Water Filtration

Way back when I had what would be referred to as a hippy van - got and old inner tube and rigged it up with fittings so I could connect a hose. Rinsed it out. Filled it full to bursting with water on the roof of the van and the sun heated it up all day - low pressure shower at days end - no cost.

Today we passed a garafon place near Oaxaca and there was a tank truck outside with the hose running inside - all the garafons lined up on the floor filling from the truck hose - yummy.

While boondocking we'd place a hose inside the garrafon attached to a 12 v. electric pump (a backup for the motor home's water system) and the output hosed to a kitchen sprayer, pump's wiring to our 6 volt battery bank clamped on for 12 v. Sprayer went inside the shower tent. Garrafon needed to be in the sun for the first part of the afternoon, but after 4 pm in wintertime, it became too cold, but otherwise fabulous! after a swim around the coral. Daily useage was generally three garrafons per day for us, one just for the two showers. Miss that beach.

briansue wrote:

Bottled water in a returnable garafon is VERY environmentally friendly. I and 2 litres in disposable bottles are not. Oxxo stores carry the "good" water but it is more than 10 pesos.

I had to Google garafon to try to figure out what it is. Some say it is a 5 gallon jug like the ones the turn upside down on water coolers in the US? Some say there is no specific size - they can be anywhere from 10 liters to 20 liters. Definitions say it is a big bottle of water. Then I Googled weight of a liter and came up with roughly a kilo - or 2.2 pounds in the US. So quick math says 10 liters is around 20 pounds and 20 liters could be around 40 pounds. Google says a gallon of water weighs exactly 8.345404 pounds - so a 5 gallon jug would be more than 40 pounds. Is this what you mean by garafon? Do you have them delivered? How do you pour from them? If you are travelers as we are do you have to return them to the same place? How much room do they take up and where do you put them? I also Googled places that make purified water in Mexico and at least some of them use UV - also filters etc. and probably reverse osmosis. I think we will just stick with our $100 UV system.

Garafon is a 20 liter jug. If you don´t have a water stand or talavera pot with a spout they sell a 99 peso hand pump which we use when we are on the road. Works great. We´ve never had a filter on our water system.

Series of garafon manual water pumps

Technical stuff about the 1 gallon per minute UV lamps – destroys 99.99% of harmful microorganisms – 12 watts – 0.162 amps – bulb life 5,000 hours – replacement bulb about $35.

Bottled water in a returnable garafon is VERY environmentally friendly. I and 2 litres in disposable bottles are not. Oxxo stores carry the "good" water but it is more than 10 pesos.

I had to Google garafon to try to figure out what it is. Some say it is a 5 gallon jug like the ones the turn upside down on water coolers in the US? Some say there is no specific size - they can be anywhere from 10 liters to 20 liters. Definitions say it is a big bottle of water. Then I Googled weight of a liter and came up with roughly a kilo - or 2.2 pounds in the US. So quick math says 10 liters is around 20 pounds and 20 liters could be around 40 pounds. Google says a gallon of water weighs exactly 8.345404 pounds - so a 5 gallon jug would be more than 40 pounds. Is this what you mean by garafon? Do you have them delivered? How do you pour from them? If you are travelers as we are do you have to return them to the same place? How much room do they take up and where do you put them? I also Googled places that make purified water in Mexico and at least some of them use UV - also filters etc. and probably reverse osmosis. I think we will just stick with our $100 UV system.

Problem with UV is that maintaining minimum exposure time is critical to the process and light-on isn't good enough indication in itself. OK if there is proper control of the flow though the unit, but a little too high and you don't have good water.

We only use it for drinking water from a drinking water system that only passes less that 1/2 gallon per minute. We are not filling large jugs or trying to run a lot of water through it. The one we have is only one gallon per minute of purification but you can get larger units and they are not that expensive either. We know lots of other people use these. I do understand about the flow rate and our system is designed not to exceed the flow rate - in fact well below the flow rate. But anyone who is worried can buy higher flow systems. None of them cost very much. We also use the series of filters I mentioned previously - lots of filters. To each his own - just trying to point out that things are available to provide clean drinking water for those who might like to know.

Problem with UV is that maintaining minimum exposure time is critical to the process and light-on isn't good enough indication in itself. OK if there is proper control of the flow though the unit, but a little too high and you don't have good water.

One has to be careful where you buy garafons of water and the brand name. Some dirty old PU delivering to trailer parks is not my idea of quality. Both Coke and Pepsi have their own brands of water. These come out of their bottling plants. You cannot make soft drinks with bad water. Bottling plants have been purifying their water since soft drinks began. If you buy these brands it will never be tap water! Briansue: Bottled water in a returnable garafon is VERY environmentally friendly. I and 2 litres in disposable bottles are not. Oxxo stores carry the "good" water but it is more than 10 pesos.

Moisheh

The only way you'll ever really know about bottled water in any part of the world is to have it tested.

No need to test with a UV - if the light is on and it has been replaced properly the water doesn't need testing - it is good water.

have never once seen debris in the water.

Filtering and purification are not the same thing. You can't see bacteria and most filters don't filter much of it. A UV kills and and/or sterilizes it so it can't reproduce and spread in your system. Many water treatment plants now us UV instead of chemicals to purify water. And bottled water plants may even be using UV to purify. Our UV costs about $100 and is easy to install. I will provide pure water for years to come no matter where we go. Whether in the US or wherever we do not know if water is pure. With a UV we do. Overall the cost is less that buying bottles. Bottled water in some sizes costs more than gasoline. After the initial investment of $100 we know we drink pure water.