Test, Lifesaver Jerrrycan

Clean water is a must, especially when a crisis strikes, or just a prolonged outage due to power outages or, for example, contaminated drinking water. But in everyday life? And on vacation?

In everyday life there is always water, so an everyday test becomes more for fun, but I had the opportunity to test a Jerrycan  for just over two weeks on our camping holiday in Sweden. Usually my family and I go on a longer car holiday abroad. So far, we have managed to cut off most of Europe on our way to Morocco two years ago and Eastern Europe and Turkey on our way to Georgia and Armenia last year. This year it was hemester and Sweden – but we are happy to have reason to discover that you do not have to go far for great experiences. 

We tent on our car in a rooftop tent and have everything we need with us. During our previous trips, we have realized that people live everywhere and that it is easy to replenish both food and water at least every other day. But in order not to have to plan, it is nice to bring supplies for at least a week. It also feels like an extra security. If the car breaks down on a mountain in Armenia, you don't want to run out of food or water. We consume about 20 liters a day, perhaps a little less if it is possible to wash dishes in a watercourse. This means that we cannot bring water for a whole week, but at most a few days. We have a built-in water tank of 40 liters and usually supplement with a few extra bottles in the back of the car if we are going to be away for a few days. We fuel water more often than diesel actually.

Abroad, it is easy to buy cheap water on 10 or 20 liter cans. If you are holidaying in Sweden, there is only Ramlösa in the store, in other words we are relegated to replenishing at campsites or hoping for nice homeowners. In the northern half of the country you can of course find clean flowing water, but it is not always there just when it is needed. Even abroad, looking for water is always an extra step. Somehow it always ends when you least expect it.

During our 16-day tour from Mälardalen along the norrland coast, on to Vildmarksvägen, Flateruet and back through Värmland, we used almost exclusively water filtered through our Jerrycan. We had 40 litres with us in the car when we went and filled up with a friendly cabin owner on Hemsö on the Ångermanland coast. Then, on day four, we tried to top up with the Jerrycan.

We filled it in a lake south of Vilhelmina where the water was stationary. Nothing I'd normally drink from. My wife had to be a guinea pig – she thought the water tasted sweet and a bit sour. I realized she got one of the kids' old juice mugs. In clean mugs, the water tasted absolutely nothing. Here it occurred to us that we did not have to think about water in the future. Now we could always top up at any time. Real freedom, actually.

The can has two lids: one for refilling (which also has a pull-out pump) and one where the clean water comes out, under this cover is the filter that should last to 10,000 liters or three years. The can is also available for purchase with a filter that is sufficient for 20,000 liters of water.

The water flows through the filter slowly by itself, but by pumping ten or fifteen times there will be really good pressure. To push through all the water, the pumping had to be repeated 3-4 times, but it never felt very difficult. For us, freedom was worth many times more than the small job. In a crisis situation, I don't think it's anything that's hard.

The can from Lifesavert can really be used for an entire family in a practical way. Two weeks of filtered water was clearly convincing to ourselves. For us, this is a great product that will do two jobs. Crisis preparedness 10 months a year, and travel companions and freedom creators two months a year.

More about Lifesaver can be found here