[skl]

I happen to stumble upon this filter from American Portable Solar's website;

APS OBA-53 Water Purifier

12 Volt DC Power Supply
2 Gallons Per Minute Flow Rate
3 Stage Water Purification System
1 Micron, NSF-Certified, Sediment Prefiltration
.5 Micron, NSF & Water Quality Association Approved &
Certified, Activated Carbon Block Filtration
Germicidal UV Disinfection
Lab Certified Effective
Exceeds World Health Organization Requirements
10 Watt Germicidal UV Lamp
304 Stainless Steel Chamber

Being a newbie to this I am hoping someone has some knowledge of this or similar units to give advice.

 

[sigmund]

How about a link to the product? I mean I know we could search for it....

 

[skl]

Sorry,

http://www.americanportablesolar.com/product/aps-oba-53-water-purifier/

 

[stephpd]

Looks like an under the sink system with UV.

 

[IamZeke]

Looks like an under the sink system with UV.

Agreed. Not sure how UV is going to change water already run through a membrane. No biologicals are smaller than a water molecule. UV is nice when you don't have a membrane or chemical decon, but is redundant when you do.

Which brings up the question of how bad his muni water is coming in. That's a lot of overkill for most places in the US.


Which brings up the next question which is what he wants filtration for? The OP didn't list his situation and needs. A detailed rundown of what he has to work with and what he's trying to do will greatly help us give him good info.


[edit] It seems it uses UV instead of a membrane. Definitely more expensive to start with but that would have to be weighed against expected cartridge replacement needs.

 

[skl]

Right now it is not for immediate use. But with the chem spill in WV and the overall incompetence of various agencies lately, I would rather have something in the 12 volt capacity ready and waiting. I had touched on getting a Berkey, but there seems to be a growing "distaste" for their production and warranties.
This unit would be just for the wife and I, but I also have a few close friends nearby. Like I said I am just waking up to actually doing something and look forward to some awakened people advising or commenting.

 

[seawind]

Does your city draw its water from a river/lake or deep well? In a survival situation its assumed that the "utilities" will not be working, in which case this system might not be worth the money. Couple that with the odds of a WVa. type spill being rather low. It might be more cost effective to explore filters and/or purifiers that will deal with your nearest water source if your city utilities go down.

Unless you are on your own well and already have a power system in place for a grid down situation, the odds of the need are too low to match the expense. (IMHO)

 

[IamZeke]

I'll be honest with you about systems like that and those that use a membrane instead of a UV light. The filter cartridges can cost you some serious coin in the long run. Worse, you cannot just buy a super generic filter to put in them. Sure, you may get a company putting out a generic for that model but those filters aren't useful across all the brands.

If this is going into an RV then I could see you do it, but not for home use where you can rig up your own options cheap enough.

See if you can conceptualize this DIY project.

First you need to filter sediment out. This can be done with play sand from the home centers for a few bucks a 50lb bag. Or you can use panty hose nylon material.

Second, you must kill the biological threats. A bag of calcium hypochlorite (pool shock) will kill all the biological threats in an olympic pool for $5. You can mix your own bleach for only pennies with it and be able to sanitize your drinking supply for a year.

Finally you must remove the non-biological toxins. You can buy a GE Whole House filter housing for $20. A few cheap plastic pipe parts to connect it to whatever you want. Then you buy the activated carbon filter for it that runs $35 and is good for 30,000 gallons.

I've laid out $65 in necessary components and consumables. Adding buckets/tanks/piping might push your job up over $100. Let's get fancy and lay out $120. That would filter all the water you needed for a year and you would be out another $40-50 for every year you wanted to extend your safety. Your unit linked above costs $225. That equates to 3 or 4 years of complete water needs using your family DIY system. I tried to do a better cost comparison by trying to find out filter life on that UV rig as well as pricing their cartridges. But unlike all other good water filter companies they don't tell you filter life or filter replacement cost. That in itself is a big warning flag. You buy their system and then you are at their mercy to know when you are expected to replace the cartridges and what you will pay for them.

Build your own DIY system. The bonus of that is there is no power needed and because you built it you will know how to fix it if it quits working like it should.

Good reasons to buy a ready made system? To fix any current daily issues with your muni water and to get a small enough effective system to carry in a backpack. The first being a major hassle to filter every drop of house water by hand in your modern life. The second because there are limits to DIY when it comes to portability. But for emergencies at home? DIY works great and is cost effective.

 

[stephpd]

You do understand that the 12v part of the system is only for the UV light, right? It's not like there's a 12 pump supplying water to those filters included.

As to the problem they had with the water in WV I don't think the system you listed would do any better of a job then what the municipal water system can do. Thus not enough to make it safe. All in all it only makes water about as well as any municipal water treatment plant.

OK for something like an RV where you could tap into a lake or stream with the addition of a pump and hose. The UV negating the need for other types of disinfection. But .5 microns is about equal to ceramic filters. There are far better filter out now that can get much small er particles. Some like the Sawyer .02 that can capture viruses. Still not enough for a chemical spill. For that you really need to look into something like reverse osmosis. They do sell these for less then the system you linked to.
https://www.google.com/search?q=rev...SF3YHwDA&sqi=2&ved=0CKUBELMY&biw=1426&bih=805

 

[rover]

Sorry,

http://www.americanportablesolar.com/product/aps-oba-53-water-purifier/

there not telling you you will need 60psi at least to push thru those kind of filters. That's pretty much the standard food grade produce mister filter unit. Filter elements are cool how there made, their expensive.

 

[skl]

Thanks for the inputs. The units are actually from CSA and there are a few sites that are in the $170-$250 range, with the replacement kits running $45-$54. The units are rated for 3000 gals for the filters and 7000 hrs for the UV bulb and 2 gallons per minute. They also have 1st Responder 3 gpm units that come with a 12v pump, switches, prefilters and wiring that bump it up to $500+ (nice for a $55 Flojet 50 psi self priming pump, a few feet of NSF/FDA approved tubing and a couple of switches). The units are also rated for a MAX of 60 psi. They also state that the filters are a standard 10 inch filters. The DIY is a great a alternative, but what viral protection does it give? I would like to be absolutely comfortable to ensure a pure potable water supply.

 

[kctgb]

Why not a ceramic filtration system using food grade buckets. it's cheap and doesn't need electric to operate.

Go to you tube and look up home made ceramic water filter.

 

[IamZeke]

The DIY is a great a alternative, but what viral protection does it give? I would like to be absolutely comfortable to ensure a pure potable water supply.

The second stage of calcium hypochlorite takes care of all biologicals. Protozoa, bacteria, and viruses.

To get some better idea of the shape of a DIY rig, figure on a tank or drum set on a stand a few feet off the ground. Where you fill the tank up top you have a funnel like device that uses sand or layers of panty house that you pour the raw water through into the tank. Then you treat the tank with bleach and let it sit for a while to sanitize. Once time has elapsed you open a petcock near the bottom of the tank that pipes through the charcoal filter housing and out a spigot into your water storage containers. For your main sanitizing tank consider a food grade HDPE plastic 30 gallon drum.

 

[stephpd]

'Pure' is a relative term. Purified water can be accomplished by either stopping the stuff (bacteria and viruses) from entering or treated so as to kill them. Most filter systems treat the water, either with chlorine (or another halogen) or by UV.

Most filters may stop some of them but not all. Sand, most ceramic candles and even the Sawyer .1 only stop larger items.

But then there are some purifiers that actually trap the stuff and a disinfection treatment isn't needed. (though I still would) Items like the Sawyer .02, Lifesaver and others, can physically stop most of them from passing through.
http://www.rei.com/category/4500462?version=V5

 

[jihiggs]

The second stage of calcium hypochlorite takes care of all biologicals. Protozoa, bacteria, and viruses.

To get some better idea of the shape of a DIY rig, figure on a tank or drum set on a stand a few feet off the ground. Where you fill the tank up top you have a funnel like device that uses sand or layers of panty house that you pour the raw water through into the tank. Then you treat the tank with bleach and let it sit for a while to sanitize. Once time has elapsed you open a petcock near the bottom of the tank that pipes through the charcoal filter housing and out a spigot into your water storage containers. For your main sanitizing tank consider a food grade HDPE plastic 30 gallon drum.

Zeke,
Are viruses in American natural water sources a concern now and will they be more of a concern after shtf?

 

[IamZeke]

Zeke,
Are viruses in American natural water sources a concern now and will they be more of a concern after shtf?

Good question from you, but not really. Viruses don't fare so well outside of a host. Short of something coming out of a government gene lab, there is also the dichotomy that the more hazardous the virus the more vulnerable it tends to be outside the host. You can't discount them completely but the percentage risk is far lower from them than from the larger biologicals.

But using oxidizers on the protozoa and bacteria also affects viruses as well.

 

[stephpd]

There currently isn't a problem in most of this country with the more lethal viruses. Not to say they couldn't be a problem if the lights go out and sewage treatment plants stop working.

By the same token there still is plenty of less then lethal viruses in our water. If there wasn't there wouldn't be a need for chlorine in municipal water systems during the winter. Because bacteria and viruses are much more prevalent when the water is warmer. Bacteria almost negligible during winter months. Yet for all the differences in water temperature there's still plenty of stuff that needs to be killed during the cold days.

I see this when operating a water plant. A definite increase in demand for chlorine during the summer. But even during the winter we see our free chlorine being used up. And demand for chlorine is still impressive. Currently we're dosing about 2.6 ppm to maintain a 1.8 ppm leaving the plant. During the summer it'll be about 3.5 ppm to maintain a 1.8 in the finished water. Since we use both a pre and post chlorine addition, the post dealing with mostly viruses, as the filters trap most of the bacteria. The increase during the summer demand is almost all pre chlorine treatment.

 

[skl]

I appreciate the inputs, but a couple of comments. Researching the other filtration methods the RO seems to have a few disadvantages, some reports that for every gallon purified that 2-5 gallons are wasted and there are reports that RO water when used for cooking, the demineralized water was found to cause substantial losses of all essential elements from foods such as vegetables, meat and cereals. The DIY system is a great long term solution, but the actual output seems to be very limited and will be necessary to survive the EOW. I can see utilizing this for my ultimate long term usage, but if we have a few mini-catastrophes, I would like to have a solution that is near normal to what we have now. At least while I still have propane, gasoline and heat. I think that the EOTWAWKI is very possible, but I am more inclined to believe that we will have to endure more smaller problems. Should we just prep for the long term or also utilize systems that get us over the hump.

 

[IamZeke]

I appreciate the inputs, but a couple of comments. Researching the other filtration methods the RO seems to have a few disadvantages, some reports that for every gallon purified that 2-5 gallons are wasted and there are reports that RO water when used for cooking, the demineralized water was found to cause substantial losses of all essential elements from foods such as vegetables, meat and cereals. The DIY system is a great long term solution, but the actual output seems to be very limited and will be necessary to survive the EOW. I can see utilizing this for my ultimate long term usage, but if we have a few mini-catastrophes, I would like to have a solution that is near normal to what we have now. At least while I still have propane, gasoline and heat. I think that the EOTWAWKI is very possible, but I am more inclined to believe that we will have to endure more smaller problems. Should we just prep for the long term or also utilize systems that get us over the hump.

I couldn't tell if you were pro RO or not with that paragraph. RO works about as good as distillation. But it is fairly slow on the home user scale and you are stuck with very expensive filters. Once those filters are gone you are done. I'm not real big on RO. If you are going to bother with RO and all the costs you might as well look into precision distillation. More money upfront but no cartridges to replace.

The DIY is rather productive, actually. The only wait is the time to chlorinate, about 30 minutes. The pour time and dispensing through the carbon are the speed of gravity. With a nice 30 gallon barrel you'll easily be making 30 gallons an hour. No consumer RO or distillation system will come close to beating that. Speed is one of the biggest reasons I like DIY.

Yes, you do have consumables in the DIY process but they go a very long way. One carbon filter and 2 bags of pool shock are good for 30,000 gallons. That is $45 for one thousand fillings of your treatment barrel. A barrel a day will take care of a lot of needs for a small family.

 

[skl]

Zeke thanks for the concise response it seems to help the decision making process.