Last Updated on October 24, 2020 by Lisa Vargas
Coffee filters can have some other uses besides helping in making coffee. If you’re trying to find alternative ways to filter water, you might be asking the question “Can you can filter water with a coffee filter?”
Yes, you can filter water for larger particulates such as dirt, sand, algae, but a coffee filter will not purify water from bacteria, viruses, and parasites such as cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis.
Keep in mind that even though you have a coffee filter with you, it’s only good for cleaning primarily the large particles from the water. As mentioned with the answer above, it’s vital that you boil the water after you strain it through the coffee filter or else you risk the chance of getting water born illnesses that could lead to sickness.
Can You Filter Water With A Coffee Filter?: A Quick Guide For Survivalists
How To Filter Water In A Survival Situation Using A Coffee Filter
Filtering water with a coffee filter isn’t that hard. All you need to do is to follow a few simple steps and that’s it. During a survival scenario, this will essentially create your own survival water filtration system to completely remove any kind of contaminants.
For this purpose, you will need a few bottles that you can set in a series. You need to place the coffee filter inside the bottles and make a kind of funnel. Once everything is set the next thing you need to do is to pour the water slowly into the funnel. Make sure to be careful as you don’t want to displace the filter.
Water will go from one bottle to another through small holes and then reach the clean container. This way if there is any mud, sand, or any other pollutant inside the water it will be removed through the filter.
In the end, you will get clean water free from visible pollutants. having that said, I still wouldn’t recommend drinking it. It is because the water may still contain bacteria and viruses.
Coffee Filter Effectiveness
Coffee filters are quite effective tools for survival especially if you don’t have anything else. It can save you in so many ways all you need to do is to be a little bit creative. I would recommend you even put a few in your bug out bag just in case.
In addition to this, coffee filters can work as a great tinder, especially in survival situations, you can use them to make a fire and prepare your food. It can also help you by serving as a quick tea bag.
Most importantly if you are sleeping inside a bug out camp there may be a lot of bugs. If you want to get rid of them simply fill a coffee filter with cedar and make a sachet. Place it next to your sleeping place and it will keep all the bugs away from you.
Other Survival Uses For Coffee Filters
Besides water and coffee filtration coffee filters have other uses. As I mentioned earlier, you need to be creative with them. Whenever you are cooking soak up a little grease from the leftover with the coffee filter. You can use that filter later for preparing the fire.
Apart from that, coffee filters may seem fragile but they can work as a tissue. You can use them to clean hands, use it for the toilet, or even cleaning up small messes. In addition to this, they can serve you as bandages.
If you get hurt during a survival situation and you have a pack of coffee filters then you don’t need to worry. Simply clean the wound and stop the bleeding. After that, you need to stack a few coffee filters and place them on the wound.
Their absorbent nature will help you feel better until you get your medical supplies. If you don’t have enough water to clean your plates. You can use your coffee filters as plate inserts. This way you can eat food on the plate and then throw the filter without getting your plate dirty. Once you are done eating you can throw the filter into the fire.
What Is The Best Way To Filter Dirty Water?
If you don’t want to take risks there are other ways that you can use for water purification. Using these methods will ensure you get the best drinkable water without any issue.
The best way to filter dirty water is by passing it through some kind of purification system. You can use a survival water filter for that or your own DIY filtration.
If you are using your self-prepared water filtration system then make sure it is completely covered. You don’t want to have any kind of unwanted material in your clean water pot. Coffee filters can help you stop these unwanted materials. You can also use the solar purification method if you want.
Next, you need to clean the water from non-visible threats such as bacteria and viruses. It is because these micro-organisms can cause serious illness if you ingest them with water. Normally coffee filters can’t remove micro-organisms. You need to take extra measures for that.
There are different methods of purifying water. You can simply boil the water and it should be drinkable after successfully boiling it.
If you can’t boil the water then you can either use reverse osmosis filters or distillation. Apart from that, chemical water purification tablets also work quite well. But some tablets may leave a taste or odor in the water which may not be very pleasant.
Related Questions and Answers
Are Brown Coffee Filters Better Than White?
There is a huge controversy between white and brown coffee filters. In other words, people want to know the difference between natural and bleached coffee filters. If you are one of those people then here are a few things for you. Normally brown water filters are much better than white water filters. I know the white one seems much more cleaner on the look but the brown ones are more cleaner.
Apart from that, brown coffee filters are much more eco-friendly as they are natural while the white ones are bleached. However, when it comes to bleached filters the oxygen ones are a lot better and eco-friendly. They don’t pose any threat to health as compared to the chlorine ones.
What Is The Coffee Pore Size Of A Coffee Filter?
Coffee filters are actually papers with pores. The pore size on the coffee filter is usually 20 microns. It means that these filters can block anything bigger than 20 micrometers. This way coffee filters can prove to be a great source of water filtration.
Can Coffee Filters Filter Germs From Water?
Germs are tiny organisms that aren’t normally visible to the naked eye. They include bacteria, fungi viruses, and protozoa. These micro-organisms when ingested can cause serious issues inside the body. These micro-organisms are too small for a lot of filters. They can easily go through coffee filters as the pore size is 20-microns.
Typically coffee filters cannot block germs from the water. They may block some metals and other materials such as sand or mud. Therefore, if you want to fully purify your water you need to boil it after the filtration process. Or you can also use other water purification methods I’ve already mentioned.
Can Coffee Filters Filter Heavy Metal From Water?
Heavy metals are natural elements that possess high density and poisonous nature at low concentrations. These metals when ingested can cause a lot of problems. They may cause diarrhea, stomach pain, or even heart-related diseases.
These metals are harmful to health because they react with biological molecules. Mercury, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, and lead are the best examples of heavy metals.
Coffee filters can remove a lot of heavy metals from the water. A group of scientists conducted a study. During their research, they found that the coffee filters can block around 90% of heavy metals. This makes them quite effective tools for survival.
Final Thoughts
Coffee filters can be great water filters. They can help to increase your chances of survival as you can use them in a number of different ways. Apart from that, they are also quite effective anti pollutants. However, I still recommend boiling or purifying the water after filtering it through the coffee filters.
It is mainly because these filters may be able to stop visible threats. But their 20 microns pore size may not be able to stop viruses and other harmful micro-organisms from the water. It may be dangerous if you drink water full of viruses or bacteria.