MSR MiniWorks/WaterWorks Replacement Ceramic Element

If you're looking to buy a spare ceramic element to keep by your MSR Mini-works, don't bother. It would take at least a year of heavy heavy use to wear through the one it come with. My old ceramic element had not yet "apple cored" but it was well on the way. These things last forever. I only got this replacement because I dropped mine and cracked it after years of use. My MSR Mini-works goes on everything from occasional weekend car camping, to four night back packing trips.This filter can clog fast if you're filtering water where there's silt. It can be tedious having to clean the silt off after every session with it. A coffee filter rubber banded around the intake cures that and I've never had any other problem with it.I know there are faster filter pumps out there. I know there are some paper filters that are less expensive. I know there are battery operated steri-pens that are lighter weight. The MSR mini-works is a simple, reliable, easily maintainable filter that I can depend on. I don't care if someone else can filter two liters of water by the time I've filtered one. Why would I be in that big of a hurry when I'm out back packing and camping?

I installed the new cartridge in my very old MSR Waterworks filter and it worked perfectly. Parts of the old filter that are no longer needed with this new cartridge: paper filter in the bottom, o-ring at the top and metal mesh screen at the top, you can throw those away.Now for the really bad part. I went to take the cartridge out of the housing to let it dry after my test. I pushed on the bottom of the cartridge while holding it over the kitchen counter. The thing popped out all of a sudden, bounced off the counter and smashed to smithereens on the kitchen floor!!!! I literally had this thing out of the box for all of 10 minutes before it was trashed.I had to immediately go online to buy another one because I am going camping in 3 days and will depend on my filter. Big time bummed at the extra, extra expense. Good filter though...In case you are wondering what it looks like inside there is a ceramic outer layer with a charcoal layer inside. See photo.

This works well.My son broke my filter and this easily replaced the one that was broken.This fit exactly as it should and was easy install.I've never had any problems with my filter. It does a great job. It has been taken backpacking and held up to years of use. I anticipate that this will work for many years into the future.

I've got an old circa 1994 MSR "blue cap" and ordered this element because like a dummy I left the other one in the pump wet and it grew "stuff".At first it was a little hard to seat and after I got the cap screwed down, it leaked real bad all around the threads. I was about to return it when I decided to call MSR. They were pretty helpful and said it should work and maybe my o-ring was the problem. And they were right, I replaced the o-ring (using the maintenance kit) and gobbed on a nice amount of silicone lube. It worked! Not believing it, I took it out and put it back together again and it still worked, problem solved...Still wish the top of the element had an o-ring though.So now I have the element out DRYING before this gets stowed in my disaster kit. If the seal does fail in an emergency I'm sure the JB Weld I have will seal the cap...permanently ;)

I have had this filter for many years and have hiked upwards of 1000 miles with it. Yep it could be fragile if dropped so I don't drop it. I have never had any issues. I never use it for winter hiking due to potential freezing problems. It is ceramic after all.Years ago I upgraded to the EX cartridge and it is much faster. For me the advantages of using this far far outweighs any potential issues. Plus I always carry back up water purification tablets. The Mini Works was issued to the US Marines in the first Gulf War -figured it it was good enough for them....

It's one of the things I loved about this filter was it's ability to replace components in the field if necessary. As long as you've invested in the parts! These I bought as a bon voyage/rite of passage present for my youngest son on the occasion of his leaving home in Illinois to live and camp and hike in the Pacific northwest!So I bought the back up parts as well as he tends to hike far and alone and water is the most basic of necessities!This is exactly like the ceramic element that the original filter comes with so it should work seamlessly. I'm looking forward to hearing reports!

I can confirm that this filter cartridge does work with the blue top, first generation MiniWorks.It is hard to see in the photo, but there is a black gasket that lives on the top part of the replacement filter, or the section that is opposite of the red gasket, and it fits great. I did not need to use any of the food grade sealant, in the MSR kit I also purchased. I am happy to have a maintenance kit though.The unit does seem to clog up quicker than the old cartridge, but reading through some of the comments, this is due to a more comprehensive filtering. It still filled fast enough, especially when the you have a nice creek to hang out next to, and take the pack off for a break!!

I have the MSR Miniworks pump/water filter and have used it many times with excellent results. This is the second filter I have gone through and they really work. I have filtered water out of the Salmon river in Idaho that was full of snow melt, sand, dissolved granite and lots of fish residue. The filtered water was clear as crystal and tasted good. If you are a wilderness camper, I recommend getting this water filter pump; it really works well. I don't recommend it but you could probably filter mud puddle water with it and be able to safely drink it.

Rapide et efficace

Realy good!

Laut Anleitung soll man immer einen Ersatzfilter dabei haben. Leider dauert es zwei bis drei Tage bis der Filter nach dem Säubern getrocknet und erneut verwendbar ist. Es handelt sich auch um ein nicht kratzsicheres Keramikprodukt. Dennoch denke ich das man diese Filter einige Zeit lang nutzen kann auch wenn man sie nach jedem Gebrauch reinigen muss. Man sollte mehr als den Tagesbedarf für die Nutzer als Tank bereit halten dann klappt das schon. Nicht für den Tagesgebrauch zuhause, da gibt es einfachere Kannensysteme aber als Traveler eine Möglichkeit. Vor Bakterienbildung und damit einhergehender Darmerkrankung bei nicht ordnungsgemäßer Reinigung wird gewarnt! Gut verpackt.

Habe mir die neue Kartusche als Austausch geholt.Warum auch immer ist diese Ersatzkartusche in der Mitte aber viel dünner als an den beiden Enden.Die originale Kartusche die damals bei meinem MSR Miniworks Ex dabei war, war gleichmäßig dick.Angeblich soll dieser Filter unbenutzt sein, aber der Messring ist schon vor dem ersten Gebrauch kurz vor dem Durchrutschen... hier bin ich wirklich enttäuscht.

I am very very very happy with this filter. My water and koolaid taste so much better.. palm yo buy more.. so if Amazon has a sale on then, let me know lol