Reviews > Water Treatment > Filters > MSR Mini Works > Owner Review by Andrew Buskov

Tester Biography:

Name:	Andrew Buskov
Age:	30
Gender:	Male
Height:	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight:	212 lb (96 kg)
Email:	Rescue9@yahoo.com
Location:	Madisonville, Kentucky USA

Backpacking Background:
I started backpacking when I was about 8 and quickly became hooked on the outdoors. My initial experience was with short weekend trips, mostly during the summer months. As I grew older I began taking longer trips and realized that I enjoy being out in the winter more than the summer. I have hiked a variety of environments ranging from Maine's Mt. Katahdin in late fall to Mount Charleston, outside Las Vegas, in both the summer and winter. As an EMT, I have been trained to be prepared at all times so my pack tends to be on the heavy side. I prefer hiking moderately difficult terrain as opposed to flat, level ground.

Product Information:

Manufacturer:	Mountain Safety Research (MSR)
Manufacture Date:	2005
URL:	http://www.msrcorp.com
Delivery Weight:	16 oz (456 g)
Travel Weight:	17 oz (482 g)
MSRP:	$79.95 US
Flow Rate:	1 L (1.06 qt) / Minute
Length:	7.5 in (19 cm)
Width:	2.75 in (7 cm)

Description:
The MSR MiniWorks Ex is a mechanical water filter that is designed around a ceramic element for removing harmful bacteria and protozoa including giardia and cryptosporidium. Within the ceramic element is a carbon core filter for removing odors and unpleasant tastes. It is described as having a flow rate of 1 L (1.06 qt) per minute, and is said to be field maintainable. The manufacturer also states that the ceramic cartridge will last up to 2,000 L (2,113 qt).

Packaged within a brown cardboard display box, it included an intake tube with float for incoming water, 1 green scrubby pad for cleaning the ceramic filter, 1 mesh stuff sack, a filter cap to protect the output end and threads, a ceramic lifespan gauge to indicate when a new filter is needed, and complete user directions. The filter housing is designed to screw directly onto Nalgene bottles, and MSR Dromedary bags. This eliminates the need for an output tube, thus limiting the chance of cross contamination due to using the wrong tube on the filtered water nipple.

The filter housing is also incorporates a positive stop screw thread design that prevents the user from over tightening the housing onto the pump after cleaning of the ceramic filter. This is a wonderful design feature for me as I tend to over tighten things which causes the threads to strip and eventually fail.

Inspection:
After removing the MiniWorks filter for the packaging and reading the directions a few times to familiarize myself with its operation, I completely disassembled the filter down to its bare components to examine the quality of materials used in its construction. The filter body is constructed of a translucent grey plastic, while the pump housing is constructed with a transparent red housing. This allows one to see the air bubbles flowing through the filter body, thus indicating proper filtration. I was very pleased to find heavy duty rubber o-rings rather than the small, flimsy ones I've found on other equipment. I was also pleased to find that the filter body was constructed from an impact resistant plastic that held up rather well when it was dropped a few times out in the field.

The field maintenance directions were extremely simple to follow and only involved removing the filter and cleaning the outside with the included scrubby to remove debris and dirt that may be clogging it up. In addition, if maintenance beyond field cleaning was needed for any reason, the design of the housing allows almost complete disassembly without any tools. This is a great feature for instances where little pieces of debris become lodged inside the pump chamber.

Testing Environments:
This filter was used on three different outings in various weather conditions to test the ease of use and filtering quality in different environments. The first was a 5 day hike in the Great Smokey Mountains where the weather conditions ranged from around 70 F (21 C) to 38 F (3 C). My goal here was to get acquainted with the filter and find out the quirks that would naturally show up when using any piece of new equipment. Most of the water sources were small springs and streams due to the dry weather they had been receiving. The second was a hike around a wildlife refuge area close to where I live where the temperature was around 50 F (10 C). I wanted to test how this filter worked on stagnant, almost swamp water. Needless to say I did this on a period where I was off of work for 4 days just in case I got sick. The filter worked nicely and I was not sick after drinking that water. The third outing was a weekend trip to LBL, another wildlife management area that borders Kentucky Lake with weather that was clear & dry, and the temperature was 60 F (16 C). The water sources included small springs and streams. I decided against testing the water directly from Kentucky Lake due to the large amount of barge traffic. I just couldn.t justify possibly ruining a new filter with polluted water.

Field Use:
I found the weight to be much lighter as opposed to other filtration systems I have used in the past. Because most of my backpacking was during dry spells, it was rather hard to find adequate water to filter. Most of the water I found was in small puddles of runoff created by springs that were barely flowing. Although I did use the filter in both swampy areas and near major lakes, I tried not to use these water sources as much as possible for two reasons. I didn.t want to ruin the filter unless I needed to for survival, and I didn.t figure that those water sources would be the norm for hiking and backpacking.

The first time I used the filter, I was a bit disappointed at the flow output as I was only achieving approximately ½ L (0.53 qt) of flow every 90 seconds. It seemed as if the ceramic filter had some sort of coating on it that limited flow. The following day I decided to clean the ceramic filter before attempting to use it again. After cleaning, the flow rate exceeded the specified 1 L (1.06 qt) / Minute. I would suggest operating the pump at home and cleaning the filter for the first time under running tap water prior to taking it out in the field.

Due to the way the pump operates, the intake tube tends to float back and forth in the water. This made it difficult because the pools of water were so shallow that I was stirring up a great deal of silt every time I pumped the filter. I found that holding the intake tube to keep the inlet out of the dirt and silt was exceptionally hard while pumping alone. This lead to an abundance of dirt, silt, and debris clinging to the outside of the ceramic filter, thus limiting flow rates greatly. I found that taking out the filter and cleaning it by hand (without the scrubby) was adequate enough to remove most of the silt. This kept flow rates high enough for me. I am concerned that filtering water for a group larger than 5 may become time consuming due to the needed periodic filter cleaning if deep pools of water cannot be found.

In order to clean the filter, I held it lengthwise between my thumb and middle finger. This allowed my thumb to seal the outlet hole and prevent unfiltered water from contaminating the inside of the ceramic filter. I would like to have seen a small plastic nipple cover included with the package to use instead of my thumb. This would have been extremely useful due to the fact that bacteria from my thumb could have contaminated the ceramic filter as easily as unfiltered water. I was also displeased with the design of the intake valve on the pump housing. If the intake tube becomes clogged, or pinched, during operation, the tube tends to shoot off the inlet nipple. This can lead to wet hikers, and dirty inlet tubing.

The pump uses a food grade oil or jelly to coat the o-ring and allow smother action. I liked the fact that this o-ring can be coated with lip balm (read: Chapstick) as this is what most users will carry on a regular basis. Drying the filter for storage took a lot longer than I expected, but that may be attributed to the temperature I keep my house at. It took 4-5 days to completely dry the filter at 65° F (18° C). I did like the fact that as the ceramic filter was drying, the color changed from a deeper orange to a tan color. This allowed me to make sure the filter was completely dry prior to storing it till the next outing. In addition, I noticed some abrasions on the intake tube created by the scrubby pad during transport. If the scrubby pad wears excessively on the intake tube, this could cause cracking, or holes, to develop. I would recommend placing the scrubby pad inside a plastic sandwich bag to prevent direct contact with the intake tube.

Summary:
All in all, I am very pleased with the MSR MiniWorks EX. One of the selling points for me was the fact that the Amphibious Raids & Reconnaissance Division of the U.S. Marine Corp selected it as their filter of choice for fast-and-light missions. I figured if it was good enough for our troops, it would provide adequate protection for me. I found that its ease of use, superior construction, light weight, and simplicity far exceeded my expectations for a ceramic design water filter.

Some of the aspects I especially liked about the MiniWorks were:

1. Positive thread lock to prevent over tightening and possible stripping of the threads on the filter housing.
2. Ability to field strip and maintain, including complete disassembly of the filter without tools.
3. Ease of cleaning the ceramic filter by hand. This may possibly extend filter life by reducing excessive scrubbing.
4. Relatively light as opposed to my previous water filters.

1. Low flow rate prior to first cleaning. Had this been described in the documentation, this would not have been an issue.
2. Hard to use in extremely shallow water without saturating filter with silt and debris fairly quickly.
3. No nipple cover to protect internals of ceramic filter from becoming contaminated during field cleaning.


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Reviews > Water Treatment > Filters > MSR Mini Works > Owner Review by Andrew Buskov