Drinking cut water

[David Schweizer]

On 28/05/2020 at 19:00, bizzard said:

Guinness is brewed using water from the Grand canal in Dublin, next to which the brewery stands.

 

You need to get up to date Bizzard, At one time the Dublin Guiness Brewery did take water from the  Grand Canal, when it was also the main source of Drinking water for Dublin, but that ceased many years ago. Nowadays the water for brewing comes from the Wicklow Mountains, although Liffey water is sometimes used.

[PD1964]

Will this be the next “must have” thing for the  young newbies living the dream, just like composting toilets a few years ago?

  There’s enough water points on the system if you move.

  I watched the guys Vlog when he filmed the guy blackening his bought in the water and thought Numpty, my opinion of his hasn’t changed.

Edited December 8, 2021 by PD1964

[LadyG]

One lady on the cut wanted a regular bath and that was her main motivation, a lot of filters, from coarse to very fine. The UV will sterilise, but not for long, so has to be monitored, its still has a blue light after its usefull life. 

 

[Athy]

On 28/05/2020 at 19:00, bizzard said:

Guinness is brewed using water from the Grand canal in Dublin, next to which the brewery stands.

Is it? I always thought that their water came from the River Liffey.

On 28/05/2020 at 22:27, NB Caelmiri said:

That will explain why it tastes like muck.

Guinness has been the saviour of many a proper beer drinker marooned in lagerlogged Spain. It tastes O.K. after the first one, and positively delicious after the fourth.

[Tracy D'arth]

6 minutes ago, Athy said:

Is it? I always thought that their water came from the River Liffey.

Guinness has been the saviour of many a proper beer drinker marooned in lagerlogged Spain. It tastes O.K. after the first one, and positively delicious after the fourth.

They do not take river water for the brewery.

[Athy]

1 minute ago, Tracy D'arth said:

They do not take river water for the brewery.

Yet they do take canal water? There must be some Irish logic there which eludes me.

[Tracy D'arth]

6 minutes ago, Athy said:

Yet they do take canal water? There must be some Irish logic there which eludes me.

No. Its not canal or river water.

Quote,

 

Michael McHugh

May 18 2011 12:02 PM

• A storm in a tea cup was replaced by a palaver over a pint glass today after a Duke of Edinburgh quip at the Guinness brewery.

Philip asked master brewer Fergal Murray whether the famous stout was made using water from the River Liffey.

The Duke was swiftly told the water was piped from the Wicklow Mountains. It is then used in the brewing process to help produce Guinness's characteristic burnt taste at the historic St James' Gate site.

A Guinness spokeswoman said: "It was a throwaway remark made as part of the banter at the bar between Philip and the master brewer."

Today the Liffey was murky-looking and mud flats could be seen on part of it. The Guinness brewery overlooks the river to the west of the city centre and the smell of hops waft on the air. It uses pure water with a low mineral content.

 

[David Schweizer]

9 minutes ago, Athy said:

Yet they do take canal water? There must be some Irish logic there which eludes me.

 

Sometimes, apparently, but only for washing out.

[Mad Harold]

On 28/05/2020 at 19:00, bizzard said:

Guinness is brewed using water from the Grand canal in Dublin, next to which the brewery stands.

Wish you hadn't posted that.

Guinness is one of my favourite beers.

[Feeby100]

On 28/05/2020 at 22:17, Albion said:

When we were boating in France a few years ago, on a boat lived in permanently by a French couple, I drank some water that was out of the canal. It was filtered through large, gradually finer filters and then finally passed through an ultraviolet bathed glass tube. It was fine, crystal clear  and I would not have known that it was anything other than domestic water. And, the boat's sewage in France is discharged into the canals and rivers mainly as there are very few pump out facilities despite the existence of regs that were trying to get them installed. Indeed in one port the pump out machine was installed and then on a following visit it had been removed and was chucked over a nearby wall. So, it is possible but the kit to treat the water is quite bulky and certainly the full kit wouldn't fit in the average narrowboat.

Roger

Dirty bas...ds 

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, Feeby100 said:

Dirty bas...ds 

 

Unlike over here where people pay for the pumpout and then the water company chuck it straight in the river ...

[zenataomm]

The irreplaceable Jim McDonald fitted such a system into "elizabeth" in the early 1980s.

Perhaps the new owners can update us.

[Tony1]

 

 

For me the biggest issue with these systems is energy usage. 

I couldn't see a mention in the video of typical daily power consumption. 

Given that these systems produce clean water at a low rate, I'm guessing you might have to run the pumps for at least 3 hours per day, and perhaps 4 or 5 hours if two people have a bath as per the youtube example. 

The higher power model at 16 amps might need as much as 80 Ah on some days- certainly its a lot, anyway. 

That sort of power is no problem in high summer IF you have plenty of solar. 

But even then, there will be maybe 5-8 months of the year you'll need to burn fuel to generate power for the pumps. That's lots of diesel and engine running hours. 

 

I'd love to not have to seek out water points, but in truth I need the facilities anyway every 2 weeks for rubbish, and after I install my cassette toilet I'll need to visit every couple of weeks for the grisly task of elsan disposal. And if I have to visit every 2 weeks anyway, there's no great extra hassle to use the water tap and fill up. 

 

I guess the point of these systems is more that you don't have to be quite so careful with water usage, so maybe they could be considered as an extra source, rather than the only source.

 

You hear about big queues in London for water points, and on busy canals like the Llangollen in summer there are often queues at the facilities, but you can mitigate that annoyance a bit by visiting the facilities very early or late in the day- and during winter there are no queues anyway most of the time. 

 

I'm left feeling that the challenges posed by managing water usage are just not great enough to warrant the high energy costs, at least in my case as a single hander. 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

I'm left feeling that the challenges posed by managing water usage are just not great enough to warrant the high energy costs, at least in my case as a single hander. 

 

Or, to put it another way "a solution looking for a problem"

[Chewbacka]

12 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Unlike over here where people pay for the pumpout and then the water company chuck it straight in the river ...

Good point, if the EA gives permits to the water companies allowing sewage discharge directly into the river, why don’t they sell permits to boats as well???

[PD1964]

On 26/05/2020 at 22:34, Higgs said:

 

On here recently, a YouTube video of a couple that had started building a filtration system to filter canal water. Someone may be along to direct you to that video. 

 

NARROWBOAT LOCKDOWN 5... Water freedom!!           That's the YouTube title.

This guy seams a typical London area clueless Prick trying to be a YouTube star, watch his Vlogs and you’ll see he’s clutching at straws trying to be a YouTube sensation. Film maker my ars£e, Newbie London Boaters avoid as he is clueless. Simple as.

Edited December 9, 2021 by PD1964

[doratheexplorer]

On 26/05/2020 at 22:12, Alan de Enfield said:

My filter system would produce drinking water but I'd only be doing it in an emergency.

 

The filter :

 

* Ideal for outdoor recreation, hiking, camping, scouting, domestic and international travel and emergency preparedness...

* The MINI removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium...

* High performance filter fits in the palm of your hand, weighs 2 ounces and filters up to 100,000 gallons (30 times more than comparable filters)...
 

 

To which is added an inline Activated Carbon filter :

 

The Platypus GravityWorks™ Carbon Element helps remove flavours and odours and organic compunds from the filtered water. The filter element can be attached in line to the filter systems in Platypus GravityWorks models. With this compact filter element, you will enjoy the fresh drinking water from your Platypus GravityWorks filter system. The element is supplied with a short extension of the drinking tube.
 

So not chemical contamination or viruses then?  Ok for fast flowing streams in remote areas, but not ok for canal water by any means.

 

I have a Sawyer Mini too.  The Squeeze is meant to be better.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, doratheexplorer said:

So not chemical contamination or viruses then?  Ok for fast flowing streams in remote areas, but not ok for canal water by any means.

 

I have a Sawyer Mini too.  The Squeeze is meant to be better.

 

Alledgedly the Mini's 0.1 micron absolute will get rid of many Virus's but there are a some that are smaller than 0.1 micron. Covid 19 is generally above 0.1 micron but a small percentage are under 0.1 so C19 is 'marginal'.

 

The activated carbon filter gets rid of the organic compounds (typically the petroleum based ones) and removes the 'taste'.

 

But - agree I'd not be using it in canal waters unless in extremis

[doratheexplorer]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Alledgedly the Mini's 0.1 micron absolute will get rid of many Virus's but there are a some that are smaller than 0.1 micron. Covid 19 is generally above 0.1 micron but a small percentage are under 0.1 so C19 is 'marginal'.

 

The activated carbon filter gets rid of the organic compounds (typically the petroleum based ones) and removes the 'taste'.

 

But - agree I'd not be using it in canal waters unless in extremis

The Grayl filter is much better at removing viruses and chemicals but it weighs more and needs the filter cartridge changing regularly.

[Hudds Lad]

12 hours ago, PD1964 said:

This guy seams a typical London area clueless Prick trying to be a YouTube star, watch his Vlogs and you’ll see he’s clutching at straws trying to be a YouTube sensation. Film maker my ars£e, Newbie London Boaters avoid as he is clueless. Simple as.

Wasn’t that the same bloke who filmed the chap heeling his boat over to do blacking from the towpath?

Don’t think there was ever a follow up, i got bored of checking.

[PD1964]

1 hour ago, Hudds Lad said:

Wasn’t that the same bloke who filmed the chap heeling his boat over to do blacking from the towpath?

Don’t think there was ever a follow up, i got bored of checking.

Yes, no follow up. Watched his last Vlog of a young girl doing her boat up, felt embarrassed for her with his “In your face” camera work, as I say he’s clutching at straws trying to be a Narrowboat Vlogger (apologies for the colourful description previous of him)

[Arcen]

On 10/12/2021 at 14:56, doratheexplorer said:

The Grayl filter is much better at removing viruses and chemicals but it weighs more and needs the filter cartridge changing regularly.

Agree with this!

[magnetman]

My boat which is a 30ft X 10ft6 steel motor cruiser / apocalypse survival bunker has a settling tank for the water before it goes through the filters. 

 

You load about 100 litres of dirty water, let the sediment settle out then send the clarified water onwards to filters. I don't use it much as the boat also has 5 stainless water tanks and carries about a tonne and a half of fresh water anyway and I have access to a 1000 litre IBC water bowser at my rural mooring.  I did experiment with filtering down to 1 micron using 3 filters then pushing water through a UV lamp and finally putting chlorine tablets in. That was ok for washing but a bit wrong for drinking.

 

I also tried then putting this 1 micron water through a small £40 RO system to get it really clean. That worked but unless there is a problem with accessing tap water it's not really needed.

 

It's there for when the end of the world starts happening and municipal water supplies fail. 

I know a few people who use water from the Thames as their only supply. One of the things that comes up is installing a sand filter at the beginning of the system.

 

It all takes up quite a lot of space but quite a cool setup if you get it going properly. 

 

 

I reckon when using canal water it would be interesting to experiment with for example a beer keg as a settling tank then perhaps a second one as a sand filter. Belt and braces but they take up quite a lot of space.

You would need a sludge pump for clearing the bottom of the keg out. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by magnetman

[Jen-in-Wellies]

On 08/12/2021 at 22:00, TheBiscuits said:

 

Unlike over here where people pay for the pumpout and then the water company chuck it straight in the river ...

Much better for the countries GDP doing it the UK way. Two lots of economic activity are taking place, paying some one for the pump out, then the pump out owners paying the "water" company to take it away. The "water" companies profits are boosted by dumping it straight in to the river and this increases their share price and dividends. The investors in the company get richer and that wealth trickles down, in a rather gloopy and smelly fashion, with bits of bog paper in it. Ain't the system wonderful.

[Squires]

I'm no expert on this (and may other) subject, I did a Bush craft training weekend a few years ago with our foster lad and we were told that an evaporation - condensation setup is the most effective method of obtaining drinking water. The Navy has similar setup on its older ships, it is a very bulky piece of kit but to scale they are providing fresh water for the drinking, bathing, cooking etc for a few hundred people. Would a scaled down version work?