Gear Review: Jerry Can Water Filter by Icon Lifesaver

Having bought the Jerry Can from Lifesaver over 18 months ago now, and having used it multiple days each week while delivering bushcraft courses in the UK, I feel I can now give an accurate review.

Function

Operating the filter is intuitive and easy, given just a 30 sec demo our clients can use the filter for themselves which means we don't have to dedicate time to providing water for them at every request. The twist function of the pump handle is clean and simple so that adding a little extra pressure as you're filling a larger pot and the pressure is dropping is no problem.

I also like how, when sat in the 'laid down' configuration, the clean tap is sheltered within the form of the bottle from any potential run off of dirty water from the outside. That sheltered housing also hugely protects the tap from knocks and bangs during transport as we're often loading the jerry can into and out of vehicles and around the woods.

The pump is big enough to deliver a fair amount of pressure to the system without being difficult to push, equally you're not pumping for ages in order to pressurise which is great. We've found working in the woods that we lay the jerry can over on its front edge on tree stumps and rocks to allow for pots/ bottles to be placed directly underneath the tap for filling: We do find that laid on its front in this way means when pumping one handed the jerry can slides around a little but because the pump is orientated diagonally into the jerry can the action is comfortable and smooth. We could of course secure the can with a rope through the highly useful lashing holes in the body of the can, or if the front of the can had some knurled texture added this could be eliminated. 

Sat of its front in this way the maximum flow is also enabled by having the water in contact with the element for the longest amount of time, when the can is stood upright I find the last third of the water volume inside is slower to flow through the filter so being able use the full function of the filter from its laid down position is great. 

Filling the filter is wonderfully straight forward, I'd like perhaps a very slightly chunkier knurling on the pump release grip as unscrewing this with wet hands when filling can sometimes be difficult, especially when a little pressure is left in the can. But once the pump is removed being able to simple pour dirty water into the can through the large opening is brilliant. The care for design here really shows through, as the angle of the pump mount expedites any excess dirty water straight to the ground rather than it potentially hanging around near the spigot/ tap to contaminate the clean side when the can is laid down. The angle of the mount also making the pump insert diagonally into the can as mentioned above is true form to function is design.

The spigot/ tap is nicely sized and textured enough to operate even with cold and wet hands. I especially like how the whole tap comes apart making for very easy thorough cleaning when I return to Howl HQ. Equally the easy with which the carbon filters can be replaced is great, a chore I may have neglected for longer than I should if it was a complex operation. Being a simple 'pop and swop' means I replace the carbon regularly (I must buy more carbon discs actually!)

The Jerry can comes with an optional hose accessory for rising pots and also showering, while I haven’t yet needed to shower with it our clients have used the hose on many occasions to rinse pots down after eating. Because they can do this with clean water easily it means there little need to then sterilise eating utensils etc by the fire.

My one request if there's ever a version 2 would be a small indent in the bottom under the pump end of the jerry can. When carrying the filter around and moving it from upright to horizontal, having a little hand hold in the bottom would be excellent to assist manoeuvring. Given the full jerry can is around 20kg it can be unwieldy for some, myself included, to shift between vehicles and over terrain, as well as just swapping positions in camp. A grip on the bottom to provide purchase when move the jerry can in the horizontal position would really help with this.

Build Quality

The jerry can is solid, really solid. The plastics used are thick, durable and impact resistant. The moving parts are minimal, and even then, engineered simply so there's very little that can actually go wrong. We bring this filter into the woods at least once a week, staying for several days at a time. It's put in my car along with lots of other bushcraft gear for courses, and barely has a scratch on it. I love the smooth and simple surfaces for cleaning during use and back at HQ. I've not yet needed to replace any of the O rings, and the screw grooves of the pump and spigot are large enough that even after a year of service there's no sign of wear.

Cleaning

I use the filter heavily, with relatively clear water from a woodland stream most of the time, so the inside of the jerry can isn't often very dirty anyway. I find mostly it the exterior I end up cleaning more for appearances and contamination control. Being in the woods if often quite muddy, but again because the exterior of the jerry is smooth it's just a wipe down job to clean.

At HQ around once a month I'll take the jerry can apart and thoroughly clean it, the instructions in the pdf manual are very clear and help with this. I typically use a milton tablet to clean the filter element, a process which is very easy. Cleaning the inside of the jerry can I just quarter fill it with water and a drop of disinfectant then shake the hell out of it, and rinse it out a couple of times. In terms of a piece of gear for an instructor/ bushcraft school the maintenance is incredible, very quick and easy, and given the amount of use it gets it really is a lifesaver.

Use with Clients

We deliver courses to hundreds of people a year from our woodland setting, with 10 people attending a course at a time. We use the Jerry can as our only source of drinking water in camp (unless clients are boiling their own as part of the course) and to say we're never short of water is a real credit to the jerry can. We shuttle an 8 litre dirty water bottle back and forth from the stream to keep the jerry can topped up, and it works very well in that way. If I could stretch the budget to two jerry cans or even a couple of the Cubes to add extra capacity to the camp I would, but even with just the one jerry can it amazing we're able to provide enough water to everyone without my needing to bring in bottles of tap water from home. (Saves my water bill too!)

To sum up for you, the Jerry can is brilliant. It fills a crucial need in my business and my basecamp, without it I'd be ferrying water in from outside the woods at a volume I dare not think about. It's perfectly sized and the holding capacity is ideal, plenty without being too heavy. Lifesaver have created a truly 21st century solution to an age old problem in a pragmatic and sustainable way, what could be better?

While I did purchase this jerry can with my own money, and I don’t currently have any affiliation with Lifesaver, we did exchange some pleasant emails prior to this review coming out and as such Lifesaver have offered my readers a discount of 15% to use at their online store across all their products which is incredible, so a huge thanks to Lifesaver! The code is Howls15