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My brand new filter failed on day 2 of the John Muir Trail
I bought a Sawyer Squeeze last spring and tested it at home. Seemed fine. On day 2 of a 10 day JMT section hike near Thousand Island Lake, the flow dropped to nothing. I backflushed it three times and still barely got a trickle. Ended up borrowing my buddy's backup tablets and boiling water at camp. Has anyone else had a new filter clog up that fast?
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the_claire4d ago
@carr.elliot I get what your buddy went through, but I see it a little different. A new filter that clogs that fast usually means the water had a lot of sediment or something floating in it. I've used the same Sawyer Squeeze for three seasons now on the AT and only had it clog once, and that was after I dropped it in a muddy puddle. Backflushing alone won't fix it if the pores are packed with fine silt. You need to shake it hard while backflushing, like really rattle it, to break up the grit. Maybe your buddy's filter just had bad luck, but most of the time it's the water source, not the filter.
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carr.elliot4d ago
Got a buddy who had the exact same thing happen with a brand new Sawyer on the PCT. He tested it in his sink, no problem. First real water source was a murky little creek, and by the next morning the filter was basically dead. He spent the whole afternoon shaking it and backflushing it over and over until his hands were sore. Finally gave up and just boiled water for the rest of the trip, cursing that plastic tube every single night.
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