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Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - Michigan Swamp Buck - 11-22-2022
In a survival situation you will have three major priorities to act on immediately known as the rule of three.
1) Shelter: In cases of extreme weather you will need to build a shelter within a few hours. Even if the weather is good and you have time to make a good shelter, do this first.
2) Potable water: Without clean drinking water, you could die in as little as three days.
3) Food: You will need to eat and after three weeks, you probably won't make it without food.
What I want to address here is water and some of the common ways to purify it for safe drinking.
Note: As was pointed out in this thread in the old RN-3, you will need a source of water, something I thought will go without saying.
A desert or very dry region would present a problem with locating water, but dew will fall (or frost form) in most of those areas before dawn. Also, the water quality before you process it is important as some water can be too dirty to deal with. Water is something you'll need lots of and is really top of the list other than avoiding an immediately deadly climate with a shelter of some kind.
Quote:Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? What You Should Know
You can purify most water by boiling it. Boiling water will kill any biological contaminants like water-borne viruses or bacteria, but it will not remove other contaminants like heavy metals, salts, radiation, or chemicals.
Instructions for Boiling Water
. . . Instructions for Boiling Water
The EPA has instructions for purifying water by boiling. Simply place your water into a pot and put the pot over a heat source. Let it come to a rolling boil. You’ll see large bubbles breaking the surface at this point, not just steam and tiny bubbles. Boil the water at a rolling boil for at least a minute. If you’re high up in the mountains, altitude can affect the heat transfer, so boil it for three minutes.
Now remove the water from the heat source and let it cool to room temperature. Store it in clean containers. Boiled water can taste a little flat, so you can either pour it between clean containers a few times or add a pinch of salt to improve the water’s taste.
Other Methods for Purifying Water
You can’t always boil water. Perhaps your power is out, and your oven isn’t working, or you can’t find enough wood to build a decent cooking fire. You do have other options, including:
- Purifying with bleach
- Iodine
- Water disinfection tablets
https://purificationlife.com/can-you-purify-water-just-by-boiling-it-what-you-should-know/
Quote:Steps to Make Activated Charcoal at Homehttps://sciencestruck.com/how-to-make-activated-charcoal
Activated charcoal can be made at home by chemical activation procedure, provided you have the required materials and equipment. Though any organic material can be used as a precursor or raw material for producing activated charcoal, you should select a nontoxic carbon source with absorbent properties. Let’s discuss in brief how to make activated charcoal by using coconut shells as the raw material.
. . .you need:
- Coconut shells (without meat)
- Burning sink, drum or an elongated iron container to burn the shells.
- Oven
- 25 percent concentrated solution of calcium chloride (CaCl2) or zinc chloride (ZnCl2) available in brewing supply shops or drug stores. To make this solution, dissolve 250 g CaCl2 in 1000 ml of water and increase the proportion in the same ratio as per your requirement.
- Sterilized water
- Plastic pail
- Draining tray
- Zipper bags
- Blender
Quote:GeauxHomeLittleD Wrote: [url=https://rogue-nation3.com/post-88924.html#pid88924][/url]Boil water, add 1/8 teaspoon bleach per gallon and let set appx. 24 hours, filter best you can (layered cotton cloth or coffee filters or layers of pebbles, sand and activated charcoal- whatever you have) for best drinking water. Life straws are a must have until you get a system in place.
If you're not anywhere near a creek, river or spring you can collect rain water, collect dew and condensation, etc. Also remember hot water heaters, radiators and backs of toilets have water.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - quintessentone - 02-17-2026
Great prepper threads MSD and this is where I am at now, trying to figure out water capture methods, filtration and disinfection.
I have limited fire making and fire fuel resources, so I don't want to deplete those stores in having to boil water, rather to use it for cooking and providing a little candle heat only. However, if I boil foodstuffs in water, then we can also drink that water.
I bought water purification tablets but if TSHTF and lasts for a long time then I will run out very quickly.
I have a well but I will have to hire a well water company to investigate to see if I/they can install a hand pump.
I am storing water but for four people and maybe more to share with neighbors (because it takes a village), I need multiple other methods of water capture that work well.
I just read regular bleach has a shelf life of 6 months. So I'm looking to buy calcium hypochlorite (or 'pool shock' with a 10 year shelf life) where I can make my own bleach to purify water.
https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Using-Pool-Shock-as-a-Water-Purifier.pdf
I have been watching prepper videos on solar stills and rainwater capture, which also requires filtration and the rainwater needs purification.
So it looks like I'll need to buy pebbles, gravel stones, sand, activated charcoal, cheesecloth as a first step in filtering any type of water, except distillation from the solar still.
I have a firepit, but what I am reading about wood charcoal is not good, it supposedly adds impurities not takes them away. So I might have to stick with stones, gravel, sand, cloth, grass, pine needles etc.
Any additional advice would be most welcome. Thank you.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - nerb - 02-17-2026
I made an activated charcoal filter a while ago, it was quite easy.
100mm diameter drain pipe with a length of 500mm. Cap for top end and a tap at the bottom end fitted into a reducing cone. Stainless steel scrubby thing inside bottom to retain charcoal. Whole thing mounted on a wall using a drain pipe clasp.
The charcoal was from 100% non treated local eco-wood at about a fiver a bag. Smash it up into small granules about 5mm - 10mm. Sieve out the dust. Keep crushing the larger pieces.
Soak the charcoal in distilled water and lemon juice about 5:1 for a few days.
Drain, and dry. I then blast all those little capillaries open by microwaving on full power until completely moistureless.
Then it's ready to use or to store.
The filter works really well, although I have now updated to a 5 micron filter added to my normal water filter on the household feed. Just for drinkable and cooking water etc.
I also have a well, so could filter that water if TSHTF with the charcoal filter and then boil it if necessary just to be sure although the water in my well is already pretty good.
With my new filter system, I am filling empty water bottles on a regular basis and storing it while rotating it to keep it fresh. I'm up to about 45 litres in about a week so far.
Nice.
Stay safe folks, we are made of water.
Sorted!
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - quintessentone - 02-17-2026
(02-17-2026, 03:29 PM)nerb Wrote: I made an activated charcoal filter a while ago, it was quite easy.
100mm diameter drain pipe with a length of 500mm. Cap for top end and a tap at the bottom end fitted into a reducing cone. Stainless steel scrubby thing inside bottom to retain charcoal. Whole thing mounted on a wall using a drain pipe clasp.
The charcoal was from 100% non treated local eco-wood at about a fiver a bag. Smash it up into small granules about 5mm - 10mm. Sieve out the dust. Keep crushing the larger pieces.
Soak the charcoal in distilled water and lemon juice about 5:1 for a few days.
Drain, and dry. I then blast all those little capillaries open by microwaving on full power until completely moistureless.
Then it's ready to use or to store.
The filter works really well, although I have now updated to a 5 micron filter added to my normal water filter on the household feed. Just for drinkable and cooking water etc.
I also have a well, so could filter that water if TSHTF with the charcoal filter and then boil it if necessary just to be sure although the water in my well is already pretty good.
With my new filter system, I am filling empty water bottles on a regular basis and storing it while rotating it to keep it fresh. I'm up to about 45 litres in about a week so far.
Nice.
Stay safe folks, we are made of water.
Sorted!
Thanks, that's what I am looking for, exactly how to activate the charcoal once I grind it down. How would I activate it if the microwave isn't working... cook it over a fire or bake it dry in a pot over a fire?
At a fiver a bag, how much charcoal was in the bag?
I did read where the charcoal to be used for water filtering must be all natural and from hardwood trees, but what if a company claims their charcoal imparts a smoky flavor, could it be the wood they have used to achieve that? If they say there is nothing else added, should I believe them when they claim it gives off a smoky flavor? Maybe I am overthinking this.
I'm looking at Fogo FP8 hardwood charcoal @ up to $50 for a 17.6 pound bag, but I really have to go to the building stores to see what brands they have, maybe for less.
I have 5 micron filters (10" x 2.5") for my whole house water filter and I buy in bulk, so I could try your PVC pipe filtration system to include the 5 micron filter in there as well. Would this be all I need?
Is it overkill to use multiple (maybe up to 3) layers of sand, gravel, activated charcoal, cheesecloth and the 5 micron filter within the PVC pipe. I don't want to waste resources if I don't have to.
Interestingly enough activated charcoal filters can also be used from fish tank filters and car filters.
Thanks for any advice you can give.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - Michigan Swamp Buck - 02-17-2026
Make a filtration system using the design of your choice. Buy the activated charcoal used for retail water filtering systems and try the design in the ways you wanted to use it. Make necessary adjustments, then if the design is good, try activating your own charcoal from scratch using available materials. Now compare the results when using your homegrown charcoal vs the store-bought stuff.
Or get your water from a buffalo wallow a mile away, like they do in Africa, and then wait for a charity organization to install a well in your village.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - nerb - 02-18-2026
(02-17-2026, 04:17 PM)quintessentone Wrote: Thanks for any advice you can give.
You can bake the heck out of it, it's charcoal, just don't light it on fire unless you want a barbecue.
A bag is about 15 litres and I needed about 4 litres of charcoal, super good value and super light and heaps left.
Any smokey "flavour" is describing the taste of food after the smoke of the wood/charcoal has cooked it and I think those charcoals are not as fully burned as regular barbecue charcoal which has little smoke because of less resin. Not too sure but seems logical.
Basically, "natural untreated wood barbecue charcoal" is all you need and should be on the label for advertising and standards depending on your country. Same regarding wood from renewable sources etc. Eco is a huge selling force and no good seller would miss the opportunity to use it on packaging.
Keep any charcoal filter seperate from the 5 micron filter and bear in mind that they each work in different ways with charcoal doing particulates and chemical filtration and the micron filter only doing particulates. My house system also does chemicals so it gets filtered for that before it hits my micron filter.
The micron filter works by high pressure, the charcoal filter works by gravity. Incompatible in series, but use the water filtered through your micron filter to fill the charcoal filter. Sorted!
Keep It Simple and don't overcomplicate yourself into confusion. It's dusty grey face smashy-smashy, then soaky soaky in basically lemonade for a few days, then dry the nuts out of it and Voilà! Saves a bloody fortune and NO nasty chemicals used like so much "activated" charcoal on the market.
Have fun my dear Hydrator. Play with it like I did to come up with what suits you best. Keep us posted.
(02-17-2026, 05:15 PM)Michigan Swamp Buck Wrote: ....and then wait for a charity organization to install a well in your village.
It never works, most charities only skim off the top.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - Ninurta - 02-18-2026
Has anyone tried making their own charcoal to activate for these filters?
Here's how it works:
First you get your wood. I've seen hardwoods mentioned up-thread, so oak, hickory, ash, walnut, etc. Then you cut it to length and split it and season it.
Then you get your crucible. Depending on how much charcoal you need, you can use a paint can with it's lid, or a 5 gallon metal can with the lid for that.
Make sure the lid fits tight, and punch a hole in the top center of it with a hammer and nail.
Split the wood into thinnish pieced, pack the crucible can as tight as you can with them, and get a roaring fire going in a fireplace, or a fire ring, or a brick barbecue or what have you.
Fit the lid tightly to the crucible and chuck it into the fire. After a bit, you'll see smoke issuing from the hole, then more smoke, then the smoke will ignite and there will be a little flame coming out of the hole of the lid of the can.
When the flame coming from the can burns out, your charcoal is done. Take it from the fire and let it cool. When you open it up, there will be sticks of charcoal inside. Dump 'em out and crush 'em up.
You're done until you go to activate the charcoal as detailed up-thread.
That's also how charcoal is made to make your own gunpowder, except it's said that charcoal for gunpowder is best made from soft woods, like willow. back during the Civil War, it was said that the willows from this area were the best for gunpowder, used by the Confederacy to make their guns go BOOM!
.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - David64 - 02-18-2026
You might like this. It's what I use for grilling. No chemicals, made from hardwoods so it doesn't have that smoky flavor. Ones that do have that are made from mesquite, so avoid those unless you're actually cooking.
https://www.fogocharcoal.com/products/fogo-premium-lump-charcoal-35lbs-black-bag?variant=35324969386140&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=AfmBOootldab3HzQ55zHvmgkUnI4LqGjkWnjJswGt7yzRYU0z2CDlvLiQh8
$45 for a 35 lb bag.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - quintessentone - 02-18-2026
(02-18-2026, 03:49 AM)nerb Wrote:(02-17-2026, 04:17 PM)quintessentone Wrote: Thanks for any advice you can give.
You can bake the heck out of it, it's charcoal, just don't light it on fire unless you want a barbecue.
A bag is about 15 litres and I needed about 4 litres of charcoal, super good value and super light and heaps left.
Any smokey "flavour" is describing the taste of food after the smoke of the wood/charcoal has cooked it and I think those charcoals are not as fully burned as regular barbecue charcoal which has little smoke because of less resin. Not too sure but seems logical.
Basically, "natural untreated wood barbecue charcoal" is all you need and should be on the label for advertising and standards depending on your country. Same regarding wood from renewable sources etc. Eco is a huge selling force and no good seller would miss the opportunity to use it on packaging.
Keep any charcoal filter seperate from the 5 micron filter and bear in mind that they each work in different ways with charcoal doing particulates and chemical filtration and the micron filter only doing particulates. My house system also does chemicals so it gets filtered for that before it hits my micron filter.
The micron filter works by high pressure, the charcoal filter works by gravity. Incompatible in series, but use the water filtered through your micron filter to fill the charcoal filter. Sorted!
Keep It Simple and don't overcomplicate yourself into confusion. It's dusty grey face smashy-smashy, then soaky soaky in basically lemonade for a few days, then dry the nuts out of it and Voilà! Saves a bloody fortune and NO nasty chemicals used like so much "activated" charcoal on the market.
Have fun my dear Hydrator. Play with it like I did to come up with what suits you best. Keep us posted.
(02-17-2026, 05:15 PM)Michigan Swamp Buck Wrote: ....and then wait for a charity organization to install a well in your village.
It never works, most charities only skim off the top.
So it seems pyrolysis (changes charcoal into biochar) is not recommended in a kitchen oven, only through David64's method, which I will try with a paint can or cookie tin method this Spring or Summer. It certainly seems easy enough.
Should it then be activated by soaking in lemon juice afterwards, then dried in the sun, or is the biochar naturally activated to attract chemicals to itself, as some have claimed?
Just to be on the prepper safe side, I will also buy a large bag of 100% natural charcoal from my local hardware store.
I bought a pH and bacterial testing kit, so in the near future I will collect runoff water from my backyard French drain, run it through my gravel/sand/pine needles/biochar filter of 3 layers thick, then put the water in plastic bottles to bake in the sun for up 48 hours then do a bacterial test on it to make sure all the baddies are dead.
I am limited capturing rainwater because my roof is made of asphalt tiles and it is not recommended capturing water with that type of roof because of bad chemicals, but I haven't researched whether or not the biochar can capture those types of chemicals or not. I think I will look into how to capture water in a standalone rain barrel or two adapted with a sloping top or something like that. But even rainwater, they say, should be boiled or left out in the sun in plastic bottles for up to 48 hours.
Water capture, filtration and storage are without a doubt the most concerning when one has a family and pets to keep alive and perhaps the neighbours too.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - Ninurta - 02-18-2026
(02-18-2026, 02:11 PM)quintessentone Wrote:
...
Should it then be activated by soaking in lemon juice afterwards, then dried in the sun, or is the biochar naturally activated to attract chemicals to itself, as some have claimed?
...
I think that, regardless of what people say, just to remain on the side of caution using the activation process on it could not hurt it, and may or may not help, but it would be the more cautious course of action.
.
RE: Can You Purify Water Just by Boiling It? - quintessentone - 02-21-2026
(02-18-2026, 10:55 PM)Ninurta Wrote:(02-18-2026, 02:11 PM)quintessentone Wrote:
...
Should it then be activated by soaking in lemon juice afterwards, then dried in the sun, or is the biochar naturally activated to attract chemicals to itself, as some have claimed?
...
I think that, regardless of what people say, just to remain on the side of caution using the activation process on it could not hurt it, and may or may not help, but it would be the more cautious course of action.
.
I just read that natural hardwood charcoal, which can be bought at the hardware store for a reasonable price, is naturally porous and would be able to capture chemicals/impurities so it looks like no other treatment is needed.
I don't want to use precious resources if I don't have to.
I watched one guy tamp/smash the store bought charcoal to smaller pieces, then ground them up further using a mortar and pestle to use for filtering water. I think this is the way I will be doing it.