[KaBar67]

I thought most carried bleach for this purpose. Its the only water purification I've actually used. 2 drops in a canteen, carried in your cheap orange whistle/compass combo. My wife showed me this with Girl Scouts training they received and we've used this ever since.

Then I watched these vids:

Carries no water purification at all in brand new Maxpedition zip pack. I guess he forgot he might need to drink water at some point.

I saw pillcase on his caribiner. Figured he had bleach there. Nope. Fish hooks and cotton balls.

Finally,

5:30 discusses why you should not use tablets to purify. in sum, too expensive, and works too slow. 7:05 discusses bleach! yes, finally a survivalist who was a Boy Scout. 2 drops is safe in a one quart canteen.

Store it in an orange whistle/compass screw on cap. Giardia on a camping trip sucks.

This fella prefers Liquid iodine. Good vid. Looks like he actually used his gear. Its not in plastic or a little bag, looks burnt. I like the netting, beats a sock. Smart tip on sanitizing threads.

Caveman wood chopping. Really smart kid. Boiling water best choice.

 

[Woodlife]

Before I moved out here I remember having a conversation about how to clean water in a natural disaster. It was always Iodine or boiling. Infact I didn't know about being able to use bleach to steralize water until recently.

I feel really lucky because the spring water on my property is 100% drinkable strait from the ground. That's part of the reason I bought this land. I can't imagine how bad it could get being in the city and trying to find clean water.

 

[Special K]

I carry bleach in an old Visine eye drops bottle. It's good since it was made for making drops and gives you control over the drops.

 

[Ryn]

I don't carry a bottle of bleach in my backpack. Bleach actually had an expiration date. I have iodide tablets and I have a Katadyn hiker pro and chlorine dioxide tablets. The later comes in drops as well and is much better then bleach in that the expiration date is extremely long and it takes less to purify more.

 

[vicdotcom]

I carry bleach in an old Visine eye drops bottle. It's good since it was made for making drops and gives you control over the drops.

Just make sure it is clearly marked.... would hate for anyone to think it was actually visine

But I don't carry bleach either. I know it works but I would rather not have to rotate it out every few months. Also its effectiveness on cryptpo is questionable.

 

[Special K]

Just make sure it is clearly marked.... would hate for anyone to think it was actually visine

But I don't carry bleach either. I know it works but I would rather not have to rotate it out every few months. Also its effectiveness on cryptpo is questionable.

It is clearly labeled.

 

[Fishlore]

I had a container of bleach leak profusely in my pack one time so I've been hesitant about carrying any chemicals with me. I use a Katadyn or boil.

 

[leaftye]

I use bleach, but also filter because bleach isn't nearly 100% effective against giardia or crypto.

 

[Horned One]

I use iodine crystals. You basically put a bit of the water you want to purify in the bottle, create a solution, and then add it to the rest of your water. Just an ounce of crystals can purify water almost indefinitely, though I think the manufacturer says 500 gallons.

The thing I like about it is you get the most bang for your buck, it doesn't take up much space, and it's almost impossible to accidentally add too much.

 

[TDFbound]

I have almost always used the Iodine crystals method. Just let it sit and create a saturated solution, pour out some iodine solution into your water, refill the bottle with crystals in it, repeat. Only downside is that it is no good for purifying large amounts of water. I can purify 2-3 liters an hour with it, and I've been using the same bottle of crystals for over 8 years.

Read this link instead of using bleach: http://www.survivaltopics.com/survi...-use-calcium-hypochlorite-to-disinfect-water/

Bleach. It expires. Breaks down into salt and water. Not purifying anything with that. The link is about using calcium hypochlorite to purify water. You can store it in a powdered form, which does not have an expiration date, and you can use it in small amounts to create a solution which you would use just like bleach. Hmm... works like bleach, is cheaper than bleach, does not expire like bleach, takes up less space than an equivalent amount of bleach...

 

[Palma]

If he has sunlight and his clear plastic bag he doesn't need bleach. UV rays will purify water. As was stated bleach degrades over time, I believe like 6-8 months and you have lost a lot of its strength. I would keep some iodine tabs just for simplicity sake, and a mini Bic.

 

[leaftye]

The link is about using calcium hypochlorite to purify water. You can store it in a powdered form, which does not have an expiration date, and you can use it in small amounts to create a solution which you would use just like bleach. Hmm... works like bleach, is cheaper than bleach, does not expire like bleach, takes up less space than an equivalent amount of bleach...

That's the first time I've seen someone actually say how much to use.

 

[leaftye]

I'm going to have to do the math to figure out just how little I should be using when I'm hiking. It's going to be miniscule since there's no way I'm making a 2 gallon solution to mix 1:100 into my drinking water. It's more like I'll be working with 3-10 liters at a time, and I'd need to add the calcium hypochlorite directly to what I'll be drinking.

Wait, let me do the math now. 1 heaping teaspoon goes into 2 gallons that goes into 200 gallons. So that's actually 1 heaping teaspoon into 202 gallons of drinking water. So I'd need 1/202nd of a heaping teaspoon per gallon, or 1/808th of a heaping teaspoon per liter.

According to wikipedia:

In the United States one teaspoon is 1⁄3 tablespoon, 1⁄6 U.S. fl. oz, 1⁄48 of a cup, and 1⁄768 of a U.S. liquid gallon (see United States customary units for relative volumes of these other measures). This is approximately 5 mL[4] and 1⁄3 of a cubic inch.

So let's say a heaping teaspoon is roughly 1/3rd bigger than a regular teaspoon. That means 7 mL would be required for 202 gallons of water. If I remember correctly from chemistry lab, 1 mL is equal to 20 drops. 7 mL would have 140 drops, and 140 drops of calcium hypochlorite per 202 gallons of water. That comes out to 0.69 drops of calcium hypochlorite per gallon of water.

I need to start learning how to eyeball 0.69 drops of granulated calcium hypochlorite. Now I understand why people just use inferior bleach!

 

[TDFbound]

I'm going to have to do the math to figure out just how little I should be using when I'm hiking. It's going to be miniscule since there's no way I'm making a 2 gallon solution to mix 1:100 into my drinking water. It's more like I'll be working with 3-10 liters at a time, and I'd need to add the calcium hypochlorite directly to what I'll be drinking.

Wait, let me do the math now. 1 heaping teaspoon goes into 2 gallons that goes into 200 gallons. So that's actually 1 heaping teaspoon into 202 gallons of drinking water. So I'd need 1/202nd of a heaping teaspoon per gallon, or 1/808th of a heaping teaspoon per liter.

According to wikipedia:


So let's say a heaping teaspoon is roughly 1/3rd bigger than a regular teaspoon. That means 7 mL would be required for 202 gallons of water. If I remember correctly from chemistry lab, 1 mL is equal to 20 drops. 7 mL would have 140 drops, and 140 drops of calcium hypochlorite per 202 gallons of water. That comes out to 0.69 drops of calcium hypochlorite per gallon of water.

I need to start learning how to eyeball 0.69 drops of granulated calcium hypochlorite. Now I understand why people just use inferior bleach!

Lol you could measure out less powder and make smaller batches of the solution if you have a scale that counts grams. I remember being able to measure out to the 1/1000 of a gram of chemicals when I used to have chemistry classes. What could be nice would be to measure out the powder for 1 Liter of water and put it in a gel capsule, which you can buy fairly cheap. Then just toss in a capsule into each bottle when you fill it up. I'm guessing the powder weight wouldn't even register on a scale, so it probably wouldn't be feasible to make hundreds of gel-caps. I bet the scale cold be used to measure out enough powder for 1L of solution or less, though.

Edit: While I do admit it would not be easy to use the powder for small-volume applications like personal water while backpacking, I think it really shines for long-term storage for potential treatment of large amounts of water, like an entire cistern or 55 gallon drums.

 

[leaftye]

The dry stuff it way too complicated and imprecise to use for backpacking. I carry around a small dropper bottle of bleach that lasts for weeks, so it's not like I can save much weight or bulk by switching. At best I would prepare a stock solution from calcium hypochlorite that allowed me to use 1 drop to treat 2 liters of water. I'm sure I could create higher concentrations of stock solution, but sometimes I only collect 2 liters of water.

 

[adobewalls]

I have tried to look at this from a practical point of view. If I were to be purifying water for the family, I would be doing it using 5 gallon buckets.

Please check my math on this.

Going through the conversions, 1 gallon is equal to 256 tablespoons; so 5 gallons is equal to 1280 tablespoons (thats 5 * 256). Using chlorine at a 1:100 ratio that implies 13 tablespoons (12.8 rounded) of ~5% chlorine is required per 5 gallon bucket of water. 13 table spoons also converts to about 0.8 cups (per 5 gallons of water).

To work the equivalent for pool shock, if 1 heaping Teaspoon is required to make 2 gallons of bleach, then 2-1/2 heaping teaspoons is required to make five gallons (good for 500 gallons of water.) A teaspoon is approximately 0.25 ounces, so for 5 gallons of water, use 0.025 teaspoons of shock. to put this into practical units, there are 0.25 ounces per teaspoon; so 5 gallons of water would require 0.10 ounces of pool shock.

Again to reduce that to a practical unit that I can measure, convert to grains (437.5 grains in an ounce).

That translates to 44 grains of pool shock to 5 gallons of water.

Again please check my math.

 

[leaftye]

To work the equivalent for pool shock, if 1 heaping Teaspoon is required to make 2 gallons of bleach, then 2-1/2 heaping teaspoons is required to make five gallons (good for 500 gallons of water.) A teaspoon is approximately 0.25 ounces, so for 5 gallons of water, use 0.025 teaspoons of shock. to put this into practical units, there are 0.25 ounces per teaspoon; so 5 gallons of water would require 0.10 ounces of pool shock.

Remember that it calls for a heaping teaspoon, which is an imprecise amount.

Where did you find the weight per teaspoon of pool shock?

You're not accounting for the stock solution, but I guess that's okay since the amount of pool shock in a heaping teaspoon is already a guesstimate.

I believe you did this calculation: (0.25 oz/tsp) / (0.025 tsp). That would get you 0.1 tsp²/oz. Check those units. That doesn't make sense. What you meant to do was (0.25 oz/tsp) * (0.025 tsp) = 0.00625 oz. Notice that in this case the tsp cancels out, leaving you with the unit of ounces that you desire.

Now add some fraction to that to account for it being a heaping amount.

I'll let you convert that to grains.

 

[EagleRiverDee]

I don't like the taste of chemicals in my water. I boil, that's the only method I've ever used. Our water up here (Alaska) is fairly clear and clean to start with, boiling kills whatever is left that I can't see. Plus, the nights are cold and I boil the water at night and pour it into my bottles, then take the bottles into my sleeping bag (wrapped in socks, so I don't burn myself). Stay warm all night.

 

[adobewalls]

leatye, thanks for looking over - I reworked this and agree with your observations.

Where did you find the weight per teaspoon of pool shock?

I was estimating this, I missed the conversion in double checking its 0.1677 ounces per tsp, not the 0.25 I used. My logic was 2-1/2 tsp of shock per 5 gallons makes a 5% Chlorine solution that can treat 500 gals of water. So substitute 5 gal of chlorine for 500 gal of water you have 2-1/2 tsp of shock for 500 gal of water. The conversion was wrong so the 0.10 shock per gal is wrong.

You're not accounting for the stock solution, but I guess that's okay since the amount of pool shock in a heaping teaspoon is already a guesstimate.

Agree, just tryinig to rough this out.

I believe you did this calculation: (0.25 oz/tsp) / (0.025 tsp). That would get you 0.1 tsp²/oz. Check those units. That doesn't make sense.

What you meant to do was (0.25 oz/tsp) * (0.025 tsp) = 0.00625 oz. Notice that in this case the tsp cancels out, leaving you with the unit of ounces that you desire.

I went back and worked this out on paper this time and agree with the 0.00625.

Now add some fraction to that to account for it being a heaping amount.

I'll let you convert that to grains.

Yeesh, that now works out to 2.7 grains. Not to sure I am comfortable with that, I guess I need to try it and compare with using a bleach solution.

 

[TDFbound]

Remember that it calls for a heaping teaspoon, which is an imprecise amount.

Where did you find the weight per teaspoon of pool shock?

You're not accounting for the stock solution, but I guess that's okay since the amount of pool shock in a heaping teaspoon is already a guesstimate.

I believe you did this calculation: (0.25 oz/tsp) / (0.025 tsp). That would get you 0.1 tsp²/oz. Check those units. That doesn't make sense. What you meant to do was (0.25 oz/tsp) * (0.025 tsp) = 0.00625 oz. Notice that in this case the tsp cancels out, leaving you with the unit of ounces that you desire.

Now add some fraction to that to account for it being a heaping amount.

I'll let you convert that to grains.

Anything with units of square teaspoons per ounce gets my vote.