Saltwater options?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Preparation Forum : One Thread

I have some family members and friends that live by saltwater. None of them have a well. Are there any water filters or other devices, like solar stills for example, that can desalinate and make the water potable?

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), August 13, 1999

Answers

Hi Rob

I believe that distilling the water will remove the salt. This can be done by solar still (find instructions at http://forums.cosmoaccess.net/forum/survival/prep/survival.htm.

Boiling the water and collecting the droplets from the steam wil produce desalinated water but this is labout and energy intensive.

Perhaps you'll get some good ideas from other members.

Good luck.

-- citygirl (citygirl@idirect.com), August 13, 1999.


Rob: Have enjoyed your posts. With regard to the saltwater question...desalinators are available for yachts and work pretty good. PUR is the leading manufacturer. They draw about 4 amps and produce about 5 gals/hr. I have one on the boat. Kinda expensive (about $2000) but they work.

-- sailorman (swabbieD@aol.com), August 13, 1999.

Rob, I'll be by the ocean, but pretty much have discarded the sea water idea. The distilling process is a big deal. No filters really do it--didn't know about the PUR one ($$$). If you think they could set up a still, however, with enough energy to boil the water...

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), August 13, 1999.

One link to solar stills is this:

http://www.solardome.com/SolarDome84.html

-- Sammie (sammie0nospam@hotmail.com), August 14, 1999.


Mara,

Don't totaly discount Sea water, filter it and use as a spice ( salt... ) but it also contains ALL the minerals known to man, in usable form ( water soluable )

City girl,

The link is great for alot of stuff, but the Solar Still is prime. If you add 100' of 1/2" Black poly ( polyethelene ) pipe to the feed side, you will increase the temp of the still up to 100 F. Uncoil the poly pipe ( comes in 100 ft rolls, cheap ) to a southern exposure. Meets code for drinking water, surface or buried in Calf. Great for hot showers ( even works on cloudy days: )

-- CT (ct@no.yr), August 14, 1999.



In addition to the big powered ones, there are some hand-powered devices that make sea water into drinkable water. They are a lot less expensive, but produce far less water per hour of work. They are usually used on liferafts, in emergencies, etc.

A nice feature of a solar distillation unit is that it produces sea salt as a byproduct. Salt could be a valuable commodity for some people.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 14, 1999.


Thanks to each of you for the responses. I will be seeing some of these family members and friends soon and will print out this thread, and also some info from the links provided. It is appreciated.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), August 25, 1999.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ