Steri-Pen and my visit to Hydro-Photon.

Steri-Pen UV disinfection unit and my visit to Hydro-Photon, water treatment part III

I have been e-mailed by a few people about the Steri-Pen, but only had knowledge on what they published thus far. I have operated low, medium, and high pressure UV systems, some with peroxidation injection, and thus I found it difficult to believe you could condense 460V, 3-phase units down into a handheld that used only 6V. Since they were only a few hours away and I hated having so many unanswered questions running around, I decided to head to Hydro-Photon, the makers of the Steri-Pen.

I was greeted by one of the people in the main office, who was pleasant and said she would try to answer any questions I had. But, once I started asking about transmittance, log removals, and milli-Joules of output, she shunted me to one of the technicians in the back room. He and I had a long discussion (along with some great hands-on diagnostic time in the R&D area) and I am happy to say my questions were answered in detail to my satisfaction, and I am quite impressed with the Steri-Pen. It is all that it’s cracked up to be.

The makers of the Steri-Pen really did their homework and are committed to producing a quality product. They are passionate and truly care about their quality of work. Here is some of what I found:

· The specially designed and built bulb is fired at 2,000V, as it’s stepped up by a transformer. They test them with NiMH batteries, and while you can use any of the types, that’s what they recommend.
· It outputs over 50mJ/cm2 (averaged 54 while we were testing them), which is above the 40mJ/cm2 required by the NSF/ANSI 55 protocol to achieve a 4-log reduction (99.99%) in crypto/giardia.
· The on time of the unit increases when the thermistor registers below 50°F (10°C).
· The bulb is broken in before shipment to the consumer to homogeneously disperse the mercury across its internal surface providing better efficiency.
· The bulbs have approximately 9,000 cycles of useable life in them when new, but it takes a varying amount to break them in. Thus the Steri-Pen is limited to 5,000 cycles and uses an internal counter to keep track. It flashes a warning every time it’s used for the last 100 cycles to let you know you’re getting close.
· A cycle is either disinfecting 16 oz or 32 oz of water, it doesn’t matter which.
· The bulb is replaceable and several were there for that reason.
· The bulb does not appreciably heat up in the small amount of time, so there is no chance of it burning out. It needs to be submerged in water so the user won’t get “flashed” with the UV dose, ruining their eyes.
· The new filter they developed will filter to 4 microns, so basically it takes out the larger particles that could provide shade for the organisms.
· The filter attaches to the top of a Nalgene, holds the Steri-Pen in place, and protects the threads of the Nalgene so there is no cross contamination. They spent a lot of time developing it, and it shows.


They just did another round of microbiological testing the week prior and have not received the results back yet. They are also developing a 2nd generation Pen, due out in about a year, which will have a considerably better battery life and possibly be a little lighter (not by a lot though, we discussed this). They are also sourcing a second manufacturer for the bulbs in case the price increases dramatically and so they are not reliant on only one supplier.

They are a small company, and the technician told me that any time I have any questions, to e-mail him anytime or just stop by. They were all very friendly and were gracious to take the time for me, even though I showed up without an appointment (I didn't want to just talk to a PR guy, if they had them like some larger companies do).

That’s about all I can remember right now, but it is after 3 AM and I have a club bike ride at 8:30 AM, so I’m headed to bed. If there is anything I forgot, I’ll add it later. In summary I am quite impressed and am considering picking one up to forgo the filter. They are a little pricey, which we also discussed, but after seeing them in depth, I could see them costing a lot more.

I have no affiliation with anyone at Hydro-Photon, nor am I getting anything from them. These are my direct experiences with the company, their people, and their product and this thread is solely for the benefit of the hiking community.

.

A very interesting and informative addendum to the prior water purifying thread. I imagine the technician at Hydro-Photon enjoyed speaking with someone so knowledgeable about water, its properties and the process of making it safe to drink. Word of mouth is the best marketing tool and I'm convinced that for the size, weight and long working life of the Steri-pen, it's worth the investment....

Thanks again Lawn Sale
...Jade
PS This month's AMC Outdoor magazine has an article on the varying ways to make water in the wild safe to drink. The article may be viewed at www.outdoors.org Click on Outdoor Magazine and see the main article index.

Maybe it's just me, but I could not find the link to Outdoor Magazine from the Outdoor.net website. Am I missing something?

Great report Lawn Sale, you're the hydro man!

Try this link.

I'm sorry, my mistake.......it's www.outdoors.org click on AMC Outdoors, then choose 'Equipped'.......
...Jade

Got it, thanks!

Interesting article and even more interesting on how it coincides with what I posted, but I swear I never saw it before.

Also interesting on the Aqua-Star Plus by Meridian Design, I never knew it existed.

Very interesting report. Thanks for the information.

Keith

Thanks for putting in the leg work to check it out. Really outstanding posts on this topic.

Thanks again,
Kevin

Steripen - A Review

Thanks for taking the time for all of us to go an visit the Steripen facility. As a techno-geek, and one who perpertually looks for ways to lighten my pack, I picked up one of these pens last year.

I used it succesfully throughout the hiking season, and found it very much easier to use than a hand-operated pump. I also found that I could "out-pump" a friend of mine who was using a very nice MSR pump. I could sterilize 7 liters to his 6, and saved mega calories, because stiring a pen takes much less effort. Less calories=less food+more hiking energy.

With four AA lithium batteries, the pen weighs in at a scant 12oz. I am looking forward to the next model with extended battery life, as I see this as the only limitation. The pen currently gives you about 50 liters of water before the batteries need to be changed.

In terms of how well it disinfects... Our first trip in April last year the temps were hovering around the freezing point. We used the pen, and we had the MSR pump. Two of us got Giardia as far as I can tell, but I cannot attribute the sickness to the pen. We also had eaten out of some pots which were cleaned in Ethan Pond but not sterilized afterwords. Luckily Giardia does not affect my system too badly. My friend did not fair quite so well.

We used the pen the rest of the summer with no ill effects. This included a 4 day backpack in Baxter State Forest. I was careful to choose more upstream water sources, and we made sure to wash our pots with filtered/penned water. No one got sick.

In summary, here is what I like about the pen.

1) You don't have to wait to drink the water.
2) The water does not have iodine or filter taste.
3) Steripen is very light.
4) Steripen is easy to use, saving you much needed calories.

Here is what I don't like. None of these really bother me about the pen though.

1) Dependent on batteries.
2) Expensive.
3) Difficult to sterilize into a CamelBack.

Let me also note that I bring the Steripen with me to lots of places. I will often throw it in my daypack/babypack as it is much lighter to bring the pen and 2 liters of water than haul around 4 liters all day. If I went abroad I would bring the pen with me to sterilize whatever water I am drinking there.

This is probably my favourite backpacking specific product for 2005.

-percious

Thanks again Lawn Sale for the great info on the SteriPEN. I picked one up this weekend, and look forward to giving it some good use.

Also, thanks Percious for your in-the-field info. I hope you are right in attributing your giardia to washing pots in untreated water.

percious said:

We also had eaten out of some pots which were cleaned in Ethan Pond but not sterilized afterwords.

Click to expand...

Just to state the fairly obvious: just bringing water to a boil in the pots will sterilize them. (Heating food to a boil in them will, of course, do the same.)

So even if we don't clean our pots perfectly after using them, it is easy to sterilize them on the next use. Similarly, when melting snow, bringing the water to a boil before using it will take care of any pathogens in the pot or the snow. (Of course, in winter we also keep the dirty pots and dishes in the freezer to minimize problems... )

Doug

Unfortunately in my case I ate food out of the pot, using it like a dish before there was any water boiled in it.

-percious

steripen

Thanks for highly informative report. Did you discuss cold weather perfromance with the tech? We experienced some diffculties last winter at about 5 above where the lamp would simply not stay on long enough to complete the job. We were using ice cold water taken from a stream. I hope it isn't necessary to heat water first.

Yes, we did discuss it, but he said it wasn't a problem as the thermcouple in the unit will automatically increase the amount of time needed. From talking with them, if you had any problems with it at all I'd recommend giving them a call as they're very concerned about them working properly.