So what water filters are best (VANITY - attention preppers)

Vanity | 11/10/2010 | surroundedbyblue

[surroundedbyblue]

Ok so I am new to all of this stuff. I need some advice about storing food & water from all of you who are much more informed than me. Please & thank you!!!

[MomwithHope]

We’ve used Amway’s Espring for years, it’s fantastic. For emergencies we store in plastic jugs with a few drops of bleach. Then we have a Britta with extra filters for when it really gets bad.

[pops88]

I’ve been a member of a preparedness forum since before Y2K. The preferred filter is the Berky. It’s considered the best.

[NewHampshireDuo]

I have a countertop distiller and a reverse osmosis system.

I have a countertop distiller too - but not for water - there are other essentials :-)

[surroundedbyblue]

Thanks everyone. I’m just trying to put things back for my toddler & myself (I’m a single mom) since I really believe hard times are ahead, esp since we have not monetized our debt. Thanks, Soros, you dirty bastard.

[FReepaholic]

Berkey. Buy extra filters and spigot to have on hand.

[alicewonders]

Thank you!

[beefree]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2624000/posts

Ask ChocChipCookie to add you to her ping list. She has a website www.thesurvivalistmom.com

[driftdiver]

survivaltopics.com click on the water link and read the articles.

[Yo-Yo]

Your source please.

I have two references one from American Red Cross, the other from Clorox. Neither one talks about shelf life.

From Clorox itself:

What is the shelf life of Clorox® Regular-Bleach?

Clorox® Regular-Bleach should be replaced every year and stored as directed for optimum performance.

[DelaWhere]

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[30Moves]

You can always fall back on distilling the water - if you have a mineral supplement to replace any good minerals lost.

Big cooking pot - an angel food cake pan (with a hole in the middle) and fashion a domed lid and there you have it.

[Lurkus Maximus]

Looking at their web page, it appears many of their products, like the Big Berkey, are not available in California. Any idea why these products are not allowed in this miserable state?

[DuncanWaring]

Ping.

[djf]

If you have a farm supply store near, check out a gallon of gentle Iodine.

Antiseptic solution. Won’t degrade.
Two or three drops per quart, then let it sit for two hours or so and you are good to go.

[wita]

Thanks.

Good site.

[Tard-cat]

We use a Doulton stand-alone, two-element, gravity unit with ceramic filters. Doultons were invented during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I during a cholera epidemic. You can pour just about any nasty water through it, and it comes out drinkable. The activated charcoal supposedly lasts 6 months, but the filters themselves are scrubbable and almost infinitely reusable. In six or seven years, we have only changed filters once, and I can’t tell any difference in water quality or flavor since new. I think we paid about $200 or a little less.

[GailA]

Be sure you add a couple of small bottles of vinegar to your survival list, it treats many things like scraps, bruises. Google for other uses. It was used as an antiseptic before we had them. Don’t neglect things like asprin or tylenol or vit C. Canned goods if you have the space and ROTATE, use the oldest first. If you have a hard time reading the expiration date, write it in sharpie on the can lid. Dried beans another good source of food. Maybe boring, but fills the belly when hunger comes calling.

Stores like Krogers are running their Thanksgiving specials over the next 2 weeks...you can pick up canned fruit or tomatoes for as little as 49 cents a can, about a year shelf life. Canned milk like Carnation can be added to your storage list. I cook with it a lot. Powdered milk is another item, just don’t go over board, doesn’t taste very good to drink, but can be used in cooking prep where the flavor is masked by the food taste...or chocolate syrup if you are drinking it. LOL.

Learn to can food. Don’t forget things like TP, laundry/bar soap..price is climbing fast. You can store in big plastic bins if you don’t have shelf space...DATE food stuffs. Don’t mix food stuff with cleaning supplies when storing. Dry cool place for storage.

[Cacique500]

We went with the Berkey (Imperial model I believe). It came with two of the black filter elements and I added another two to it (can have a max of 6 filter elements). I think each filter element is good for 3000 gallons of water, so with 4 elements I can process 12,000 gallons before the filters need to be replaced. In one of the articles I read on the system, you can put food coloring in the top chamber (where the filters are) and the water will come out clear in the bottom - it’s supposed to be *that* good! We also keep bleach on hand just in case - 8 drops per gallon of water.

[Marie Antoinette]

Back to the water question...

[Nachum]

Interesting you asked this. I had asked a similar question before in another thread. The difference was I wanted to know about putting hydrogen in the water after basic purification.

In the end, a cheap Brita water filter ($13) and a hydrogen stick ($70) gave me basic water purification and healthy water to drink. I just saw a portable Culligan pitcher similar to the Brita pitcher for $10 at Walgreens. Most of the filters you buy are carbon filters. You can add a few drops of Iodine if you want to kill bacteria.

Here is a link to the hydrogen stick:
http://www.hydrogenfriends.com/friends/id/3691_1_bid_5
(It lasts a year)