First Need Water Purifier

[islandpiper]

It was with great excitement that I opened the box containing my new First Need water purifier. Wow, the potential for carrying a gallon of water in the pirogue and not six gallons sounded great.

It was with some trepidation that I finally dropped the intake end into the murky water of a South Louisiana Swamp and pumped it into my clean water bottle.

Well.....Kayak Jack has been using one of these for a long time and he really doesn't look too bad for a guy 34 years old. So, I blazed on, till the bottle was full. I disconnected, poured some out, smelled it, and after looking to see if anyone was watching, with trembling hand raised ti to my lips. It was an act of pure faith based on personal reports, online comments and the manufacturer's claims that allowed me to DRINK water, fresh from the swamp.

It was tasty, cold and refreshing. I made more and used it to fill the Thermette in camp and boiled it for wash-up water. I snuck a sip now and then and kept my packet of Baby Wipes in my back pocket, just in case. Hours passed with no seeminly ill effects. I drank more, and used it to rinse plates and silverware. No problem.

Here it is, Friday, four days after the first use and drinking of the fresh water, with no trouble to report.

Now that I'm home, i'll backflush it as recommended and dose it with a tiny bit of chlorox. Overall, i'm satisfied that it works as advertised, and it is a lot lighter than my six gallon water carrier.

piper

 

[jdupre']

I'll definetly get one. It will come in handy for camping and in case another hurricane like Gustav screws up our water supply.

This was Bayou Lafourche after Gustav. It is the main water supply for all the towns along it's 100 mile length. Serves 300,000 people. After Gustav, we had a boil notice in effect for 3 weeks with the tap water looking like root beer for 2 weeks.

Joey

 

[oldsparkey]

The nice thing about it is that it is a purifier and not just a water filter. The purifier produces completely pure water by removing all the bad stuff where a filter just removes suspended solids in the water and can let some of the bad stuff threw.

 

[Kayak Jack]

A year and a half ago when I paddled he Brazos with Ronnie, the tap water in that area of the world tasted like something that drained out of the bottom of a glower pot. AARRGGHH!! My purified river water was good.

Ron drank wine, lots of wine. He kept saying two things. "I don't usually like wine." and "Pass that over again, wouldja? please"

 

[rpecot]

I had a First Need years ago that I used on backpacking trips. Nothing like a cool clear water bottle in the back country. Mine had an attachment for the carry bag that allowed you to fill the bag with water and gravity feed through the filter into your water bottle. Nice alternative to pumping after you've set up camp, as opposed to on the trail.

Depending on how fast your bayou is flowing, you might want to gather your water and let it settle before you pump. Keep some of that sediment out of the filter.

 

[oldsparkey]

Been looking for a purifier and not just a filter since my last one crapped out on me , old age does that to them :wink: ............ Thank's Piper..... Just placed an order for one to use this summer. Sure will beat taking a lot of water with me , especially since it is floating the boat all the time. Don't trust filters ... prefer the purifiers for good water no matter how crystal clear the water is from the springs in most of our rivers.

Chuck..

 

[islandpiper]

Chuck, tell us when it comes in and how it does for you. Listen......when they say BACKWASH SLOWLY that is what they mean.....easy does it or you'll pump the innards out of it in reverse. Experience speaks loudly.

When i got back in January, i made up the weak chlorox solution and pumped it through, and followed all instructions. I have not checked on it lately but will do so before taking it out to the swamp again.

I also carry some Army Issue sediment and critter tablets that are SUPPOSED TO make dang near anything drinkable. Back in the olden days when i was leading pack trips in the Catskills we just boiled it all in #10 cans for five minutes and somehow we all lived.

Piper

 

[graybeard]

A year and a half ago when I paddled he Brazos with Ronnie, the tap water in that area of the world tasted like something that drained out of the bottom of a glower pot. AARRGGHH!! My purified river water was good.

Ron drank wine, lots of wine. He kept saying two things. "I don't usually like wine." and "Pass that over again, wouldja? please"

When I lived in San Diego, we joked that tap water came from the Colorado River, and you could taste every mile.

Piper - are those iodine based?

 

[oldsparkey]

Campmor does not waste any time , it arrived here yesterday afternoon.

Darn thing is figured out really well. They even included a matrix bag for water purification without the pumping."O" you have to Fill the bag , hook up the hose , hang the bag and let nature do it's thing. Do a couple of pumps to get the air out of the line and start the flow but all the rest is gravity feed.

The best part is there are no chemicals used in the purification , my other one ( PUR Water Purifier) required a iodine cartridge to get rid of everything. PUR is no longer on the market and the filtering unit is not available. Katadyn bought them out and does not make the replacement filter for it.

It works and since I won't be going out for a while so before I do , it will get the dye test to make sure it is working properly. It is compact enough to go in the food box on trips , this way everyone will know where it is.

Chuck.
Still will take a gallon of water out of habit.

 

[dawallace45]

As most of you know I've gone and bought my self a Colloidal Silver generator , well I was talking to a mate about a week ago and mentioned it , he then told me he's been using colloidal silver as his camping water purification system for years , he just filters the water through a coffee filter in a funnel and then adds 2 to 3 tablespoons of colloidal silver to about 5 litres of water and waits about half a hour , he reckons he's had water tested both before and after quite a few times [ he works for a brewery and they have their own laboratory ] and it comes out safe and germ free

David

 

[Pancras]

We need a water purifier if what we are drinking is tap water. We can also avoid some illnesses like diarrhea and dehydration if we purify it. Purified drinking waters are really beneficial for us.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Actually, if you read a bit further about the First Needs, it is first a filter, and next a purifier. It uses chemicals, finishing with charcoal to remove industrial and agricultural wastes, and bad flavors. After a couple of years of camping, mine finally failed the blue water test.

On the Brazos, my filtered water tasted better than city water by a large step. Local city waters tasted like they were drained out of the bottom of a flower pot.