Solar Still

I have been looking around a while for ways to have a long-term source of water. The general consensus seems to be "drill a well".

But, for those of us patriots living in the suburbs... it isn't really always allowed.

So, I have been doing research... compiling information. Figuring things out.

The challenge, one of the most difficult there is. A 1/4 acre of land, most of which is covered with concrete for the home/driveway/etc. And, to make matters worse, the rain water may be polluted with chemicals from the refineries just a few dozen miles away.

Of course, I want to know what yall think. I have come up with my own plan though, and I expect you will all find plenty of problems... thats why I'm posting it.

Here is the plan...

1. Rainwater must be collected. A rain gutter on the edge of a corrugated steel shed roof, that leads into a storage tank in the form of a large trashcan.

2. From here, this water is scooped out and boiled for several minutes using a Fresnel Lens. This lens concentrates sunlight, and can boil a pan full of water in a matter of seconds. This step will remove any chemicals that evaporate faster than water.

3. The boiled water is now put into a solar still. I big one. The evaporation tray is a "kiddie pool", the condensation sheet is a clear shower curtain, the water is collected in a pot, the sheet is held on with a big bungee cord, and a rock is used to weigh down the condensation sheet in the middle.

4. The sun will distill the water, with any impurities that will not evaporate being left behind... and only clean water being left in the pot in the center.

5. Once the pot is pretty full, it is removed. The water is transfered to clean PET bottles. Once in these bottles, it is placed onto the surrogated steel shed roof, so that UV light from the sun can disinfect it for the WHO approved length of time.

Water comes from the sky. Purification, and sterilization comes from the sky. You wouldn't ever really need to leave the 1/4 acre assuming you could also grow food and could bottle it.

Of course, supplies should be stocked... but this way if something happens to it you can get water. Let's say a tree falls into your home and lands right on your water supply, it crushes/pops most of the bottles. Or maybe you learn your water has gone bad in storage.

This could save you potentially...

Criticism? Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks.

Just going to reply myself since this got moved down in the list before anyone answered.

Bump.

This can get you by in an emergency but for long term survival it is quite limited.

i bought 6 55 gal blue plastic barrels and put them under my downspout on my shed(8X10) and collected water easy..when one barrel got full i moved it out and put in an empty..any water that came out would be boiled and filtered and treated..make sure you get the bungs(plugs) that way when full you can put them in and keep bugs and debris out while sitting there..if you want to get fancy put in a spigot at the bottom of the barrel and put it on a couple of 12 inch blocks

What about these "Big Berky" devices?

The problem I see is they require a filter that must be replaced.

A solar still does not have a filter that needs replacement.

They do, and they're expensive. But, they last a long time. I recently replaced a set of filters in mine, that I used for years. I figure it probably cost me about two cents a gallon to filter my tap water. Compare that with the cost of buying bottled water, and there's just no comparison.

I keep a spare Big Berky and two spare filter sets with my survival supplies. That gives me one less thing to worry about--and that makes it well worth the price.

Onward and upward,
airforce

How fast is a Big Berky, how many gallon per day? An approximation is fine. I don't need precision, just a rough guesstimate.

I would expect it to last a long time filtering water from city plumbing. But how long will it last with rainwater collected from an asphalt roof? Or, water you dip from a ditch, or a neighbors mucky old swimming pool?

Wouldn't the water need to be boiled afterwards, or treated with iodine, UV, chlorine, oxygen, etc.? Most filters cannot get rid of small viruses that cause you the worst health risks.

I am doing a lot of research, trying to find ways to have a source of water encase of a more long term disaster. Water takes up space and is heavy, and we humans use a lot of it. If a disaster lasts much longer than a month or two, having water for it stocked up could pose a problem. Especially since water needs to be rotated pretty regularly.

a berky can filter down to 2 microns. you won't need to boil or treat it afterwards.
As far as the larger debris a simple coffee filter or even a t-shirt will eliminate that crap before you even put the water in your berkly.
The filters can be cleaned to a certain extent and short of actually breaking a ceramic filter should last for years even under heavy daily use.

I've considered setting up 6 or 8 blue 55 gallon drums in series to my down spout. with a roof as large and steep as mine it would fill them in a couple of rains. It should let the debris settle into the first drum. After that most of the water would be free of debris. Filter or boil as I need it. I've also looked at putting one or 2 of those 1300 gallon farm tanks in one of my garage stalls to store the filtered water. Winter time would be the killer for that idea though.

Colt: No one needs to know about your well. If you can seal the casing air tight, you could put the well in your basement. You'd already have it down about 8' by putting it in the basement.

If you don't want to seal it, it could be put in thru the garage floor. Some areas will allow a well if it is for watering a yard or garden.

Cool! Thanks for saving me the typing effort!

I haven't had to use mine under field conditions yet, but I suspect the filters will last not quite as long, and it will take it longer to filter the water. With tap water, I can filter over a gallon an hour. Keeping in mind that we need a minimum of two gallons of water per person, per day, to maintain our health--and the fact that I don't want to filter water 24 hours a day in an emergency--explains why I bought two.

If you're using it for anything other than tap water, I would definitely pre-filter your water before running it through the Berky. There are a number of ways to do this. Directions for a pre-filter I used in Chad a long, long time ago can be found here:

Family Preparedness: Water

Onward and upward,
airforce

Hey Colt, how big a solar still are you basically talking about here?

How many people per day are you possibly looking at supplying portable water to?

A solar still is a great idea. Generally I've found that it take more than one 8' diameter sized still to supply more than two people, per day.

There are some modifications that can be done to solar stills to double the output. But time is still a factor.

Michael

Colt:

You could also try using an inverted solar still. That would make water collection much easier.

Rudy: I don't know what that is... I will do some research on it, but if you would like to put it in your own words, that would be great.

C.M.Wolf: The one I am looking toward making is probably going to be 6-8 feet in diameter. Whatever the diameter of those tiny, blue kiddie pools they sell at WalMart is, that will be the diameter.

Ideally, it would supply 4 people with drinking water (not necessarily all water, just drinking water). If the first still doesn't provide enough, I will construct additional stills as I have materials and space available.

This is an emergency source of water... as a backup to stored water. Most likely, to be mixed with bottled water to increase the length of time that water supply will last. So, it does not necessarily have to provide all the drinking water, just some to augment the stored water, and enough for minimum survival usage encase something happens to the stored water, or we run out.

Instead of having the plastic sheet down into a hole with a stone in the center, it is hung above the water source like a pyramid. The water runs down the plastic toward the outside edge of the plastic.

Use 2 kiddie pools. A 6' diameter one inside of an 8' one. Put the contaminated water in the 6'pool. Hang the plastic sheet over the 6' pool and drape the edge past the 6' pool but inside the 8'pool.

If this is set up at a slight angle, all of the pure water will flow to the low side of the larger pool.

Here are a few more concepts and variations of solar stills, some have quite an output of clean water per area used.

http://www3.telus.net/farallon/

http://www.appropedia.org/Understanding_Solar_Stills

The "Collection Trough" can be piped into quite a large cistern,(even pumped to a tower to add water pressure), for holding to a later date. After all, since you are using the power of the sun to distill water, you might just as well use the sun to create electricity for the pump also.

You have to admit, the output on some of these are far higher than the old style of "Pit" solar still. Even though that type is certainly an excellent option. Especially in an emergency situation as the materials that are required to build one of the pit types can be carried in a backpack.

IHTH

Michael

Thank you both for the additional information... I have not decided what I am going to do yet... I might just try sometihng simple first, then advance from there.

One question though... what color should the evaporation trays be? Silvery to reflect light back into the water? Or black, to absorb heat?

The collection trays should be black or as dark as possible. I've even seen a transparent mirror film applied to the inside of the glass,(Top), so that any solar rays that might be reflected back out, are bounced back onto the collection tray, or wick. This can make cleaning the collection face a bit pickier though.
The unit can get pretty warm in direct sun light this way, but it also works all that much faster. Just make sure that the reservoir to be purified is keep cooler than the actual still interior. This way the water will gain a better capillary motion through condensation and will draw faster, giving your still a higher yield of portable water.

Michael

Move out of the City, get some Land, Drill a well and install a Bison hand water pump. Mine works great, the Max depth is around 350 or so feet so not going to work for all. But its the best thing I have found short of a solar pump.


http://www.bisonpumps.com/


Anyways hope this helps

MK

We cannot all just say "Hey, I feel like moving to the country today."

Some people have jobs...

I am just making the point on a Survival Situation, its Nearly impossible to survive in a large city or near one for any long period of time. I as well have a "job" (roughly 60 hrs a week) and only recommend this strategy because it is important, and just that a strategy, you have to plan for a while and really focus on your goal to get this kind of preparation complete. It took my wife and I the better part of 3 years saving and planning in order to pull it off (and keep my job), but the important thing is we did it.

I know its easy to say "just do this"..but I personally have had many hours of research and thought as to how I will supply my family with fresh water, in fact that was one of my biggest concerns beyond food and ammo even. So Colt no offense intended, but you need to get out of the city, or at least have a bug out location (with a well). The solar still are nice experiment for boy scouts, but seriously a lot is at stake regarding your families water supply. Have the knowledge to use this in a pinch but do not put your life on it.


MK

Can't get out of the city, out of the question. It has been tried... we are tied down.

And, everyone should have water stockpiled... and be ready to collect rain...
The solar still is just a way to get enough water to live during a dry time, if your water is exhausted. It will slow the rate of consumption of stored water all the time.

A large still, especially of you rigged up a still with a Fresnel lens, could produce plenty of clean water.