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 Replies: 19 / Views: 7,852 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
My wife and I have one of those Brita water pitchers. It's not a water purifier but it is a decent filter. The local water around here often tastes like wet dirt smells. This is probably due to continuing work on the city water pipes. Anyway, after running our tap water through the filter, it tastes fine. Problem is, algae soon begins to grow on the filter and the pitcher. It is not dangerous, of course, but it is pale green and not very appetizing. I had been scrubbing it out every couple of weeks but that gets old after a while. Then, it hit me that we might be able to just drop a silver coin in the pitcher to see what that would do, if anything. After doing this for 4 months, I have found that algae will still grow in the pitcher but at a MUCH slower rate. I now only have to clean the pitcher about every 8-10 weeks instead of every 2 weeks. I use a 1/4 oz. Indian Head 0.999 fine silver round for this. Maybe a US 90% silver coin would be better due to the presence of 10% copper in those coins. Copper is quite toxic to most plants, although some plants do need it in trace amounts. Anyway, this is working pretty well and I find it interesting that the silver round stays VERY bright and shiny during all this. It may be dissolving very slowly in the water. If it is, that would be good. A trace of silver in drinking water should not be harmful at all and may be quite helpful in ensuring that there are no live bacteria in the water.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1903 Posts |
Ed_B this might interest you....
Using Silver to Preserve Water
Improperly stored water quickly grows bacteria, which may have effects ranging from unpleasant to life threatening. In the industrialized nations, our digestive tracts have grown accustomed to water sources free of harmful bacteria. As a result, most of us do not have built-in immunities to common local bacteria, which quickly reproduce in untreated stagnant reservoirs. Many a traveler to Mexico has suffered a bout of Montezuma's revenge, often introduced through seemingly harmless ice cubes made from the local water.
The ancients knew about the antibacterial properties of silver. Alexander the Great used silver urns to store water for his troops on extended sea journeys. The ancients didn't know anything about bacteria, but they knew that drinking "old water" could make them sick, unless it was stored with silver. Solid silver will not usually disinfect water, but putting some of grandma's old silverware or some silver jewelry into a storage container is a good way to prevent the growth of potentially harmful bacteria over long periods of time. The silver introduces metal ions into the water that retard or prohibit bacterial growth. Katadyn makes a variety of commercial silver nitrate products (tradename Micropur) for preserving stored water with silver. There are several nonsilver water preservatives, such as "Aerobic 07," for preventing bacterial growth in long-term stored containers of water. See preparedness/survival and surplus stores for these products. Silver-based water purification products are available in Europe, but these are not approved for use in the United States.
You can make your own colloidal silver solution for preserving your water if you have a colloidal silver generator (see chapter 9). The Environmental Protection Agency has set a limit for the silver introduced into drinking water by bacteriostatic silver-impregnated filters at 50 micrograms per liter (equal to 0.05 parts per million). At this level of silver concentration, several different tests have indicated that silver is only partially effective over periods of time (greater than one hour) against certain bacteria and has little effect against viruses. To obtain these concentrations, you would dilute a 5 part per million (PPM) colloidal silver solution 100:1 with the water to be preserved.
High concentrations of silver, on the order of 5 PPM, might properly purify clear water, but I have no data to support this premise and these concentrations are well beyond the EPA limit. To be safe, I would stick with one of the proven technologies over silver for purifying my water. If I had only a colloidal silver generator, I would definitely use it, but I would use fairly high concentrations of silver and would let the water sit for at least an hour before drinking.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
Inventive new use for silver! As you work on determining what amount of silver is optimum for this new use, you may be able to use those little fractional rounds and bars sold by Monarch. They have 9 different sizes/weights available that are all under one oz.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
Hahaha! Good idea, smart thinking!
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
Just a word of warning: Consuming minute quantities of silver will, over time, cause you to turn blue.
If you stopped consuming it now, you would still not see the effects for many years. But once the blue color shows up, that's that. There's no going back.
Also, it can interfere with other medications.
Drinking a liter a day for a couple of months is about all it takes according to some articles I've seen.
So be careful.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
We have been using colloidal silver for over ten years with no ill side effects. In fact it has cured a case of leptospirosis which is never curable with conventional treatments. The one lepto with parasites that attach to the blood cells. We have a colloidal generator and make our own,to buy it in the store in can cost a lot of money.Anyone who wants more info can PM me. John1  |
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Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
I've never heard silver could turn you blue. Gonna have to look and see if that's true or not. LOL.
Btw, Mainly posting because on a related note, back in the old western days in the U.S., people/farmers use to put a silver coin in their milk jugs. I've read it kept the milk from spoiling to quickly.
And Ed_B, they sell water filters with silver blended into the plastic/glass, which is suppose to make the water taste better and such. Not sure if it'll solve your algae problems thou, since I've never read anything about algae. Someone posted that they don't sell them in the US, but they do. I've seen them here, in Los Angeles, but maybe its not available everywhere. I bet you can order one online thou.
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Pillar of the Community
Japan
666 Posts |
New Use for Silver ?!
you kidding me? ))
it is one of the oldest uses for silver
good you've discovered it by yourself ... just make sure you put as pure silver as possible ... canadian 9999 would be great for water purification purposes
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2168 Posts |
I recall reading recently that back in the day silver dollars were put in water and milk as well to help keep it pure. It was a story about the old west. Yes copper silver are anti microbial and I also read hospitals like copper fixtures for this reason. Guess we need those copper pipes. Not the plastic they now sell
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Pillar of the Community
United States
808 Posts |
Speaking of water and silver. The Russians and some high-end vodka distillers are now using silver filtration to not only remove impurities but to actually enhance the "texture" of the ethanol. These distillers have also tried using gold and platinum filtration for some ultra premium vodka offering, but apparently only silver imparts a truly noticeable and allegedly pleasant taste difference.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Would it help if you flattened out the round to maximize the surface area?
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Valued Member
United States
344 Posts |
In case you want to look it up, the medical turn for silver turning you blue is: Argyria
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Interesting that the algae can reproduce at all with the silver present, as my understanding that silver prevents bacteria from reproducing and multiplying, hence putting a silver coin the the old ships water supply, or milk before refrigeration....
If one believes in a higher power (to each their own eh) in any fashion, you would have to consider we are given many different metals, minerals, plants, compounds, living organisms in essence tools for life survival which all have a unique quality or purpose. Especially when we figure out new combinations or mixtures of two different compounds for example....
There is probably a natural compound in nature which by itself or combined with another which would reverses the effects of cancer. Just up to us to figure it out (if it has not been already) and find a way to make it mass produce-able at an affordable price where everyone can reap the benefits of it....
I bet God looks at us in aah as to say how can any species be so stupid at times capable of so much murder and hate, also in the same instance be so smart to have already figured out so many of the worlds secrets and mystery's that a creator would have undoubtedly woven into the fabrics of the Universe....
Edited by Silverhawk74
10/07/2012 2:20 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4008 Posts |
Quote:
Ed_B this might interest you.... Thanks, Unholyroller. Good info there. Quote:
As you work on determining what amount of silver is optimum for this new use, you may be able to use those little fractional rounds and bars sold by Monarch. The round that I am using is a 1/4 oz. Indian Head .999 silver round. No need to get too technical with this, though. Silver is unlikely to be very soluble in water, so the natural solubility will determine how much silver is in the water. Quote:
Just a word of warning: Consuming minute quantities of silver will, over time, cause you to turn blue. Possible but very unlikely considering the very low solubility of silver in tap water. Undoubtedly, this is somewhere in the very low ppm to high ppb range. Yes, this exceeds EPA recommendations of 50 ppb or so but EPA often does that just to be cautious when they do not have a definitive study on something. Quote:
We have been using colloidal silver for over ten years with no ill side effects. Many people have done this and report that their health has improved thanks to colloidal silver consumption. While this is anecdotal evidence, there seems to be a lot of it, so may be true in some cases. Quote:
New Use for Silver ?!
you kidding me? ))
it is one of the oldest uses for silver Not a NEW discovery but a new USE for ME.  Quote:
I recall reading recently that back in the day silver dollars were put in water and milk as well to help keep it pure. Indeed so, Angel. There was a reason for making baby spoons from sterling silver.  Quote:
The Russians and some high-end vodka distillers are now using silver filtration to not only remove impurities but to actually enhance the "texture" of the ethanol. Interesting. I may have to do a taste test on that to be sure. Quote:
Would it help if you flattened out the round to maximize the surface area? It could if a larger surface area led to better contact between silver and water. My assumption is that the silver dissolves to the extent that it can in the time allowed before being consumed and that this is likely to be relatively constant given that the solubility and use rate is fairly constant. Quote:
Interesting that the algae can reproduce at all with the silver present, as my understanding that silver prevents bacteria from reproducing and multiplying, hence putting a silver coin the the old ships water supply, or milk before refrigeration.... Not being a biologist, I had no idea whether or not silver would have ANY effect on algae. I knew that it has a strong anti-bacterial action but that does not mean that it will affect algae as well. The evidence that I have indicates that algae growth is inhibited. Perhaps this is because silver kills the bacteria that the algae need to live and grow? Will need to consult with the biologists out there to know for sure. Quote:
There is probably a natural compound in nature which by itself or combined with another which would reverses the effects of cancer. Just up to us to figure it out... Yep, that would be a "magic bullet" kind of thing. On the other hand, many forms of cancer seem quite susceptible to control via a low-fat / low-salt / high anti-oxidant diet, exercise, and drinking plenty of water. Many of us don't do these simple things so end up increasing our risk of getting a degenerative disease, like cancer.  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
7075 Posts |
 This is interesting.... Would iodine kill algae? We used Britta filters and pitchers for years. Finally we gave in and bought a whole house filter and a reverse osmosis filter as well. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
"Not being a biologist, I had no idea whether or not silver would have ANY effect on algae. I knew that it has a strong anti-bacterial action but that does not mean that it will affect algae as well."
There in lies my mistake as algae and bacteria are two totally different types of microscopic life, and I was confusing them as the same, duuuuh. Rainman strikes again, lol....
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Replies: 19 / Views: 7,852 |
Posted 10/06/2012 5:56 pm
