Filters don't stop viruses
The gap that puts people flat on their back.
The gap that puts people flat on their back.
"Filtration" and "purification" get used interchangeably in marketing. They are not the same thing, and confusing them is how people get sick from water that looked perfectly clear.
A filter is a physical strainer. A good one at 0.1–0.2 micron handles protozoa (Giardia, Crypto) and bacteria (E. coli, Salmonella). For a lot of North American backcountry water, genuinely enough.
Viruses are the gap. Hepatitis A, norovirus, rotavirus sail straight through. Near agriculture, livestock, human waste, flooding, or anywhere overseas — you need purification: chemical, UV, or boiling.
The four methods: - Boiling — always works, no gear to fail. Rolling boil 1 minute; 3 minutes above ~6,500 feet, because water boils cooler up high. - Filters — the daily driver. Backflush regularly or flow dies. - Chemical (chlorine dioxide) — kills viruses; Crypto needs up to 4 hours contact, far longer than the label's 30 minutes for everything else. - UV — fast, but needs clear water and batteries.
The Power Sizer turns your real appliance loads into a full spec — battery bank, solar array, controller, inverter and roof space — then matches it to gear that actually fits the number.
Open the Power SizerFree · no ads · no signup