Anyone have information where I can get plans to build a water maker?
Might be an interesting project.
Might be an interesting project.
home made water maker
- Thread starter luckydog
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They're not that complicated. Here's a couple links:
http://www.rutuonline.com/html/watermaker.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060820042730/www.svquintessence.com/parts1.html
However, be aware that it's going to cost a lot more per gallon of water unless you need to make a LOT of water and use an engine-driven high pressure pump.
I had put together a 6 GPH one, about the smallest membrane/housing one can find. I had about $1,300 in it but it turned out to draw about 4 times the current of the commercial models. This is because they use a "recovery" pump system that steps up the pressure. At any rate, there was no way our solar and wind could put that back in so I bought a new, overpriced PUR 80E ( 3.4 GPH). We run it 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours a day.
Rick
Anyone consider a solar still??? Heat the water with the sun and cool the steam with sea water(lake). Another option might be an air conditioner type cooling coil. Maybe a dehumidifier. I mean the humidity is often near 100% and with a vaccum evaporator and under pressure condenser it would seem like you could make water more simply by some sort of distillation.
Vacuum + heat stills was what the offshore platforms used before they all switched to RO watermakers. It takes a lot more energy input than RO. The "dehumidifier" types take even more energy. Even my abandoned homemade RO one used less energy.
Solar stills work, but output is very low. At best half a liter a day from per square meter if I'm recalling right. Might be 1 liter. Either way we're talking bare survival.
Rick
72 days on a solar still
I forget his name, but a read a book by a guy who survived for 72 days on a life raft, and his only source of water was a couple of solar stills.
I guess with some creative engineering the efficency might be higher. Solar for the heat. Run a single pump that pulls a vaccum on the seawater and then pressurises the condenser. The condenser is cooled by incoming seawater to recapture some of the heat. Once I retire I might try to make one. Maybe with some mirrors to increase the heat collection. I know my my deck is often too hot to walk on barefooted.
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