# Homemade water filters



## paratus (Jan 31, 2014)

For a while now, I've been planning to make some large homemade water filters. Activated charcoal plus 4 layers of sand & gravel. 

I live in a rural area, so access to water shouldn't be a problem. It may have natural contaminants like animal waste and dead animals. There's also no telling what else it might have picked up because rural people aren't careful about where they dump their trash, oil, etc. 

How likely is it that a home made filter will clean the water safe enough to drink (after boiling of course)?

If they work well enough, how long can I use a homemade filter before it needs to be replaced? I know the activated charcoal has a limited lifespan, but a lot of what I've read says the more you use the sand and gravel part, the better it works.

Anyone know about this?


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## specknowsbest (Jan 5, 2014)

paratus said:


> For a while now, I've been planning to make some large homemade water filters. Activated charcoal plus 4 layers of sand & gravel.
> 
> I live in a rural area, so access to water shouldn't be a problem. It may have natural contaminants like animal waste and dead animals. There's also no telling what else it might have picked up because rural people aren't careful about where they dump their trash, oil, etc.
> 
> ...


I honestly couldn't tell you about the maximum reliable uses you'd get out of one filter, but there's another good trick for pulling out most oils and contaminates from water, and that's running the water through cotton or polyester (I prefer cotton) like a t-shirt into a receptacle for the water. After that, you can boil most everything else out of the water.


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## preppersintent (Jan 26, 2014)

They will last a long time, they are considered a biological filter and will work better with age, altho ...at some point will need a freshen up(flushing/cleaning)as the sand can get over dosed with bio-mass...like an aquarium undergravel filter...the charcoal needs to be cleaned at this time, this can be achieved at baking for a several hours at high temp...thus burning any particulate debris that may have made it to that layer,and or cleaning /killing any bacteria.......hope this helps.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

I put several home made filters together using the plastic 5 gallon buckets from Lowes, Berkey filters, and a spigot. Easy to do and it works well!
There are several Youtube videos online, here is one.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

If you are in a rural (farming, agriculture, ranching) area then you need to test your water for nitrates, metals, herbicides and pesticides. Your home-made filter is not likely to remove these and they might exist at toxic levels. Boiling your water will only concentrate the levels of these contaminates making it less safe to drink. A reflux still will give you pure clean water.


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## paratus (Jan 31, 2014)

How well does a Berkey filter do against those types of contaminants? I can't seem to find a "review" that doesn't look suspiciously like a paid advertisement.


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## Just Sayin' (Dec 5, 2013)

I'm not trying to start anything here, but isn't the water purification sort of like the hand sanitizer conundrum? A pretty large part of the population worldwide does not have access to "clean water". Yes, it is advisable to drink the cleanest water possible and avoid as many of the obvious contaminants as we can. Any steps we take to clean our water are to our benefit, but if it really gets down to it, drink whatever water is available. If it has traces of pesticides, herbicides, or other man-made contaminates, they are most likely well below the LD50 threshold (the dose that will kill 50% of the lab mice in one dose) and if you consider gastro-intestinal problems in your preps, you should be able to drink most water with a minimum of treatment. Eventually, your gut will adapt to the less than tapwater quality and you won't have to treat every bit of water. Think about dogs, cats, horses, goats, and even a large part of the human population. It's largely a matter of acclimation, more so than the pathogen.


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

Yes, Just saying, I think like you do, that if its "in the water", its also on us, in the air, everywhere. Now, Im not advocating drinking mossy dead pondwater, but, If I was to choose from dying of thirst, or drinking some nearby water, I would risk it. Acclimation-you dont see mexicans getting montezuma's revenge..


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Simple system would be running water threw a cloth filter then boiling it.

There is no, this type filter will do X amount of gallons. It depends on how bad the water is. I like using a prefilter. That can be coffee filter or a colander with a pillow case over it.

If you need hot water to cook with then easy choice is boiling the water first.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

I recently bought this to make my own.

Amazon.com: Ceramic Water Filter Kit by Just Water: Kitchen & Dining


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## KYPrepper (Jan 17, 2014)

I'm with JusySayin and Deebo, if I'm in desperate need for water and have no way to purify it, more than likely I'll have my bandana on or some piece of cloth and I'll run the water through that just to get the sticks and bugs and what not out of it, then bottoms up. I've personally never made a filter with those objects, I made a small portable filter which consists of a layer of coffe filter, layer of a thin piece of foam, a layer of cotton bandana, then the same layout again. All inside a travel bottle for toiletries. After that process then I boil. If I can't boil, and it's necessary for me to get some liquid in me, I would drink it without the boiling step. Don't get me wrong I've definitely heard the charcoal/sand filter is the better homemade way to go, compared to mine at least.


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## BlackDog (Nov 23, 2013)

Inceptor, check out Homespun Environmental. They sell the exact same filter that you got at a much better price. I have a few for long term use. A good thing about these (and I'm assuming Berkey) is that in addition to filtering out the big stuff they also use activated charcoal which absorbs chemicals and heavy metals. They are rated for 2k to 5k gallons depending on which you get. My understanding is that really applies to the AC. Of course, that would also depend on how high the concentrations were and without sophisticated testing I can't think of any way you could tell. The ceramic itself would last much longer. I keep some AC around to either try to reload it or simply make a secondary AC filter if I feel the original AC is saturated. 
All that said, and though I also keep some other purification methods around (water straws, CalHypo, etc.) I agree with others who say if you are dying of thirst, filter as best you can and drink it. And believe me, you will. I've been on some dry jobsites where I got so thirsty mudpuddles were looking good.
Also, on the acclimating thing, I grew up in a rural area and we drank from creeks (then known as cricks) and streams all the time with no ill effects. However, our suburban cousins would get sick as dogs whenever they did it.


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## Riot (Feb 1, 2014)

SDF880 said:


> I put several home made filters together using the plastic 5 gallon buckets from Lowes, Berkey filters, and a spigot. Easy to do and it works well!
> There are several Youtube videos online, here is one.


Easy enough. Seems if you add one or two more filters it would move the water faster.


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## paratus (Jan 31, 2014)

I'm not sure of the viability of stocking years or decades worth of manufactured filters. 

I'd rather develop something that I can get a lot of life out of, then replace with available source material.


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## shadownmss (Nov 13, 2012)

inceptor said:


> I recently bought this to make my own.
> 
> Amazon.com: Ceramic Water Filter Kit by Just Water: Kitchen & Dining


I have this very same setup and use this "prep" on a daily basis as our tap water is terrible. I have even tested it using creek water and it does a good job. I would highly recommend it.


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## BlackDog (Nov 23, 2013)

paratus said:


> I'm not sure of the viability of stocking years or decades worth of manufactured filters.
> 
> I'd rather develop something that I can get a lot of life out of, then replace with available source material.


Absolutely. I view most all preps that way. Having a years worth of food and ways to make water potable is great, but what happens if the situation goes on longer? The initial preps are to allow us to live as comfortably as possible while putting sustainable plans into action.


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## Notsoyoung (Dec 2, 2013)

Just Sayin' said:


> I'm not trying to start anything here, but isn't the water purification sort of like the hand sanitizer conundrum? A pretty large part of the population worldwide does not have access to "clean water". Yes, it is advisable to drink the cleanest water possible and avoid as many of the obvious contaminants as we can. Any steps we take to clean our water are to our benefit, but if it really gets down to it, drink whatever water is available. If it has traces of pesticides, herbicides, or other man-made contaminates, they are most likely well below the LD50 threshold (the dose that will kill 50% of the lab mice in one dose) and if you consider gastro-intestinal problems in your preps, you should be able to drink most water with a minimum of treatment. Eventually, your gut will adapt to the less than tapwater quality and you won't have to treat every bit of water. Think about dogs, cats, horses, goats, and even a large part of the human population. It's largely a matter of acclimation, more so than the pathogen.


Animals have are different from humans, have different tolerances, and different metabolisms. People in 3rd world countries do indeed drink polluted water, and as a result their infant mortality rates are through the roof and their life expectancies are drastically lower then ours. In a shtf situation where your resistance may be lowered due to stress and a lack of good nutrition, and excessive labor, getting a case of chronic diarrhea not only does not sound appealing to me, it could very well be fatal. Check out how many of our founding fathers died from dysentery. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are two off the top of my head. How many Civil War soldiers died from it? In any preparation for survival, clean and safe water is of the utmost importance.


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## paratus (Jan 31, 2014)

Boiling will handle the dysentery issue. I'm concerned with removing contaminants so it's OK to boil.

Here in coal country, there's no guarantee the ground water isn't contaminated, so a well may not be safe. You don't know what might have happened to water 5, 10, or 20 miles upstream, so even creeks and rivers aren't without risks.

I don't believe I can store enough rain water during the wet season to get 5-15 people through the dry season.

I need to find a long long long term solution.


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## Arizona Infidel (Oct 5, 2013)

paratus said:


> For a while now, I've been planning to make some large homemade water filters. Activated charcoal plus 4 layers of sand & gravel.
> 
> I live in a rural area, so access to water shouldn't be a problem. It may have natural contaminants like animal waste and dead animals. There's also no telling what else it might have picked up because rural people aren't careful about where they dump their trash, oil, etc.
> 
> ...


 you know what, that sounds like a good experiment/project, and I think you are the man to conduct it. I nominate Paratus to conduct this project. Can I get a second? 
I am looking forward to seeing the outcome of this.


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

My homemade sand/gravel/carbon filter worked ok. It did nothing for the color. 

But the longer it sits in the filter, the better it works. The trick is to make the water flow really really slow, so the biomass builds up in the sand and makes it work better


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## paratus (Jan 31, 2014)

Arizona Infidel said:


> you know what, that sounds like a good experiment/project, and I think you are the man to conduct it. I nominate Paratus to conduct this project. Can I get a second?
> I am looking forward to seeing the outcome of this.


Are home water quality test kits sufficient, or does something more in depth need to be done?


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## Vagabond (Jan 14, 2014)

Just Sayin', Deebo, KY, Good point. As a kid I pretty often drank from the gutters after rain or neighbors washing cars or watering yards. I didnt care where it came from, I was a small child and thirsty. Just having too much fun with my friends to go home quick. Never got sick from that. That was in southern California near Anaheim. Wouldn't suggest doing that on a whim anymore, but if you cannot filter it, if you have a choice between that and dehydration, drink. if it's going to be a regular thing, might as well get used to it. If you can manage a way to filter your water on an ongoing basis, do it. If SHTF is a permanent/semi permanent thing, may as well get used to dirt. The rest will (mostly) eventually dissipate


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