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Katadyn Combi Water Filter – Video Review

Robin — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:09:54 +0000

Read our more detailed text review of the same filter.

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Best points about this filter:

Strong and robust
Easy to service
Filter lasts a long time - you'll never have to replace it

Worst points about this filter:

Takes a while to pump
Too heavy for backpacking but fine for vehicle travel

Koolatron Thermoelectric Cooler Review

Robin — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:51:25 +0000

We used a thermoelectric cooler for quite a few of our longer adventures (6 weeks in the Baja, 4 months in Central America). First off, I'll say that it's not ideal. It takes a fair amount of battery power, and then only cools to about 22 deg C below ambient in perfect conditions. Further, instead of setting a target temperature, it runs constantly while plugged in. Some more expensive models have thermostats built-in, but really, the chances of getting into the 4 deg C range (typical home refrigerator setting) are quite low. A lot of our food went bad if left for more than a few days.

Size

Our cooler is a 45 litre model. In it we are able to store a few 1 litre nalgene bottles, a bottle of wine, a few beers, enough vegetables for 2 days, eggs, cheese, and a little meat. We can really stuff it full of more things, but at that point it overwhelms the cooling fan, and airflow is restricted. Without air flow it is just a simple insulated cooler that drains your battery.

How Do They Work - The Peltier Effect

Thermoelectric coolers operate on a principal called the Peltier Effect. From Wikipedia the Peltier Effect

occurs when a current is passed through two dissimilar metals or semiconductors ... that are connected to each other at two junctions ... The current drives a transfer of heat from one junction to the other: one junction cools off while the other heats up ...

OK - in plain English: in thermoelectric coolers, the cooling unit consists of a heat sink (an aluminum plate with cooling fins), attached to a thermocouple. When current is passed through the thermocouple, one side gets hot, and one side gets cold. Reverse the direction of current (plug it in backwards) the hot and cold sides reverse. The unit is installed in the cooler with the fan inside the cooler, pushing air across the heat sink. Depending on which way it is plugged in, the heat sink either cools the air or warms it.

What Are The Options?

Keeping your food cool as really important - but at what cost? You can buy really great 12V fridges, operating at really high efficiencies, and you'll pay between $1000 to $1500. If you're going on small trips, anything under a week, despite my negative comments, this might be the right thing for you.

Thermoelectric coolers will run anywhere between $75 and $150. If all you need is to keep your milk and meat from going bad, they're not a bad deal. If we didn't have it we would have been far worse off. And it was a lot cleaner than dealing with an ice chest, and lot less hassle. If you want to put ice increase the effectiveness, make sure you place it inside a sealed bag. You don't want melted ice-water ruining the circuits.

If you're travelling in cold climates, then they're perfect. We've taken ours on winter trips where the weather is below freezing, but while we're driving the truck is definitely warm inside. If you want ice-cold beers in the summer time, then bring an ice-box, or upgrade to a full scale high-efficiency fridge.

Accessories

Recommended accessories include

Battery Saver: this will automatically switch off your 12V accessories when it senses battery voltage drop below 11 volts, leaving enough to start the engine.
Thermoblanket: Purchase one of these to help insulate the cooler.

Photos

Buy Thermoelectric Coolers

Coleman Thermoelectric Cooler PowerChill 40 Quart Camp
123.99

Coleman ThermoElectric Cooler 12V PowerChill Black box
26.95

NEW Coleman PowerChill Thermoelectric Cooler Power Supp
100.55

Technitop Rooftop Tent Review

Katadyn Combi Water Filter – Text Review

Robin — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:20:21 +0000

Where We've Used It

The Katadyn Combi Water Filter has travelled through Mexico and Central America for 5 months. We used it nearly every day filtering almost all of the water we drank. After that trip we continued to use it periodically for both smaller 6-week trips and even the weekend warrior trips. We keep it in the camping box and it's ready to use every time. We have never been sick from the water, and I know that some of the water we've had would have made us ill without filtration.

Maintenance

One of the great features is the easy field serviceability of this unit. All of the pieces come apart with a few twists. The ceramic filter is cleaned with a standard "green scrubby". We've barely but a dent in our filter element. It comes with a built-in tool to measure when you've worn the element past it's life so you know when to buy a new one. That's going to be a long time from now.

You really need to keep the O-rings greased. As soon as they begin to dry out, it stops pumping and becomes useless. On occasion I've had a hard time getting it to prime, so I've had to submerge it to get the water flowing. That can defeat the purpose of filtering the water, as the contaminated water ends up on the discharge spout.

Construction

This filter is built really well. The plastic casing is thick and heavy duty. We throw ours around, it ends up in the bottom of the rubbermaid, tossed around as we travel bad roads, but it never shows any signs of real wear (other than cosmetic scratches).

Taste

We used the carbon particles for a while but to be honest, I really couldn't tell the difference. The carbon can't be older than a few months for it to actually work but really it was more of a hassle than a benefit. The carbon also made it harder to pump.

To be honest, if you want clean tasting water, go buy it. I'd like to know if there are some portable filter units that can actually change the taste - leave us a comment if you've had first-hand experience with one.

As far as getting silt out of the water - perfect. They claim a 0.2μm filter, but like most companies don't give out the confidence limits of that statement - the stated size is usually some statistical average which means that particles larger and smaller can pass through the filter. In any case, Katadyn has an excellent reputation, and it's worked well for us.

Flow Rate

Katadyn states 1 L/min in their product literature. One Litre per minute? Well, with clean water, a fresh filter, and a bunch of energy, no problem. But pass through a few litres and a few fine particles and it clogs up pretty well. At that point it takes a whole bunch of elbow grease - you actually have to work a bit, and it can take up to 90 seconds per litre. But you know, this is a good thing - it means the filter is doing what it is supposed to do.

Summary

All in all, a great filter. It cost a little more than others, but I think it makes up for it in durability and serviceability. It's probably a bit heavy for an extended backpacking trip, but we used it for vehicle travel so that wasn't an issue. Check out our video review to see the different pump parts and a flow rate test.