# Where to get water filter charcoal?



## sdgmcdon (May 6, 2012)

This is the only thing left for me to find for long term water needs...where I live (pnw) it rains a LOT so as long as nothing severely changes the climate, I would be catching rain water after my stored water supply runs out...but I cant find where to get the right charcoal in large quantities to filter it (along with sand)...anyone know?


----------



## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

I have a small amount of activated charcoal used for fish aquariums...figure it'll do if TSHTF.... :dunno:


----------



## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

sdgmcdon said:


> This is the only thing left for me to find for long term water needs...where I live (pnw) it rains a LOT so as long as nothing severely changes the climate, I would be catching rain water after my stored water supply runs out...but I cant find where to get the right charcoal in large quantities to filter it (along with sand)...anyone know?


You can make your own, here's a web page talking about the process

http://pioneerliving.net/charcoalmaking.htm

Here's some techy details stuff on charcoal, why it's a filter, working on surface area and whats going on molecularly... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon

In an emergency, I don't know if you could just take any burned tree wood and then smash that up into workable smaller chunks, say nothing bigger than a small marble, and keep as much of the powder as possible and use that as your filtration layer?

As long as the charcoal wasn't sourced from something that was impregnated with chemicals, like 2x4's used to frame a house are treated to resist insects and water, so those would be bad!

Speaking of activated charcoal, I need to get some for my FAK, it's nasty to drink but it's also an effective measure to absorb ingested poisons as long as they are non-caustic (heavy metals included).


----------



## sdgmcdon (May 6, 2012)

PrepN4Good said:


> I have a small amount of activated charcoal used for fish aquariums...figure it'll do if TSHTF.... :dunno:


Where can you get it in large quantities though?

I have 4 55 gallon water drums full now...if/when they are depleted I would turn one or two into a rain catch filter from house gutter, and the others daisy chained off of it to collect/ store the water...so to get a good filter layer in that drum I would need at least 20lbs or more...

I've found it for sale in ounces and one place for a pound, but I'm hoping to find a way to just get 20+ lbs for cheap...

By the way...I've tested the filter and daisy chain catch filter and store system on a small scale, works great.. should work fine on large scale with the drums...just need the charcoal :-(

Figure I can use the sand bags you put in your trunk of a rear wheel drive car for winter driving as the sand part of the filter...easy enough as it should just be straight up sand in there.

I have a katadyn filter now, supposed to work for up to 13,000 gallons, buy that would be a pain in the ass pumping that much water through it. But, worst case sceanrio, at least I have that I guess.


----------



## sdgmcdon (May 6, 2012)

Don't have space/time etc to make it...I'm strictly a buy my preps kind of guy.


----------



## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

PrepN4Good said:


> I have a small amount of activated charcoal used for fish aquariums...figure it'll do if TSHTF.... :dunno:


That is the exact same stuff, and you can also use that for your FAK and ingested poisons, but I wouldn't use it for poisons if it's already been used for water filtration. There probably isn't anything in the fish tank that would kill you, so it's not like you'd be adding poison to poison if you used it, but the water filtration will decrease the surface area that the carbon reacts to the poison with, and that's really the mechanism that's making it work for you, so you want the new stuff unless it's really an emergency.

Also, you want the person you're going to be giving this to, to be 100% alert and awake with a gag reflex. One of the natural side effects of administering activated charcoal is vomiting. If you give it to someone is groggy or slipping in and out of consciousness, and they throw up, they will inhale that, and now they have a really bad chance of asphyxiation which will kill them way before the poison will.

**none of this should be construed to be competent medical advice** in fact, for legal purposes I expressly recommend you do* NOT *do any of this, ever, at all!!! (but this is what I would do at my house ONLY if I had no other access to professional resources (paramedics, nurse, ER, etc...)


----------



## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

sdgmcdon said:


> Don't have space/time etc to make it...I'm strictly a buy my preps kind of guy.


Sorry, no idea where you'd get that much in volume. You could try looking up various aquarium charcoal filter manufacturers and then email or call them and see if they'd be willing to tell you where they buy theirs? Maybe they would, as long as they don't make it in house to reduce costs.


----------



## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

API Black Magic Super Activated Carbon - 24 Pound Bulk

Almost any aquarium supply company can provide activated carbon in bulk quantities.

That Fish Place supplied all of my carbon when I was running 120+ aquariums and supplying discus, angelfish, corydoras catfish, oscars, convicts, tilapia, and piranha, to fish stores in SW Michigan.


----------



## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

Don't know if this will help, but I got the idea from a video on youtube...it's a water filter using layers of cotton batting, gravel, sand, & charcoal. The layer of charcoal used was actually quite thin, so maybe you really wouldn't need to keep a huge amount on hand.


----------



## sdgmcdon (May 6, 2012)

Might be a stupid question, but would this work in large quantities

http://m.homedepot.com/p/review/16 oz. Moisture Absorber W/Activated


----------



## sdgmcdon (May 6, 2012)

Actually, this looks perfect, but sounds too good to be true, 52 lbs for $36? $9 shipping...if this is the stuff I need then this is perfect.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/filter-carbon-pellets-52lb


----------



## sdgmcdon (May 6, 2012)

Bump...is that 52lb bag I linked to what I would need?


----------



## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

sdgmcdon said:


> Bump...is that 52lb bag I linked to what I would need?


Not sure, i'd like to see a pic of the "pellets" but either way, it's out of stock. (look on their page just to the right and below the price)


----------



## sdgmcdon (May 6, 2012)

Dakine said:


> Not sure, i'd like to see a pic of the "pellets" but either way, it's out of stock. (look on their page just to the right and below the price)


Yea, I saw that...buy it did let me order it.. well see when/if it comes in. Can't believe they are shipping 52lbs for $8


----------



## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

sdgmcdon said:


> Yea, I saw that...buy it did let me order it.. well see when/if it comes in. Can't believe they are shipping 52lbs for $8


they might have factored in the shipping cost on the purchase price, and also the USPS has those "if it fits, it ships" packages. I guarantee you there are postal employees all over the country who I've never even met... that cuss my name to this day! I find things I want to do, or that I'm sorely lacking in, and then I buy a LOT of them. Well, when I started on the idea of casting my own bullets it made sense to forge my own ingots to do that with, and that means buying wheel weights to smelt down in my furnace. "if it fits, it ships!!!!" sorry guys, dont hate me because I prep, hate me because you had to lump that 50 lb box of LEAD from one end of the shop to other, and honestly, it's not my fault you dropped it on your foot... :teehee:


----------



## Jerry D Young (Jan 28, 2009)

One source:

http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/bulk_activated_charcoal


----------



## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Sorry, but I just don't really see the need for A.C. I guess I don't worry about the threat of toxins so much. I don't live downwind of any coal burning power plants, and my rainwater here is clean enough to drink as-is, really (from steel roof after initial rinse-off). Yours has to be even better in the PNW!!!

All my river water will be settled, run through a sand filter, then a biosand filter, then chlorinated with pool shock, and then through a berkey filter. If I wanted to add A.C. to the process, it would be after biosand and chlorine and before the Berkey candle. But I doubt I will see the need for it anytime soon.


----------

