Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
ADDENDUM ADDED JULY 30, 2022:
In the first post where I started this thread I said this:
Today, while packing for a backpacking trip, dug out my Sawyer filter. Hung it up with some water in a bladder for gravity flow and it was VERY slow after being in storage for 9 months. Did a robust backflush using municipal tap water and had great flow through it.
I think it is clear, after you store your Sawyer or similar type filter, before using it you should do a robust backflush to make sure you get good flow before your trip.
I’m the one who used the filter once to filter a single liter of water from a very high country steam. The water was about as close to the source as you can get so it had no dissolved minerals. It should never have needed a flush of any kind nor should I have expected to have needed a flush. One liter, no minerals, and stored for a year. If an essentially new item fails on the second use (after very minimal first use), I’m not likely to buy another one nor am I going to suggest others do so.
I have filters…not hollow fiber…that sit for years without use and work perfectly when I take them out of the pack in the woods. In fact I used my ceramic filter a couple of weeks ago and it hasn’t been used in probably 5 years. It worked perfectly…and much quicker than even the Sawyer when it was new.
Finally, and I’ll say it again, I don’t test equipment before I go out to use it. I put equipment…bicycles, tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, water filters, etc…away in good order. There is no need to test equipment that isn’t broken and it is foolish to put away equipment that
is broken.