Gravity Fed Water Filter Systems

[DayTrip]

I've been researching gravity fed water filtration systems for a bit and was curious here if anyone uses a set up like this. My target use is for car camping and multi-day backpacking trips with convenient water sources to use where I'll use decent quantities of water and I don't want to invest the time to be devoted to that one task when I could be doing other stuff (setting up the tent, getting food ready, etc). My typical Summer "system" is a 1L Nalgene, a Katahdyn pump style filter and the MSR 4L Dromedary Heavy Duty bag. Not the lightest for sure but I like the versatility of it, particularly the large, highly durable MSR bladder.

Seems to be a lot of gravity options out there. I think the Platypus GravityWorks set up is closest to what I am imagining for my situation. 4L is certainly big enough and based on the claimed weight would actually be lighter than my current set up. I guess my major questions are the durability of the bags, especially if they are jammed in a backpack, and whether they filter water as quickly as they claim or if this is just adding another element of aggravation to the process trying to save the filtering time. MSR also makes an absurdly expensive version that sounds great from a water purification point of view but I also wonder about that bag (which is pretty large). Probably more suited to car camping and maybe disaster back up for the house.

If anyone is using such a system and has feedback on it I'd be curious to hear the pros/cons. Thanks in advance.

 

[TCD]

Focus on the backpacking criteria. For car camping, just bring a bunch of gallon bottles of water - the car can carry it.

 

[DayTrip]

Focus on the backpacking criteria. For car camping, just bring a bunch of gallon bottles of water - the car can carry it.

Yes they can! I have 3.7 gallon water bricks for that. I should have clarified my thought better. I was thinking of "car camping" scenarios like Baxter or similar places where you have walk in sites and a stream is more convenient than a 0.3 mile walk to the car, which essentially is a backpacking scenario so the same features would make sense. Maybe just a larger/smaller reservoir bag or multiple sized bags,

 

[egilbe]

I tried making a gravity filter setup with a Sawyer 1 Gallon bag and food grade silicone tubing and a Sawyer mini, since I have a bunch of those filters lying around. The results weren't that great. I'm not sure if the i.d. of the tubing is too small, or the Sawyer mini is just a sucky filter all around. I may buy a Squeeze and some slightly larger tubing and see if that makes a difference in the flow rate. I've seen videos where it works, seen hikers using gravity filters and it was almost as fast as using the Sawyer Squeeze, if a heavier and more complicated setup.

In your above scenario, I wouldn't filter cooking water, I would boil it and only filter drinking water. I'm not above boiling potatoes in water scooped right from Katahdin stream or Roaring brook, for example.

 

[Mac]

I've seen a Sawyer Squeeze in use. Produced 8 litres of water (for 8 people) in about 20 minutes (including lugging the water from the pond). I lugged, owners of the Squeeze produced.

 

[DayTrip]

I tried making a gravity filter setup with a Sawyer 1 Gallon bag and food grade silicone tubing and a Sawyer mini, since I have a bunch of those filters lying around. The results weren't that great. I'm not sure if the i.d. of the tubing is too small, or the Sawyer mini is just a sucky filter all around. I may buy a Squeeze and some slightly larger tubing and see if that makes a difference in the flow rate. I've seen videos where it works, seen hikers using gravity filters and it was almost as fast as using the Sawyer Squeeze, if a heavier and more complicated setup.

In your above scenario, I wouldn't filter cooking water, I would boil it and only filter drinking water. I'm not above boiling potatoes in water scooped right from Katahdin stream or Roaring brook, for example.

I've seen a lot of references to the Sawyer mini being prone to clogging and requiring a lot of back flushing. I found some good reviews of systems on Outdoor Gear Labs this morning and I'm thinking I'm going to go with the Katadyn Gravity Camp 6L. It has a pleated glass/carbon filter unlike many similar products so it does not get damaged when it freezes, which would be a huge plus for shoulder season. It also looks like a very durable bag and construction. I use the Hiker Pro as my pump filter and have a generally good opinion of Katadyn products from my experiences with them so that'll probably give it the edge over other similar designs like Platypus and MSR.

I have to say I started with a Sawyer Squeeze as my first filter and while it certainly is light and simple I found that whole system extremely annoying. I hate the material they make their bags out of and found it very tedious flailing it around back and forth even in a good source to get water in it (I now know I could configure differently but it's still the same general premise). I like that most of these gravity bags open like a stuff sack and can be just filled up in seconds and cinched down. Seems like a way less annoying way to get the job done. Especially considering after you fill it you really aren't doing anything at all.

 

[egilbe]

I'm on my third water bag for my Sawyer squeeze. I can get two seasons out of them before it fails. I have an Evernew bag as soon as my last two liter Sawyer bag fails. I cut off a water bottle, may have been a poland spring bottle, that I use as a scoop for puddles, ponds and the like to fill the Sawyer bag. Usually at a stream, I can find a little waterfall that will fill the bag easy enough. Backflush the squeeze every couple of weeks and its no issue.