Water filters?

Started by dave423, April 13, 2006, 01:22:20 PM

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dave423

At our property we have a couple of year-round creeks with a pretty good flow.  I was wondering if anyone knows of a passive water purification system that could clean up creek water enough to be used in a hot tub, or maybe for washing clothes and dishes.  A ceramic filter should do the trick, if anyone has an idea of where to get one.  We're going camping up there again this weekend, lots of work to do.  I'll post pics of any progress we may make.

Jimmy_Cason



Amanda_931

#2
Not good for a hot tub, but a Big Berkey takes out a whole lot of bad stuff.  I got one from somebody who sold through Yahoo, seems like there are more vendors around now.

But at the moment at least, I'm not using it.  Half the people I know drink directly from their springs, only occasionally get ill for a day or two.  Like when there hasn't been any rain for weeks.

Some water tester told the people down by the river that they might just as well pull water straight from the river, it was probably cleaner than most of the wells, and well within specs (and can I get the word well in to this sentence another three times?  Not without being silly).

Art Ludwig talks about using ponds to settle out the bad stuff.  One pond was a local swimming hole, and even so, the water was less polluted coming out the overflow from the pond than it was going into it.  In his book on water storage.

Rainwater harvesting for clothes.  Nice soft water, if you're not in serious acid rain country.

So, at minimum, test first.

Sassy

At the house Glenn grew up in Oregon, they used the nearby spring - I've been there several times & the water was cold, clear & tasted great!  They did have a problem one time when a salamander got caught in the pipe, they kept complaining that the water tasted & smelled like rotten fish!   :o

We have well water at our place in the valley & here at the cabin & our year around spring has really good water flowing from that... but just a little ways away, the water has a lot of iron in it, doesn't taste very good & stains everything.

Even though we have well water in the valley, we also filter it through a reverse osmosis & charcoal filter that we got from Costco...
(haven't changed the filters in it for 3 years - don't really know what's growing in it now, but haven't gotten sick from it...  ;) )

lodestar

#4
We use a big berkey for our drinking and cooking water.  Our well water is good, I've had it tested, but never know what could change that without us even knowing it.  We travel with a katadyn filter.

If your plans are just for bathing or clothes washing, you should be able to set up a sediment system that will allow the particles to settle to the bottom of an easily cleanable tank...and you draw clear water from above the sediment level.


Amanda_931

Not a clear poly tank, though.  

Unless you just love algae smells.  And taking the tank to the car wash every six months or a year.

Asphalt paint--or one of the Henry's products--may cover it adequately.

tarps won't.  I've tried.

dave423

We have a couple of good springs for drinking water.  We haven't had them tested, but people that live nearby who have access to city water ride their 4 wheelers up to our big spring just to get a couple of gallons of spring water because it tastes better than city water.  No chlorine for fluoride  The big spring runs year round.  The only problem is that it is about 1000 ft from where we want to build.  Eventually we will build a spring house and pipe the water to where we want it.  For now, we just carry what we need to camp with.

The creeks are clear and full of minnows and crayfish. We called them "minners and crawdads" when I was growing up here in East Tennessee.  There's at least one large snapping turtle we've seen, and several species of snakes.  I would not want to drink creek water if I didn't have to because of the possibility of bacteria and, how do I say this politely . . . animal contamination.  We can use creek water for masonry work, and of course we play in the creek.  I've been looking into ceramic filters like the kind Potters for Peace make for use in third world countrys.  

We might use a dual water system, with spring water for drinking and the dishes, and creek water for toilets and washing clothes.  Who knows?  It's all in the thought exercise stage now, and it will be years before any decision has to be made.

With all that water just running right by us all the time, I can't help but think that there must be some way I can use water power for something.  Many years ago, there was a grist mill on this creek, just above our property line, so there's plenty of flow.  We might be able to generate enough power for lights or something small like that.  The power lines run right by us, along with phone, cable TV and broadband internet, so going off the grid is not really necessary.  In fact, in the short run, it would be much more expensive to go off the grid than to go on.  

Oh, the possibilities.  Well, time to pack and off to play in the mountains.  Have a wonderful weekend!

glenn-k

You can use a water ram using stream power to pump your water for free if elevation rise is not excessive.

Amanda_931

Ram pumps don't require either much head or much flow.  More than I've got, at least in the summer, although a friend really wants me to try it.  He did not see it in August. and I still don't think there's enough head from my spring to the edge of my property along the stream.  But three feet of head and a couple of gallons/minute will do it, remember you are pumping 24 hours a day.  

This guy started with an amazingly loud antique pump, has designed and upgraded to an off-the-shelf parts but the scrounging is also easy one that is almost inaudible.  I think he pushes the water up maybe 15 feet vertical to a tank then back down to the house in large enough pipes to simulate water pressure.  Might be higher, but I don't think they have running water upstairs in their house, pretty sure they don't have water pressure from a pump.  But the upstairs was added not that long ago, the water system has been around longer.

In general it's hard to pull water.  That's why they have submersible pumps.  But pushing it is pretty easy.