Bandana water filter (was) RE: [at-l] Re: In-line-water filte r?

[nealb at midlandstech.edu (William Neal)]

I used a bandana during a real dry summer when many of the "reliable" water
sources disappeared or were very low or very slow. My foam (on another and
older MSR filter) got lost.  Plus, before it got lost, it often got real
dirty in some places I had to take water.  The bandana really helped.  Plus,
you do not have to keep it totally clean.  Just rinse quickly.  Flap a few
time to get rid of the gross sized dirt and trash.  And use.  

Often I would flap it and use around my head while it was still damp.

This trick is for pre-filtering.  So it does not matter that much how clean
it is or if it is inserted the "right" way every time (some filters you put
in one way the same way every time).  It just gets out the gross sized
particles and keeps the other filtering agents cleaner and longer.

But Jim's right.  The ordinary foam pre-filter does a good job. And if you
want to roll the dice, it should work for you.  I just like having the
bandana to make sure I don't have to fuss as much with the other filters and
to make sure I don't have to replace them while hiking.

William, The Turtle

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Bullard [mailto:jbullar1@twcny.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 1:50 PM
To: AT-L List (E-mail)
Subject: Re: Bandana water filter (was) RE: [at-l] Re: In-line-water
filter?


I have the MSR Miniworks too. The end has a wad of partially compressed foam
inside the wire coil. It is easily cleaned (like the rest of the filter) and
I can't imagine what a bandana would filter out that the foam would not.