Typically, between 3 and 90 minutes, it depends upon the amount of pollution in the water, the voltage of the power supply and the electrical conductivity (salt content) of the water.  Pristine rain forest water with a high mud level and a 5 V battery pack, could take over an hour for the personal model to clean.  River water that had flowed for thousands of kilometres could have a much higher conductivity – even over 1 mS/cm (3% the salinity of sea water) and a low mud content, could be cleaned in a few minutes using a 15 V power supply.  Once they have finished processing, the water should stand for as long as possible to further increase the pollutant removal rate and allow longer time for the disinfection to occur properly.  

 

Neither the Purifier nor Clarifier can remove salt.  However if the water has been contaminated by up to 10% seawater, they are still capable of providing thirst relief on a temporary basis.  The electronics automatically adjusts to handle the higher conductivity.  If there is too much salt in the water, they stop processing the water and a LED illuminates to inform you the water is too SALTY.

 

A 5 V 2 amp hour battery (weight 200 gms) would clean some 40 litres of 200 NTU muddy water.  It would take about 30 - 40 minutes of winding a small hand generator to recharge the battery.  That is about the same mechanical effort as is required to get 40 litres of water through a portable filter.  Your average mechanical filter will clog well before it has passed 40 litres of 200 NTU water at a final turbidity of less than 2 NTU.  As long as you can keep winding, our plate set will process several thousand litres of that water.  

Using the above as a guide, the more heavily polluted the water, the more electricity that is required.  

 

The longer the better, up to 12 hours.  For water to have a turbidity of less than 1 NTU, it requires about 12 hours settling, even though 5 minutes settling will often give water with a turbidity of less than 5 NTU.  You can always let the water settle in another container and continue treating more water.

 

Once the water is treated and removed, you can commence treating another batch straight away.  The limitation is your power supply.  It is entirely possible to do well over 20 batches in half a day if the water is not too polluted and you have the electricity available.

 

Using clay as an example, a 400 gm plate set could remove over 5 kg of clay before it needed replacing.  Allowing that 200 NTU of water contained 0.5 kg clay per 1,000 litres, this represents an ability to clean over 10,000 litres of 200 NTU water before the plate set needed replacing.  The lower the turbidity of the water, the more water the plate set will clean before it needs replacing.  

 

You need only look at it and see that some of the plates are no longer continuous from one end to the other.  

 

Yes.  Indeed the use of a taller container will enable the plate sets to clean more efficiently.  The major reason why these containers are used in preference to taller ones is carrying convenience.  Putting a tap in a 10 litre bucket will clean the water with less electricity and plate use than cleaning 10 litres in the existing container.