

I just use 20 or 32oz pop bottles or, if I want flat, 750ml plastic liquor bottles.

I was just planning to hang the hose into the neck of the bottle. I suppose I could get fancy and drill a hole in a spare cap to match the OD of the tubing.

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