Author Topic: SteriPen water purifier  (Read 3626 times)

howardfernlover

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SteriPen water purifier
« on: 13:36:09, 12/01/08 »
Father Christmas somehow knew that I needed new and lightweight water purifying equipment, and he (my wife, actually) gave me a SteriPen Adventurer, which is smaller and lighter than the original SteriPen, as well as being more affordable, particularly if you shop around on the Internet.

For anyone who's not familiar with the item, it's a little, battery powered device about the size of a small-to-medium torch, that uses ultraviolet light to treat water by "disrupting the DNA of microbes" simply by pushing a button that gives a timed (48 seconds) treatment, with indicator lights.

I have two minor concerns about its use:

(1) It's not going to remove solids and gunk (sediment, vegetable matter, etc) like a filter would, nor chemicals, pollutants, heavy metals, etc.  Naturally, I do not intend to carry extra weight in the form of a filter.  On the other hand, maybe this is not worth bothering about, because water purifying tablets don't do anything about these either, and I used to use Potable Aqua on trips for several years.

(2) Of slightly more concern, it doesn't disinfect above the surface of the water in the container (flask, billycan, whatever), so droplets of water on the sides, or the rim where you drink from, could still be contaminated.  With Potable Aqua and the like, you are instructed to loosen the cap of your container and shake it after treatment, so that the water goes over the lip and screw threads.

They say two (or more) heads are better than one, and I'd be interested to read other forum members' thoughts.  I'm probably worrying about nothing.  After all, there are plenty of walkers and backpackers who will happily drink water directly from mountain streams without treating it, but I have a sensitive stomach and I'm not prepared to take any chances.  I still haven't forgotten the collywobbles I once got in France after brushing my teeth in a little stream.


mike knipe

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #1 on: 20:36:48, 12/01/08 »
Don't mess about interfering  with bugs DNA with a fancy gadget, simply boil the little [censored] to death with a gas stove.

This wouldnt  help with chemicals or debris, though.

If its got chemicals in it, you cant drink it. (It will probably look a funny colour eg red or orange or have an oily scum)

Debris of the bits of grass and a few midgies sort is OK, if a bit unsightly, to consume.

Peaty water is also OK, since peat is sterile, if a bit acid. Peat is just debris, really.

But only peaty water from a fast-running stream.  Dont ever, though,  drink the algae-infested rank stuff in a peat bog as this will burn its way through to your bottom in a few short minutes.  Its not really water, its something quite evil and it will live in your socks until it is ready to take over the world. Both Adolf Hitler AND Idi Amin started out as small pools of brown water.
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howardfernlover

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #2 on: 11:42:01, 13/01/08 »
Some interesting information there, Mike, for which many thanks.

Boiling is out from me, because that would mean carrying more gas, i.e. another cartridge, which means more weight on my back.  I believe you have to let the water boil for 4 to 5 minutes?

I've certainly ingested a few bits of grass and little insects in my time, they add a bit of starch and protein to the water to make it more interesting.

I prefer to take from running water, and sometimes this has been from no more than litlle, dripping runs half hidden in the grass, but even these are always around when I want, and consequently I've often used still water ranging from large lakes to tiny little pools, of which there are plenty in the Snowdonia mountains.

The chemical(s) I would be most likely to encounter is sheep dip.  A stream I used water from last year, some miles to the east of Trawsfynydd, had some dumped car tyres in it, quite a distance from the road, they must have been washed downstream when it was in spate.  They looked as if they had been there a few years so I figured the water would be OK to use. 

howardfernlover

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #3 on: 11:44:28, 13/01/08 »
Error in my last post, it should read:

....even these are NOT always around when I want....

Sorry for any confusion

mike knipe

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #4 on: 13:23:14, 13/01/08 »
There's quite a lot of naturally occuring iron in most parts of the country, which can get into water.  Sometimes you see what appears to be an oily film on puddles but it you poke it with a bit of grass and it breaks up into sharp-edged segments, then this is an iron deposit. Its really bad in the South Pennines along the Pennine Way and some becks are bright orange. 
A reservoir keeper in the Borders  (I happened to be boozing with...) once told me that after heavy rain, streams are full of cattle/sheep/deer  poo-based bugs washed out of the soil - so streams in spate have to be very suspect, I think. Some of these bugs are parasitic little monsters that bury into your intestines.... oooer (as they say at the water board). Most people's stomach acids deal with these very effectively, though - but it only takes one to get through! Its the hillwalking equivalent risk of eating a pink chicken leg (Thats an undercooked leg, not a leg from a pink chicken!)
I tend to stay away from still water, though I did camp by Loch rannoch one night and had some of that for me tea. I think I boiled it, but not for 4 or 5 minutes - a quick flash only.
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howardfernlover

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #5 on: 14:18:50, 13/01/08 »
Sounds like I'm echanging messages with an expert, Mike?  Reading between the lines, the water board, is it?

My tap water, btw, comes from the Thames at Datchet.  It's said to have passed through the bodies of at least six people before we get it.

Going back to the SeriPen, the blurb says it is effective against:
"Outdoor microbes such as cryptosporidium, viruses, bacteria and giardia; Travel pathogens that cause diarrhea, dysentry, hepatitis and legionaires' disease; Household germs such as bird flu (I'm only quoting what it says on the box!!! It gets worse in a minute, you can tell it's an American product) and influenzas, E. coli and salmonella, staph and strep; Natural disaster/bio-terror risks that cause botulism, cholera, smallpox and typhoid. "

So there you are, have one of these handy in your cupboard ready for when those nasty zealots start trying to wipe the rest of us out.  And the SteriPen does all this, it says, by disrupting the functional DNA of microbes, without which they can't reproduce or make you sick.  It had better work, because my other half paid a lot of money for it!

mike knipe

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #6 on: 19:11:55, 13/01/08 »
Sounds like I'm echanging messages with an expert, Mike?  Reading between the lines, the water board, is it?

Nah, I just been around a long time. No, I mean a Loooooong time.  I use to work for the NH(cough)S. The water/bugs stuff came from  a WGL training thing I did in Stirling, on which there was also a water board man from Talla Cleugh (look it up!) and a lot of teachers from Ft William. and the Iron stuff came from a geologist I once went a walk with and asked him "whats that oily water there?" - and he told me how to distinguish between oil and iron. (oil makes pretty patterns - iron goes into lumps) You have to learn these things y'know....its just a matter of listening to what people are mutterring on about   
 If I were you, I just use me UV pen thing and carry a toilet roll, some sterile wipes  and a trowel.  Or boil it to death (gas isnt all that heavy really)
Incidentally, I also learned on a fairly recent Pennine Way walk that the irony water in the South Pennines starts in springs very high up on the hills. If you walk downstream for a bit, you should find perfectly clear water gushing out of the ground and diluting the nasty orange stuff.
I also learned that the same B&Q delivery van makes eight passes of Junction 22 on the  M62 between 5:00 pm and 8:30 pm , after which it appears to have gone home.
And that Jct 22 of the M62 is the main hunting territory for a rather handsome kestrel, who comes back to hunt the same spot every 90 minutes.
And if you drink enough rough whisky after tea, you'll be asleep long before it goes dark, and awake long after it's become light. thereby making redundant the need for a headlight and spare batterries....



Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

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mike knipe

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #7 on: 19:13:14, 13/01/08 »
Ooer, not quite sure what happened to me posting there....  Look, I'm not a computer engineer!!
Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

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Solofool

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #8 on: 12:28:18, 16/01/08 »
Dont know if its any help but i use one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SURVIVAL-MICRO-PURIFICATION-FILTER-WATER-BOTTLE-SYSTEM_W0QQitemZ330202957844QQihZ014QQcategoryZ97045QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I carry that and a platapus 2ltr (empty) along with a cheap 1ltr plastic bottle. When i am about to set up camp i find a stream fill it up and squese into my platy and fill it up, it is actually quite amazing, put brown dirty water in one end and out comes clean water the other.  It is simple and it works, you can of course be super clean and put some steri tabs in.

Ascender

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #9 on: 08:46:28, 29/01/08 »
Hi Howard

It sounds like you have a pen but dont have another piece of useful kit the guys at Steripen sell with it, and which they use in their promotional material. Bit like having a water pump without a hose, so I can see why you have a couple of issues with it. The problems you have are :

(1) It's not going to remove solids and gunk (sediment, vegetable matter, etc) like a filter would, nor chemicals, pollutants, heavy metals, etc.  Naturally, I do not intend to carry extra weight in the form of a filter.  On the other hand, maybe this is not worth bothering about, because water purifying tablets don't do anything about these either, and I used to use Potable Aqua on trips for several years.

This is not a problem if you use the Water Bottle Pre Filter. This takes the form of a cup unit with an inserted sieve type filter which doubles up as an air outlet. This filters out the little bits and pieces of debris, but not the chemicals etc. Like you, I wonder what the solution is to heavy metals and other non-biological contaminants. At least with changing farming practices some of these will be on the decline.

(2) Of slightly more concern, it doesn't disinfect above the surface of the water in the container (flask, billycan, whatever), so droplets of water on the sides, or the rim where you drink from, could still be contaminated.  With Potable Aqua and the like, you are instructed to loosen the cap of your container and shake it after treatment, so that the water goes over the lip and screw threads.

When i bought my Steripen right at the start the instructions said to screw the Water Bottle Pre Filter to the top of a Nalgene bottle, scoop up the water, place in the pen, and turn upside down (forms a seal with the filter) to activate the light. That way the light penetrates the entire surface of the bottle and you are advised to swill it around while you do it. They then suggest pouring a little over the lid to wash that, and bobs ya uncle.

Ive been using mine for a couple of years now and it seems fine. Used some very dodgy looking water sources in Africa and Im still here. For more info about the filter take a look at http://www.steripen.com/steripen_products.html [nofollow] towards the bottom of the page.
« Last Edit: 08:48:18, 29/01/08 by Ascender »

howardfernlover

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #10 on: 13:47:37, 01/02/08 »
Many thanks to Solofool and Ascender for the last two replies to my query.  Sorry for the delay in ackowledging them, as I have only just found them.

I get the impression that the ticked "Notify me of replies" box on this forum only does so for the next couple of posts, after which it doesn't notify me any more, for this isn't the first time I've found further messages on a post than I'd been made aware of.

Does this happen to other members?  Even if I do have nothing to do and all day to do it in, or that's what the rest of the family think ("You still on that b..... computer?") there's a limit to how much time I want to spend scrolling around the forum looking for new stuff.

Snowman

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #11 on: 01:20:30, 02/02/08 »
I'm not familiar with this piece of equipment, but my own is one of those expensive (£100+) devices that are supposed to filter out just about every bug, all muck, and do it in quick time.    To my knowledge it's been fine.

A few years ago Trail magazine did a piece where they checked various mountain water sources in the UK.    If you've read this, you'd never 'take a chance'.  They were mostly nice looking, fast running streams, but the water was far from safe.

If you think it's OK to take the chance, take a look on the Internet at the long term risks.    Alien (the film)? That's nice and quck.

S.

Snowman

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #12 on: 01:28:36, 02/02/08 »
... oh yes, and the other thing I used (once) was Iodine.    Just taste it though, even with neutralising tablets.

S

ROD

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Re: SteriPen water purifier
« Reply #13 on: 22:40:36, 05/03/08 »
Hmmmm.....Just my 2p...........havent read all this thread ,but , the brochure for the Finnish adventure we are going on, says the river/lake water in those parts is ok to drink without treatment . yeah ...so is the tap water in Greece ,if youre a local whose body is conditioned to it fom birth !Thought I may get a steriliser ,dont know which one yet tho'.

 

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