How To Make Pennsic Taste Sweeter.

Copyright May 2000, Mark Schuldenfrei (Tibor of Rock Valley)
Revised 11Jul2000 with suggestions from James Douglas
Another revision 05Aug2001

For Pennsic 1999, I built an inexpensive water filter system that hooks to garden hoses. It takes few tools, and about 10 minutes time. Of course, you can improve the beauty of this contraption... might take another 10 minutes!

Purchase the following:

• Whole house water filter housing and filter. (I selected for taste, not disease)
• 3/4 inch valve faucet (I chose brass)
• Hose adapter (3/4 inch male converted to a female swivel hose adapter)
• Hose washers (You need only 4, but a sheet of 12 costs $1)
• Teflon tape (You may already have this)
• Garden hose vacuum breaker
• Spare garden hose Y connector (I get the one with individual shut-offs)
• 4-inch dryer clamp (Size will vary by model of filter you purchase)
• 5-inch dryer clamp (Size will vary by model of filter you purchase)
• Tomato stake or rebar. (To keep it off the ground.)

Now for assembly. Examine the water filter housing. It will have a side labeled IN where the water comes from, and a side labeled OUT where filtered water comes out. Using a washer, and wrapping the threads in Teflon tape, screw the faucet into the output side. For the input side, using a washer and tape, screw in the adapter. That's all you need. You can take a regular garden hose, attach the female end to the water tap (where you might use the Y connector and you will use the vacuum breaker) and run it to your water filter.

The trick now is to keep it off the floor. For the version of water filter I used, that was most easily and cheaply done with a piece of 5-foot rebar. I drove that into the ground, put the dryer clamps around main body of the filter, and tightened to hold in place. (I also have used a piece of angle iron, which is more expensive, and a piece of lumber, which required a drill to ream out.) Tighten the clamps carefully, so you don't crack the housing.

As of Pennsic in 1999, this entire operation cost about 45 dollars.

CREDIT: I don't recall who it was who first showed me a water filtration system, where I got the idea. They used an inline filter for icemakers, which made it quite complex. I don't know the name of the helpful person at the hardware store to whom I said, "I'm sure this can be done, how do I do it?" I do know that Ekkerhardt is the one who said, "Don't forget the vacuum breaker", which I had.

LATE REVISION: At Pennsic 2000 I made two: one had an extra length of brass nipple (about 4 inches) between the filter and the faucet. It was a very good idea, and made the filter far more useful. I recommend the extra 2 dollars or so.

FOOTNOTE: The following is a suggestion from James Douglas of Ealdormere, who has built what he calls "Water Cows" for the waterbearing staff at Pennsic. These are far more intensive than what I suggest, but probably far more effective.

    The ones I build are a 4 stage sequential system: 10 micron paper
    filter for larger debris, 5 micron coil filter for fine silt &
    sediment and then two 5 micron activated charcoal filters for taste
    and odour (primarily caused by sulfur and iron oxide in the water
    at Pennsic).

    I use the 10 micron paper filter first because they're the cheapest
    of all (about 1/3 the cost of the carbon and 1/2 of the fine
    sediment filters) and can be changed more often to help preserve
    the life of the filters that come after it. The more expensive
    carbon filter won't do any good if it still has plenty of activated
    charcoal left to but is too clogged with grit for the water to
    flow.

    I use brass fittings between the filters so that the entire unit is
    a single integral unit that can be picked up and moved around
    without a lot of juggling (in the case of flex tubes) or risk of
    breakage (in the case of PVC fittings). When full of water, a 4
    stage filter system can weigh upwards of 15 pounds and needs to be
    solid to survive the sort of abuse they can get subjected to at
    Pennsic.
  

Later notes: August 2001

Wouldn't you know, the following year I try to make one a bit like James Douglas' design, and couldn't find appropriate whole house cases with the appropriate filters. The undersink models that I did find had 3/8 inch fittings. What I had to do, therefore, is use a 1/2 to 3/8 inch adapter down from the input end, and up from the exit end for the garden faucet. It was not a big problem. The whole house filters have brackets for mounting on the wall under sinks: I mounted the resulting pair of filters to a board, and attached the stake to the back of the board.

Pieces were:

• Female Hose to MIP 1/2" adaptor
• FIP reducing coupling 1/2" to 3/8"
• Brass Pipe Nipple 1 1/2" long
• Water Filter with charcoal filter
• Brass Pipe Nipple 3" long
• Water Filter with taste/disease/mineral filter
• Brass Pipe Nipple 3" long
• FIP reducing coupling 1/2" to 3/8" (in this case expanding)
• 1/2" Hose Bibb brass faucet

Copyright May 2000 Mark Schuldenfrei. May be reproduced within the Society for Creative Anachronism if not charged for, and credit is given the author(s). Contact me for permission for other venues. NOSPAMschuldy@math.harvard.edu

Last modified: October 1, 2004