Do DIY salt water desalinators like the one shown below actually work?

[daniel007]

I'd like to make one, but don't want to waste time and money if they don't work. The one shown below appears to work very well. Thanks!

 

[Brent S]

That’s a really interesting setup. I don’t know how well it works but any type of distillation will do the job. Salt water is a long ways off so I haven’t spent much time thinking about desalinating water but distillation is also an effective way to make even the foulest water safe to drink.

 

[Kevin L]

Thank you for sharing this. I may not ever build anything like this, and I feel that it's cumbersom, but water is so important to life that it's vital to have as many sources as possible to resort to if things get f----ked up.

Thank you again.

 

[Kevin L]

I have used a solar still with a plastic sheet and aquarium tubing to make pure water out of salt water at the beach.

When I set up 3 solar stills, I got almost a gallon and a half a day.

One accessory to a solar still that is never mentioned is a 60 cc turkey baster syringe. I use the syringe to suck up the water so I can squirt it into my canteen.

The plastic sheeting comes from a clear dropcloth, which is cheap and compact, and also has other uses such as shelter building....or as a makshift rain poncho.

The only other thing I would point out is that distillation will not work to purify water that has been contaminated with gasoline, oils, or alcohol-like substances such as are found in automobile radiator antifreeze.

It will work to make distilled water out of urine if one is in really bad shape in a truly harsh desert like Death Valley, the Sahara in Africa, or the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia.

One other point about this type of solar still is that the rock should be wrapped in a scrap of cloth or a bandana. A rock can heat up in the sun until it literally melts through the plastic. Also, the rough surfaces of a rock can abrade the plastic sheeting and weaken it.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Both ideas are very clever and will work well for modest amounts of water. The first video will give you a better/cleaner water since it is boiled. But both will give you potable water to drink safely.

 

[Kevin L]

Here's another one that only uses black spray paint, 2 liter soda bottles, duct tape, and aquarium tubing. See below:

This is meant to be placed in the sun so that the black bottle heats up.

 

[Arcticdude]

I guess the amount of water produced by these stills depend upon how much humidity is in the air? In summer our humidity is generally in the 10-15% range. Will one of these stills produce much, if any water at low humidity levels?

 

[Kevin L]

I guess the amount of water produced by these stills depend upon how much humidity is in the air? In summer our humidity is generally in the 10-15% range. Will one of these stills produce much, if any water at low humidity levels?

Yes.

The solar still with the plastic sheet over the hole will produce water based upon moisture in the ground.

Ways of increasing productivity in an extremely arid environment include placing pieces of plants in the hole, pouring urine and/or fresh blood into hole (before you seal it up), and digging the hole in a low-lying area like a dry stream bed.

As I indicated earlier, do not pour radiator antifreeze/fluid into the hole. People might be tempted to do this if their car broke down in the desert, but--as someone with HAZMAT certification and a degree in organic chemistry, as well as having volunteered at a poison control center--this is extremely dangerous.

Ethylene glycol can evaporate out and condense along with the water, and this will poison you by destroying your liver and kidneys.

Likewise, don't set up a solar still near a road where car exhaust may have left a residue in the soil.

Certian places in the desert may also be a problem, as there are old mining areas that have residues of arsenic, cyanide (used to process gold and silver), lead, and mercury in the soil....so I would avoid digging a solar still in such areas.

This seems like a lot of restrictions, but it really isn't. If you use sound judgment, you shouldn't have any problems. If you don't have sound judgment and common sense, then all the solar stills in the world won't save your ### anyway.

 

[Brent S]

These stills aren’t producing water from the atmosphere. They are merely evaporating and recondensing water that is allready there, while purifying and de salinating it. There are machines that can pull moisture directly from the air but they work best in high humidity areas. I’m not an expert on the idea but believe it works similar to an ac dripping condensate. They do require an engine of some sort though, so fuel or electricity is needed. I saw a tribe on a documentary using netting strung between poles and as the morning fog came thru droplets of water would trickle down the nets into a pvc pipe and funnel it into a container. This was in a desert environment but it was adjacent to a cold ocean and that was where the fog was produced. I like passive systems that are simple and require no electricity. If we are all right and shtf happens during our lifetimes these are the systems that will help us out the most. A large magnifying glass can heat water to condensate in a glass jar with a tube coming out of it. Again though, this is just for purification.

 

[Maverick]

Always thought a pressure cooker would work better for desalinating and distillation

 

[Brent S]

Always thought a pressure cooker would work better for desalinating and distillation

You can distill anything in one.
I like the idea of learning how to make substitutes for things like the pressure cooker though. You never know what life could throw at you and might need to start from scratch one day.

 

[Kevin L]

You can distill anything in one.
I like the idea of learning how to make substitutes for things like the pressure cooker though. You never know what life could throw at you and might need to start from scratch one day.

Pressure cookers are a good thing to have.

Tough, gamey, cheap cuts of meat can be made as tender as a filet mignon in a pressure cooker, which is a good thing if one is eating wild game.

I might also add that pressure cooking wild game will completely and efficiently kill all parasites and diseases (except for the very rare prion diseases), which may be relevant if one is reduced to dogs, cats, rats, woodchucks, gophers, pigeons, and so on.

 

[Kevin L]

A few tthings about a pressure cooker that I forgot to mention.

A pressure cooker can be used for home canning......a vital skill that can help forstall starvation and--during a long winter--scurvy......a fatal, and/or disfiguring disease caused by a lack of Vitamin C.

My other point is that a pressure cooker will bring medical devices to a condition of surgical sterility.

I know it sounds impossible under SHTF circumstances to create surgical sterility, but you absolutely must try by any means possible. Benjamin Franklin--a hero of mine--said "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and I absolutely believe in this at any time, let alone post SHTF.

The pressure cooker is excellent for this. It kills HIV, influenza, streptococus, mycobacteria tuberculosis, and so on.

Just be aware that hoarding these things may raise a red flag that you're planning something bad.

 

[TexasFreedom]

If you want to talk about pressure cookers, look at the brand "American" (I think...) . It does (edit: NOT) use a rubber gasket seal which is what always fails . It does metal-against-metal as it's steal with bolts to secure things. It may seem a bit overkill, but they rock. Not cheap, $100-200+ range? But definitely worth getting one.

(edit) missed that little word 'not' first time, definitely makes a difference!

 

[Kevin L]

If you want to talk about pressure cookers, look at the brand "American" (I think...) . It does use a rubber gasket seal which is what always fails . It does metal-against-metal as it's steal with bolts to secure things. It may seem a bit overkill, but they rock. Not cheap, $100-200+ range? But definitely worth getting one.

Thank you.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Note my edit above... I missed the word 'not'. It completely changes the meaning of my post.

BTW, I looked up the brand. It's "All American" brand. Excellent quality stuff.