Solar Water Distiller

[ocsdor]

Has anyone built, bought, own, and/or used a solar water distiller?

If yes, where did you get it?
How did you build it?
How well did it work?
What did you store the distilled water in?
Any other info?

Thanks.

 

[djl02]

I have played around with frensel lens to distill water. I dont think thats the operaton your thinking of though. Alls thats needed is a lens, stainless or glass container,stopper and some tubing. Saw a guy do a video a few years ago,going into a swamp and getting some water that was stained black and distilling it ,this way and drinking it at the end of the show.
Curious what your thinking of using to distill?

 

[ocsdor]

I figured in a SHTF, or maybe a more gov't poison in the tap water, scenario, I could distill water from rain runoff, creeks, or whatever instead of having to rely on filters.

I believe distilling it is a good way to disinfect it as well, though I'm not 100%.

 

[E5RANGER375]

throw some green leaves into a plastic 2 litter bottle and screw on the lid. set it in the sun for the day. congrats you've done it! clean drinkable water.

tightly wrap a plastic walmart bag over a branch with leaves. place a small rock in the bottom of the bag so the water can collect at the bottom. make sure the bag sees the sun. whalla, in a few hours ..... water.

yes these are all small amounts, but with the high numbers of trash easily found about as deap as you go in any woods, you can survive.

 

[ocsdor]

Thanks for the reminder (field manual info). After reading your post, I remembered I already had some similar info.
http://www.ar15.com/content/manuals/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf

 

[Sailor]

The traditional solar still is a no go, you will lose more water digging the hole than you will collect.

Plenty of water here in IN. Just put in direct summertime sunlight in clear plastic bottles for 6 hours. Done. Double it for partly cloudy day. Google SODIS for details. Solar radiation kills the nasties.

 

[djl02]

YouTube - SOLAR DISTILLED WATER FRESNEL LENS WATER FILTRATION SYSTEM CLEAN DRINKING WATER Solar Distiller.

 

[shibumiseeker]

The traditional solar still is a no go, you will lose more water digging the hole than you will collect.

Plenty of water here in IN. Just put in direct summertime sunlight in clear plastic bottles for 6 hours. Done. Double it for partly cloudy day. Google SODIS for details. Solar radiation kills the nasties.

A few caveats: The wider the bottle the longer it takes. The more contaminated the water the longer it takes. The water HAS to be clear, cloudy water will not sterilize. The colder the day the longer it takes. Clear sun at altitude is best, sea level haze makes it take longer. It it not guaranteed to make the water completely safe to drink, but it helps big time when it's your only option as in disaster. It only helps with biologicals.

I did a project with the SODIS method for helping in disaster response and we found a few things: Putting the bottles in some type of reflective container open to the sun helped increase the efficiency. The methed we recommended was several bottles rotated and used as needed as longer exposure time increased sterility. The tall, thin bottles with thin plastic worked best.

As far as distillation goes, improperly designed stills may not remove all contaminants, especially VOCs, and improper use may not sterilize completely. Any method involved using fuels is a huge waste of fuels for the end product.

 

[jeremy]

tag

 

[E5RANGER375]

The traditional solar still is a no go, you will lose more water digging the hole than you will collect.

Plenty of water here in IN. Just put in direct summertime sunlight in clear plastic bottles for 6 hours. Done. Double it for partly cloudy day. Google SODIS for details. Solar radiation kills the nasties.

+1 when i get more rep!

 

[ThrottleJockey]

While good for short term, distilled water really isn't good for you. Water loses its mineral content through the distillation process.

 

[patience0830]

eat some dirt

While good for short term, distilled water really isn't good for you. Water loses its mineral content through the distillation process.

Point taken and I did notice the short term disclaimer BUT Distilled water in a survival situation would beat the H E double Hockey sticks out of not having clean water. any minerals you might be lacking in distilled water could probably be made up in diet. Boiling and straining through a coffee filter or three might make for potable water. I've been living on pond water that has been run through a charcoal filter then a .5 micron filter for years w/no noticeable ill effects. I love not having a water bill.
Giant Fresnel Lens Deathray: An Experiment in Optics

 

[Brian87]

Very neat to see the simple use of the sun.

 

[RFox]

the lens that is being used can be made out of an old big screen television. i have used one and it is incredible how fast we were getting boiling water/fire.