two questions: why do so few people not use common bleach to purify drinking water? It seems to be a much easier method than filters or boiling.

would a twig stove qualify as cook stove during a fire ban?

Don't know about your first question, but twig stoves are not legal during a campfire ban.

I simply dont like the chlorine tadte and find the gravity filter pretty eady and convenient.

+1 marsonite answer

I bring an ounce of bleach on every trip as backup.

How many people out there use twig stoves? Which one do you use? I really want to try one. I know that they are not legal in a fire ban, but if you were set up in the right spot and had a 10-20 Liter dry bag of water ready to put out any problems that COULD arise, I would feel pretty safe. Those twig stoves require such a small fire.

The drawback to using chlorine bleach for water purification is the time required until the water is safe and palatable.
After adding bleach to the water, one must wait 30 to 60 minutes for the chlorine to kill the nasties. If one has used the proper dose of bleach it will definitely have a chlorine odor and taste. One must then wait several additional hours for the chlorine to dissipate to the point where the odor and taste is acceptable. Water filters or UV pens just yield drinkable water much faster.

Nothing much easier to me than scooping up some water and hanging it up for a few minutes--out comes perfectly purified water.

I use a di y wood gasification stove. It is great as a solo stove for just boiling less than a liter of water. Not legal in a fire ban.
Chlorine is not very effective for giardia.

The solo stove is the cats meow.

This caused me to Google chlorine and giatdia as well as chlorine and cryptosporidium. Does not seem effective.

mastertangler: "The solo stove is the cats meow. "

Do you use the solo as your primary stove? I am planning an extended solo trip to WCPP and the idea of bringing enough fuel for a month is a non-starter for me. I like the concept of one of those little fold-up stoves like the firebox, but if the solo stove's design produces less smoke, and therefor soot, I could see going that way. I was planning on bringing a small bottle of alcohol to use when conditions or personal exhaustion require it.

I went stove less and cooked only over the fire for the first time on my trip in May and I really enjoyed it. For me the only negative was using the big BWCA fire grate. Our week at the end of May was in the 80's the whole time and a smaller fire would have been wonderful. Our last night on Lake Two I used rocks to build a mini fireplace under the fire grate that worked well.

The reason I don’t use bleach is because I don’t like my vodka lemonade tasting like a swimming pool. Use of a gravity filter is about as easy as opening a water faucet at home. Just fill it and come back later and you have a gallon of filtered water, or fill your water bottle as needed. I will trade a little space and weight for fresh tasting water ant day. With chlorine bleach you kill the nasties, with a filter you remove the nasties. Ever looked at the top of the Lake water when it’s clam out. It’s covered with pine pollen, bugs, all kinds of things. Filters remove that stuff, bleach does not.

Twig stoves count as a fire in a fire ban area.

merlyn: "two questions: why do so few people not use common bleach to purify drinking water? It seems to be a much easier method than filters or boiling.

would a twig stove qualify as cook stove during a fire ban?"

Twig stoves do not qualify as a cook stove as they do not have a shut off mechanism to them. The same goes for alcohol stoves. The stoves have to have a shut off like a canisiter or white gas stove has .

As for the bleach I don't personally care for the taste of it in my water. As for filtering I use a gravity filter so all I have to do is scoop and hang and the filter takes care of the rest.

Savage Voyageur: "The reason I don’t use bleach is because I don’t like my vodka lemonade tasting like a swimming pool. Use of a gravity filter is about as easy as opening a water faucet at home. Just fill it and come back later and you have a gallon of filtered water, or fill your water bottle as needed. I will trade a little space and weight for fresh tasting water ant day. With chlorine bleach you kill the nasties, with a filter you remove the nasties. Ever looked at the top of the Lake water when it’s clam out. It’s covered with pine pollen, bugs, all kinds of things. Filters remove that stuff, bleach does not.


Twig stoves count as a fire in a fire ban area. "

Once you backwash your filter you will be glad you had the filter. Lots of surface nasties as noted above.

One time at Glacier national park...the chlorine taste in the water was almost toxic. Even coffee could not mask it....My wife won't drink the town water here because of the bleach taste. She would kill me if I even thought of doing that.
I use Aqua Mura drops...actually makes the water tastes better....

dr bob

above posts have hit the answer regarding bleach. giardia and cryptosporidia have various life cycle forms, one being an encapsulated cyst. Bleach will not kill cysts.

Most water filters will take care of bacteria and protozoa, but not viruses. Some filters do. Boiling kills everything. Most tablets kill all 3 above categories of pathogens. Filtering and then using bleach (letting the water sit for 30 min if clear... remembering to invert and flush threads) should take care of all 3 as well. Viruses are thought to be less of problem in wilderness camping, so many people do not worry about viruses.

Hand washing or using an alcohol based hand sanitizer will go a long way for reduction of viral transmission.

DrBobDerrig: "One time at Glacier national park...the chlorine taste in the water was almost toxic. Even coffee could not mask it....My wife won't drink the town water here because of the bleach taste. She would kill me if I even thought of doing that.
I use Aqua Mura drops...actually makes the water tastes better....
dr bob"

thanks for sharing aqua mura. they also have a filter to replace other gravity feed filters, etc.

I like micropur tablets for backpacking. Just less to carry.

I bring 2 oz. of concentrated bleach to rinse out the Dromedary and backflush the gravity filter when I pack up last day--specifically to discourage mold in the MSR dromedary. I dump any Clorox water in the pit toilet.

On the twig stove: Ultralight perhaps, but what happens if frequent rains or downpours for 2 or 3 days.

SinglePortage: "

mastertangler: "The solo stove is the cats meow. "

Do you use the solo as your primary stove? I am planning an extended solo trip to WCPP and the idea of bringing enough fuel for a month is a non-starter for me. I like the concept of one of those little fold-up stoves like the firebox, but if the solo stove's design produces less smoke, and therefor soot, I could see going that way. I was planning on bringing a small bottle of alcohol to use when conditions or personal exhaustion require it.


I went stove less and cooked only over the fire for the first time on my trip in May and I really enjoyed it. For me the only negative was using the big BWCA fire grate. Our week at the end of May was in the 80's the whole time and a smaller fire would have been wonderful. Our last night on Lake Two I used rocks to build a mini fireplace under the fire grate that worked well.

"

I spent 24 days a couple years ago in WCPP and like you the idea of carrying fuel for that long a trip was a non starter for me. The Solo Stove performed beyond my expectations and I was completely satisfied. It is already packed for this years trip back to WCPP.

A few caveats........I would not bring it for shorter trips and would bring a stove and fuel.........as mjmkjun has pointed out extended rainy periods could make for challenging conditions so I don't think I would use it during shoulder seasons.........I also like having some chemical fire starter with me (wet fire) as it is practically weightless and if anything started to "peter out" it was a simple matter to get things going again. Birch bark can also be helpful.

A few other tips.........collect and have your fuel prepared beforehand. Continuous monitoring is required as a steady feed is key. Fortunately the stove is hot and fast. It can do anything a regular stove can do and is better than an alcohol stove which is basically fine for boiling water. I see no need to bring a back up BTW. The Solo is reliable and efficient.

Lastly, make sure you bring along some mechanics gloves. Allows for nimble manipulation of the small offerings, protects your hands while breaking twigs and the "rubber" type black coating is surprisingly heat resistant.

Lastly, lastly ;-) be careful with any sit on top stove but especially one which requires you to place your hands near your pot. Boiling water or hot fish grease landing on your foot or hand will certainly cramp your style.