When browsing products and categories in our e-shop, you may often come across the term “water column”. This term appears most frequently with army jackets and coats, but you will also encounter it with hoodies or camouflage clothing. So what exactly is the water column? Read the following practical explanation, which will help you get oriented and better understand its meaning.
Explanation of the term water column
You can really come across the term water column anywhere. With jackets and coats, coats and ponchos, but often also with tents and bivouacs. Wherever you find this figure, it basically always means the same thing.
The water column indicates how high a column of water a given product can withstand before water starts to seep through. Simply put, it describes how well the chosen item resists water pressure.
In general, the water column as a physical parameter is stated in millimeters. Remember well that the higher the numerical value of the water column in mm, the higher the column of water the given material or product can withstand.
The value for each product is ensured and determined by the manufacturer itself under strict laboratory conditions. Of course, it is determined according to the existence of official standards for various fabrics or fibers. However, it should be taken into account that resistance to water pressure may differ slightly under real conditions due to the influence of considerably more factors.
How to imagine the water column in practice?
To understand this 100%, let's look at a practical example. You set up your new tent and place a water cylinder on its top part, gradually pouring water into it until you notice droplets of water seeping through on the bottom part. Well, at whatever height the water would be before seepage appears on the bottom part, that is exactly the water column the tent can withstand.
Beware of misleading claims about perfect resistance
Now that you know exactly what the term water column means and how to arrive at it from a “scientific” point of view, we believe that thanks to this knowledge you will not become a victim of many marketing tricks (especially in supermarkets). It often happens that flyers for jackets state a very low price along with claims about their perfect waterproofness. Yet somewhere in small print it says – waterproof jacket up to max 1,000 mm.
Just for interest's sake. If you put on camouflage pants and kneel down in wet grass, they must have a resistance of at least over 12,000 mm so that moisture does not penetrate inside. In the vast majority of cases, moreover, this figure only concerns the fabric/material and not the entire jacket assembly at all. Sometimes even a great material with a water column over 20,000 mm is not a guarantee of total protection. A lot also depends on the overall workmanship, seams, holes, ventilation openings and zippers.
Water resistance, water repellency and waterproofness
The term waterproofness is therefore also related to the water column, and it is often confused with the terms water resistance and water repellency. Although these terms may seem like synonyms, there is a fundamental difference between them.
What water column should I choose for a jacket?
For the Central European temperate climate zone, i.e. Slovak weather conditions and our mountains, a water column value of 5,000 mm and breathability of 5000 g / m2 / 24 hours are more than sufficient. In other words, you cannot properly appreciate higher parameters here. Fortunately, we are not threatened by any extreme conditions, high and long-lasting rainfall, or humidity. If you engage in light hiking and travel mostly around Europe, then softshell jackets with a water column of 5,000 are the right choice.
Important advice in conclusion
Taped seams are not discussed often enough in connection with functional parameters. If a softshell jacket does not have taped seams, then excessively high water column values are practically useless. Water easily leaks through at the stitched areas after a while. We therefore strongly recommend choosing a softshell jacket with lower values and taped seams, rather than buying a softshell jacket with higher values and without taped seams. Do not be tempted by super advantageous promotional offers of jackets with parameters above 10,000 mm, when their workmanship in important areas is poor.
