Gravity water filtration DIY

[N2mywake]

Interested to hear if any of you built your own gravity water filters for a back country camp.
I have a katadyn hiker pro filter that has worked great of several hunts but was thinking about building the gravity filter to save some time at camp (we filter about 5 gal per day for 3 people).


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[saddlesore]

Here is what I did.

You will need :

A First Need filter cannister,
two 1/'4" hose bibs with 1/8" pipe threads
About 8 ft of 1/4" tygon tubing.
two plastic collapsible 5 gallon water jugs
several small hose clamps
1inline fuel filter that has 1/4 " fittings on each end.
teflon plumber's tape

Cut the nipple off the output end of the First Need Cannister, drill it out with proper tap drill for 1/8 pipe, then tap it with a 1/8"pipe threads.

Install on of those bibs on the output of the cannister.
Carefully install the other hose bib on one of the caps with spigot of the plastic collapsible water jug. The hose bib will fit into the spout with a little coaxing,but you might need to wrap it with electrician's tape and use a hose clamp on it.

Cut a piece of tygon about a foot long,wash the inline fuel filter with alcohol and install that filter with the foot long piece of tygon on the water jug cap you have the hos bib on. Secure with hose clamp. Cut another piece of tygon about 3 foot long attach to the fuel filter output and to the input of the filter cannister. The input of the cannister has nipple on it that the tygon will fit.

Use the remaining 4 foot of tygon to attach to the output of the cannister where you put the other hose bib.Secure all fittings with hosec lamps

Fill the water jug that has the fuel filter on it and hang from a tree or? .

Stick the end of the lower 4 foot tygon into the other plastic jug and let water gravity feed thru it.


The fuel filter acts a pre filter to get out larger particles.The First Need Cannister will filter about 50 gallons.Do not let it freeze though.

[Indian Summer]

I'm too impatient for those and they can freeze if the temps drop. Plus with only gravity for pressure they can really slow down if the filter isn't new.

My Katydyn Vario will fill a 5 gallon jug in like 5 minutes. Love the two way lever action pump.

[N2mywake]

I like it Vince. trying to reduce the work around camp to increase hunting time. I'm a little concerned with the possibility of it freezing but I will have my katadyn with me in my daypack anyhow as a backup.

a buddy rigged his setup using filter straw's. I'm not entirely confident in it's ability to filter thoroughly.

[saddlesore]

It's pretty easy to keep from freezing .Wrap it up on your bedroll during the day and take it inside or wrap it up at night.In 20 years or so.I have only used two filter cannisters. You need to have that prefilter.Sometimes you have top put a small hole in the top bag to let air in as it drains . Any filtering system must be kept from freezing if you cannot get 100% of the water out.

Typically it takes about 20-30 minutes to filter 5 gallons,but you are not there pumping all the times. So you can be doing other camp chores.I early seasons like archery or muzzle loader , you can set it up to filter while you are out hunting ,or let it filer overnight

[VT Sasquatch]

I may have to try that saddlesore. Thanks for the detailed info.

[ferris bugler]

It's all I use. I love it. I made my own by ordering all the parts separately but for $90 or what ever the Platypus one cost don't even bother trying to make your own.
Here is a link for a complete kit on sale. These filters easily flush just by pushing clean water back through them. 2 liters per minute. Just enough time to have a snack and start hunting again.

https://www.freezeproshop.com/platypus- ... fgodJbIEGw

[husky390]

I use a diesel fuel filter to scoop water and filter into a platypus 3l bag which then filters the water through a Sawyer squeeze. It doesn't take too long to fill the bladder in my pack and I always have a fresh water source at camp.


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